A Schelling For Your Thoughts

When he said he felt great Wednesday, manager Ron Gardenhire penciled him in to lead off and play center field for the Twins. Span was not in the lineup Thursday, but is expected to play this weekend in Cleveland.

“We’ve left it up to him to come in and tell us when he thinks he can play,” said head trainer Rick McWane. “He came in this morning and said that he would like to get ready to go tomorrow.”

Span went 0-for-3 on Wednesday, and caught the only ball hit to him during four innings in center field. He is only expected to play in a few games the rest of the way, and may not get a full nine innings in any of them.

Right-hander Scott Baker, who pitched an inning out of the bullpen Wednesday for his first appearance in more than a month, felt good Thursday morning, McWane said.

Kubel intends to make weekend road trip

MINNEAPOLIS — While he has not been shut down completely, Jason Kubel is unlikely to pinch hit over the final week unless absolutely necessary. But Kubel did tell Twins manager Ron Gardenhire that he wanted to make the road trip with the club this weekend.

In order to do so, Kubel will need to take swings in the cage to get himself ready to pinch-hit. According to Gardenhire, that’s something Kubel has not done since being limited to a pinch-hit role for the remainder of the season.

“I talked with him this morning, I said, ‘Is there any reason you should go on this road trip?'” Gardenhire said. “And he says he wants to be with the guys. I said, ‘Well, then you have to tell me that if there’s an emergency situation, I can put you in there. He said, ‘I’ll do whatever you need me to do.'”

Kubel has been dealing with pain in his left foot, which has been lingering since he sprained it nearly four months ago. The injury put Kubel on the disabled list for six weeks, but he will not fully recover until he has time to rest it completely in the offseason.

Twins outfielder Jason Repko, who is dealing with concussion symptoms stemming from being hit in the helmet with a pitch on Sunday, will not make the trip to Cleveland. He has not been entirely ruled out, but is unlikely to play again this season.