Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Injury Updates: What Will Gardy Do?

As the Twins continue to win games and trim away at the A.L. Central lead, they also await the return of several all-star caliber players from their stay on the disabled list. Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Glen Perkins, Jason Kubel, Denard Span, Tsuyohsi Nishioka, and Kevin Slowey are all currently rehabbing and trying to get back to the Twins Cities soon. Some have taken longer than anticipated, but are nearing the completion of their rehab assignment.

As they continue to return from the DL, manager Ron Gardenhire will have a couple of tough decisions to make as who to demote to Triple-A Rochester as the players return from the disabled list. Some decisions might be easier than others, but as a manager, telling someone they are being sent to Rochester is never an easy task.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka:

The first player that appears closest to making his return to the active roster is shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka. As soon as Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher slid into Nishioka as he broke up a double play, you knew something was wrong with Nishioka. It was later confirmed that it was a fractured left fibula and he would initially miss 6-8 weeks, but would end up taking longer. There were questions as to whether Nishioka would return as a second baseman or would move over to his more natural position of shortstop. It appears as though he will indeed move back to shortstop, which will force Alexi Casilla to play second.

With Nishioka returning on Wednesday, I expect the Twins to send Luke Hughes back to Triple-A. It would be either Hughes or Matt Tolbert and I honestly don’t see Gardenhire sending out Tolbert as he is a Gardenhire favorite. There is also a very small, remote chance they could send Danny Valencia down as he hasn’t produced like last year, but like I said it’s a very small chance.

Glen Perkins:

In my opinion, Glen Perkins has been the biggest surprise thus far for the Twins bullpen. Over the last couple seasons he has been shifted back and forth between starter and reliever, but this year it was known he was going to be a relief pitcher, so I think that allowed him to get into the mindset of his role. He didn’t give up a run, earned or unearned, until April 28th against Tampa Bay. Perkins would continue his early success while making 22 appearances with a 1.59 ERA and 22 strike outs. However, he would be forced to leave the May 22nd game at Arizona due to a right oblique strain.

It was an unfortunate time for the injury, although there is no good time, because Joe Nathan was also dealing with arm soreness. Having thought two guys out of the bullpen, you really have no stability. Perkins has made one rehab start at Triple-A Rochester and will pitch again tonight. If everything goes well, expect the Twins to bring him back up to the Twin Cities sometime this week. If I were the Twins I would send down Chuck James, who has gotten very little work while on the active roster.

Joe Nathan:

Joe Nathan is one of those guys that the Twins should rehab him very slowly and cautiously. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in late 2009, he missed the entire 2010 season. Coming out of Spring Training, Nathan and Matt Capps were to split the closer role, but it appeared that Gardenhire was more confident in Nathan. I felt it was too quick to put him back into the closer role and his numbers backed that up. Before landing on the disabled list in late-May, he had an ERA of 7.63 over 15.1 innings with three saves. The Twins should slowly worked him back into the role and see how he would have handled non-close situations.

We probably won’t see Nathan back until late-June or early-July as he is just starting to throw live batting practice. He will likely go on a rehab assignment and then return to the set-up role. The only way I would put Nathan back into the closers role this season is if Capps struggles or Nathan can get command of his pitches better and can handle the high pressure situations. Look for the Twins to send either Jim Hoey or Phil Dumatrait down to Rochester when Nathan returns. If you go by just numbers, I would send Hoey down as he seems to struggle every time he enters a game, as it’s shown with his 8.31 ERA over 13 innings.

Jason Kubel:

If there was any Twin that was off to a hot start, it was Jason Kubel. As the Twins were very slow out of the gates to start the season, Kubel seemed to be the only one wanting to hit the baseball. Even though he hit just two home runs in the month of April, he had a .351 batting average. Kubel and Jim Thome usually split duties at DH, but with Thome having lingering back issues, Kubel got most of the appearances at DH. Like every other Twins player though, he due to end up on the disabled list.

After the May 30th game, Kubel was diagnosed with a left foot sprain and was later placed the DL. As of Saturday, he started taking bating practice, so I would expect him back sometime late next week, but the following week could be the best bet. I think without a doubt when he is the activated the Twins will likely send out Brian Dinkleman.

