Twins Minor League Report

Ex-top pick Span needs surgery

Denard Span, the Twins' first-round draft pick in 2002, will have surgery this week to remove the hamate bone in his right hand.

Span, who has missed the past two weeks for Class A Quad Cities is scheduled to undergo another magnetic resonance imaging test to make sure there isn't more damage. He missed three weeks with what was believed to be a sprain before learning surgery would be required.

"The bone is a little hook near the bottom of your hand," said Rob Antony, the Twins' director of baseball operations. "We've had so many of those. I had never heard of it until (former Twin) Mike Pagliarulo had it back in 1991 or something. All of sudden, this has become a pretty common thing. We've had a couple of guys who've had to have that thing removed, and they've never had any problems after that. But it does take some time to heal."

Recovery and rehabilitation time after the procedure usually takes from four to six weeks.

Span, a leadoff batter and center fielder, is hitting .256 in 34 games. He has scored 18 runs and hit two triples. He has been successful on 11 of 15 stolen-base attempts.

Another No. 1 pick down: Matt Moses, the Twins' first-round pick in 2003, is recovering from a disk problem in his back.

Moses, a third baseman, has been out for three weeks because of the injury.

"He's coming along and getting better, but he's still about two or three weeks away from being able to play," Antony said. "It turns out that it's in the vertebrae in his lower back. We found out he originally hurt it when he was in ninth grade jumping on a trampoline or something. He's never had any problems with it since then, but it got re-aggravated."

Omar Burgos, who began the season at Advanced A ball in Fort Myers, Fla., has returned to Quad Cities to play third base. Burgos struggled with his bat in Fort Myers but is enjoying more success at the lower A level and has a .338 batting average.

Burgos has shown good defensive skills but just hasn't hit enough since signing with the Twins in 2000.

Tough time for Tiffee: Twins Class AAA third baseman Terry Tiffee, who has missed significant time this season with a back injury, returned to the disabled list last week because of a hamstring problem.

Tiffee, who has played in only 27 games this season, hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in the first five games before the back injury halted his progress.

"He's having a heck of a time this season," Antony said. "He's going to need a week to get ready to play again."

Glover joins Red Wings: The Twins signed pitcher Gary Glover to a minor league contract and assigned him to Class AAA Rochester. Because Rick Helling and Pete Munro left the organization to sign free-agent contracts with the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros, respectively, the Twins needed to fill out their staff in Rochester.

Glover was playing for the Class AAA Iowa Cubs, where he was 3-2 with a 7.92 earned-run average, before he was released.

In his first game with the Red Wings, Glover hit 94 mph on the radar gun.

Right-hander Henry Bonilla was promoted from Class AA New Britain and has made two starts in Rochester. Bonilla, whose future in the big leagues probably will be in middle relief, is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA.

Reliever Beau Kemp has been promoted to Rochester from New Britain.