Mauer the mauler

Joe Mauer may be on a tear like no one else right now, but he's going to have to keep it going full-throttle if he wants to hit .400. The Twins catcher batted .524 over his recent 15-game hitting streak, but he's 1-7 over his last two games. That's a .486 mark over his last 17 games. Baseball Musings projects Mauer must hit at least .451 the rest of the way to reach .400 for the season.

Fantasy Impact: There's no doubt Mauer is the best hitting catcher in baseball. His remarkable power surge (.648 SLG pct. in 2009 is 141 points over last season's mark) makes a good thing that much better. Mauer is such a complete hitter than a run at .400 is not out of the question, even if it's highly unlikely.

Mauer return set for May 1

The Twins put Joe Mauer on a rehab schedule for playing games, but it sounds like it will be at least a couple of weeks in the minors barring setbacks before the team's backstop can return to the majors.

The Twins want Mauer to get about 50 at-bats and 10 games, with at least half of those as the catcher.

Manager Ron Gardenhire said Sunday the final part of the plan is to put Mauer behind the plate for consecutive games to test his strength and stamina before activating him from the disabled list.

If Mauer stays on schedule, he's on track to rejoin the Twins for their May 1 game at home against the Kansas City Royals.

Fantasy Impact: Another two weeks shouldn't kill fantasy owners. Mauer is no messiah in fantasy baseball, however, as his batting average is his greatest plus. Mauer is more of a good complementary type who won't hurt you than he is a fantasy star.

Mauer takes BP

MLB.com reports that Joe Mauer is back to playing some baseball. He's catching bullpen sessions and finally took batting practice for the first time since September. His bad back still does not allow him to run.

Mauer told the newspaper that he still hasn't gotten to the point of running, meaning there remains no timetable for his possible return to the team. While there is nothing specific in terms of him coming back, the club believes their catcher will be back by the end of April.

The only time that Mauer has experienced pain in his inflamed right sacroiliac joint -- where the base of the spine meets the pelvis -- is when he tried to run earlier this spring. The club has said that they are going to wait until all of the inflammation is out of the joint before Mauer attempts to run again.

Fantasy Impact: Is this good news? Anything positive on Mauer is a plus for owners who drafted the batting-title challenger high this year. Mauer is still a ways away from the Majors, however, and a lack of timetable makes us believe he'll miss at least all of April.

The good news is backup Mike Redmond should be able to return as Twins catcher as early as Thursday. His groin pull will not require DL time. Those who picked up Redmond as a replacement backstop should get him back in the lineup.

Can't catch a break

Update - 1:20 p.m. 4/8/09: Redmond might be headed for the DL. His status will be updated sometime today.

4/7/09: As expected, Twins backup catcher Mike Redmond missed Tuesday night's game with a pulled groin. Third stringer Jose Morales started in a 6-5 come-from-behind walk-off Twins win. Morales struck out in all three of his at bats.

Fantasy Impact: Redmond and Morales are fairly productive for catchers. Redmond owns a career .292 average while Morales hit over .300 his last two seasons in Triple-A. Neither of them, however, has been tested on a full-time basis at the MLB level. Avoid Minnesota catchers until Mauer can return. His unknown status leaves us to believe it will be a while.

Tweaked Twins land on DL

Catcher Joe Mauer and pitchers Scott Baker and Boof Bonser all ended up on the Twins disabled list to start the season. While Mauer's still dealing with his lower back soreness and hasn't played or practiced all spring, the pitchers' problems sound much more serious.

Baker, who was scheduled to start on Opening Day against the Seattle Mariners, has soreness in his pitching shoulder and was placed on the DL retroactive to March 28. Francisco Liriano is expected to start in place of the righthander on Monday. Bonser is recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder."

Minnesota is looking less and less the favorite to win the AL Central, which should have a razor-thin margin for error with several above-average ball clubs.

Fantasy Impact: Mauer's situation is fairly fluid, and he's fallen down the list of a ton of draft boards. He'll continue to slide outside of the top five catchers now that he's going to miss the start of the season and likely needs some rehab at bats in the minors.

Baker's shoulder soreness is not a good thing, and the mid-level fantasy starter falls into limbo. Bonser had relatively zero fantasy appeal, anyway.

Twins waiting to know more on Mauer

Joe Mauer's back problem is not getting resolved, and it has the Twins making other plans for their April 6 opener.

peaking through a team spokesman, Minnesota general manager Bill Smith said Sunday that he's received no update from the doctors on Mauer.

Mauer was scheduled to return to Fort Myers, Fla., on Saturday night after seeing a specialist in Baltimore for a second opinion on his lower back. But there has been no indication as to when the Twins will get an update on the results of the exam.

Mauer was diagnosed with inflammation in the right sacroiliac joint -- where the base of the spine meets the top of the pelvis -- by team doctors following a magnetic resonance arthrogram this week. He's been unable to take part in any team workouts so far this spring due to pain in his lower back, which he first began experiencing late last season.

An MRI on Mauer's back over the offseason revealed a kidney obstruction, and he underwent surgery to eliminate the problem on Dec. 22. The hope was that it would help relieve the back pain, but that has not been the case.

The Twins' season opener is April 6 against the Mariners, and while the club has yet to declare that Mauer will miss the start of the regular season, his availability is clearly in doubt.

"The more days go by, it looks like we are going to have to ad-lib at the beginning," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said Sunday. "But we are waiting on the latest news on Joe to see where we're at."

Mauer's fantasy draft stock should be sliding at this point. Weird that the Twins don't know anything by now.