Joe Mauer has a no-trade clause and will never play catcher again.

[Pardon My Dinger]

 

Does that include "dinger"?

Dinger is a classic. A classic!

 

and my handle is in fact a very obscure  reference. so there.

[ashbury]

It was titled specifically to drive up the web traffic statistics.

FTFY.

[Linus]

How could they possibly take Joe Benson off the 40 man.....

[Platoon]

Mauer was the right guy, in the right place, at the right time, to get his contract. The "Perfect Storn". Plus, if he had not been re-signed, and at even a much higher rate, Twinsdom would have erupted. As for the present, IF he is the cause of the Twins losing, it's would not be his contract, it would be his performance. And if it he is blocking someone younger, better from playing, it's not his contract, or him that's doing that. It's a lack of intestinal fortitude by management. I like Mauer, I liked him better as a catcher. But love him or hate him, he is the key piece in the restructuring of the entire lineup. Until they figure what, if anything, to do with him, they are just treading water.

[formerly33]

Joe Mauer has a no-trade clause and will never play catcher again.

 

Wait ... what?! That's not what I'm hearing:

 

http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/randmid_1291158384_jetercardtwins_1.jpg

[Linus]

Let's trade Nolasco for nothing and dump the salary. (Never mind he is on the DL)

[Mike Sixel]

Terry Ryan is never making a big trade to acquire talent in July. Can we add that to the list yet, after 17 years?

[gil4]

 

Much in favor of Mr. Beauchamp's proposal. I'd like to attach a few trendy baseball lingo items to the list as well (i.e., "raking" and/or "...at a clip...").

 

Does that include "dinger"?

 

I'm not sure what Mr. Beauchamp's proposal was, but if it involved banning or shooting, I'm in favor.  And yes, dinger is on the list (right at the top).  Someone's going to have to change his name to "Pardon My :shoot: "

 

[boomerb5]

 

Expert analysis on "Mays" and "Meyers." Joe Mays hasn't pitched for the Twins in a decade, it's time to give it a rest. Still not sure who Meyers is.

 

Y'know...Greg Meyers...left-handed catcher.

[Craig Arko]

"Who to blame for this, who to blame for that."

 

Gets older than dirt.

[wickedslider]

 

No trade clause doesn't mean he can't be traded, just that he has to approve his trade. That being said, he isn't going anywhere. I also think it's unreasonable to expect him to restructure his contract...that's just not how sports work

the player's union would oppose any restructuring of Joe's contract. This isn't pro football.

[DaveW]

Mauer does have like an .830 ops or something his last 40 games or so....

[clank2000]

Can Pinto play SS?

 

Also, can I has cheezburger?

[sane]

I don't understand why the Twins don't Trade Danny Santana, Oswaldo Arcia and Rickey Nolasco for Bryce Harper and Stephen Strausberg?

[/quote

The Nationals are not required to honor any trade agreements signed while being held hostage?

[Craig Arko]

People who think deliberately misspelling someone's name is funny.

 

Hie thee back to joke school.

[mikecgrimes]

Clearly unless you pay at least 80% of mauers salary no team would trade for him. That being said when the twins are ready to move on (today would be a good day) give him the option to accept a trade if some team would pay 15% of his remaining salary. Otherwise you have to hope he retires or eat his salary. We can't go another year with < Gene Larkin as our starting 1st baseman. In fact we shouldn't go another week with mauer starting more then 3 games.

[twinsnorth49]

Mauer does have like an .830 ops or something his last 40 games or so....

cut him.

[USAFChief]

 

Mauer does have like an .830 ops or something his last 40 games or so....

I call shenanigans.

 

Last 28 days:  .618

2015:  .712

Last 365 days:  .739

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I call shenanigans.

 

Last 28 days:  .618

2015:  .712

Last 365 days:  .739

I think Dave is basing that on old stats before Joe went into his current tailspin.

 

From June 5-July 24, Joe posted an .816 OPS. I didn't try to optimize that timeframe beyond "it looks like he started hitting here" and "it looks like he stopped hitting here". There was a stretch of 4-5 weeks where Joe was OPSing around .850. I remember when it happened.

[Mike Sixel]

Twenty 1B qualify from the beginning of 2014 to now. Mauer has the 2nd lowest wRC+ of them all......

 

this year, he's even worse (though, so are some others).

 

It's not just his ranking, it's how far his WAR is from median that is a killer, let alone from good / elite.

[Craig Arko]

Wasn't this supposed to be a fun thread?    So serious. Let me tell you how I got these scars...

[spinowner]

I still say Brock should have changed the title so people would have understood the spirit in which it was intended and continued in that vein. Oh well, I guess it's a mute   point now.

[SwainZag]

They aren't going to eat 70+ million dollars to release him.  As soon as this gets through everyone's heads the better.  

[Mike Sixel]

I understood. ...it changed. So it is better to pay him, and play a worse player, than pay him and play a better player?

[mikecgrimes]

Real question not that any gm is this foolish but if somehow he got claimed off waivers would no trade clause matter?

[mikecgrimes]

They aren't going to eat 70+ million dollars to release him. As soon as this gets through everyone's heads the better.

sunk cost not a legitiment reason to keep him around.

[LeatherAntenna]

Everyone is way to hard on Mauer. He is hot right now. He has 5 RBIs in the last 5 weeks. Sure am glad he bats second or third in the lineup.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

There's no shame in a former batting champ batting in the six hole in the latter part of his career.

 

The Twins hit against David Price yesterday, a tough lefty. That would have been the perfect time to drop Mauer to sixth in the order and leave him there. Instead he didn't have to play at all, and then came back tonight batting second. Mauer had some big hits earlier in the season. Those are not helping us right now. I don't know if this is strictly a Molitor thing, what Jack Goin's opinion of it is, if it's an organizational decision to keep him at the top of the order in the mistaken belief fans will be upset if he's dropped down, or what the deal is.

[mikecgrimes]

 

There's no shame in a former batting champ batting in the six hole in the latter part of his career.

 

I don't really care so much that he's batting third although clearly thats probably not the right spot.  My question is why is he on pace for the most plate appearances in his career.  Of course staying healthy is part of it, but the fact he doesn't get at least one off day a week is insane.

[Boom Boom]

I don't think it matters how much of his salary the Twins would be willing to eat. Joe's a roughly replacement level first baseman. No team would want to trade for Joe unless it got them out from under a bad contract of Nolascan proportions.