The Twins announced Monday that they’ve claimed lefty Cole Irvin off waivers from the Orioles, who’d designated him for assignment last week. Minnesota opened a 40-man roster spot by designating right-hander Randy Dobnak for assignment. Irvin will join the roster tomorrow, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets. The veteran lefty would not be eligible for the Twins’ postseason roster, given that he’s being acquired after Sept. 1.
Irvin, 30, will give the Twins some rotation depth for the final couple weeks of the season and can be controlled for two additional seasons via arbitration if the Twins choose. He’s had an up-and-down tenure with the Orioles after being acquired from the A’s in the 2022-23 offseason in a trade that sent infield prospect Darell Hernaiz to Oakland.
Irvin was initially acquired to help stabilize the O’s rotation. From 2021-22, he gave the A’s 62 starts (359 1/3 innings) of 4.11 ERA ball with a well below-average 16.8% strikeout rate but also a very strong 5.2% walk rate. As a homer-prone lefty who averaged 91 mph with his heater, Irvin had clearly benefited to an extent from the Athletics’ cavernous home park, but his Baltimore tenure got off to a far shakier start than anyone could’ve reasonably expected. Irvin was shelled for 15 runs in his first 12 2/3 innings, and the O’s optioned him to Triple-A after just three appearances. He spent much of the remainder of the ’23 season as an up-and-down swingman.
The 2024 season brought a slew of injuries to the Baltimore staff, and with it came a fresh opportunity for Irvin. He ran with it for a good portion of the season, as he’s rattled off 16 starts and another nine relief appearances — several of them covering three or four innings. In 107 1/3 frames this year, Irvin carries a 4.86 earned run average. He’s fanned 16.2% of his opponents against a 5.3% walk rate — marks that mirror his rate stats from his peak days in Oakland. Home runs have again been an issue (1.43 HR/9), but for an injury-ravaged Twins club that is currently relying on three rookies (Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa, Zebby Matthews) behind Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober, Irvin could provide some veteran help to the staff, whether in the rotation or as a long reliever.
Irvin is earning $2MM this season after avoiding arbitration over the winter. He’s owed about $151K of that between now and season’s end, and the Twins will assume that in full. If he’s retained via arbitration, Irvin…
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