Injury Report: Pelfrey's Back

On Sunday, the Twins placed RHP Mike Pelfrey on the 15-day DL, retroactive to June 19 (the last time he pitched), with a strained back.

His back tightened up during pre-game exercising on Saturday. He couldn't get it loose before his scheduled start on Sunday, so on the DL he went.

There's no indication of whether he'll be able to return when he's eligible, but it's doubtful this injury is serious.

LHP Pedro Hernandez was recalled to start on Sunday, and then was promptly optioned back after the game. It was a good thing that Pelfrey mentioned his sore back on Saturday; it gave the Twins time to notify Hernandez so he could drive six hours from Louisville, Kentucky, (where the Red Wings were playing) to Cleveland. If Pelfrey had waited until he woke up on Sunday to report it, the Twins would have been up a creek. Anthony Swarzak normally would've been able to make a spot start, but since he had to clean up PJ Walters' horrible one-inning start on Saturday, he was unavailable.

Although the transaction hasn't been officially made yet, the Twins have announced that they're calling up Kyle Gibson to replace Pelfrey on the roster. THE Kyle Gibson.

Injury Report: Hicksey Hammey

On Monday, the Twins placed Aaron Hicks on the 15-day DL with a left hamstring strain. He suffered it in Sunday evening's game while running to first base.

The hamstrings are the group of muscles running along the back of the thigh from the hip to the knee. If you've ever over-done lunges or weeding your garden, you've felt your hamstrings the next morning.

I haven't seen any indication how serious his injury is or how soon the Twins expect him back (probably because Monday's off-day didn't allow for the reporters to ask anyone about it). Fortunately, he didn't do that patented "shot-by-a-sniper" fall that people do when a hammie is ruptured. (I've witnessed that happening to an acquaintance, and it wasn't pretty.)

The Twins recalled Oswaldo Arcia to take Hicks' place on the roster. It sounds like Clete Thomas, who was added to the roster earlier this month, will be patrolling center field until either Hicks or Wilkin Rameriz comes off the DL.

Injury Report: From Head to Calf

The Twins placed Trevor Plouffe on the 15-day DL on Thursday with a strained left calf muscle.

Poor Trevor. This is the worst of all possible luck. He was activated off the 7-day concussion DL on Wednesday, just to strain his calf in pregame warm-ups. He didn't even play in a game.

He missed a fair amount of time in Spring Training with the same injury.

The Twins don't believe it'll take the full 15 days for Plouffe to heal, but with a 13-man (!) pitching staff, they can't afford to have him sitting on the roster unavailable to play. Also, they weren't able to make the move retroactive to the beginning of the first DL stint since it's a separate incident.

The Twins recalled Chris Colabello to replace Plouffe on the roster. Colabello probably didn't even get unpacked after being optioned Wednesday to make room for Plouffe.

Injury Report: Head Cases

Sorry about posting this so late. I treated myself to some relaxation time.

On May 22, the Twins placed 3B Trevor Plouffe on the 7-day DL with concussion-like symptoms. He suffered it during the Braves series plowing into 2B Dan Uggla trying to break up a double play. Plouffe's helmet flew off and Uggla's knee met his head with force. It kind of reminded me of Justin Morneau's collision back in 2010, which was pretty worrisome.

After Plouffe's collision, he laid on the field for a long while, holding his head. And he looked really woozy as he was escorted off the field. The Twins wasted no time and put him on the DL right after the game.

Fortunately, it appears that Plouffe is going to be ok. He's passed his concussion tests, and he's gone through some workouts with no lingering effects. He hopes to be back in the lineup as soon as he's eligible on Wednesday. I hope so too.

The Twins selected the contract of 3B Chris Colabello to replace Plouffe on the active roster and transferred Darin Mastrioanni to the 60-day DL to make room for Colabello on the 40-man roster.

Bonus reading: Here is an article from my friend Seth over at Twins Daily on Chris Colabello's interesting back story.

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On Monday, the Twins placed OF Wilkin Ramirez on the 7-day DL with concussion-like symptoms. He suffered it on Sunday during the Tigers series when he ran into Josh Willingham while going for a fly ball. I didn't see the play, but apparently, Ramirez's jaw hit Willingham's forearm. Apparently, Josh Willingham has forearms like lead pipes.

The Tigers' team doctor diagnosed Ramirez. Ramirez initially disagreed with the diagnosis, claiming that the only portion of the concussion test he failed was naming the months backwards from December. He insisted that he can't normally name the months any way, English or Spanish.

(Admit it, you just named the months backwards from December.)

Ramirez wanted to appeal the DL stint, until the flight to Milwaukee. He got sick. It was later revealed that the months question was not the only part of the test he failed.

While I appreciate Ramirez's drive to stay on the active roster, I sincerely hope he realizes that brain injuries are nothing to fool around with. It's too soon to tell whether he'll recover quickly or not.

