Morneau Returns?

Yesterday we read that first baseman Justin Morneau has had four good days in a row and that he will take part in a full workout with the team today. This is by far the best news on this front since he went down with the concussion on July 7. Now all of a sudden, there is this rush to get him in the lineup for Wednesday's playoff opener. But lets be serious here. He won't play in the first round of the postseason. He has been inactive for three months. He needs a bit of time to shake off the rust, if he can manage to still have those consecutive good days. He was having a great season (.345, 18 HR, 56 RBI) before he went down. And we all want him back hitting behind Mauer in October. But the Twins are gonna give him time to get back into game shape and monitor his health as well. If he does well, I could see him possibly playing in the ALCS (If the Twins make it that far). But the Twins are in no hurry to get him back on the field. And they shouldn't. Lets all just assume Cuddyer will be playing first for however long the Twins play in October. And if Morneau plays, that's just a added bonus. But just for kicks and giggles, lets look at what the lineup would look like with and without Morneau:

With Without

Span CF Span CF
Hudson 2B Hudson 2B
Mauer C Mauer C
Morneau 1B Cuddyer 1B
Cuddyer RF Kubel RF
Kubel DH Thome DH
Young LF Young LF
Valencia 3B Valencia 3B
Hardy SS Hardy SS

The lineup gets that much better with Morneau. But, I trust the one without him too. So all lets just hope that Justin can get just get healthy.