Plouffe almost ready to return to Twins
The Twins hope they're close to regaining the services of third baseman Trevor Plouffe, who was sent out
on a rehab assignment with Class AAA Rochester after the team's 12-6 loss to Tampa Bay on Friday.
Plouffe hasn't played since suffering nerve damage in his thumb while batting in a 2-1 victory at Kansas
City on July 20.
"The last couple days, we've been able to hit with no pain," he said. "It's something that won't fully
heal until the offseason but it's manageable right now and feels good enough to swing, so that's enough for
me."
Plouffe took batting practice with teammates Friday and got the OK to meet the Red Wings in Rochester.
"He's got to get some live at-bats," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "BP is fine, he says he feels good,
but he's got to face the ball coming in 90 miles an hour and see how it feels coming off the bat. You put
him out here tonight, he takes a swing, jams himself, we lose (another) 21 days -- I'm not going to do
that. So he needs to go hit for a couple days."
If all goes well, Plouffe said Friday he expects to be in the lineup when the Twins play Detroit at
Target Field on Monday. Second on the Twins with 19 home runs, he has missed 19 games.
"I've jammed myself before and had to sit out a few games, but this is totally different," he said.
"I've never had the nerve be bruised like it is now. The nerve is a delicate thing, and there's really no
way to handle it except to wait it out and let it heal on its own."
