When Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer went on the disabled list, he left a team that was struggling. When he comes back, it will be to a team in ruins. So it follows that the Twins aren't going to rush their substantial investment back into action. They'll take their sweet time in the absence of a pennant race, and let him recover at his own pace.

So while it's obviously good news that Mauer is catching again in extended spring training, there's probably reason for just a little bit more optimism than one might find in the typical road-to-recovery story. From 1500espn.com:

The Minnesota Twins' ailing All-Star played three innings at catcher in an extended spring training game, his first game action at the position since he went on the disabled list on April 14.

Mauer is 0-for-10 so far in two extended spring games, but the bigger story is that he's playing at all. The Twins still aren't putting a timetable on his return, though making sure that Drew Butera's 3 OPS+ doesn't see any more playing time must be awfully tempting.