Byron Buxton spotted in the outfield, but won't be during a game

Byron Buxton caught a few fly balls on Monday and tested his throwing arm from the outfield.

But it doesn't mean what you think.

"That originates from Nick Paparesta, our trainer, talking with Buck and trying to get him sweating a little bit, moving around a little bit, feeling like a ballplayer again," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It's not part of some larger plan. I know everyone would really want to hear that, that it's part of some beginning stages of a plan. For the most part, it's basically just to get him out of the clubhouse and moving around."

Buxton has appeared in 55 games this season but not one of them while wearing an outfielder's glove. Being limited to designated hitter has been the central tenet of the Twins' plan to keep him in the lineup. It's worked — but that doesn't mean he's completely healthy, either.

Buxton, who assured reporters Monday that he's healthy, wouldn't be for long if allowed to patrol center field again, Baldelli asserted Tuesday. The Twins are convinced his legs, which have put him on the injured list because of knee, hamstring and foot injuries over the past two seasons, would return him to that list if exposed to the wear of running after fly balls on a daily basis.

Baldelli said he understands Buxton's hesitation to rule it out — but his physical condition essentially hasn't changed, good or bad, since the team decided to make him the DH.

"Putting guys in situation where they have to say, 'I can't do something' is an almost impossible thing to ask a guy. It's probably especially frustrating for him. If he could play in the field, he would be playing in the field. Physically, he cannot play in the field," Baldelli said, bluntly stating what he has hinted at since spring training opened five months ago. "One of the most talented players you'll ever see. If we even thought it was possible that he could play the outfield right now, he would be out there. But he can't. He physically can't."

His swing, he conceded, is "not the best. Had some better at-bats [Monday]. It's something to build off of," Buxton said. "Got to stay positive, for sure. It can get very negative, especially with the strikeouts [10 in 16 at-bats over the past week entering Tuesday]. It can get very negative. You can get in that mental hole, and it's hard to come out of."

With a 3-1 record and 3.51 ERA entering June, Louie Varland seemed to be emerging as a plausible Rookie of the Year candidate. Instead, his 10.20 ERA in three consecutive Twins losses this month cost him his roster spot.

Varland was optioned back to Class AAA St. Paul on Tuesday, his place in the rotation about to be inherited by Kenta Maeda later this week. In the meantime, the Twins added Saints righthander Oliver Ortega to a bullpen depleted by a rough week for the team's starters.

"A lot of this has to do with our bullpen being used a lot," said Baldelli, who added to that workload by not using a starting pitcher in Saturday's shutout of the Tigers. "We simply just needed to make a move, to do something to give ourselves more options."

Ortega, whom the Twins claimed off waivers from the Angels in January, owns a 2.42 ERA in 22⅓ innings for the Saints, with 28 strikeouts and only seven walks.