Minnesota Twins Demote Floundering José Miranda, Activate Brooks Lee

[Nick Nelson]

José Miranda's unproductive and blunder-filled play has epitomized Minnesota's nightmarish start to the season. Saturday's costly mental gaffe became too much to bear for the team, leading to a roster move that brings Brooks Lee back into the fold faster than expected.

Image courtesy of William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Twins wasted no time after Saturday's loss to the Tigers. Within two hours of the final pitch, José Miranda's name had popped up on the team's transaction log: optioned to St. Paul Saints. Shortly after, Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reported the fairly obvious corresponding move – Brooks Lee is being activated from the injured list, and will rejoin the Twins for Sunday's series finale.

The timing of this move is odd on the surface. Even if the front office was planning to swap out Miranda for Lee, it would've been much cleaner to do so after Sunday's game, once the Twins and Saints had both completed their respective series. That's how these things tend to go. Furthermore, Lee was still only four games into a rehab stint that many expected to run longer, given that his spring training was cut short.

Evidently, the Twins decided they could wait no longer to make a move on Miranda. And that's hard to argue with. It's been a trying start to the season for the 26-year-old following a second-half fall off in 2024. He's had one big swing of the bat this season, running into a Spencer Arrighetti pitch for a three-run homer against Houston last Saturday, but is otherwise 5-for-35 (.143) with no extra base hits, no walks and 13 strikeouts. In the field he's been a mess, often struggling to make fairly routine plays at third, which isn't exactly out of character. 

The April agony reached a crescendo on Saturday, after Miranda pinch-hit for Edouard Julien to lead off the eighth inning and managed a rare single. Harrison Bader lined out to right, and then Christian Vázquez tapped a chopper to the first baseman, who fired to second to erase Miranda as the lead runner. 

Except Tigers second baseman Colt Keith, who – due to positioning – had to make a weird play covering second from from the right side on a ball coming from first, was unable to find his footing at the bag and never stepped on it. Miranda was called safe, but failed to notice, as he slid half-heartedly toward the base, never actually touched it, and turned (TOWARD the umpire making a very clear safe call, mind you) to start walking toward the dugout. Keith quickly noticed and tagged Miranda out. 

 

Miranda's mental lapse on Saturday felt less like a fluke and more like the culmination of all we've seen so far from him. The Twins' decision to option him immediately, even with Lee's rehab still in progress, speaks volumes. A reset in St. Paul could be what Miranda needs to regain confidence, clear his head, and start building back toward the reliable contributor the Twins still hope he can be. 

Meanwhile, there will be an inordinate amount of pressure, fair or not, on the 24-year-old Lee to come in and give this team a spark. He struggled mightily at the plate last year, posting a .585 OPS, and has played just four games (three at Triple-A, one at Single-A), since March 20th. But we know what he's capable of at his best, and so there is some excitement in that.

Hopefully this trip back to the minors can help Miranda on his path back to being back at his best, because we know what he's capable of too.

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[bean5302]

Can't argue with the demotion of Miranda with the air headed play lately. Needs to get his head in the game and a change of scenery. The Twins should consider trading him in my opinion.

Brooks Lee isn't exactly lighting the world on fire, either. It'll be interesting to see how things get deployed.

[stringer bell]

A bit surprised, but I think it’s a good move. Miranda has shown flashes of ability to hit, but hasn’t been able to sustain it. He’s really slow and not a gifted defender. He’s got to hit to be an asset and so far he’s not hitting. 

[Rufus]

After what he did today at second base he probably deserves  to get released.  

[BiggestRoccoFan]

26 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Can't argue with the demotion of Miranda with the air headed play lately. Needs to get his head in the game and a change of scenery. The Twins should consider trading him in my opinion.

Brooks Lee isn't exactly lighting the world on fire, either. It'll be interesting to see how things get deployed.

