Twins C Joe Mauer To Start Friday After Long Absence From Lineup

The news Minnesota Twins fans were hoping for has arrived: catcher Joe Mauer has been penciled into the lineup card for Friday night’s game against the San Diego Padres. Fox Sports North’s Tyler Mason tweeted the lineup:

A little over two weeks ago, the Twins were a team in ruins. They had lost 19 of their previous 24 games, and practically no one in the lineup could hit. The outlook is considerably rosier presently, thanks to a subsequent stretch that has seen them win 11 of their last 13. At 28-39, the Twins still have plenty of work cut out for them, but it ought to be fun to see what this suddenly resurgent team can do with their perennial MVP candidate back in the batter’s box.

Yes, apparently it’s actually going to happen. From Tom Pelissaro (via 1500ESPN.com):

Just a little refresher ... Joe Mauer is a baseball catcher and plays for a team called the Minnesota Twins. Some time ago, he was considered one of the best baseball catchers in baseball, but then -- and again, this was ages ago -- he tried to play but couldn’t play well and nobody was quite sure why.

So while it’s obviously good news that Mauer is catching again in extended spring training, there’s probably reason for just a little bit more optimism than one might find in the typical road-to-recovery story. From 1500espn.com:

The Minnesota Twins’ ailing All-Star played three innings at catcher in an extended spring training game, his first game action at the position since he went on the disabled list on April 14.

The good news is that Joe Mauer took a little batting practice Tuesday. The bad news is that he doesn’t have any idea when he’ll actually play baseball again. First there was the knee injury that limited him in March and April and ultimately landed him on the Disabled List. And then there was the viral infection that knocked him flat for two weeks. Mauer (via 1500ESPN.com):

Mauer’s still out indefinitely, Justin Morneau’s still not hitting, and the last-place Twins are 12-22. When is Opening Day in 2012, exactly?

The news about the Twins isn’t really news, and it’s not really bad … But it’s not good, either, and if the Twins don’t get some good news soon, Twins news will simply be irrelevant. The latest from Ken Rosenthal about two of the regulars on medical leave:

A week ago, Mauer and Nishioka were both a few weeks away from coming off the DL, so this post is mostly an excuse to mention that Twins catchers this season are batting a cool .152 with exactly frigid zero home runs. How did Rene Rivera earn his return trip to the Show? He batted .200 in 13 games with Rochester.

But while Mauer is getting stronger every day, he still isn’t hitting, catching, or throwing. He’s very much still in the beginning stages of his rehab program, which means a return to the Twins’ lineup isn’t imminent.

Mauer will soon get himself back to participating in baseball activities. Once he gets comfortable doing that, he’ll be sent on a minor-league rehab assignment to get him up to speed. Once he’s up to speed, he’ll be brought back to the Twins. That seems to be at least a few weeks away, and the struggling Twins can only hope that by then they haven’t completely dropped out of the race.

The injury as initially reported was so vague and ominous, that reclassifying it as “orthopedic soreness” seems like a minor victory. McWane also confirmed that Mauer’s viral illness and leg weakness were not directly connected. Right now Mauer is concentrating on getting stronger and regaining the weight that was lost during his illness, and he has yet to resume baseball-related activities.

But it isn’t all bad news. That viral infection that Mauer was battling? He’s over that, now. Even though the infection set Mauer’s recovery back by roughly a week and cost him some weight, he’s currently working out and trying to rebuild his leg strength, the loss of which sent him to the DL in the first place. So Mauer is most definitely making progress.

Not so fast. Joe Mauer, who is the first to acknowledge that he isn’t a doctor, doesn’t think the two issues are related. From the Pioneer Press:

“I’m not a doctor or anything, but I don’t think they’re related,” he said. “Before I started feeling sick, (the DL stint) was going to be done. I couldn’t go out there and play. I was just making things worse.“Mauer thinks the leg weakness is related to a much more simple explanation -- his legs weren’t strong enough coming out of spring training, in part because he had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in the offseason that caused him to miss a significant portion of his offseason regiment.

Obviously, we’ll see. The Twins think Mauer is weak because of this virus, but until someone’s able to confirm, he won’t be entirely out of the woods. But the Twins are optimistic, and if Mauer is simply having trouble because he’s been bogged down by an infection, it stands to reason he should be able to make a full and fairly fast recovery.

We can all cross our fingers. Love the Twins, hate the Twins, or think the Twins are okay, we can all agree that baseball is more fun when Joe Mauer’s on the field, so hopefully this really is just about a bug.

Additionally, Smith said that the team is not considering changing Mauer’s position from catcher at this time. People have been wondering if Mauer would be able to stick behind the plate from the time he first arrived, but so far, the Twins haven’t seen any reason to make a move.

Of course, this all hinges on what’s actually wrong with Mauer, so until that’s figured out, no concrete statements can be made, and no certain conclusions can be reached. Odds are that Mauer’s not dealing with anything severe, and he should be able to make a fairly rapid return to catching, but major problems must first be ruled out.

One complication is that, while Mauer was set to visit a specialist in Baltimore on Friday to see about his issue, he’s been delayed due to a presumably unrelated illness. Mauer went to the hospital Thursday night complaining of flu-like symptoms, and he’s still not feeling very well. So any visit to any specialist will be delayed.

The cause of Mauer’s weakness is, at this point, a mystery. One thing that seems to be certain is that it isn’t coming from his troublesome knees. Gardenhire speculates that Mauer may actually be feeling weak because he’s trying to compensate for the knee he had operated on over the offseason, but no one knows for sure. It’s worth noting that Mauer has been diagnosed with inflammation of the sacroiliac joint in the past, located between his spine and his pelvis.

In a piece titled “Maybe It Is Time To Panic In Minnesota,” Dave Cameron writes:

Of course, on the 15th of April this is mostly rank speculation. But Mauer’s injury has to be a real concern. ESPN.com’s Stephania Bell:

The reason? Mauer is reportedly dealing with bilateral leg weakness that is also having an effect on his hips and shoulders. He’s going to Baltimore to see a specialist on Friday, and after that visit we should know a little more about what’s going on. But this certainly sounds pretty ominous, particularly for a catcher with a history of lower body problems. If it’s a nerve concern, that could be significant.