Joe Mauer

[Big Dave2]

At least there's a chance Sano might be worth the money. 

[O.T.C.]

Sano is playing on one wheel, I see Frank Thomas kinda when he bats, average might not be there but the raw power is. Was so excited to see Joe RBI right away last night but then 0-4 after that with a couple rally killing at bats of course. Who is the left handed leader in grounding into double plays, you bet Joe with 18, who leads as a righty, Trevor Plouffe. Joe's streak of getting on base once a night is cool if you're Ben Revere in a leadoff spot, when you bat 3rd you need to "have a night" as they say at least a couple times a season you need to be the reason the team scored enough for a win, he is such a defensive swinger why you see the flair hits etc. I predict at contracts end he's done. That's the next ? will he re-sign for much less ? He must catch, were 31st or 32nd in first base production in MLB 2015. I do understand the twins dilemma who else do we put where ? Dozier has vanished etc. etc. it gets tough pitchers are throwing gas late in the year etc. and Joe's bat doesn't get quicker as the season goes along, his 39 plate appearances and 1 career rbi in the post-season isn't much to look forward to he was more in his prime then, if you do go look at his K's he's 77th worst in baseball etc. if you look him up you won't find him on any page 1's unless it's an ugly category, you have to click page 2 page 3 page 4 to find him. Is next year gonna be solid? He's played more games and has more at bats then most MLB'ers and yet minimal production, guys I've never heard of ranking ahead of him, something is off cuz he did well in target fields 1st year, or pretty good anyway, last 3 seasons oh no kinda.

[O.T.C.]

Joe did some damage lately, I still wish he would've went back to catcher and could've brought in for rent Mike Napoli to play first and offer leadership etc. and he has done well of course since traded. We're right in the mix, would love to see post-season ball again get some of our rookies some post season experience. 1 more bomb for Joe and it's double digits. He almost seemed surprised on tilt # 9 like wow I crushed it I guess lol.

[O.T.C.]

Slugging % might not mean much but Joe is 8th out of the starting 9, only Kurt Suzuki is lower, lots of at bats with minimal power, but just Al Davis just win baby a this point, Dozier went oppo at home last night what lol ?

[O.T.C.]

These last 2 weeks or whatever it is, time to throw out stats and just score 1 or more then your opponent, was huge beating Kluber last night. Kyle Gibson tonight and heard Perkins was tossed after the game was over last night lol. It's seems to have been a stressful year for Molitor but he's done a solid job it seems.

[Bobby Bass]

Give Joe  credit...

 

Give Joe  credit...

Joe Mauer has now reached base in 43 consecutive games, a franchise record. From August 7 through last night's game, Mauer is hitting .270/.368/.393. In September, Mauer has once again walked more than he struck out - 18 to 17 - the first month he's pulled that off since June of 2013.

Mauer's streak of consecutive games having reached base breaks Bob Allison's previous record, obviously 42, which had stood for 54 years. Mauer's 43 (2015) and Allison's 42 are followed by Harmon Killebrew's 40 and Paul Molitor's 38.

It was a nice moment for Mauer, who was congratulated in front of his teammates after the game by Molitor. A year ago we took a look at Joe's place in Twins history, and it might be time to give that feature an update.

Joe Mauer is now fourth in Twins history in rWAR (48.0), fourth in batting average (.319), first in on-base percentage (.395), and second in doubles (340). He's a three-time batting champion, 2009 MVP, and was a part of four AL Central titles for the Twins between 2004 and 2010. Whatever you might think of him now, you can't deny it: he's one of the best players to ever don the uniform.

(from SB Nation)

[Bobby Bass]

as of Sunday the team record is now at 45 games  .....  All time record is 84 held by Ted Williams

Edited September 27, 2015 by Bobby Bass

[O.T.C.]

4 for his last 21, .190 BA, will give him some sort of credit for the otherwise awful season he has had, these rookies are passing him up in most categories with dozens less at bats. 1 flair tonight and the streak continues that no 1 is talking about.

