Mega Hunk Joe Mauer

[DaveW]

Last 34 games:

 

.372/.462/.512

 

He now leads the league in OBP and has a 141 OPS+ (.859 OPS) its looking more and more likely that Mauer is healthy and getting back to his normal production and has a good shot at winning his 4th batting average title.

 

The fact that they have been giving him starts at 1B/DH quite a bit seems to only help things, so with that in mind moving forward how do you want the Twins to handle Mauer the rest of the season and on into 2013+?

[Brock Beauchamp]

He's still hitting the ball on the ground far too often. That stat line is a testament to just how talented a hitter Mauer is... He puts the ball on the ground nearly 60% of the time and still has an OPS of .860.

 

At this point, I don't know if his lower body will ever be right again, which is unfortunate because if he hits like that with lower body problems, he could be putting up 2009-type numbers if he was 100%.

[Boom Boom]

One easy way to keep Mauer fresh is to start him at 1B against tough lefties. That would also limit Morneau's exposure to same-sided pitching.

[Cody Christie]

Fun to see his bat start to show some flashes of it's old self. It would be nice for some more extra-base hits. But at this point, this is what Mauer is going to be and it is up to the rest of the guys behind him to drive him in when he gets on base.

[MasterBassist]

Fun to see his bat start to show some flashes of it's old self. It would be nice for some more extra-base hits. But at this point, this is what Mauer is going to be and it is up to the rest of the guys behind him to drive him in when he gets on base.

Yep - still waiting for him to develop those 'man muscles' that his grandpa was talking about in Joe's Spotlight feature.

 

Joe would make a perfect 2 hole hitter if he was swifter on his feet.

[John Bonnes]

I'll postulate that this is the effect of making sure he isn't catching every day. I really think having a another catcher on the team that can hit enough to be valuable maximizes Mauer's value. Doumit is a really good fit for him (and would be even better if he hit lefties better than righties). I've been meaning to look at the free agent catchers for next year and see if there is a similar fit.

[jctwins]

I'll postulate that this is the effect of making sure he isn't catching every day. I really think having a another catcher on the team that can hit enough to be valuable maximizes Mauer's value. Doumit is a really good fit for him (and would be even better if he hit lefties better than righties). I've been meaning to look at the free agent catchers for next year and see if there is a similar fit.

You're saying trade Doumit and sign another FA?