The Twins have shut down 28-year old lefty swinging catcher Joe Mauer for the rest of the 2011 season due to pneumonia. Mauer signed a big 8-year, $184 million dollar deal last winter and his first year under his new contract was very disappointing from the Twins’ point of view. Mauer played in only 82 games for the Twins this year and he was 85 for 296 (.287 avg, .729 OPS) with 38 runs scored, 3 homers and 30 RBIs. He has now played in 918 games in his first 8 years with the Twins and he is 1,096 of 3,388 (.323 avg, .874 OPS) with 545 runs scored, 84 homers, 502 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. With the Twins shutting down Mauer for the season, it means that 28-year old righty swinging Drew Butera is going to be the starting catcher the last two weeks of the year. He has played in 82 games for the Twins this year and he is 34 for 216 (.157 avg, .421 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 2 homers and 19 RBIs. Butera is probably the worst hitter of any position player in the majors right now, so don’t expect any heroics from his bat the last two weeks of the 2011 season.

The Twins signed 26-year old switch-hitting shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka to a 3-year, $9.25 million dollar deal over the winter after he led Japan with a .346 batting average in 2010. Major league pitchers have had little trouble dominating Nishioka, reminding him that Japan is akin to AAA baseball. Nishioka has played in 68 games overall this year and he is 50 for 221 (.226 avg, .527 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 0 homers, 19 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has shown signs of life with the bat as of late. In his last 22 games, Nishioka is 18 for 66 (.273 avg) with 5 runs scored, 0 homers and 5 RBIs. Nishioka is going to have to impress the Twins next spring if he’s going to make the team in 2012.

28-year old righty swinging catcher Drew Butera has been awful for the Twins so far this year. Butera has played in 64 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 29 for 171 (.170 avg, .467 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 2 homers and 16 RBIs. He has now played in 113 games in his first two years with the Twins and he is 57 for 313 (.182 avg, .497 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 4 homers and 29 RBIs. The Twins really need to go out this off-season and get a legit backup catcher because Butera belongs nowhere near a major league baseball field.

25-year old righty swinging outfielder Delmon Young is having a pretty poor season for the Twins. In 2010, Young played in 153 games in which he was 170 for 570 (.298 avg, .826 OPS) with 77 runs scored, 21 homers, 112 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. The Twins were hoping that Young would produce about the same kind of numbers that he did in 2010 in 2011, but that just hasn’t been the case so far. Young has played in 62 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 62 for 233 (.266 avg, .636 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 2 homers, 22 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Twins need Young to pick up the pace with the bat the rest of the season as they are having a very hard time scoring runs this year.

26-year old switch-hitting Tsuyoshi Nishioka started this year as the Twins’ starting 2B. He suffered a broken leg on a takeout slide early in the year. The Twins decided to move him back to SS when he returned from his rebab assignment. The one thing that has been consistent about Nishioka’s play this year is the fact that he just can’t seem to hit the ball. Nishioka has played in 22 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 14 for 74 (.189 avg, .489 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 0 homers, 5 RBIs and 1 stolen base in 4 attempts. Nishioka has also whiffed 18 times this year as he looks overmatched quite a bit by major league pitchers so far. The Twins were expecting Nishioka to be an offensive force for them this year. In Nishioka’s four years in Japan, he played in 510 games in which he was 614 of 2,017 (.304 avg, .823 OPS) with 345 runs scored, 41 homers, 189 RBIs and 93 stolen bases. The Twins really need Nishioka to pick things up with the bat soon.