Joe Mauer a lot of little problems

[PierBridge]

He's the Kevin Garnet of baseball. Who cares? A bunch of nearly meaningless SINGLES! Nine homers and 60 RBI's average over 5 years. He's the most OVERRATED player in the bigs.

Are you related to PierBridge?..... Thats just plain nuts my friend!...

[Scott Stein]

He's the Kevin Garnet of baseball. Who cares? A bunch of nearly meaningless SINGLES! Nine homers and 60 RBI's average over 5 years. He's the most OVERRATED player in the bigs.

Meaningless singles? Seriously man,have you ever played baseball? Just one single can be the difference between a lost and won ball game. How many times did he score after one of his "meaningless singles"? And overrated? Please,A-Rod,Jeter,Manny-they are the overrated ones! Always begging for more money and they are all over the sport news shows!!!!! You go out there and try to catch for a whole season and do better than Joe and tell me what it's like. I started catching when I was 10 and had to quit when I was 16 because my knees hurt to bad and the cartilidge(sp) was starting to wear away. He's got one of the hardest positions to play and IMO he does AWESOME at his job. So lets all just leave the man alone.

[genegodawa]

Quoting Deano now: "everybody hates somebody sometime...."

All I know is that years ago the team on the NSide of Chi-town had a batting champ....Bill Madlock...and I never forgave them for letting him go. Shoulda built around him, unless he's asking for Manny-money, instead of letting him go. But it is a different moneygame these days and players are more mobile with free agency.

A new argument? Good pitching stops good hitting.

[zamboni]

I think we do have the best catcher in the majors, but I also think it is time we need to start shopping around for another one. Redmonds batting an excellent .095 this preseason, and won't be able to handle everyday duties behind the plate. We need someone that can go 125-140 games this season in case Joe can't. One that comes to my mind is John Buck from the Royals. He is somewhat young, rarely hurt, has occasional pop when he hits and is no longer the Royals #1 catcher. Could get a decent deal if we traded for him.

[CrappiesNCats]

why shop when morales is supposedly healed?

[luckyworm]

Zamboni,

Preseason statistics mean nothing, unless you are battling for a roster spot. Sure it would be nice to hit .300 but the stats get erased in 27 days. Red dog has an .091 batting average in a total of 11 at bats. Does that mean the Twins should release him? Absolutely not!!! Look at Red dog's batting average last year and over his career. He hit .287 in 38 games last year and he did a fine job of filling in for Mauer. In 2007 he hit .294 in 84 games. There aren't too many back up catchers that I would rather have than Red Dog.

If I remember right, we made it to the playoffs with Henry Blanco as are starting catcher back in 2004 when Mauer went down. I think he barely hit over .200 in over a 100 games, but he was a top notch defensive catcher.

Hey Walleyeslayer,

What are you on? I gotta try some of that! Really, Mauer is over rated? Have you ever watched a game of baseball?

[zamboni]

Never said get rid of Redmond, but he will be the very first person to tell you, anything over 50 games at his age is probably not gonna happen. If Joe misses a ton of time, we are going to need to get a guy that is able to squat 100+ games. Redmonds one of the best back up catchers out there, ton of experience, especially handling a young squad, but not an everyday catcher

[PierBridge]

We have Wilson Ramos a very promising young Catcher. We're quite deep at the catcher position from the looks of it!

[koonie]

there ya go koonie, that will provide some reading material for ya I suppose...

Most over rated player in the last 5 to 10 years- Derek Jeter!

Mauer is one of the few hometown players I like staying home. He's a stud and is getting better (That's right! Better!) each year. The power numbers will come up over the course of his career. I'm not to worried about that. The injuries concern me but it's a brutal position especially for a tall player like him. Just hope the little injuries don't add up and break him down.

Hate the sideburns though. If you're gonna go that route go for the porkchops baby!

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I'll take him behind the plate anyday, my point was if the guy gets a cold he needs to weeks to recover from it.

[crothmeier]

Jeez the man has a kidney surgury to remove some blockage and the sarcastic a-holes jump all over him for not doing it at the end of last season like he should have known about it.

thats like saying if you showed up late to work one day becasue of a blown tire and your boss looks at you and says "you should have known that last night when you got home from work. YOU'RE FIRED"

Cut the guy some slack, 90% of people that had a internal organ surgury like that would be sore for some time. Just because they are athletes doesnt mean they can go under the knife one day and catch 9 innings the next.

[9joey1]

How many championships has Derek Jeter won? How many playoff games has Joe Mauer won? You people who worship the local angle all the time are an embarrassment. He is overrated plain and simple. The next Johhny Bench.... Yeah right......

[B. Amish]

I'm pretty sure the Yankees won those championships as a team in a team sport.

I hate the arguement about "how many rings does this guy have"

They use it all the time in Football.

[fishersofmen]

Overrated, I like that one. How many catchers have won the batting title lately? He is easily one of the best 3 catchers in baseball. Period.

[Scott Stein]

How many championships has Derek Jeter won? How many playoff games has Joe Mauer won? You people who worship the local angle all the time are an embarrassment. He is overrated plain and simple. The next Johhny Bench.... Yeah right......

I didn't know Jeter won those titles all by himself! I thought the Yankees did! lol You people who worship Jeter,Manny,A-Rod are an embarrasment,the only reason people do worship them is because of the money they make! If the Yankees would have to spend as much as the Twins do they wouldn't be half as good as they are! It's all about money with that team and its players! Go ahead and cheer for your money bag Yankee players! I'll stick to the Minnesota Twins. Oh ya Joe is no where near overrated! Have you seen him on the big sports channels lately? I haven't. I have seen Manny all over the news. Talk about overrated! Maybe you guys who think Mauer is overrated are the ones he beat out in Junior High for the catchers position! lol

[fishinphilth]

He is the best batter in baseball. Period. I think that is what a batting title is.

[Windy City]

You guys had the greatest catcher in baseball, and you let him get away and he now wears the Silver and Black on the Southside of Chicago. Best catcher in MLB AJ, by a mile! LOL

Let the replies fly!

[fishinphilth]

Windy I think you are on to something, I bet a lot of people would like AJ instead of Mauer.

[Scott K]

I think windy is on something alright

[fishersofmen]

I do like AJ too, the guy is a clutch hitter. Nothing like having a big mouth behind the plate. Plus his platinum hair is awesome.

[Scott Stein]

I agree he is a good clutch hitter, but he has some serious attitude problems.

[PierBridge]

[fishyguy]

Atta boy Windy. Throw some fuel on that fire.

Career stats for AJ and Joe:

AJ - .284 avg, .754 OPS, .428 slg, 10 HR/yr avg., 54rbi/avg, 51 runs/yr avg., 25% runners thrown out

Joe - .317 avg, .856 OPS, .457 slg, 8 HR/avg, 60 rbi/avg, 65 runs/yr avg, 41% runners thrown out

Why would we want AJ again?

Who was that last local boy in the majors that was labeled a injury prone, slap hitter early in his career? His name was Molitor wasn't it. I am not saying Mauer will get 3000 hits and be in the HOF but I think Molitor did alright and the Brewers were pretty happy with him as his career progressed.

[Brian H]

Enough already.

The guys who think Mauer is over rated are the same guys who think Gardy can't manage because he gets tossed out of to many games.

Nothing like debating major league baseball with fantasy guys.

[zamboni]

I agree he is a good clutch hitter, but he has some serious attitude problems.

AJ is a great hitter, catcher and injury wise very reliable. He is also the most hated man in the Majors. Ask anyone, I have heard about 100 guys say they would love to punch his lights out.