BALTIMORE -- Joe Mauer returned to the Twins lineup less than a week ago after missing the first month of the season with an inflamed sacroiliac joint in his back, but manager Ron Gardenhire has already penciled backup catcher Mike Redmond into the lineup twice since Mauer came off the disabled list.So what gives?
Wallowing below .500 and ranked 12th in the American League in runs, you would think that the Twins would want to get Mauer's ever so valuable bat into the lineup as much as possible after going without it for so long.
But Gardenhire doesn't plan to push his catcher. He doesn't want to hit the accelerator too hard with Mauer coming off of a mysterious back injury. He also doesn't want to push him as hard as he did in 2008.
"Catchers need this break. ... We caught him an awful lot last year," Gardenhire said. "This year, we're gonna kind of get back to the norm."
Mauer caught 139 games in 2008, a career high. Only three catchers were behind the plate for more games last year, and only 15 have caught more games in a season since 2000.
Gardenhire is hoping that by giving him more off days this year, he'll be fresher down the stretch as the Twins fight for a playoff spot. He stopped short of calling Mauer's injury a blessing in disguise in that regard. (Silver lining, maybe?)
"For his health, I think that's the key here," Gardenhire said. "I think maybe he'll be fresher [because of the DL time], but I can do that too as the season goes along.
"He's kind of a hard guy to gauge [his health] because he's so frickin' good."
