Twins Designate Justin Lawrence, Activate Kendry Rojas to Rebalance the 26-Man Roster

The Minnesota Twins made a two-part roster move Tuesday, designating right-handed pitcher Justin Lawrence for assignment while activating left-hander Kendry Rojas from the 15-day injured list. The transaction is one of those typical midseason roster adjustments that reflects the constant churn of bullpen usage, health management, and the need to keep a full 26-man group available for daily games.

Under Major League Baseball rules, a designation for assignment gives a team a limited window to decide what it will do with the player. In practice, it often leads to one of three outcomes: the player is traded, released, or, if the player clears waivers, sent to the minors. For Minnesota, the immediate purpose of the move is clear. With Rojas coming back, the team needed to create room on its active roster.

Rojas’ activation indicates that Minnesota believes it is ready to bring the left-hander back into regular rotation within the team’s pitching plans after his time on the 15-day injured list. When a player returns from that specific IL window, it typically lines up with a broader objective of restoring depth and matchup flexibility, especially for teams that lean on specialized bullpen roles or left-right balance late in games.

Lawrence, the player designated for assignment, now becomes the roster consequence of that return. The Twins did not indicate in the discovery report whether the change was performance-based, usage-based, or purely logistical. What is supported is the roster mechanism itself: Lawrence’s DFA creates the space Minnesota needs to keep Rojas on the 26-man roster after his activation.

For Twins fans, the most practical question is how the pitching staff is expected to sort itself out now that Rojas is available again. Even without speculating on specific game-day roles, activating a left-hander from the IL usually affects how managers plan their high-leverage relief options and who gets the earliest opportunities in certain lineup matchups.

The immediate “next step” for Lawrence is the procedural one. Following a designation for assignment, he could stay within the organization if he clears waivers, but he could also be claimed by another club seeking pitching depth. Minnesota’s decision to make this move rather than a different kind of roster adjustment underscores that the Twins prioritized adding Rojas back to the active group at this moment.