twins/mlb

BALTIMORE - The Twins should know sometime Friday if left fielder Delmon Young or first baseman Justin Morneau will be available soon or if a roster move will be needed so manager Ron Gardenhire can have a full 25-man roster at his disposal.

Young has sore ribs on his left side in addition to the flu. He is scheduled to have a magnetic resonance imaging exam Friday to make sure he can't aggravate the injury if he returns to action soon. Morneau has had the stomach flu all week. Thursday, for the third night in a row, Gardenhire had a two-man bench to work with.

The Twins thought they had Morneau in a position to pinch hit Wednesday, but his stomach began giving him problems again. Gardenhire said Morneau needed two more bags of intravenous fluids Wednesday night.

"That's five [bags] in a few days," Gardenhire said. "Just going to back him off. He's going through the stomach issues right now. This guy has been through an awful lot over the last year and a half, so we are going to take it easy. He can't do awful much anyway.

"Delmon, he feels a lot better today. He asked for a MRI before he proceeded with getting back into the games. That is what we are going to do, check his ribs out. He definitely feels better, but before he proceeds he wants to make sure he can't do any serious damage."

Gardenhire doesn't want to be shorthanded, so if he finds out that Morneau or Young need a few more days to recover he might opt to call someone up from Class AAA Rochester. It could open the door for the likes of infielder Trevor Plouffe or outfielder Rene Tosoni, who have gotten off to good starts.

"Delmon, he's missed three games," Gardenhire said. "I don't want to DL him if he is ready to go sometime this weekend. Maybe he's another day away.

"But on the flip hand, we can't keep playing with only two guys on the bench with Morneau being sick. I'm not sure how much through the weekend with Morneau, too. We'll get more definitive answers [Friday] and see where I'm at."

If the Twins need another player from Rochester, it will add to the record number of players they have called up this month.

According to the Red Wings public relations department, the last time the team lost five players to the parent club in April was 1988 -- when Rochester was an Orioles affiliate.

Gardenhire addresses the minor leaguers every spring training, telling the ones at the higher levels to be on top of their games because anything can happen once the season starts.

Sure enough, the Twins have made five calls to Rochester.

"It tells them I'm not lying to them when I go down and talk to them," Gardenhire said.

• Indications are that the Twins have no interest in infielder Brandon Wood, who was designated for assignment by the Angels earlier this week. The 26-year-old was a top prospect but failed to hit after becoming Los Angeles' starting third baseman last year.

• Thursday was Phil Roof's final day as the fill-in bullpen coach for the Twins. Regular bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek has recovered from several eye surgeries during the offseason and early season and is set to rejoin the club Friday.

Roof, 70, played six seasons with the Twins and spent 16 more as manager in their minor league system.