Twins vs Mariners: News and Notes

As the calendar turns over to June, Seattle makes their only visit of the season for three in Minneapolis.

By Jon Marthaler May 31, 2013, 11:00am EDT

Brandon Maurer has been terrible on the mound for Seattle, and got pounded again on Tuesday, so he's headed back to Tacoma this week - hence the TBD in the Mariners rotation for Sunday.
Speaking of demotions, the team also demoted struggling second baseman Dustin Ackley (batting .205) and struggling catcher Jesus Montero (batting .208). Montero, in fact, has been so bad that the Mariners have officially given up on him as a catcher; he's going to learn to play first base at Tacoma and, presumably, learn how to hit too.
All of this is just a reminder that youth movements are fun and prospects are fun and the minors are fun - but they're also a crapshoot. Montero was in the top six prospects in baseball in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Ackley was #11 in 2011, #12 in 2012. And now both are back in Triple-A, trying again to find themselves. Their careers are still getting going - Ackley is 25, Montero 23 - but prospects are not a straight line and they are not a guarantee.
Injury updates: First baseman Justin Smoak and outfielder Mike Morse have been day-to-day, the former with a strained oblique, the latter with a strained quad. Both could return as soon as tonight.

Four wins in a row tends to help things; the Twins now have a better record than four other AL teams (the Mariners, the Blue Jays, the Royals, and of course the Astros.) And they are just five and a half back so, you know, if you're the type to be an optimist, you can walk around feeling all happy today.
Brian Dozier hit a homer Thursday, but has a .267 on-base percentage in the leadoff spot this year, which is actually an improvement, since he's at .259 overall. I don't know your opinion on Ron Gardenhire, and you can make an argument that he's only working with the crap he has available, but still: he regularly submits a lineup card with Brian Dozier first in the batting order even though it is a minor miracle every time Dozier gets on first base.
Aaron Hicks drew a walk on Thursday, his first in twelve days. In that same stretch, though, he's batting .256 with three home runs and two doubles, so maybe, just maybe, things are looking up for the guy.
The Twins pitchers are 0-8 at the plate so far this year - a continuation of last year, when they were just 1-19. Scott Diamond had last season's only hit by a Twins pitcher.
Injury report: Trevor Plouffe is officially on the DL with a calf problem. Tim Wood hit the 60-day DL last week. And Wilkin Ramirez - who, let us remember, claimed not to know the months of the year in any language - is still on the 7-day concussion DL.

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