After Friday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Joe Mauer said that he would like to be back in the lineup on Saturday, despite being removed from the game due to neck tightness. Instead the Minnesota Twins first baseman is headed to the disabled list. Jake Cave, who was acquired in a March 16 trade with the New York Yankees, was called up and immediately placed in the lineup.
“Well, Joe, going back to the play in Anaheim, has been trying to play through that neck thing, which obviously was worsening, to a point yesterday where it was a part of him coming out of the game,” said manager Paul Molitor, referring when Mauer dove after a foul ball in Friday’s game against the Angels in Los Angeles.
“The concerning part for us is that there was also some accompaniment by some other symptoms yesterday that I think involved some balance issues and light sensitivity and things that didn’t sound good.”
He was replaced as the team’s leadoff man by Logan Morrison in the fifth inning of Friday’s 8-3 loss to the Brewers. He has been placed on the 10-day disabled list, not the 7-day concussion DL, and will stay at home for “a couple of days” with a cervical strain and concussion-like symptoms.
“Just trying to see where it goes,” said Molitor, who was not aware of the concussion-like symptoms until he removed him on Friday. “We’ll be in communication with him, I don’t think there’s really any more testing that we need to do here in this short term, so just kinda see how he progresses as far as some of those things that he’s been dealing with.”
Mauer took the SCAT5 concussion assessment test after the game, and did well enough on it that his injury was not labeled a concussion. It is not a pass/fail type test, so the situation will continued to be monitored.
“It’s something we wanted to take out of Joe’s hands with his history and otherwise,” said chief baseball officer Derek Falvey. “We wanted to make sure we were more protective than normal.
“Any time you’re dealing with any types of symptoms like this for any player you’re very sensitive to it, but given Joe’s history we want to be more proactive with that,” he added. “I would say that as of right now, I don’t want to make any comments about long-term because we took a pretty cautious approach to this. We just want Joe to be in the right place when he returns. So we’ll take it day by day.”
Mauer’s injury is yet another ailment that the Twins are dealing with as they try to get over .500 and compete with the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers for the AL Central lead. Things were looking up on Friday afternoon: Miguel Sano was making progress and headed to Triple-A Rochester for a rehab stint, Trevor May had played well in Fort Myers and Triple-A, and Ervin Santana appeared on track to join the team when his 60-day disabled list stint ended on May 28.
“Obviously [Mauer] wants to be a part of it, and you compound it with the other people that we’re missing, we’ve had trouble sustaining offense,” said Molitor. “And to take one of those guys in your lineup that you know is gonna give you good at-bats, as far as potentially finding ways on or getting a two-out hit or some of those kind of things, it makes it a little more challenging.”
Sano could join the Twins on their road trip, which begins on Friday in Seattle, but Molitor said that was no sure thing.
“I think tentative is a good word,” said Molitor. “If he proves that he can be out there and running the bases and playing defense during that span, I think it will be a good sign that he’s close to being able to come up and help us.”
Sano will be Rochester’s designated hitter on Saturday, and then is expected to play five innings a third on Sunday, DH on Monday, play seven innings at third on Tuesday and nine on Wednesday — assuming he progresses as expected. “We’re hoping the weather cooperates,” he added, “[It’s] a tentative schedule, depending…how the body responds.”
Falvey said the myriad injuries present an opportunity for players on the current roster to step up.
“Collectively we have dealt with some injuries, I feel, at every turn,” he said. “Certainly, this has been a team that has had to step up for one another as we have gone along. Whether it is Jason Castro, who is down now, or Byron earlier, or otherwise — we just need our young guys to step up.
Ryan LaMarre was hitting .324/.395/.324, but could not be recalled because he was optioned on May 10 and has to spend ten days in the minors before being called up again. Mitch Garver is hitting .254/.309/.413 and Bobby Wilson is getting a chance to extend his career with Jason Castro out. Eduardo Escobar has proven to be a capable third baseman and is hitting .292/.342/.549 with seven home runs.
“We know we need to play consistently better baseball,” Falvey added. “We had a tough run there. We played well for a stretch too — some ups and downs — but I still feel like this team has a lot of talent in that room that’s going to step up soon and we hope we get more of it back soon.”
Cave made his major league debut as the No. 7 hitter on Saturday. The 25 year old from Hampton, Va. was drafted by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of Hampton Christian High School. He ended the 2017 season on New York’s 40-man roster, but was designated for assignment on March 12 after the Yankees traded for Neil Walker. The Twins acquired him on March 16 in exchange for pitcher Luis Gil.
“We got a little bit of a look from him in the spring,” said Molitor. “I think last year Jake made some changes in his approach and tried to address being more of a power type threat, and he was rewarded with probably his best minor league season.”
Cave hit .305/.351/.542 in Double-A and Triple-A last season. Falvey says he can play all three outfield positions, although LaMarre and Zach Granite, who played in 40 games with the Twins last season are faster. But for a team with three outfielders that can play center field — Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler — the offense was a necessity.
“He’s played around down there in Triple-A — primarily in the corners, but I know he can play center,” said Molitor. “He didn’t get off to a real good start, but over the last month he’s been swinging the bat really well. That’s the guy that the people down there were pointing to as far as somebody in the short term.”
Buxton, who is hitting .156/.194/.203, is getting the day off, while keeping the hot-hitting Kepler (.252/.329/.476) and Rosario (.295/.321/.551) in the lineup.
“I think he’s putting a lot of pressure on himself right now to try and find his swing,” said Molitor. “I wanted to get as many lefties as I could in there, even though (Milwaukee) has a nice left-handed bullpen. I wanted to see if we can somehow get that offense going.”
Mauer’s injury, Buxton’s scuffling and other various injuries and slumps have kept the Twins from playing to their potential their season. But when one man goes down and another struggles, it creates an opportunity for a player like Cave.
“I’ve been dreaming about this ever since I knew what baseball was,” said Cave, who found out around midnight last night, called his dad at 5:00 a.m. and took a 6:30 a.m. flight this morning. “It’s the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”