What exactly do you think you are going to get for Miranda right now? The biggest issue is that this organization needs to make a change and make a change quickly if they want to save their season. The easiest thing to do and what needs to be done is the manager needs to be relieved of his duties. I have been saying this for years and all of the ineptitude we see on the field is a result of the man leading this team on to the field on a daily basis. All of the terrible fielding, base running blunders, hitting approach. Nothing ever changes. They hired a new hitting coach and nothing has changed. The guys are clearly not responding to Rocco and they have not responded to him since the end of last July. You have a guy like Mickey Gasper that does not belong on any major league roster. He can't hit or field. He is too short to play first base. I am trying to figure out why he is even on this roster. I know he got hurt today but what is Austin Martin doing at AAA? Someone please explain that one to me. We need a complete tear down organizationally but that won't happen until the team sells if it ever does. I have been saying this for years but this team is just not prepared mentally or any other way to play on a daily basis. How much longer are we going to allow that to happen???????????????????????????? If Mickey Gasper is on your roster you aint makin the playoffs. 

If they lose tomorrow I honestly think Rocco is done. I just have that feeling.

[DocBauer]

It was the right move either even though would have benefited with more AAA time to shake off rust and get in some kind of groove with the bat. But Miranda is a virtual black hole right now and needs a serious reset. 

Lee won't make such an egregious base running error, and is a fine defender. While I don't expect much from him with the bat initially, I don't know that Lee benefits from any sort of long stretch at St Paul. While I expect him to get a couple days off here and there to make sure his back isn't pushed too hard, I'd like to see him eventually be in the lineup daily and let his bat work itself out over time. He's got the ability to be a solid hitter. Bat him 8th or 9th and live with what you get for as long as it takes for him to "figure it out" offensively. Sometimes with a young player you just play him and wait for the good to happen.

[D.C Twins]

puddy in the dam... fire sale now. 

[FargoFanMan]

21 minutes ago, BiggestRoccoFan said:

What exactly do you think you are going to get for Miranda right now? The biggest issue is that this organization needs to make a change and make a change quickly if they want to save their season. The easiest thing to do and what needs to be done is the manager needs to be relieved of his duties. I have been saying this for years and all of the ineptitude we see on the field is a result of the man leading this team on to the field on a daily basis. All of the terrible fielding, base running blunders, hitting approach. Nothing ever changes. They hired a new hitting coach and nothing has changed. The guys are clearly not responding to Rocco and they have not responded to him since the end of last July. You have a guy like Mickey Gasper that does not belong on any major league roster. He can't hit or field. He is too short to play first base. I am trying to figure out why he is even on this roster. I know he got hurt today but what is Austin Martin doing at AAA? Someone please explain that one to me. We need a complete tear down organizationally but that won't happen until the team sells if it ever does. I have been saying this for years but this team is just not prepared mentally or any other way to play on a daily basis. How much longer are we going to allow that to happen???????????????????????????? If Mickey Gasper is on your roster you aint makin the playoffs. 

If they lose tomorrow I honestly think Rocco is done. I just have that feeling.

They’re not gonna fire Rocco at this point in the season. They’re not gonna tear it all down mid April. Yes they are and have been for a while playing bad non fundamental baseball. But when the FO and ownership fail to build a solid team this is what you get.  Focused on numbers, analytics and payrolls and not playing “baseball”.  It hasn’t changed much in 100 years and apparently the Twins are trying to reinvent the wheel. Still gotta be sound defensively, throw strikes, not make baserunning mistakes and put the ball in play when it needs to be. A very simple game complicated by analytics, money and Ivy League grads. 

[DJL44]

I can't disagree with this move. Miranda has been terrible in all aspects.

[mnfireman]

Kiersey and Gasper still on the MLB roster though....hopefully Lewis is close and Keaschall continues to hit.

[puckett_34]

“Hopefully this trip back to the minors can help Miranda on his path back to being back at his best, because we know what he's capable of too.”

Really Nick? Another trip back will hopefully show us what he’s capable of? He had a 2 week stretch once. Outside of that he can’t hit, can’t field, and can’t run. God, if this is a guy we ever want back in that clubhouse it’s worse than we all thought. 

[Western SD Fan]

You could have thrown a dart at any position player with options left and demoted them to St. Paul with maybe the exception of Wallner or Keirsey.  Miranda just happened to be the most blatant and obvious of all of them.  I agree that Gasper should have been DFA'd instead of sending Miranda down, but it's not a big loss either way at this point.  All of this is still flushing the system of players where they spent all their development years on trying to get everyone to hit HR's instead of just trying to put the ball in play and work on fundamentals (See Austin Martin).  As for firing Rocco, I don't expect it to happen as that would just create more turmoil when the Pohlads are trying to sell the team, and you would have a new interim manager basically with no hope of staying with the team after the season.  My 30 seconds of research also suggests that the Twins have never fired a manager midseason.  Only Gene Mauch resigned during the 1980 season, and I don't consider that a firing.  We can dream, but it's only a dream.

