BRADENTON, Fla. -- Paul Molitor opened Friday morning's meeting with reporters on a somber note, discussing the tragic circumstances surrounding Twins' first-base coach Butch Davis, whose younger brother Michael passed away suddenly on Wednesday morning at the age of 51.
Davis left for North Carolina on Thursday, with the full support of the Twins' organization, to be with his mother and two surviving brothers.
"To lose a family member unexpectedly is a hard thing and it hit him hard, obviously. We're just trying to show support the best way we can," said Molitor.
"It was one of those middle-of-the-night calls the day of our first game [on Wednesday]. Butch came in, and I asked him if he needed to go and take care of some things, but he wanted to work that day, and then he made his plans and got out of town.
"He's where he should be right now, with his mom and his brothers," continued Molitor. "Hopefully he'll get through these next couple of days, which will be tough, but he's going to try to get back here Sunday night and be ready to go back to work on Monday."
Molitor indicated which members of his coaching staff would serve as temporary replacements in the first-base coach's box during Davis' absence.
"I'll have Mike Quade over there for a couple of days and probably get Rudy [Hernandez] out there on Sunday. Rudy would probably be the guy we'd go to during the season on any given day that we had to put a [replacement] base coach out there," said the skipper.