Mystery Surrounding Joe Mauer's Ailment May Be Cleared Up Thursday

If there is a mystery ailment other than the leg weakness and sore shoulder that have sidelined Twins all-star catcher Joe Mauer for two months, club President Dave St. Peter said he’s not aware of it.

Speculation continues as to what has prolonged Mauer’s return to the lineup, all without proof.

“There are a lot of closet doctors out there,” St. Peter said. “I trust our doctors. I expect (Mauer) will be back relatively soon.”

This means that the Twins — and the Twins medical staff — put Mauer in a position where they knew he was unlikely to succeed. Mauer is about a week away from a rehab assignment that, it’s assumed, will focus on his catching as much as it will getting him live at-bats. We have to assume that the check on his SI joint and on his surgically-repaired knee came back well and now he just has to get into baseball shape. It’s simply a wonder how they let him do that before, which opens the doors to questions about how they’ll decide he’s ready this time around.

So is Mauer actually going to come back and earn some of that $23,000,000 this year?

[Pioneer Press, Baseball Reference, SI, Image via Getty]