MINNEAPOLIS — At this point last season, several of the Twins' every-day players had already been on the disabled list for extended periods of time.
Star catcher Joe Mauer was out with bilateral leg weakness. New infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka was sidelined early on with a broken leg. Pitchers Joe Nathan, Jose Mijares, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and Francisco Liriano all went on the disabled list by the end of May, as did outfielder Delmon Young and designated hitter Jim Thome.
The plethora of injuries was one of the big reasons why Minnesota finished with 99 losses in 2011, and it certainly made things difficult early on for the Twins. One year later, however, Minnesota has not had to use the disabled list nearly as often.
As of Saturday, the Twins have used the disabled list just three times since the 2012 season began. Right-hander Scott Baker was placed on the 60-day DL after having season-ending elbow surgery. First baseman Justin Morneau went on the DL with a wrist injury, and right-hander Nick Blackburn is currently on the DL with a quad injury. Blackburn threw a bullpen session Saturday and said his leg felt fine.
"Throwing out there, I didn't feel any hints of it. Nothing was coming back," Blackburn said Saturday. "Hopefully that's completely out of there."
Reliever Kyle Waldrop was also placed on the DL at the end of spring training and has yet to pitch for the Twins this season as he's dealing with a right elbow strain. He left this weekend for Fort Myers to begin a rehab assignment.
While the minor injuries are adding up, the major injuries have been few and far between.
"As long as we have Mauer and Morneau and guys that had the big-time injuries (last year), if they're staying healthy, we can deal with the small things," said reliever Brian Duensing. "That's not a big deal. We don't feel like it's all coming back or anything like that. We expect those types of things."
While most players have avoided the DL, the Twins are currently taking several smaller lumps. That includes reliever Alex Burnett, who is dealing with an elbow injury but isn't expected to have to spend any time on the DL.
"A couple days off, anti-inflammatories and I'm all good," Burnett said. "(Saturday) we're just going to ice and take another day and then be back after it (Sunday)."
Catcher Ryan Doumit nearly went on the DL last week with a calf strain, but Minnesota instead put Blackburn on the DL with his quad injury. Since then, Doumit has played in three games, including two starts, over the past 10 days. Blackburn, meanwhile, will begin a rehab assignment next week with Triple-A Rochester before rejoining the Twins.
"When you're playing this game every day, you're going to get little nagging things," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I think if you look at every team, they've got about the same thing. Every team's a little bit beat up here and there, and you have to adjust. It's just parts of the season you go through."
All things considered, the Twins are faring much better on the injury front than a year ago. Minnesota had many smaller, less serious injuries, but the big ones were particularly troublesome.
Now, the big bats — Mauer and Morneau, in particular — are staying on the field. Newcomers Josh Willingham, Jamey Carroll and Doumit have all remained relative healthy.
With the start the Twins have gotten off to this year, they can't afford to succumb to injuries like they did in 2011.
"As long as we can keep them off the DL and the 60-day DL and just keep them out there playing," Gardenhire said. "You're going to have your nicks. That's just part of the game, diving, running around, playing every day. You're going to have some of those. We can deal with those. Just stay away from any big injury and we'll be OK."
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