Kevin Slowey:

After a battle with Scott Baker on who would be the fifth starter to start the season, Slowey was designated for the long-relief role. There were some questions about Slowey’s future as a Twin, but that was put on the back burner after a slow start for Slowey. Despite his 4.91 ERA through 14.2 innings pitched, there were still some whispers about whether the Twins would hold on to him or find a suitor and try to improve their bullpen.

After his May 15th appearance he went to the trainers and was later diagnosed with a mild strain of the abdomen. He has yet to begin a rehab assignment as he currently threw off the mound for the first time since being placed on the disabled list. Once Slowey is healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep him in Rochester to put him in the starter role, which would attract teams to think about trading for him.

Denard Span:

After years of waiting in the wings behind Torii Hunter, Denard finally has taken the reigns of center and has no signs of giving it up anytime soon. After an impressive 2009 season, Span slipped a little bit during the 2010 season by hitting .264 in the lead off spot. What he may lack at the plate he makes up in the outfield. Despite not having the strongest arm, he makes some of the same diving catches that Hunter would have made. Entering the 2011 season, Span needed to prove that he was worthy of being the lead off man for the Twins. He has done a good job so far hitting .294 with an on-base percentage of .361.

Last year Span experienced dizziness and was forced to make a trip to the DL. It took a few weeks, but he was able to return to action without any lingering side effects. Well that same injury has reoccured and has forced Span to make a trip the newly formed, 7-day concussion disabled list. Pretty much Span just has to rest up and hopefully can resume baseball activities sooner than later. When he comes off the DL, I expect Rene Tosoni to be sent back to Rochester.

Joe Mauer:

Without a doubt Joe Mauer is the most followed and talked about Minnesota Twin whether he is healthy or not. Throughout his career, it has been thought that Mauer may be too tall to remain behind the plate as the Twins catcher. Toss in the continuing leg and back issues and there might be a legitimate reason to talk about moving him to a corner infield position. The Twins have quickly shot down the idea of moving Mauer to a different position as he is in the first year of his $184 million, 8 year contract. It’s so hard to find a franchise catcher, let alone a catcher who has half the ability that Mauer has, so I see no reason to move Mauer to a different position.

Mauer entered the 2011 season coming off minor knee surgery he had during the off-season. Some people were surprised that he had a minor knee procedure, but I think it could be an annual think, but obviously hope that’s not the case. Due to the off-season procedure, Mauer didn’t start in Spring Training until about half way through, but the Twins felt he was more than ready to break camp and start in Opening Day. Little did the Twins know that it was more than just his knees that caused him to be placed on the disabled list just 10 games in the season.

The Twins immediately had Mauer undergo testing to see what was causing the reported leg and back soreness. It was determined that Mauer had bilateral leg weakness. After resting and recovering from a viral infection as well, he was sent down to Ft. Myers to begin his rehab assignment. Rather than have him move from team to team throughout the minors, the Twins wanted him to stay near their Spring Training complex in Ft. Myers so they could keep a better tab on him and see how he was progressing.

As of late Mauer has been able to catch more and more every game, with him recently catching a full nine inning game. That is the best news that Twins fans could have wished for. His bat isn’t quite up to speed yet, but that is the least of his worries as we all know Mauer will eventually end up hitting .300 or better. The most important thing is to make sure that Mauer is as close to 100% as he can get before they decide to bring him back to the Twin Cities and insert him into the everyday lineup again.

It appears that Rene Rivera will be sent to Rochester when Mauer returns from the DL as Rivera has a minor league option. Keeping Drew Butera also allows Carl Pavano to have his personal catcher, Butera, when he makes his starts. It may not be a well received move, but I think it’s the right move to make rather than Pavano not feel comfortable when he makes his starts.

With all the moves that will be made over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see how quickly this team can gel and get into a groove before the All-Star break arrives. I feel that if the Twins can be within 5-6 games of the division league at the time of the All-Star break and everyone gets some much needed rest, it should shape for yet another exciting race for the AL Central title.

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