Must Read Reusse: Mauer Contributions

[Seth Stohs]

Patrick Reusse wrote a tremendous blog article on the contributions of Joe Mauer to the Twins strong run the last 4-5 weeks. 

 

I'm always looking for things to say people who seemingly enjoy and prefer Mauer bashing, and this is just well written.

[stringer bell]

Nice. While we all would like 2009 Joe Mauer, the club needs more guys to get on. Mauer is doing that part well.

 

[DaveW]

Nice. While we all would like 2009 Joe Mauer, the club needs more guys to get on. Mauer is doing that part well.

Yup! It feels like he single handedly has prevented the Twins from getting no hit multiple times this year.

[jimbo92107]

Especially when the guy batting behind you is Miguel Sano, it's good to get on base a lot. Let Sano bang it over the fence, so you can all jog the bases. Joe Mauer figures out the best way to help his team win, then does that.

[D. Hocking]

Everyone knows Polyanna Pat Reusse is a homer - he would not know how to say anything negative if a house fell on him.

 

I do like Mauer being in front of Sano.

 

I know a lot of people want Mauer gone, but I would like to see him play well enough to play with Sano, Buxton etc for a couple of years.  Kind of a passing of the guard.  It would also be nice to see him play with a team with some play-off success, best case scenario get a home town world series ring.  (Unlike Reusse, I actually am a bit of a homer).  

 

I think I am going to be smart for once and not read the comment to this blog.

 

 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Reusse said Mauer would never hit a moonshot like Sano to win a game in the 12th, but didn't Mauer do that in Pittsburgh earlier this year?

[DJSim22]

 

Everyone knows Polyanna Pat Reusse is a homer - he would not know how to say anything negative if a house fell on him.

 

I do like Mauer being in front of Sano.

 

I know a lot of people want Mauer gone, but I would like to see him play well enough to play with Sano, Buxton etc for a couple of years.  Kind of a passing of the guard.  It would also be nice to see him play with a team with some play-off success, best case scenario get a home town world series ring.  (Unlike Reusse, I actually am a bit of a homer).  

 

I think I am going to be smart for once and not read the comment to this blog.

Phat Pat is a homer?  I've never heard that in my life.  The guy takes pleasure in ripping people apart and then he does his stupid turkey of the year article every year.  Not saying you are incorrect or anything, I guess I just see him completely different.

[D. Hocking]

 

Phat Pat is a homer?  I've never heard that in my life.  The guy takes pleasure in ripping people apart and then he does his stupid turkey of the year article every year.  Not saying you are incorrect or anything, I guess I just see him completely different.

 

The Pat is a homer comment was said in jest.  

[DJSim22]

 

The Pat is a homer comment was said in jest.  

My bad...

[nokomismod]

Has anyone done more to promote the negativity around Joe Mauer than Dan Barrero? Pat doesn't always get it right, but he did on this piece.

[HitInAPinch]

A sign of bigger, better things to come? 

 

[amjgt]

Home town. Not Homer

[nicksaviking]

Positive pieces from folks generally seen as pessimists tend to ring more authentic.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Reusse said Mauer would never hit a moonshot like Sano to win a game in the 12th, but didn't Mauer do that in Pittsburgh earlier this year?

 

And I believe he had one last year too.

[mickeymental]

i remember the one in 2009 when he tied the score in philadelphia with a two-out ninth-inning homer off of lidge -- a game the twins won in extras.

 

(just looked it up -- it was 2010.)

[Badsmerf]

Mauer wouldn't receive as much criticism if he wasn't the highest paid player on the twins, and one of the least productive at his new position. I hope he can continue this stretch of success.

 

I really don't think this is a "see I told you so" about Mauer. It is simply recognition for being a major contributor the last month.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Mauer has certainly been steady lately, which is better than some of his other recent stretches.

 

His slash line during this 33 game on-base streak is .280/.368/.384, for a .752 OPS and 108 wRC+.  Almost the same as his overall 2014 performance (105 wRC+).

 

Not a great sign going forward when this qualifies as an extended hot streak for him, but given our roster at the present moment I'll take it.

[Otto von Ballpark]

And let's not lump all Mauer criticisms in the same boat -- folks complaining about Mauer pre-2014 were by and large ridiculous.

 

Folks who began expressing criticism/concern about him in 2014, though, seem pretty reasonable to me.

[nicksaviking]

 

And let's not lump all Mauer criticisms in the same boat -- folks complaining about Mauer pre-2014 were by and large ridiculous.

 

Folks who began expressing criticism/concern about him in 2014, though, seem pretty reasonable to me.

 

I would also not lump anyone who criticizes his pay with those concerned about the roster crunch his full-time 1B inflexiblity creates.