[FargoFanMan]

16 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Kiersey and Gasper still on the MLB roster though....hopefully Lewis is close and Keaschall continues to hit.

Keaschall is hitting. Lewis is at least 3 weeks out at very least. They need a kick in the arse right now. Not sure if Lee provides that. We’ll see.

[tony&rodney]

No way to know what Brooks Lee will do in the MLB lineup. He has really only had a couple of good swings for the Saints this year. He has looked good in the field, but very, very slow on the bases. Maybe he has been playing carefully in order to go easy on his back.

The two guys who look good are Keaschall, shifting between 2B and DH, and Carson McCusker in the corner outfield. I really doubt we will see Keaschall until May and Carson is not on the 40 person roster. 

The Twins may be holding on to Gasper because Jeffers was hurt Friday night. Can't think why else.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, BiggestRoccoFan said:

What exactly do you think you are going to get for Miranda right now?

Miranda has two full seasons at wRC+ 115 and he's at league minimum. BaseballTradeValues has Jose Miranda at +12 right now. In the ballpark of a guy like Zebby Matthews. Miranda would bring back a couple org top 10-15s right now.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

49 minutes ago, FargoFanMan said:

They’re not gonna fire Rocco at this point in the season. They’re not gonna tear it all down mid April. Yes they are and have been for a while playing bad non fundamental baseball. But when the FO and ownership fail to build a solid team this is what you get.  Focused on numbers, analytics and payrolls and not playing “baseball”.  It hasn’t changed much in 100 years and apparently the Twins are trying to reinvent the wheel. Still gotta be sound defensively, throw strikes, not make baserunning mistakes and put the ball in play when it needs to be. A very simple game complicated by analytics, money and Ivy League grads. 

Derek Falvey went to Trinity college, which isn’t part of the Ivy League.

[bean5302]

27 minutes ago, puckett_34 said:

“Hopefully this trip back to the minors can help Miranda on his path back to being back at his best, because we know what he's capable of too.”

Really Nick? Another trip back will hopefully show us what he’s capable of? He had a 2 week stretch once. Outside of that he can’t hit, can’t field, and can’t run. God, if this is a guy we ever want back in that clubhouse it’s worse than we all thought. 

A two week stretch once? In both Miranda's 400+ PA seasons he's been well above average at the plate. 
.268/.325/.426 OPS .751
.284/.322/.441 OPS .763

[mikelink45]

I think Miranda is done as a Twin - maybe he can resurrect with another team.  But right now I think Larnach and Julien are not far behind.  Lee has not looked great but hopefully he will rise to MLB level quickly.  

Unfortunately our two highest paid position players are also demotion worthy at this point too.

[stringer bell]

13 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

No way to know what Brooks Lee will do in the MLB lineup. He has really only had a couple of good swings for the Saints this year. He has looked good in the field, but very, very slow on the bases. Maybe he has been playing carefully in order to go easy on his back.

The two guys who look good are Keaschall, shifting between 2B and DH, and Carson McCusker in the corner outfield. I really doubt we will see Keaschall until May and Carson is not on the 40 person roster. 

The Twins may be holding on to Gasper because Jeffers was hurt Friday night. Can't think why else.

As the last guy on the bench, I can see Gasper filling that role. Obviously, he hasn't hit and if that continues, no one, no matter how good a fit on the roster, can stay in the big leagues. Gasper is a 29-year old with handy versatility (first base, second base and some catcher) who is a switch hitter with a very good AAA resumé. The team doesn't have to worry about stunting his development and he can fill in a lot of places. A similar case can be made for Keirsey--he offers a couple of handy skills (pinch running and defensive replacement), but if he can't hit, a roster spot is pretty valuable to give him. It's hard to give Keirsey much playing time because Larnach, Wallner and Bader haven't been too bad. 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, BiggestRoccoFan said:

