A Minnesota Twins team hit hard by injuries in 2011 got some bad news on the injury front early in 2012, as reliever Joel Zumaya ended his workout early with an arm issue. He'll have an MRI on Sunday. Zumaya has a history of arm injuries, missing all of 2011 after hurting his arm while pitching against the Twins in 2010.
Zumaya's arm injury will be the biggest thing to watch the rest of the weekend down in Fort Myers, Fla., but it's not the only thing to keep an eye on. FOXSportsNorth.com will track reports from the news outlets already in Florida until March 4, when Tyler Mason will begin covering the team in Fort Myers. Here's a look at some of Saturday's storylines from camp:
Twins hoping Gibson can return this season: Right-hander Kyle Gibson, the Twins' first-round pick in 2009, had Tommy John ligament replacement elbow surgery in September. The injury typically takes 9-12 months of recovery, and Twins general manager Terry Ryan told reporters in Fort Myers that the team expects Gibson to pitch again in the minors late this season.
"I think we anticipate him pitching this summer," Ryan told reporters. "In fact, I don't think, I know," Ryan told reporters Saturday. "It's not anything different than the schedule."
Ryan added that Gibson likely won't rejoin his Rochester team, but the level at which he pitches won't be the important thing.
"We want to make sure he's right before we expose him too much," Ryan told reporters. "If we have to start him in A ball or in Double-A, I don't care where he starts, that's not important, actually. It's where he ends up in the end. If he's 100 percent, we'll be very pleased about that."
Gibson, 24, pitched for Triple-A Rochester in 2011, going 3-8 in 18 starts with a 4.81 ERA. An arm injury while pitching in college at Missouri caused him to slide in the draft to No. 22 overall when the Twins selected him.
Minnesota wants Revere to bunt more: Twins center fielder Ben Revere played 117 games with Minnesota last year, his first full season in the majors. Revere batted .267 with a .310 on-base percentage and set a Twins rookie record with 34 stolen bases.
But one thing the Twins hope to see from the 23-year-old Revere in 2012 is more bunting. Revere had just four bunt hits last season, but he's been working on bunting already in spring training, according to reports.
"He has to do that," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, according to MLB.com. "That's part of his game, he has to bunt, he has to drop bunts down, he has to work on it, get better at it. That's the natural progression here as you grow as a player."
Twins players sound off on Braun: Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun had his 50-game suspension for a positive drug test overturned by an arbitrator on Friday, meaning the star left fielder won't miss any time this season. Braun pleaded his innocence in a press conference Friday, saying he was the "victim" of a failed process.
One day later, a few Twins players talked to the Pioneer Press about Braun's situation.
"He appealed and won, but he still lost," said reliever Glen Perkins, the Twins' player representative. "The flaw is that some way, somehow, that (positive test result) got out. I don't know who leaked it. He got exonerated from the suspension, but he didn't get cleared from the accusation."
Minnesota third baseman Danny Valencia played with Braun at the University of Miami. While Valencia didn't want to answer questions about Braun, according to the Pioneer Press, he did offer one quote about the situation.
"I'm just happy he got exonerated," Valencia said. "The truth came out."