Catcher Chris Herrmann was recalled to replace Ramirez.

Injury Report: Mastroianni AND Wait...Who's This? Oswaldo Arcia (belated)

The Twins have placed Darin Mastroianni on the 15-day disabled list with a stress reaction to his left ankle.

A stress reaction is an injury to the bone, but no fracture is seen on the imaging -- kind of like a "pre- stress fracture," I guess. It's usually happens with runners, often caused by the force of pounding of the feet on the ground and compounded by improper shoes. It can also be caused by bone deficiencies like osteoporosis.

He's been nursing a sprained ankle and bone bruise since the last week of Spring Training. It's not clear if this is related to that, but I am willing to bet it is.

And recovery doesn't sound like it's going to be a walk in the park. He needs a boot. And he needs to be non-ambulatory for a while. In fact, according to the StarTribune's Phil Miller:

Mastroianni's injury worse than Twins thought, he'll be out 3 weeks. Foot in a boot for 10-14 days. Arcia should get a long look up here.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) April 17, 2013

The Twins will recall Oswaldo Arcia to replace Mastro's roster spot.

Sources:
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_23038836/minnesota-twins-drop-aaron-hicks-lineup-scratch-darin
http://www.drpribut.com/sports/stress_fracture.html
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/cme/conferences/pdfs/RAD-2012-PDFs/02_MON-Greenspan.pdf

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Note: I should have introduced you to Oswaldo Arcia before Monday, because that's when he got to play. I figured I could get to it on Tuesday, but he was sent right back down (he was up because Wilkin Ramirez was on paternity leave). But now that we'll get a good, long look at him, here he is.

Wait Now...Who's This?

Oswaldo Arcia

Outfielder
Bats lefty; throws righty
Almost 22 years old

What he looks like:

Source: Getty Images

Where did he come from:

Signed as a 16-year-old free agent.

A few things to get excited about:

• He's a highly-rated prospect
• He's young
• He has some power and is generally a good all-around hitter

A few things to temper your enthusiasm

• His strikeout and walk rates are something one would want for a pitcher, but he's a hitter
• He's not really a center fielder (in case you're thinking he could fill in for Aaron Hicks)
• He's still young

Injury Report: Cole DeVries and Wait Now...Who's This: Pedro Hernandez

The Twins have placed Cole DeVries on the 15-day Disabled List, retroactive to March 30, with a strained right forearm.

He noticed tightness during his final appearance in Spring Training. After resting it for a few days, he still felt tightness when throwing his breaking balls.

He and the Twins are taking a cautious approach; they don't want it to get worse. He's scheduled to have an MRI on Monday.

This is of concern to me because Nick Blackburn's woes started with forearm tightness. Here's hoping Cole's isn't as serious.

The Twins have recalled lefty pitcher Pedro Hernandez to replace DeVries on the roster.

In other transaction news: the Twins have activated pitcher Anthony Swarzak off the DL and optioned Tyler Robertson to AAA Rochester.

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Wait Now...Who's This?

Pedro Hernandez

Starting Pitcher
Right-handed
Almost 24 years old

What he looks like:

Source: StarTribune

Where did he come from:

Acquired in the Francisco Liriano trade last season. Made Twins debut on Sunday.

A few things to get excited about:

• He had an outstanding spring (not that that matters much)
• He's young
• He looked pretty sharp on Sunday

A few things to temper your enthusiasm

• He's probably going to give up too many hits
• He's probably not going to strike out very many batters
• He's still young

Wait Now...Who's This? Wilkin Ramirez

There are a few new faces on the Minnesota Twins roster. The season is starting soon, and I thought I'd introduce them to you. If you haven't had a chance to see any Spring Training games, you probably won't know who you're looking at when you're watching on Opening Day. Back in the day, the Twins had a "Get To Know 'Em" ad campaign, but I'm sure that phrase is all trademarked and stuff, and I'd get in a whole heap of trouble if I used it, and I've been pretty busy lately, and the last thing I need is a whole bunch of "cease and desist" emails and phone calls, even though my tiny little blog isn't likely to dilute their precious trademark or anything, but whatever, so I present to you...

Wait Now...Who's This?

Wilkin Ramirez

Outfielder and Pinch Hitter
Right-handed
27 years old

What he looks like:

Source: Getty Images

Where did he come from:

Signed as a minor league free agent after the 2011 season. Spent the 2012 season in the minors.

A few things to get excited about:

• He had an outstanding spring (not that that matters much)
• He has some pop in his bat
• He dominated AAA
• On Tuesday, according to Baseball Reference, he was baseball's 5 millionth player appearance
• He drove in a run on Wednesday

A few things to temper your enthusiasm

• He's going to strike out way more than he walks 
• He might strike out more than he gets hits
• He probably won't have a great batting average
• He's going to be stuck on the bench for most of the season