Everett to the DL - UPDATED

UPDATE: Buscher it is. Apparently the team decided to make the announcement earlier than they first intended. No surprise at all -- the original post follows:

Joe Christensen is reporting that the Twins are sending Shortstop Adam Everett to the DL with tendinitis in his shoulder. I'm sure upon hearing the news there was much tearing of garments and gnashing of teeth throughout Twins Nation -- or not. There's not a player on the team who has been less beneficial to the organization so far this season than Everett (well, maybe Mike Lamb who is hitting a woeful .143), although I'll give Everett the benefit of the doubt and assume that part of his poor play has been the result of this mysterious injury. Everett last played on April 14, so I would guess that his trip to the DL will be made retroactive to that date, making him eligible to return on April 29.

So who gets called up? I don't think it's a surprise that the smart money is on Brian Buscher. The Twins will make it official one way or another after today's game. Why Buscher? Well, first off, he's unquestionably the most deserving based on what he's done for Rochester through the first 2+ weeks of the AAA season, having posted a .345 average in 58 AB's while hitting four homeruns and keeping his strikeouts down (11). Add to that the fact that Mike Lamb has been horrible, and that Buscher would provide left-handed power off the bench on days he doesn't start, and he seems like a natural fit. Of course, he's also on the 40-man roster, so there wouldn't be any issues there.

The alternatives just don't seem nearly as attractive: Matt Macri is on the 40-man roster and can play around the infield, but he's hitting .275 with just 1 homerun and so doesn't look as strong as Buscher. Veteran options like Howie Clark, Garrett Jones, Randy Ruiz, and Chris Basak are available to fill a variety of bench roles for the team, but none of them are on the 40-man roster (the Twins do have two empty slots available, so adding them to the roster wouldn't hurt anything immediately), but none of them is playing nearly as well as Buscher right now.

The Twins could also decide to call up a pitcher to give them insurance if Brian Bass is going to miss a few more days. If they wanted a long guy they could call up a starter like Kevin Mulvey (he's pitched great, but isn't on the roster), or they could go with a reliever like Julio DePaula or even Bobby Korecky, both of whom are already on the roster. More than likely, the callup would just be for a couple of days before Bass was ready to come back, and then the Twins would probably call up Buscher (or one of the other position players mentioned above). This is possible, but I would say pretty unlikely.

For all of those reasons, I expect to hear that Brian Buscher has been recalled to the big leagues when today's game is done -- and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him in the starting lineup tomorrow.