With Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, J.J. Hardy, Orlando Hudson and Nick Punto all not available at times this season, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said the team wouldn't be where it is in the standings if it wasn't for one of the best benches the team has had in years.
"We've got some pretty good guys off the bench," Gardenhire said.
Regarding position players, Hardy and Hudson are both back now after each one spent two stints on the disabled list. Punto is scheduled to come off the DL soon, and there might not be room on the roster for infielder Matt Tolbert once he is ready to be activated.
As for Morneau, it's been more than a month since he suffered a concussion at Toronto. And while the Twins' reports on Morneau have been cautiously optimistic, a source close to the All-Star first baseman reported it will be fortunate if Morneau is back as early as Sept. 1.
Morneau himself acknowledged how unpredictable the recovery is, having good days followed by not-so-good ones. That's something you hear a lot of with people trying to come back from a concussion; there is no consistency day to day.
That's a good reason why the Twins are not going to rush Morneau back into action. Another is that he has a history of concussions.
Morneau is without a doubt one of the best first basemen in baseball and one of the great hitters in the game, a player who contributes so much that it is amazing to see the Twins play so well without him for the second year in a row.
Give Michael Cuddyer a lot of credit for taking over first base again, after previously having been moved to third base for a stretch, too. That's why Gardenhire describes Cuddyer as the team MVP during this stretch without Morneau.