When you ask people who the worst team in baseball is, you hear Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, Kansas City, or Cleveland. You never hear the Minnesota Twins come up in that discussion. Well that is how crazy the 2011 Major League Baseball season has been thus far. As we near the middle of May, the Minnesota Twins own the worst record in baseball at 12-23. They are eleven games back of the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central.
The Twins had trouble written all over them since Spring Training. Whether it was figuring out their pitching staff, dealing with the annual “Is Joe Mauer healthy?” question, or every fans favorite “Why didn’t the Twins make any major moves to match their division rivals?” question. I will spend the next few days discussing each of these issues and touch on a few other topics as well.
The question that every Twins fan is asking is “When will Joe Mauer return?”. This is the $184 million dollar question, as Joe is in the first year of his new 8 year, $184 million dollar contract. Yet he has only played in 9 games out of the 35 played so far. His missed time is due to Bilateral leg weakness and a viral infection at the same time. The Twins believe the leg weakness was caused by his off-season knee surgery and the lack of preparation in Spring Training before the Regular Season started.
Both the Twins and Joe later admitted that he was not ready strength-wise to start the Regular Season. Then I only ask, “Why did he start the season if he wasn’t ready?”. Yes, I know he is the face of the franchise and was entering the first year of his new contract, the largest ever given to a Twins player, but you have to make sure he is as healthy as possible. This could be a very long 8 year contract for the Twins. If he continues to have knee issues, they will have to seriously consider moving him to a different position.
Everyone immediately says to move him to first base, but you have to remember that the Twins have Morneau under contract through the 2013 season and potentially longer if they choose to re-sign him. I think first base is truly the only position to consider moving Mauer to, so it would be 2014 season at the earliest. However, if you move Mauer to a different position, who goes behind the plate? Drew Butera? Steve Holms? The Twins will be lucky to find a catcher with half as much talent that Joe has, when he is healthy.
If I’m the Twins, I would let Mauer take as much time as he needs this year to get healthy and slowly work him back into the lineup. Reports are saying he is still a few weeks away, but has been working out at Target Field and will likely go on a rehab assignment by the end of the month before he returns to the Twin Cities. So if you are planning on going a minor league game in late-May, be on the look out for those sideburns.
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