Plouffe, who was placed on the 15-day DL earlier Monday, is expected to miss three-to-four weeks due to a cracked left rib, MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger reports.
Manager Paul Molitor indicated that timetable isn't necessarily firm, and considering Plouffe's personal history, it wouldn't be a surprised if he ended up missing more than a month. The third baseman said Monday that he's been only about 65 or 70 percent healthy all season while contending with multiple injuries, and with the Twins unlikely to make a serious run at playoff contention, it may make sense for the organization to give him some extra time off to fully recover from the injury. While Plouffe remains sidelined, Eduardo Nunez, Miguel Sano and Eduardo Escobar (hamstring) are all candidates to pick up extra at-bats at the hot corner.