...like they needed another hole in their collective head.

With Alexi Casilla now on the disabled list, the Twins were forced to grab Adam Everett's cell phone number out of the waste paper basket and give him a quick buzz.  I'm not sure what that conversation was like, but I'd hate to be the schmuck who had to make the call.  Whatever happened, he's got his job back.

So now begins the situation of plugging holes and trying to decide who fits best where, and why, and exactly what the best moves are for this team going forward.  Everett, he of the "No Health In '08, Vote 'No' On Proposition 17" campaign (do you have your button?), will either side into the shortstop role or be relegated to the bench.  Nick Punto's exposure will increase, making it more likely his fantastic season at the plate will begin to regress.  Probably.  Hopefully not.  But, probably.  Then there's Brendan Harris, who's still likely to find his role changing day by day.  Brian Buscher's role is still secure as Starting Third Baseman Versus Right Handed Pitchers.

What's best?  From third to short to second, is it Buscher-Punto-Harris?  Is it Buscher-Everett-Punto?  Maybe it's Buscher-Harris-Punto, or maybe you don't like Buscher at all and it's Harris-Everett-Punto?  Or even Punto-Everett-Harris?  The options, such as they are, are endless.

We're not sure how long it will be until Casilla returns, but the bad news is that Matt Tolbert suffered the exact same injury a couple of months ago and he hasn't come back yet.  The good news, of course, is that no two people are the same and even the slightest difference in the injury could mean he'll be back much sooner.  Still, this situation needs no spin for us to realize that this is a big blow for the Twins on both sides of the ball.

The top of the batting order, now Denard Span and Punto, doesn't look all that bad.  Certainly you'd happily trade Carlos Gomez's .289 OBP for Span's .403, and Punto's .345 isn't too far off of Casilla's .351.  The problem of losing one more decent on-base threat is that the bottom of the order becomes that much weaker.  Certainly Buscher holds his own, but with Harris at .314, Everett currently at .235 and the aforementioned Gomez having a tough time, this team should probably be more worried about production from 7-8-9 in the batting order than they should be about 4-5-6 in the field.

Whatever trades for third baseman were being bandied about have suddenly become something of a secondary focus.  Trying to find a shortstop or a second baseman who can hit should become Minnesota's new primary concern.