"The home clubhouse at Target Field was cold and largely empty Friday, except for a sideburned, lefthanded-hitting catcher who had just completed his latest muscle-building session designed to help him forget the 2011 season.

Joe Mauer, wearing a Gophers sweatshirt and gray sweatpants, summoned a handful of reporters -- no cameras, please -- to the ballpark to let those interested know that he's healthy, stronger and already looking ahead to 2012.

And when he says healthy, he means healthy.

"Here I am. I'm healthy. I'm happy," Mauer said. "I can rule out crazy things I've heard like Lyme disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus. I think we've heard it all. I don't have any of those things."

Mauer said he wanted to talk because he's had time to reflect on last season and think about things he wants to do differently in the future.

"I'm getting really excited for next season," he said. "I've recovered from pneumonia [which ended his season in mid-September]. I think you might be able to tell I've got my weight back. I've been working out for a couple of weeks. ... Everything looks good, and I should be ready to go Day 1 of camp."

Mauer has spent the week working out at Target Field. It's been almost a year since he had left knee surgery, which in retrospect is when his 2011 season began to go haywire.

Unable to condition properly, Mauer said he tried to make up for lost time and failed. He appeared in just 82 games, and his .287 batting average, three homers and .360 on-base percentage were career lows.

Fans looked at his stats, looked at the $23 million he made last season and seethed. Even some teammates wondered about his willingness to play injured and his work ethic

"At times. I think what surprised me a lot was a couple things out there questioning my work ethic, and that bugged me a little bit because I think guys who have been around know how hard I work and how much time I put into what I do," he said. "So that's one thing that frustrated me a little bit."

It didn't help that Mauer came down with pneumonia in September and wound up on the disabled list for the rest of the season. He visited Mayo Clinic in Rochester after the season to get the go-ahead to resume workouts. He said he's back up to his playing weight of 225 pounds and wants to report to camp at 230."