Twins shortstop Carlos Correa thinking like a boss as trade deadline nears

MILWAUKEE — The approaching deadline to make trades, now less than a week away, has had little effect in the Twins' clubhouse, manager Rocco Baldelli says. But that doesn't mean his players aren't interested in who might be acquired to help the Twins try to hold on to their AL Central lead.

In fact, Carlos Correa has offered Derek Falvey and the Twins front office some ideas and evaluations about potential trade targets as Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline approaches.

"Obviously, they know the numbers and all that, but they're not facing the pitchers, they're not out there the way we are," Correa said. "I'm watching baseball 24/7, and when I see somebody on a team that's not going to have a chance and I think they can help, I always bring it up. It's kind of like the relationship you've got to have with your front office if you want to have success."

It's a relationship that Correa, an especially statistic-savvy player, developed while with the Astros, too. Their front office welcomed the input, just as the Twins have this year, he said.

"I was very vocal about things that we needed, and specific players that can make us a lot better," Correa said. "The things I need to communicate are things that would put us in a better spot."

He declined, however, to reveal what his recommendations have been this month.

"Obviously, I would like to keep that private, because my teammates deserve respect," he said. "Bringing in someone new, that means he takes somebody else's spot here. So those conversations should remain private."

Then again, maybe the Twins should be careful about Correa's trade insights. His last swap didn't go as expected.

Correa spotted a young teenage fan Sunday in Detroit wearing a "Thinking Cap" from a TV series he likes, Netflix's "Stranger Things."

"I said, 'Hey, after the game, I want that hat. I'll trade you,'" Correa said. "He said, 'OK,'" so as he left the field following the Twins' 9-1 victory, Correa removed the laminated scouting report he keeps in his cap and tossed it to the fan.

One problem: Correa's PitchCom unit, a long and flat electronic device that allows him to hear what pitch is being called by the catcher, was still in the cap's interior lining.

"I realized it when the [equipment manager] asked me for the PitchCom. I said, 'I don't have it. I gave it to a kid,' " Correa said, and he was worried. "I was like, 'Oh no, he's going to listen to our signs!' But I guess it doesn't work anymore. They just gave me a new one, so I guess it wasn't as big a deal as I thought at first."

Righthander Josh Winder has been shut down for now, Baldelli said Wednesday, while the Twins try to determine why the soreness in his pitching shoulder keeps returning.

The injury, which has forced Winder to the injured list twice this season and ended his Class AAA season two months early last year, is not necessarily season-ending, the manager said, but Winder has been sent to the team's Fort Myers, Fla., camp to work with their rehab staff there.

"There's no singular reason why we're looking at this and thinking, 'Well, this is why this is happening.' It's just soreness that keeps creeping back in there," Baldelli said of Winder, who has started six games for the Twins this year and won four of them. "He seems really good for a month, sometimes two months, but it's something that we need to figure out."

Danny Coulombe, meanwhile, won't be returning this season, Baldelli said. After trying for two months to recover from a hip injury, the left-handed reliever underwent surgery this week to repair the labrum in his left hip, Baldelli said.

And righthander Bailey Ober will play catch this week, the manager said, in hopes of throwing off a mound "soon." But no timetable exists yet for a return by Ober, who suffered a groin injury seven starts into this season and has now missed eight weeks.