| Don't feel bad for Rob Bowen. He gets to cash
his paycheck just like every other player during the time he spends
on the Twins' roster. Even though he rarely plays,
he still gets to walk around town and tell people at Famous Dave's
that he's on the team. At the end of the 2003 season, Bowen was
called up to join the team and then was placed at the end of the
bench. He would go over ten days between appearances and then
would only enter the game for two innings at a time.
With the promotion of Joe Mauer to the Major League roster and
the signing of Henry Blanco, it appeared that there would not be any
need for Rob Bowen to appear on the Twins roster this year.
However, that quickly changed as injuries knocked Mauer and Matthew
LeCroy out of action and brought Bowen back to the Big Leagues.
In Bowen's first plate appearance of the season, he smacked a
two-run homer against Detroit. He was then rewarded by not
getting any playing time in the next ten days. Then he had a
brief flurry of action by playing three times in six days before
taking an eleven-day break.
With the return to health by Matthew LeCroy, Bowen was sent back
to AA New Brighton to get some everyday playing time. He is in
the wrong organization to eventually become a starter (Mauer is
younger and already better), but he has an opportunity to develop
into a decent backup backstop in a few years.
If he makes any more appearances on the Twins' roster in the next
few years, give him a round of applause and congratulate him on
being able to cash his salary of $300,000 prorated over the number
of days he spends on the roster. Then, you can quickly forget
about him as he walks down to warm up relief pitchers as the most
expensive bullpen catcher in the Majors.
|
|
