Bollinger: Mauer Could Catch 125 games

Injury free Mauer raring to get after it in 2013 | twinsbaseball.com: News

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But Mauer only caught 74 games while serving as designated hitter in 42 games and playing first base in 30 games. So Mauer's goal this season is catch more games, and general manager Terry Ryan says it's not out of the realm of possibility for him to catch as many as 125 games this year.

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This is insane. Why the hell would the Twins push Mauer to catch more after things worked so well last year and Doumit isunder contract for two more years.

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Originally Posted by John Bonnes

Injury free Mauer raring to get after it in 2013 | twinsbaseball.com: News



This is insane. Why the hell would the Twins push Mauer to catch more after things worked so well last year and Doumit isunder contract for two more years.

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Agreed 125 games behind the plate is insane , however if he took Butreas games and approached 90-100 games or so , i have no problem with that. there is absolutly no reason to carry Drew butrea, either on the 25 or 40 man roster,if 1 of our catchers gets hurt , he can be added then.

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Originally Posted by John Bonnes

Why the hell would the Twins push Mauer to catch more after things worked so well last year and Doumit isunder contract for two more years.

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Keeping Drew off the field is a good enough reason for me.

It's what you'd expect of a starting catcher when you are carrying 2 like most teams.

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Originally Posted by John Bonnes

Injury free Mauer raring to get after it in 2013 | twinsbaseball.com: News



This is insane. Why the hell would the Twins push Mauer to catch more after things worked so well last year and Doumit is under contract for two more years.

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Doumit will likely DH more...and since Morny is good to go, the need to play Mauer at 1B drops. Still, it doesn't make much sense for him to catch 120+ games, and with the way Gardy runs the show and having 3 catchers, it's doubtful he will...but he should catch more than last year.

I heard Gardy with Reusse yesterday say they were going to go with the same plan as last year. For what it's worth.

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Originally Posted by TheLeviathan

I heard Gardy with Reusse yesterday say they were going to go with the same plan as last year. For what it's worth.

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Gardy said that in the article linked on this thread

I'm just glad he's feeling up to all that right now.

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Originally Posted by John Bonnes

This is insane. Why the hell would the Twins push Mauer to catch more after things worked so well last year and Doumit isunder contract for two more years.

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Because Mauer is a really good defensive catcher and the Twins are a better team when he is behind the plate instead of Doumit/Butera.

Mauer is still relatively young and in the prime of his career, there is no reason why he can't start 125 games behind the dish. Anything between 100-125 is ideal. You can then DH him another 25-45 games. No real reason to have him play 1st base, if Morneau needs a break they should be putting Parmelee at first.

I think it's a good thing they'll be catching him more, especially if he feels like he's up to it. He should be right around 100 games, in my opinion, assuming things break right.

Obviously, if there's some reason to think that his health is failing, like if he starts feeling weakness of the lower limbs of a non-unilateral variety, then pull him back.

125 is a ridiculous number. If they try that, he will be injured. I am happy if Mauer can up it to 80-85 and continue between 70-85 for the remainder of his contract. This would only mean a problem down the road in 2015 or 2016 and beyond if the Twins develop Vargas and company. The development of Herrmann and Pinto will help obviously.

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Originally Posted by SpiritofVodkaDave

Because Mauer is a really good defensive catcher and the Twins are a better team when he is behind the plate instead of Doumit/Butera.

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Correction- Because Mauer WAS a really good defensive catcher- his defensive metrics have slipped badly the last 2 years. Regardless, I agree that they are a better team with him catching. But keeping him healthy for the last 6 years on his contract trumps that fact on the priority scale

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Originally Posted by SpiritofVodkaDave

Mauer is still relatively young and in the prime of his career, there is no reason why he can't start 125 games behind the dish. Anything between 100-125 is ideal. You can then DH him another 25-45 games. No real reason to have him play 1st base, if Morneau needs a break they should be putting Parmelee at first.

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Perhaps the reason would be that he has only played over 120 games as a catcher in a season once? (That was 135 games started at C in 2008 [139 played] when he was a 25-year old youngster, and he's been dealing with major health issues ever since.)

I think 100 games for Mauer behind the plate with Doumit getting 62 starts would be ideal if it isn't deleterious to Mauer's health (Doumit caught 59 games last year and 60 the year before at Pittsburgh.) 0 for Butera.

I am going to go with 100 - 105 starts at C for Mauer and 40-45 for Doumit backing up another 10-15 games and Butera Starting 13 - 17 games and playing 1 -3 innings in another 40-50 games.