[Badsmerf]

I'm pretty critical of Mauer, and will continue to have high expectations for him, and the position he plays. Everyone should be pulling for him, he plays a pivotal offensive position and if he continues to play this much let's just hope it is better quality baseball than what we've seen the last few seasons.

[Kavan]

Well written?  I couldn't make it past this sentence:

 

Runs batted in are a meaningless number to baseball’s nuevo statistical crowd, but in 1998, they meant something to Molitor.

 

I get so frustrated with this type of sentiment.  No one has ever argued that RBIs are not important to winning games. The way you win games is by scoring more runs than your opponent, a good way to do that is to hit a lot of RBIs. RBIs are important. The 'nuevo statistical crowd' simply says that RBIs are not a good measure of a player's individual performance, nor is it a good way to predict a player's future performance. 

 

If you want to predict how good a player is going to be during the stretch run, or evaluate a trade candidate's potential future performance, there are better metrics than RBIs simply because RBIs describe what a team is doing, not what an individual is doing. The hitters in front of me partially determine my total RBIs. That doesn't mean RBIs are meaningless, they're just a poor measure of individual performance. If you think people might 'rise to the occasion' with men on base, then look at percent of potential RBIs converted or something (I think people have and I think this stat is not persistent).

 

This is the same argument against 'Wins' for pitchers. It takes a team effort to get the starting pitcher a win, good teams will accumulate wins for their starting pitchers. Wins aren't meaningless, they tell you something about how the team did that day. They just aren't not a great tool to evaluate the pitcher as an individual.

[Kavan]

Also Mauer is posting the lowest OBP of his career, by more than 20 points. Putting Sano behind Mauer doesn't make Mauer a better player. Putting Sano in the lineup makes the Twins a better team.

[Thrylos]

Not bashing Mauer by any means.  Bashing Reusse by all means:

 

a. The last 28 days Mauer is having a .373 OBP but a .717 OPS.  The last 28 days Mauer is having six (6) extra base hits.   Not quite number 3 hitter numbers now, are they?   Glad that Mauer is getting on base, but he should either be bumped up to 2 with Sano at 3 or start being a bit more aggressive with the stick.   This is an obvious thing and Reusse obviously misses it.

 

b. He decides for some reason to bash Sano in that writeup.  Mercy!

[laloesch]

 

Mauer has certainly been steady lately, which is better than some of his other recent stretches.

 

His slash line during this 33 game on-base streak is .280/.368/.384, for a .752 OPS and 108 wRC+.  Almost the same as his overall 2014 performance (105 wRC+).

 

Not a great sign going forward when this qualifies as an extended hot streak for him, but given our roster at the present moment I'll take it.

 

 

Wow those are impressive numbers.  Minnesota should give him another 10 year deal worth 200 million this time so that he bog down the payroll for the next decade.

[Twinfan & Dad]

Joe Mauer is great teammate and professional. Unfortunately for the Twins is the cost at 23 million per season. That is the problem. The numbers he puts up just doesn't work out to be of great value for the salary. Nothing against Joe as a person but the numbers don't work out well for the Twins and payroll flexibility. Lets cut that 23 million in half then we might be at fair value.

[h2oface]

Runs batted in?........ or Runs batted ins?..... RBI or RBIs? I guess I contend that it is RBI, whether 1 or 200. It is already plural, and if it is used for just one run, it is a run batted in, and still RBI.

 

[SwainZag]

 

Joe Mauer is great teammate and professional. Unfortunately for the Twins is the cost at 23 million per season. That is the problem. The numbers he puts up just doesn't work out to be of great value for the salary. Nothing against Joe as a person but the numbers don't work out well for the Twins and payroll flexibility. Lets cut that 23 million in half then we might be at fair value.

 

People need to quit looking at the salary number.  It was signed 5 years ago, it's what he is going to get paid and deal with it.  We can talk about his numbers aren't worth the salary until we are all blue in the face, it won't change the salary or the fact he will be in Minnesota until that deal is over.

[DaveW]

His salary isn't stopping them from signing anyone else, the twins would never pay for a top ace type anyways, even if they had a $160 mil payroll. It's not in Ryan's nature.

 

As many have said over over and over again. His contract is up long before guys like Hicks, Berrios, Buxton, dozier, Rosario, Gibson, etc hit free agency.

 

I still have hope that he comes back next year a couple years removed from the concussion and ends up being the Mauer of old (.800+ ops)

[Mike Sixel]

don't care about the money, only care how he plays compared to other 1B....because that's the position he plays. He's had a nice run, hopefully he can play better and better this year and next.

[Badsmerf]

don't care about the money, only care how he plays compared to other 1B....because that's the position he plays. He's had a nice run, hopefully he can play better and better this year and next.

Exactly.