[Bobby Bass]

Lovely thing about baseball, it has stats for everything. You chose to find any stat that you can to make Joe a bad baseball player, past his prime and you would almost think you were paying his salary. His current record that you say no one cares about shows Joe doing something that no other twin has done in 54 years. Of all the hundreds of ball players to play in a Twins uniform good old Joe has set and is setting a record that you say is nothing. By the way the record is now 47 games I think.  The other night Joe stole a base, Joe Mauer at his advance age stole a base to help his team and put him in scoring position. Still playing the game on wash up old legs and a powerless bat on a team that no one expected to be around this late in the season. Baseball is all about stats, but baseball is also not about stats, baseball is a team game and sometimes stats just don't tell it like it is, unless of course you want to use them to compare old ball players that have been around for a long time and have the career numbers to show for it. Come back in ten or fifteen years and tote the stats of your rookies you compare Joe up against now, that if  they are still even playing..

[O.T.C.]

lol take the blindfold off, who's record is he chasing ? Let's look at Ted's stats in his record run. Hmmm. Joe's run is over rated to the hilt. Ted his batting average in that streak(main year) was only .388. He had 119 walks vs 43 strikeouts. He only hit 38 homeruns and was an all-star and also finished 2nd in league MVP votes. They also played fewer games then so his power numbers would be even greater. His slugging % was .731. He only hit into 11 double plays so to toss aside stats I'm not so sure, compare his streak to Ted's, it isn't even remotely close in terms of production and Joe is still ranked 31st out of 32 firstbasemen even with this phantom streak of minimal production, he's still hitting .266 or so, he better polish those silver bats on his mantle. I thought torii hunter was the grandfather of the team, not Joe. So get the thought of Joe vs Ted out of your heads, Joe is miles away from producing like Ted, kilometers away, shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath. 

[O.T.C.]

Ted Williams was 39 years old during his streak after serving tours in the military etc. No specialized training equipment, I'm leaning more toward when drug testing came along he stopped taking stuff. We can't possibly compare Joseph to Ted especially this "streak". 38 bombs cmon takes Joe 4 seasons or more to do that and he's 32 and much taller/heavier playing more games. Joe has 1 career walk off hit lol even in his MVP silver bat years = he's a pansy in the later innings against quality arms apparently. 1 walk off hit lol with his career batting average is brutal. His 1 career RBI in the post-season in 39 plate appearances is ugly as it gets. He tried bunting the other night in the I think 9th inning lol, what a sissy 3 hitter lol what a joke, I would've benched him immediately 23 million, being a cretin alum like Moli or not, we needed a tilt there, 3 hitter bunting lol late cmon clown then again a bunt was better then grounding into a double play again. He has some more chances to be a hero, albeit they should be in the 7 slot in the order. 

[Bobby Bass]

Ok you have me scratching my head... Where did I compare Joe to Ted, I only mentioned that Ted has the Baseball all time record.. and Joe has the Twins record and has a long ways to go to catch Ted 's 84 game streak ( I don't think it is going to happen) But I am sure glad you spent time doing all your research to inform us of what a great player Ted Williams was.

[gunner55]

Not a big fan of his for the last 2 or 3 seasons either but he had a couple big hits in the 1st game yesterday. Not as big as Tori's 3 run double but he ripped the homer. Unfortunately it didn't look like the same team in the second game.

[Bobby Bass]

Streak continues, and Twins win in a come from behind and are still alive in the wild card race... Twins did hold the lead for most of the game on Joe's double and then scoring. Another record set by a Twin yesterday. Mr. Dozier now has the club record for strike outs in a season with 146... I am Sure OTC would be surprised that it was not Joe..

[Big Dave2]

 You chose to find any stat that you can to make Joe a bad baseball player, 

And you can choose stats to make him look like a good baseball player too, like a meaningless streak.

Lovely thing about baseball, it has stats for everything. You chose to find any stat that you can to make Joe a bad baseball player, past his prime and you would almost think you were paying his salary. His current record that you say no one cares about shows Joe doing something that no other twin has done in 54 years. 

He is also making more money than any other Twin ever.

 Baseball is all about stats, but baseball is also not about stats, baseball is a team game and sometimes stats just don't tell it like it is,

That's the point. Stats (like batting average) make Joe Mauer look like a much better player than he ever was. There are and have been many more players making much less per year than Joe Mauer who have helped the team win games a lot more than he ever did.  

 Another record set by a Twin yesterday. Mr. Dozier now has the club record for strike outs in a season with 146... I am Sure OTC would be surprised that it was not Joe..

That's unfortunate but I think it is hard to compare a guy making 2 million a year with a guy making 23 million a year. 

[dfv87]

OTC I guess I did not see where he compared TW to Joe, he merely mentioned who had the longest streak ever, which is close to double what Joe is at... I really think you read WAY more into that than necessary. 