The whole Mauer-in-decline as a catcher thing might be overblown. His stats are anomalously bad last year, counting the year before is stupid, and if I recall correctly, all of the Twins' catchers had bad stats last year, including the supposed defensive wunderkind Butera. It makes me think that a terrible pitching staff may have had something to do with it. I recall seeing opposing teams swiping bases on a bunch of our rookie pitchers who just looked unaware and overmatched, and I'm not sure any catcher could have done much with those.

It don't think it's that overblown. He's really struggled with throwing out runners and he's looked Posadish (lazy) at times behind the plate. Hopefully he can work with Terry Steinbach and get some of the defensive mojo back.

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Originally Posted by 70charger

The whole Mauer-in-decline as a catcher thing might be overblown. His stats are anomalously bad last year, counting the year before is stupid, and if I recall correctly, all of the Twins' catchers had bad stats last year, including the supposed defensive wunderkind Butera. It makes me think that a terrible pitching staff may have had something to do with it. I recall seeing opposing teams swiping bases on a bunch of our rookie pitchers who just looked unaware and overmatched, and I'm not sure any catcher could have done much with those.

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Agreed on the one part of your hypothesis- The poorly prepared pitchers (and not just the rookies), in regard to holding runners on properly, are a significant part of the putrid CS rates. But if you look at the numbers, combined with the eye test, his once-amazing catching abilities have been in decline, since coming back from major injury in May, 2009.

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Originally Posted by Pius Jefferson

It don't think it's that overblown. He's really struggled with throwing out runners and he's looked Posadish (lazy) at times behind the plate. Hopefully he can work with Terry Steinbach and get some of the defensive mojo back.

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When you have guys like Carl "What do you mean 'holding' a baserunner" Pavano on the mound the last few years, it's probably more than a little frustrating when every runner gets a 4 step headstart on every steal attempt.

I don't really have a problem with this. If Joe is healthy and wants to catch, you let Joe catch. He's far and away the best option behind the dish on the roster (and possibly MLB). If he starts struggling with minor injuries, start to DH the guy.

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Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

I don't really have a problem with this. If Joe is healthy and wants to catch, you let Joe catch. He's far and away the best option behind the dish on the roster (and possibly MLB). If he starts struggling with minor injuries, start to DH the guy.

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This is shortsighted thinking. They just extended 2 extra years to a guy to play 60 games at catcher.

You have a GM who at the 2013 gala fanfest "kick off" just publicly set the bar for Gardenhire so low that the bar resembles a limbo stick:


"As long as things go according to plan here ... obviously, even if we struggle to some extent, you look at control of the clubhouse, injuries that we should not have to worry about, the professional approach that we all treasure, those are the types of things that I'm looking at more than wins and losses."


"If Joe is healthy and wants to catch", you still have to be mindful that he isn't the boss and doesn't sign his own paychecks.

The Twins have a significant potential liability on the books in Mauer and need to protect their investment, particularly in a year when they are pathetically pulling this chestnut of "Iron Joe" out in an attempt to sell some tickets rather than as some proviso that Joe's fully on board at Fulll-Time catching duties to make a legitimate run at a title.

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Originally Posted by jokin

This is shortsighted thinking. They just extended 2 extra years to a guy to play 60 games at catcher.

You have a GM who at the 2013 gala fanfest "kick off" just publicly set the bar for Gardenhire so low that the bar resembles a limbo stick:

"As long as things go according to plan here ... obviously, even if we struggle to some extent, you look at control of the clubhouse, injuries that we should not have to worry about, the professional approach that we all treasure, those are the types of things that I'm looking at more than wins and losses."

"If Joe is healthy and wants to catch", you still have to be mindful that he isn't the boss and doesn't sign his own paychecks.

The Twins have a significant potential liability on the books in Mauer and need to protect their investment, particularly in a year when they are pathetically pulling this chestnut of "Iron Joe" out in an attempt to sell some tickets rather than as some proviso that Joe's fully on board at Fulll-Time catching duties to make a legitimate run at a title.

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It's not short-sighted thinking, it's prioritizing things differently. Mauer has the most value at catcher. His HoF chances are better at catcher (not a huge deal but still counts for something). He's healthy for the first time in a few years and probably wants to get back behind the plate.

Will he catch 125 games? I doubt that. With Doumit on the roster, it will be all too easy to DH Joe every 3-4 games or every time we see a night-day followup game. I think we'll see more in the 100-120 range if Joe stays healthy all season.

And IMO, that's a fine number. Given Doumit's struggles behind the dish and Butera's general ineptitude with the bat, Joe offers far and away the best option behind the plate.