The Twins have placed lefty reliever Jose Mijares on the 15-day disabled list with a strained elbow. He has pitched in 5 games this season for the Twins and he is 0-0 with a 6.00 ERA and a 2.67 WHIP. He has allowed 6 hits (2 homers) in only 3 innings this season. The Twins have recalled 22-year old righty reliever Alex Burnett to replace Mijares in the pen. Burnett has pitched in 2 games for the Twins earlier this season and he was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. Ron Mahay will now be the top lefty out of the pen for the Twins until Mijares is ready to return to action.

The Twins either need Nick Punto to start hitting or he needs to take a seat and let Brendan Harris play more at 3B. Punto has played in 4 games this season and he is 4 for 22 (.182 avg, .481 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and 2 stolen bases. Punto just doesn’t have the bat to be a asset at 3B for a major league baseball team. Harris isn’t exactly a good choice to start at 3B either but he’s a much better hitter than Punto is.

The Twins have promoted 38-year old lefty reliever Ron Mahay to the show. Mahay pitched in 4 games in A-ball last season in which he was 0-1 with a 1.93 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. He was just getting in shape in the minors as he signed late in spring training with the Twins. He pitched in 16 games (0 starts) for the Twins last year and he was 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. I think he will help out the Twins’ pen in 2010. To make room for Mahay on the active roster they sent down 22-year old righty reliever Alex Burnett. Burnett pitched in 2 games (0 starts) for the Twins so far this season and he was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. To make room on the 40-man roster for Mahay the Twins moved Joe Nathan from the 15-day D.L. to the 60 day D.L.

Carl Pavano has gotten off to a very nice start early in this 2010 season for the Minnesota Twins, and he is one of the reasons the Twins are the early leaders in the AL Central with a 6-2 record thus far.  Pavano started off his season with a very strong outing against the Los Angeles Angels, who have one of the most dangerous lineups in the American League.  In 7.0 strong innings, Pavano gave up only 1 earned run on 6 hits, while striking out 6.  He followed that with another good outing against the Boston Red Sox, another one of the top teams in the AL.  Once again Pavano gave up just 1 earned run on just 4 hits, while going 6.0 innings and striking out 4.  After his first two starts, Pavano is 2-0 with 1.38 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and has 10 strikeouts.  This is a great sign for the Twins, and if Pavano can continue to give them good outings all season it bodes well for their hopes on winning another Central Division Title.

Defending A.L. MVP Joe Mauer is off to a fast start in 2010. He has played in 7 games for the Twins this season and he is 8 for 21 (.381 avg, 1.167 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer and 4 RBIs. He has walked 5 times while only whiffing twice as he is seeing the ball well right now. The way the lineup is set up I look for Mauer to get over 100 RBIs this season to go along with a outstanding batting average. The Twins just hope they can keep him healthy this year.