What exactly do you think you are going to get for Miranda right now? The biggest issue is that this organization needs to make a change and make a change quickly if they want to save their season. The easiest thing to do and what needs to be done is the manager needs to be relieved of his duties. I have been saying this for years and all of the ineptitude we see on the field is a result of the man leading this team on to the field on a daily basis. All of the terrible fielding, base running blunders, hitting approach. Nothing ever changes. They hired a new hitting coach and nothing has changed. The guys are clearly not responding to Rocco and they have not responded to him since the end of last July. You have a guy like Mickey Gasper that does not belong on any major league roster. He can't hit or field. He is too short to play first base. I am trying to figure out why he is even on this roster. I know he got hurt today but what is Austin Martin doing at AAA? Someone please explain that one to me. We need a complete tear down organizationally but that won't happen until the team sells if it ever does. I have been saying this for years but this team is just not prepared mentally or any other way to play on a daily basis. How much longer are we going to allow that to happen???????????????????????????? If Mickey Gasper is on your roster you aint makin the playoffs. 

If they lose tomorrow I honestly think Rocco is done. I just have that feeling.

IF they lose badly, or look stupid in field or base paths -- some thing will probably happen , but predicting what is not in our realm  of knowledge shown by dozens of : I get the feeling that this ... happen has been quite wrong.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, mnfireman said:

hopefully Lewis is close

I’d be surprised to see Lewis anytime before June. Hamstrings take forever to heal, and once you tweak it again you’re back to square 1. 

[DJL44]

23 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I think Miranda is done as a Twin - maybe he can resurrect with another team.  But right now I think Larnach and Julien are not far behind. 

Julien is hot right now. 893 OPS over the last week.

[USAFChief]

42 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Miranda has two full seasons at wRC+ 115 and he's at league minimum. BaseballTradeValues has Jose Miranda at +12 right now. In the ballpark of a guy like Zebby Matthews. Miranda would bring back a couple org top 10-15s right now.

You couldn't give away Miranda if you ADDED a couple top 10-15s.

[Jocko87]

53 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Derek Falvey went to Trinity college, which isn’t part of the Ivy League.

Is high A Ivy.

[FlyingFinn]

47 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

But right now I think Larnach and Julien are not far behind. 

For a team that can't hit right now, you want to get rid of our hottest hitter in Julien???

[GNess]

Sad state of affairs for the Twins. Miranda is struggling and made a bone headed base running mistake and he gets sent down deservedly. Having to make those sort of decisions is a failure of the competitive culture Baldelli has overseen as manager. Lack of attention to detail being a recurring theme. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

47 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Is high A Ivy.

Nope

[cheeseheadgophfan]

I feel better knowing we still have Mickey Gasper on the roster.....

[Blyleven2011]

8 hours ago, BiggestRoccoFan said:

What exactly do you think you are going to get for Miranda right now? The biggest issue is that this organization needs to make a change and make a change quickly if they want to save their season. The easiest thing to do and what needs to be done is the manager needs to be relieved of his duties. I have been saying this for years and all of the ineptitude we see on the field is a result of the man leading this team on to the field on a daily basis. All of the terrible fielding, base running blunders, hitting approach. Nothing ever changes. They hired a new hitting coach and nothing has changed. The guys are clearly not responding to Rocco and they have not responded to him since the end of last July. You have a guy like Mickey Gasper that does not belong on any major league roster. He can't hit or field. He is too short to play first base. I am trying to figure out why he is even on this roster. I know he got hurt today but what is Austin Martin doing at AAA? Someone please explain that one to me. We need a complete tear down organizationally but that won't happen until the team sells if it ever does. I have been saying this for years but this team is just not prepared mentally or any other way to play on a daily basis. How much longer are we going to allow that to happen???????????????????????????? If Mickey Gasper is on your roster you aint makin the playoffs. 

If they lose tomorrow I honestly think Rocco is done. I just have that feeling.

I agree with the biggest issue , fans want a new voice leading this team , coaching the players to their strengths and not their weaknesses , we need a leader to lead , not keep looking at the spread sheets ...

We may not turn this season around  with a new leader with a voice but it's worth a try to salvage something ... 

[Dave Borton]

Since they won't DFA Baldelli, I was thinking they should option him to St Paul along with Miranda and use the light rail to bring up Gardenhire.