Mauer and Emotion

[Brock Beauchamp]

It wasnt obvious I was talking about going forward, and this year, not the past?

 

Mauer has a long track record of success and has stumbled in the first 200 PAs of 2014.

 

Ryan Howard has a long track record of mediocrity, is paid nearly the same amount as Mauer, and still has 2 2/3 years left on his contract.

 

Howard's contract is worse and it's not even close.

 

Also, the Phillies have to pay Howard $10m (!) to decline his 2017 option. Holy moly.

[Mike Sixel]

nm...

[SwainZag]

Is this approaching the worst contract in the game right now? I think the Dodgers have worse, but they have near infinite money, and a willingness to spend it, so I think you have to DQ those.

 

Well the Mets are still paying Bobby Bonilla 1.19M every year until 2035 and he hasn't played for them in 15 years so....that one is pretty bad.

[Beezer07]

Uh.... Alex Rodriguez.

 

Also Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton, and CC Sabathia.

 

Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Bobby Bonilla (Mets are STILL paying him, right?)

 

The "good" thing about Mauer's contract is that he signed when hitter's deals were only kinda ridiculous, rather than the utterly absurd deals we're seeing right now.

[jharaldson]

Mauer has a long track record of success and has stumbled in the first 200 PAs of 2014.

 

Ryan Howard has a long track record of mediocrity, is paid nearly the same amount as Mauer, and still has 2 2/3 years left on his contract.

 

Howard's contract is worse and it's not even close.

 

Also, the Phillies have to pay Howard $10m (!) to decline his 2017 option. Holy moly.

 

Mauer has 4 2/3 years left on his contract which makes it a little closer then you are stating. In my mind it comes down to if you think this is a slump or the beginning of the end. I am still inclined to think this is a slump and would chose Mauer's contract but if you think this is Mauer in freefall then a reasonable person could say I just want the contract that end soonest.

[ScrapTheNickname]

Mauer is very good with runners on base. I have no freakin' idea how this myth is still rumbling around Twins fans' heads. It takes all of 15 seconds to check the stat line and see that it's false.

 

As of 6/3/14, Mauer is hitting .167 with Runners in Scoring Position.

 

For his career he has hit .337 with RISP.

 

So yes we are frustrated by his failure in "leveraged" situations.

[Brock Beauchamp]

And my point is that it's pretty pointless to get riled up about minor statistical fluctuations over small sample sizes.