Jason Kubel on Saturday blamed a lingering quad issue for his struggles at the plate last season. Kubel put up an ugly .216/.293/.317 slash line with five homers over 97 contests for the D'Backs and Indians in 2013, but he thinks a quad ailment suffered in April was the root cause to his problems. "A couple games back into it, I dove for a ball in the outfield and it came back and stayed for three months," said Kubel. "It was my left leg and I couldn't run. It was there all year, and it made it tough. I believe that's what led me to be down all year." Kubel is back with the Twins on a minor league deal but is the favorite to see the lion's share of at-bats in the DH spot.