The Minnesota Twins have started their Grapefruit League campaign without their two big guns—catcher Joe Mauer and first baseman Justin Morneau.
Granted, we're only in the first week of the Grapefruit League, and there is plenty of time for the Twins to get ready as they look to win their third consecutive AL Central title, and the seventh since Ron Gardenhire took over in 2002.
I mean there's no reason to panic. We have been told that Morneau would miss approximately the first 10 games of Spring Training as he looks to return from the concussion that ended his season on July 7th, 2010—a date that has burned itself into my brain, a lot like December 7th, 1941 has for many people who were alive when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Morneau has participated in all of the Spring Training workouts and drills since reporting to Fort Myers. The Twins plan to send Morneau to Pittsburgh to visit a doctor to clear him before he takes part in a spring training game—however general manager Bill Smith has not elaborated as to when that visit may take place.
Morneau has not been able to complete the last two seasons due to injuries, perhaps missing the beginning of 2011 will be a Godsend, enabling him to finish 2011 and carry the Twins into the playoffs.
There's also no need for concern about the simple arthroscopic knee surgery Mauer had in December. It was a simple, routine procedure just to clean up his knee. Mauer, himself, has assured us that getting a few injections of supartz—a part of joint fluid therapy to help lubricate his knee—is no big deal.
In order to assure ourselves that everything is all right, we need only to look back to the 2009 season when Mauer missed all of April because of inflammation in his sacroiliac joint. He made his debut on May 1st and went on to have career bests with a .365 batting average, 28 home runs and 96 RBI as he earned the American League MVP award.
Surely this must indicate another MVP caliber season is on the horizon.
Of course, looking at the statistics so far this spring for the potential replacements of Minnesota's MVP's, it may be time for a little bit of concern.
So far this spring Mauer's replacements have a single hit in 10 at-bats.
For Drew Butera, who backed up Mauer last season, it's hard to tell if he is starting out slowly or not. So far he is hitless in four at-bats in two games. But because he only hit .197 in 2010 it's difficult to tell if anything has changed.
The other potential candidates at catcher include Jair Fernandez, who hit .176 in 12 games at Class AAA Rochester last season, Chris Herrmann, who hit .250 in Class A ball, and 29-year-old Steve Holm, who the Twins signed as a free agent in December and played 2010 for San Francisco's Class AAA team, batted .242.
The only way Gardenhire ends up penciling any of these guys in the third spot in the order is if he gets demoted back to the minors.
Taking a look at first base the picture is a little rosier.
So far Twins first basemen are hitting .333 in nine at-bats.
Chris Parmelee, who played at Class AA New Britain in 2010 has two hits in three appearances this spring. Parmelee hit .275 with six home runs in 111 games.
The other hit belongs to Jeff Bailey, who played parts of three seasons with Boston is 1-2 in two games this spring. In 2010 the 31 year old Bailey hit .289 for Class AAA Reno with seven home runs.
Even so, neither Parmelee or Bailey will make anyone forget about Morneau.
It is way too early to start worrying about the absence of the M&M boys. There's still plenty of time to put things together, I mean Denard Span is still looking for his first hit in spring training, so there's no reason to panic—yet.
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