Joe Mauer is not in Friday's lineup against the Red Sox. He's just getting the day off. Ryan Doumit will start behind the plate Friday while Chris Parmelee will bat second.

Joe Mauer went 3-for-5 with two RBI in Friday's extra-inning loss to the Orioles. Mauer had a two-run single and a pair of doubles. The 30-year-old backstop has 11 hits in his last 23 at-bats and has pulled his batting average up from .286 to .320 in the process. He's performing pretty much as advertised for fantasy owners.

Joe Mauer is not in Wednesday's lineup against the Tigers. He's getting a breather with the day game after the night game. Ryan Doumit will start behind the plate.

Joe Mauer went 4-for-5 with three RBI in the Twins' 8-6 victory against the Angels on Tuesday. Mauer also went 4-for-5 with three RBI in Monday's victory over Anaheim. The 29-year-old catcher is among the hottest hitters in baseball right now, boasting a .386/.417/.579 batting line with two home runs and seven RBI over his first 13 games. When he's healthy, Mauer flat out rakes. That's always been true.

Joe Mauer went 4-for-5 with a homer, a double and three RBI to lead the Twins to an 8-2 win over the Angels on Monday. Mauer has raised his average to .346 during an eight-game hitting streak. He hasn't gotten many chances to drive in runs, not with Aaron Hicks struggling as the leadoff man, but he's done his best to kickstart the offense from the two hole.

Joe Mauer will bat second at the start of the season for the Twins. Hitting him in the two-hole allows manager Ron Gardenhire to put the right-handed hitting Josh Willingham in between lefty swingers Mauer and Justin Morneau. Plus, more importantly, it means the Twins won't have someone batting second that should be toward the bottom of the order.

Joe Mauer delivered a three-run homer and a three-run double in the Twins' 14-5 rout of the Blue Jays on Sunday. Mauer looked good in the WBC and he's performing even better in the Grapefruit League, with a .400 average and no strikeouts in 20 at-bats. He remains a threat to win the batting title every year.

Joe Mauer and David Wright are the two first two player to commit to playing for team USA in the World Baseball Classic. Other notable players announced included Justin Morneau and Brett Lawrie for Canada, Chien-Ming Wang and Hong-Chih Kuo for Chinese Taipei, Robinson Cano and Jose Reyes for the Dominican Republic, Adrian Gonzalez and Jaime Garcia for Mexico, Andruw Jones and Roger Bernadina for the Netherlands, Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina for Puerto Rico and Miguel Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval for Venezuela. More names should be announced in the coming days and weeks.

Peter Gammons of MLB.com reports that the Red Sox inquired on Joe Mauer in September, October and November and were told by the Twins each time that he's "not being traded." Well, that pretty much settles it. Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com wrote a column Tuesday saying that the Sox should target Mauer in a trade, but it sure sounds like he's not going anywhere. The Twins owe Mauer a whopping $138 million over the next six seasons, so it would make some sense to consider offers for him if they don't believe they're close to contention. They're not ready to give up their star, though, especially when he's coming off a year where he batted .319/.416/.446.

The Twins have removed the interim label from general manager Terry Ryan. Ryan returned to the general manager position last November after Bill Smith was fired. He previously served as Minnesota's general manager from 1995-2007. The Twins had the worst record in the American League this season at 66-96.