Falvey: Time to 'punch above our weight'

Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Wednesday that it has been a challenge dealing with a slew of injuries this season, and that the team needs to sustain its recent hot stretch "to get back where we need to be."

Injuries are a big reason the Twins went into Wednesday's game against the Orioles at 19-29, 9 1/2 games behind the first-place White Sox in the American League Central. The Trade Deadline is July 30, and Minnesota must figure out during the next six weeks if it is going to buy or sell before then.

“We know we need to punch above our weight for a period of time to get back where we need to be. There is no running from that,” Falvey said in a conversation with local media.

It doesn’t help that major players like outfielder Byron Buxton and infielder Luis Arraez are on the injured list. Buxton, who has a strained right hip, isn’t close to being ready. He can run in a straight line and accelerate, but when he decelerates, he feels some pain.

“While there have been injuries that have popped up across the game, I think a lot of [them with the Twins] have been more of the day-to-day variety,” Falvey said. “I’m not going to complain about it. I don’t want guys to go down weeks on end, but it does make it more challenging at times because there are some where you think, maybe with two days down -- maybe with an off-day -- maybe we can get someone back to health and back on the field.

“But when you have multiple of those [injuries], it gets really hard to figure out who gets the day off today and who pushes through and who doesn’t. We are trying to keep everyone as healthy as possible, especially since we are starting to play better baseball.”

Injuries were not the only thing Falvey talked about. Reliever Alex Colomé is off to a slow start -- he's carring a 5.00 ERA in 19 appearances -- because he is not locating his cutter the way he did the past couple of seasons. Falvey said Colomé's velocity is fine. The plan is to get him into less stressful innings.

“He has never been a high-strikeout guy. He has never been a guy who gets a lot of swings and misses,” Falvey said. “He is working off of weak contact and gets in on the hands to left-handers. … He knows what he needs to do. He knows what his plan is -- to work on the [cutter]. But the good thing on Alex is, whether he is on a good run or a bad run, he is still going to show up every day to take the ball, and that allows you to get through some of the ups and downs. Right now, it’s continued focus on command.”