MINNEAPOLIS _ The status of Twins infielder Luis Arraez for the American League Division Series will likely be a last-minute decision.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said Tuesday at Target Field that Arraez, who suffered a Grade 1 sprain of his right ankle Saturday, is doing "significantly better."
The Twins have until 9 a.m. Central time Friday to reveal their 25-man roster for the best-of-five series against the Yankees, which begins that night in New York.
"We're going to wait until the last possible moment before we talk (publicly) about the rotation or the roster in general," Baldelli said at a news conference at Target Field on Tuesday.
The Twins leave for New York on Wednesday and will work out at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.
"No dress code on the plane, as few changes as possible," Baldelli said.
Arraez, 22, collided with Willians Astudillo while trying to catch a pop-up on Saturday in Kansas City. He underwent a magnetic resonance imaging test Sunday morning, and the results showed no structural damage in his right leg, knee or hamstring, and only minor damage to his ankle.
Arraez's .334 batting average broke Tony Oliva's club record for a rookie.
Under major league rules, once a playoff team turns in its roster, it cannot make changes during the postseason series unless an active player gets hurt. If Arraez's ankle isn't healed enough for him to play on Friday, the Twins must decide whether to carry him anyway, in hopes of using him later in the series, or rule him out completely.
And there's another wrinkle: If the Twins gamble and place him on the roster, but Arraez's ankle is slow to heal or he reinjures it, removing him wouldn't be an easy decision to make, either. That's because the rules state that a player taken off the roster mid-series becomes ineligible for the next series as well. A wait-and-see approach, in other words, could keep Arraez out of the AL Championship Series.
