BREAKING: Twins Option Royce Lewis to Minor Leagues, Will Call Up Orlando Arcia

Farming out outfielder Matt Wallner was never going to be the last of the Twins' major moves, as the team shakes up its roster and tries to accelerate its move toward a new core and away from the bitter failures of the last season and a half. Monday night saw Kendry Rojas take (at least for now) Simeon Woods Richardson's place in the starting rotation. On Tuesday, the club optioned Royce Lewis to the minors and designated reliever Justin Topa for assignment. Dan Hayes of The Athletic broke the news on Twitter.

Topa, 35, fell off the ledge after clinging to it all season, never quite able to clamber to a safer perch. He made 23 appearances and gutted out a pair of saves, but he only made it through 19 innings and finishes his Twins tenure with an 8.05 ERA. He struck out 12 and walked 11, and a wobbly showing in which he let the Astros back into the game Monday night was the final straw.

With Lewis, the story is much longer and more interesting, but much more of it has already been told. He can't get on time right now. His winter work with a private hitting coach has borne no fruit, making him less unorthodox but no more effective than he was in his lost 2025 campaign. When his at-bats remained uncompetitive after a two-day benching to reset and refocus, the writing was on the wall, just as it was for Wallner earlier this month.

Replacing Lewis on the roster will be veteran utility infielder Orlando Arcia, who signed a minor-league deal with the team in the spring and stayed with the club despite not making the 26-man roster in March. Arcia, 31, offers steady (though no longer rangy) defense for an infield that needed help on that front. He's also hit very well for Triple-A St. Paul this season, with a .318/.376/.556 line in over 160 plate appearances. Arcia and Tristan Gray are expected to serve as a modified platoon at third base for the short term, according to a source briefed on the team's thinking, though Derek Shelton will have some discretion in which way to tip the greater share of playing time and whether to include Ryan Kreidler in that rotation.

For the Twins, it's still worth hoping for and trying to engender a Lewis rebound, but that can no longer be Plan A. Like Wallner, Lewis heads to the minors without a guarantee of a return trip, and with the team's plans rapidly shifting in another direction. For now, top infield prospect Kaelen Culpepper will remain with the Saints, but he's knocking on the door to the majors. An infield that includes (in whichever alignment) Brooks Lee and Culpepper is now more likely to be the team's medium-term plan than is anything that involves Lewis.

Cutting Topa creates a spot for Arcia on the 40-man roster, but there might be more shuffling ahead, as the team awaits more information on the injured wrist of catcher Ryan Jeffers. With Jeffers in limbo, Gray set to welcome a new child to his family and two veteran relievers (Matt Bowman and John Brebbia) eligible to become free agents Tuesday if not added to the roster. there are still moving pieces here. If the team wants to call up either Bowman or Brebbia, they'd need to create a second opening on the 40-man. A third spot could be needed for catcher Alex Jackson, should Jeffers land on the IL. It's even possible Lewis will go to Ft. Myers for a more complete reset, rather than to St. Paul.

For now, though, it's clear that another phase of a longer-running shakeup is underway. This piece will be updated as the details of the roster moves are announced.

UPDATE: Lewis will go to Triple-A, sources confirmed to Twins Daily. Hayes reported the same.

As we reported above, the spot needed for Arcia will be the one taken from Topa. What other shifting takes place, however, remains to be seen. Unless the team places Jeffers on the IL, they can't recall Kody Funderburk, who hasn't been on optional assignment long enough yet to be reinstated for any reason other than injury.

UPDATE 2: The full picture is now in view. Travis Adams will take Topa's spot in the bullpen, while once-promising pickup Garrett Acton will move to the 60-day injured list to make more room on the 40-man roster. Jeffers, indeed, hits the shelf, and Jackson will come up to serve as the secondary catcher.

The last is a blow to the team's dwindling hopes for 2026, because Jeffers's injury turns out not to be a sprained wrist, but rather, a dreaded hamate bone fracture. It's likely that he'll be out until at least the latter part of June, during which time the Twins will have to make do with Victor Caratini and Jackson behind the plate.