I think we all can agree Joe is not the player we wanted him to be for his contract. But again, the money he is being paid does not handcuff the twins... the SELF IMPOSED maximum payroll we can spend is what handcuffs the twins... their payroll was higher when we were not in Target Field (and we were competitive then with a payroll over $100MM) the organization decided we need to go back to small ball and dropped payroll under $100MM... and did this EVEN with the additional 40MM in revenue the new stadium brings in every year over before the stadium. Finally this year our payroll jumped up to $108MM and low and behold we are competitive again... (BTW we are still 18th in payroll and LA Dodgers is $272MM!! ). All this dump about how much players are making is irrelevant when talking about baseball with no salary cap. Speaking about a salary being too high or low has nothing to do with the his performance in baseball, if there was a salary cap then it would be important and Joe would not be earning his $$ but without a salary cap what he makes means nothing. I would argue all the BIG contracts have been bad ones in MLB (see Hamilton, A-roid, Pujols etc) but Joe's was especially tough for us because

1. He hasn't taken that step from really good player in 2000's to iconic player in MN Twins history... See playoff performances.

2. the team then pulled back spending on top of his contract. As a small market team we can ill afford these to begin with because we CHOOSE to have a lower payroll.

3. Pitching for twins last few years was bad enough that even with a good performance we still would have been horrible.

I also believe the twins make money off joe for his name jersey and ads hometown boy etc. So they see his contract at a much lower price than 23MM per year, though his performance is not even that of a $10MM player IMO right now.

So in a nutshell I see Joe as a Good Player but just not a great one. The fact that he is taking a bunch of the Pohlad's money does not bother me in the least.  

[Big Dave2]

OTC I guess I did not see where he compared TW to Joe, he merely mentioned who had the longest streak ever, which is close to double what Joe is at... I really think you read WAY more into that than necessary. 

I think we all can agree Joe is not the player we wanted him to be for his contract. But again, the money he is being paid does not handcuff the twins... the SELF IMPOSED maximum payroll we can spend is what handcuffs the twins... their payroll was higher when we were not in Target Field (and we were competitive then with a payroll over $100MM) the organization decided we need to go back to small ball and dropped payroll under $100MM... and did this EVEN with the additional 40MM in revenue the new stadium brings in every year over before the stadium. Finally this year our payroll jumped up to $108MM and low and behold we are competitive again... (BTW we are still 18th in payroll and LA Dodgers is $272MM!! ). All this dump about how much players are making is irrelevant when talking about baseball with no salary cap. Speaking about a salary being too high or low has nothing to do with the his performance in baseball, if there was a salary cap then it would be important and Joe would not be earning his $$ but without a salary cap what he makes means nothing. I would argue all the BIG contracts have been bad ones in MLB (see Hamilton, A-roid, Pujols etc) but Joe's was especially tough for us because

1. He hasn't taken that step from really good player in 2000's to iconic player in MN Twins history... See playoff performances.

2. the team then pulled back spending on top of his contract. As a small market team we can ill afford these to begin with because we CHOOSE to have a lower payroll.

3. Pitching for twins last few years was bad enough that even with a good performance we still would have been horrible.

I also believe the twins make money off joe for his name jersey and ads hometown boy etc. So they see his contract at a much lower price than 23MM per year, though his performance is not even that of a $10MM player IMO right now.

So in a nutshell I see Joe as a Good Player but just not a great one. The fact that he is taking a bunch of the Pohlad's money does not bother me in the least.  

The problem is Joe was NEVER going to be a player worth 23 million a year. Even if he were to bat for a high percentage and even if he were to keep catching he is not worth any where near that kind of money. He is a singles hitter who doesn't have blazing speed, doesn't hit for power and as a catcher would naturally play less games than any of the other regular players on the team. You don't put that kind of money into a guy that can't help you every day and you sure don't put that kind of money into a singles hitting first baseman. 

Of course Joe Mauer is handcuffing the team. Every team has a self imposed salary cap just like every other business has a self imposed salary cap. Some teams may have a higher one, I get it but that's probably because they have a lot more revenue. Even if they don't, the fact still remains that the team's salary maximum is what it is and Joe Mauer is taking up a bunch of it without providing any on-the-field value.

I can certainly see where this contract might be working out for the Twins organization as a whole  but even that is doubtful and any fan should have been able to see how bad that contract was going to be for the long term viability of the team.

