Josh

Winder

Winder underwent Tommy John surgery a couple weeks ago and will miss the entire season. The 28-year-old righty was in Diamondbacks camp this spring as a non-roster invitee.

Winder will miss all of the 2025 season and could miss time to begin 2026. The 28-year-old was re-signed by Arizona to a minor league contract at the end of January, and he’ll likely be looking at a similar pact with whatever team signs him next winter.

Winder was a highly touted pitching prospect with the Twins a couple years ago, but struggled with injuries last season, which limited him to just four relief appearances. The 28-year-old holds a serviceable 4.39 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 85/33 K/BB ratio across 110 2/3 innings (38 appearances, 11 starts) since 2022. He’ll augment Arizona’s relief mix and should factor into their low-leverage mix at some point this upcoming season.

It’s some procedural routine housekeeping for the Twins as they’ve jettisoned a quartet of relievers on the periphery of their 40-man roster at the outset of the offseason. There’s a strong possibility they all wind up electing free agency in search of new opportunities.

Winder threw seven scoreless innings with an 8/1 K/BB over three appearances the last seven days, but that wasn’t enough to keep him around. He’ll be back next time a long man is needed.

Winder has really struggled this year, so this will probably be a brief stint for him. He had a 6.35 ERA in 34 innings out of the pen for St. Paul.

Paddack was placed on the IL on June 25th with arm fatigue and was quick to make public remarks that there was no injury to worry about. With David Festa struggling in his first two MLB starts, the Twins will activate Paddack from the IL on Monday in time to start against the White Sox. Given that Paddack is coming off two weeks of rest and has a 5.29 ERA in 15 starts this season, he’s a risky bet even in a plus matchup. Josh Winder was sent to the minors in a corresponding move.

The 27-year-old hurler joined the Twins to provide some coverage in the bullpen over the weekend while the club decided how to handle David Festa’s spot in their starting rotation. The expectation is that Chris Paddack will be activated from the injured list to start on Monday. Winder has compiled a 13.50 ERA, 2.50 WHIP and 2/0 K/BB ratio in two innings of work with the Twins this season.

Winder will come up and pitch out of the bullpen. He’s taking the spot of David Festa, who allowed a combined 12 runs in his two starts with the Twins. Winder had a 4.78 ERA in 15 appearances at Triple-A this year.

Winder is back on the 40-man roster, but the right-hander will continue to work in the minors rather than be a part of the Minnesota bullpen. He could be an option at some point this summer.