Personally, I think signing Doumit is more Morneau insurance than anything to do with Mauer. I believe Morneau is only signed thru 2013. If he doesn’t improve, he won’t be back for 2014. In that scenario, first base would be filled by Mauer and either some youngster or aging 1B that costs less than Morneau, with Doumit available to catch and allow Mauer to play 1st.

Also, people seem to have in their minds that Doumit can play 1B, but he has yet to appear in a game there. Yes, that’s partially because of Morneau and Parmelee, but also because Doumit has admitted that he’s not comfortable there. Essentially he’s a C/RF/DH that can play 1B if he absolutely must.

One more nit to pick: don’t complain about career high games played without making a position adjustment. 124 games for a catcher is not terrible.

The Twins really need someone who is at least serviceable behind the plate, and there aren’t a lot of those guys who can do that while also providing offensive value. The Twins are likely to suck for at least another year anyway, so it’s similar to the Carroll deal this past offseason where the upside isn’t tremendous but neither is the risk. And in both cases, it’s not like Carroll and Doumit are blocking any young guys from playing time. That’s the problem… the Twins have gaping holes with no intriguing replacements any time soon, so these other vets are basically inexpensive stopgaps.

But with all he’s gone thru since taking a knee to the head at 2B in Toronto, it’s only natural that his psyche would still be somewhat fragile/guarded when he steps on the diamond. The last couple years of his life have been largely spent wondering if his brain will ever be normal again… if he’ll ever be able to move & think & *feel* normal again. I can’t really even imagine how scary & frustrating & depressing that would be.

So anyway, even though there have been some positive signs more recently, it’s still gotta weigh heavily on his mind. I would think it’s especially tough when he steps into the box against lefties and has to try to hang in there and keep his shoulder closed with a baseball coming 90+ mph at him… that’s tough enough for any LH hitter, but for a guy like Morneau who’s dealt with everything he has it’s gotta be virtually impossible. He’s been hit in the head in the past, so he knows it’s a very real possibility and if it were to happen again it would be potentially devasating to his brain. Not good.

I don’t expect he’ll ever again have consistent success against LH pitching, and I don’t blame him at all for it.

However, each game that Doumit is catching is another game with Butera out of the lineup, and that’s something to cheer about.