[dfv87]

 

Couple the timing of the contract with Mauer coming off 3 batting titles and a MVP season with good power numbers and a string of teams in the playoffs (whether or not he was the catalyst for those appearances) as the hometown boy with the perfect clean cut image etc... just getting the funding for the new stadium... the public would have burned the twins to the ground if he would have signed with say... Boston?? It is easy to look back now and hate the deal. (I do realize there were people that didn't want the contract then either and without looking it up in the search feature I assume you were one of them) But at the time scouts projected that Mauers power numbers of his MVP season would continue and improve, now did they? No... Obviously. But at the time the deal looked much better than now.

So what do you suggest we do with him? Cut him? we cannot. Trade him? we cannot. Bench him? and still pay him to sit? OK I am being the devils advocate here with you partially in jest but really the way people hate on Mauer is almost as incredible as the way people love and make excuses for him. As I see it Joe is a good ball player but not the great one we hoped and bet the big contract on. Now if the knees/back are done or the concussions are an issue or did the league finally figure him out? we can argue about that but if you feel like he was the main issue with our ball club the last few years then I guess I cannot change your mind.  

Big Dave I am not arguing that the contract is bad now... lets face it I feel any $20+MM contract is bad as there is nobody worth that kind of money regardless of who... because by the time they get one of those contracts they are at their max and going to trend downward. And any contract of that size is crippling to a team.

But my point is that our self imposed salary cap was an insult to MN fans in that with the addition of the public funded stadium they cut their payroll by $20MM while picking up an added $40MM in revenues from the stadium. Then pocketing the money for the next few years as the revenues of the new stadium being full with the "newness" until all of MN came to see the new park and realized the team on the field was not competitive. They bet that Mauer would continue to a MVP type player for those years and carry that group unfortunately they bet wrong as he regressed. Now they reinvested in talent and youth paying $108MM and looky looky we are back in the playoff picture. I don't believe you comparison of "every business" having a Salary cap is not applicable in that our ownership used to spend more and now they don't so they CHOSE to be frugal after the Mauer deal and make him such a large % of our salary. Our ownership proved they are about MORE profits (because they still make money and the value of the Twins has probably Quadrupled since they bought it... at least) and not MORE championships or even putting a good product out there. 

[Big Dave2]

 

 It is easy to look back now and hate the deal. (I do realize there were people that didn't want the contract then either and without looking it up in the search feature I assume you were one of them)

I was about the ONLY one here on this page.

[rundrave]

Mauer makes a lot of money, but if you think its costing the Pohlads or the team too much and it prevents them for signing anyone else your wrong. You can't spend money if free agents don't want to come here.

Can anyone name any players that we should have signed that didn't because of the $$$?

The Pohlad family is very wealthy, and they could easily afford to spend Steinbrenner money to pay players.

I also think the MLBPA would have stepped in had Joe taken too much of a hometown discount and not allowed him to sign for less anyway.

Mauer's contract has not been a problem, and if people feel the high price of his contract is limiting the owners from signing other players your wrong.

[dfv87]

I was about the ONLY one here on this page.

You earn 1 "attaboy" congrats.

[DonBo]

I was about the ONLY one here on this page.

Don't get hurt patting yourself on the back.

 

[dfv87]

Big Dave I hope you realize...  I was giving you a bad time with the congrats comment. So hard to let the sarcasm come across correctly on message boards. Its all good Big Dave

Edited October 2, 2015 by dfv87

[O.T.C.]

Anyone grab Mauer off Waivers ? Hope Joe watched the Toronto and cubby playoff games yesterday, cubs 8 runs all off the long ball and basically the same for Toronto, you do actually have to hit it out in big spots at times in the sport. 1 career walk off hit speaks a little to what you have done at crunch time late in the game(s) with this many years under his belt batting where he does in the order. 

[O.T.C.]

Heard the infamous, never felt better again so idk. He looked good modeling twins red, I was a catcher for maybe 20 years or so. I took plenty of nasty foul balls as most of you can tell by my posts lol. I read they would never consider catching joe again because 1 wrong foul tip you know. He needs to jump on it in April when pitchers aren't quite throwing massive gas yet like Verlander hitting 91-93 a few years back by seasons end he was in that 95-97 range not that he is anymore but jump em early Joe or that slow bat will look even slower. Does he have 1 nice season left in him ?