Polanco post 3.0

Jorge Polanco turns a double play pivot Sunday
against the Texas Rangers.

The Twins did indeed bring Trevor Plouffe and Eduardo Nunez back off the disabled list Monday and option out Pedro Florimon and Jorge Polanco.

Polanco returns to Fort Myers (high A) with two extra base hits and two walks in seven plate appearances. He started Sunday at shortstop and had a double and a walk and was involved in turning three double plays. He also messed up a rundown.

Florimon returns to Rochester (Triple A) with a major league batting average on the season of .092. He was 0-for-11 during this callup (with a walk).

I beefed here Saturday (and to a lesser extent Friday) about Florimon being in the lineup over Polanco. Now that Polanco's emergency tenure in the bigs is over, I have to concede that Ron Gardenhire didn't bury him on the bench. The 20-year-old got some playing time in each of the four games he was active for.

My real beef isn't so much that Gardy eased Polanco into the majors, but that Florimon was involved at all in filling the injury gap. I doubt I would have grumbled at all had it been Doug Bernier or James Beresford getting those starts. I fully realize that Polanco was only on the 25-man roster because, with Nunez, Plouffe and Danny Santana all on the DL, the Twins were just a sprained ankle away from Eric Fryer playing third base.

Neither Bernier nor Beresford is on the 40-man roster however, and Florimon and Polanco are. That's why they got the callups when the Twins infielders started filling the disabled list.

And as long as Florimon and Polanco are the only minor league infielders on the 40-man roster, Florimon is going to be the first choice for a return to the majors when infield reinforcements are needed.

That's a problem I'd like to see rectified.