Twins Today, June 15, 2006

The Minnesota Twins designated third baseman Tony Batista for assignment on Tuesday.  Brought in to add some pop to the lineup Batista was hitting just .236/.303/.388 on the year.  “We need to change it up a little bit,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of his team.  The Twins will go with a committee at third base, featuring luminaries Nick, Punto, Luis Rodriguez, Terry Tiffee and Juan Castro, in a hope to “add a bit more speed to the offense.”

As part of the changes to their infield, the Twins recalled Jason Bartlett from AAA Rochester on Tuesday to where they banished him at the end of spring training.  Bartlett was hitting .306/.336/.443 at Rochester, but has he learned to be a “more vocal leader” of the infield as Gardenhire wished?  “He’s doing everything, being a leader in the infield, talking to pitchers, doing all the things we’ve asked of him, and now we just hope he carries it over up here.” Bartlett will be the Twins starting shortstop.  The previous starter, Juan Castro learned of his demotion by reading Wednesday’s paper.  “It’s kind of disappointing a little bit, but that’s the way baseball goes,” Castro said.  “We signed Juany to be one of our role guys,” Gardenhire said. “The circumstances put him out there as the everyday shortstop, and he did a very good job. Now, we’re getting back to this young man (Bartlett).”

The Twins have organized a “Vote Joe” campaign to try to get Twin City fans to get out the all-star vote for the team’s starting catcher.  At upcoming games, the team will distribute 10,000 buttons per game as part of the campaign.  “I’d be the president,” Gardenhire said. “I’m 100 percent behind this young man, he’s a great catcher.” After a .386/.432/.554 May and a ridiculously-hot June in which he’s hitting .467/.529/.667, Mauer has raised his PPS of .965 (.376/.442/.523).  That figure leads the AL’s second best hitting catcher (Jorge Posada) by 0.64 and he’s over a 100 points better than Victor Martinez and Ramon Hernandez, however, he is not one of the top five AL vote-getters and trails the vote-leader Jason Varitek by over 300,000 votes.  “If he were with the Yankees, he’d be No. 1,” center fielder Torii Hunter said. “He’s killing Varitek and he’s killing Posada. He’s out-playing Rodriguez, and Pudge is playing pretty good. But they are in the big markets and the names that people already know.”

It’s starting to sound like the Twins are thinking about cutting Designated Hitter Rondell White, who is hitting just .190 with nary a homer on the season.  “It just isn’t working out,” general manager Terry Ryan said. “(Manager Ron Gardenhire) has gone with Rondell a long time, and there are consequences when you don’t produce. All of us are accountable; I am, and he is.” But Ryan added that he thinks that White will “ultimately is going to be OK. . . . I haven’t given up,” Ryan said. “He hasn’t changed his work ethic. He hasn’t changed being a positive teammate. He still possesses bat speed.”

After a week that featured game winning grand slams by Morneau and Kubel (is it pronounced KOOB-ul or Koo-BELL?), the Twins are within two of the franchise record of most grand slams in a season.  The 2006 team has six (Cuddyer 2, Morneau, Hunter, Kubel, Batista) to tie the 1962 and 1970 teams (Brant Alyea and Rick Renick?).  The franchise record is eight set in 1961. 

Injury News . . . Designated Hitter Ruben Sierra, on the shelf with a torn biceps, reported to AAA Rochester for a rehab stint.  He will play three of an anticipated eight games for the Red Wings in the outfield.  “When we get ready to come back home [from six-game road trip to Pittsburgh and Houston], we’re going to see how he’s doing, and if he’s handling himself and ready to come back,” Gardenhire said. . . . Left fielder Shannon Stewart, DLed with a sore left foot, has performed plenty of running drills in the outfield but has yet to run the bases.  The team has not yet decided on dates for a possible rehab assignment.  Some team officials believe that Stewart will be able to play as soon as early as next week’s inter-league road trip.