Mauer thread #765

[DaveW]

Don't look now, but his OPS is back at .800

 

If he can replicate this next year I think most of us will be pretty pleased, hopefully he has a few years more like this left in his tank and can solidify his spot in the HOF.

 

Obviously you want a little more power and a little better OPS out of a 1B, but I think the Twins can live with a .800 ops.

[adorduan]

I'd be thrilled if he put up  a .800 OPS the next 2 years. And I wouldn't care how he got to .800. If that meant not much power, say a .390/.410, that would be fine.  We need on base guys to go with the power guys.

[Don Walcott]

Add to that great defense. I hope he can stay hot and his OPS goes even higher. His walks are up, strikeouts are down, and he's coming around on his power numbers. Yeah, I can live with Joe at 1st.

[D. Hocking]

I am a Mauer apologist, so I would love to see him stabilize and have a few more productive, respectable years.  He has certainly shown stretches where he still has it mixed with stretches where he looks like he should be a part time player.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes and which Mauer is more of the anomaly.   

 

I think I saw somewhere once Texiera retires at the end of the year, Mauer will be the only one left from the top of that draft class.  Time flies.  It also reminded me of how young he was when he came up to the big show.  Rookie injury aside, he had a pretty smooth transition for one that young.  If TD had existed at that time, I don't think there would have been many threads about whether he should be sent down to AAA, which he skipped in the first place.

 

It is also nice to see how he has improved defensively at 1B the last couple of years.  

[ashbury]

[DaveW]

Yeah he is a stud defensively and very underrated IMO.

 

I think the key moving fwd is giving him enough days off, and a few days at DH to keep him fresh.

 

Maybe on average he sits every 5th game or so? That would put him at 130 games over the course of a season and could help?

 

Either way, awesome to see him doing well again, class act all the way.

[DrNeau]

It has been a pleasure to see Joe playing this well this past week. Joe is really an enigma this year; a mystery wrapped in a riddle. If he has turned a corner, then this is great. This has been hot and cold to the extreme. Hope this can continue. 

[drivlikejehu]

 

Don't look now, but his OPS is back at .800

If he can replicate this next year I think most of us will be pretty pleased, hopefully he has a few years more like this left in his tank and can solidify his spot in the HOF.

Obviously you want a little more power and a little better OPS out of a 1B, but I think the Twins can live with a .800 ops.

 

He isn't going to be in the HOF, unless you mean the Twins version, and he's a lock for that already.

 

But it certainly would be awesome if he could maintain a ~.800 OPS going forward. His defense has looked pretty good this year too. He's a well above-average 1st baseman at the moment.

[jimmer]

People are setting aside Mauer's chance for the HOF too quickly. As primarily a catcher,  the man has 3 batting titles (no other AL catcher has even one), an MVP when he lead not only in BA, but OBP and SLG%.  It had been 30 years since someone did that in the AL,that being another HOFer George Brett.

 

He also has 3 GG, 6 silver sluggers and a career line of  .311/.393/.448 (129 OPS+). He's 4th in career BA for catchers, he's second in OBP, he's 9th in WAR and OPS.

 

All those things matter to voters.  Voter being people who don't hold the disdain for Mauer so many Twins fans do.

 

So yeah, he had a bad 2014 and 2015 after sustaining a concussion, but players have those sometimes, even HOFers.

 

So, we'll see.  Really doesn't matter though.  Hopefully he just finishes his career strong with the Twins.

[bluechipper]

He isn't going to be in the HOF, unless you mean the Twins version, and he's a lock for that already.

 

But it certainly would be awesome if he could maintain a ~.800 OPS going forward. His defense has looked pretty good this year too. He's a well above-average 1st baseman at the moment.

I'm glad you can see the future. The man's got 3 batting titles and an MVP as a catcher. He'll finish with over 2000 hits. Show some respect.

[drivlikejehu]

 

I'm glad you can see the future. The man's got 3 batting titles and an MVP as a catcher. He'll finish with over 2000 hits. Show some respect.

 

I've always been a big fan of Mauer. Feel free to search the forums for me criticizing him - you won't find anything. He just isn't going to have the counting stats or other factors necessary to get into the HOF, whether or not he's deserving.

 

If he had been a Yankee, then quite possibly. If he was a World Series hero, quite possibly. But alas.

[DocBauer]

I just can't figure Mauer out. Never been a hater, but with his regression and the Twins rebuilding, I've thought about and even hoped for retirement, or a possible trade to a contender for his last two years with the Twins picking up most of the check. And suddenly he re-surfaces again as a quality hitter.

 

I love his defense. The OB is still good. And I can live without big power with power in the lineup elsewhere. And teams, and lineups, are built a variety of different ways. And him being a quality #2 has real value. I just wish we knew, with days off being the key or whatever, that he could maintain this the next two years.

[USAFChief]

. If he was a World Series hero, quite possibly. But alas.

Still time for that.

[D. Hocking]

 

If he was a World Series hero, quite possibly. But alas.

 

2018- game 7 - walk off walk.

 

[Chief was faster than me.]

[diehardtwinsfan]

Dave, I think you're missing a digit on the title.  Needs a zero at the end I think

 

But yeah, he's been streaky this season, but overall pretty good.  Here's the real question, what do you do with Mauer/Vargas/Park. 3 guys for 2 spots.

[D. Hocking]

I keep forgetting about Park (I have blocked out a lot of April and May).  How is he doing in AAA?  I know they got him for a decent price, but I remember thinking - do we need another 1B/DH type?

[drivlikejehu]

 

Still time for that.

 

Right, but it wasn't the premise of the post I was responding to. Something big would need to happen to change the dynamic of his case, beyond several more years of solid play.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Also, Mauer's season OPS was .736 just a week ago. He is nowhere near stabilizing as a .800 OPS guy, although I agree that would be very nice if he somehow did so.

[DaveW]

Also, Mauer's season OPS was .736 just a week ago. He is nowhere near stabilizing as a .800 OPS guy, although I agree that would be very nice if he somehow did so.

Season is 2/3rds over. An .800 ops is an .800 ops

[Otto von Ballpark]

Season is 2/3rds over. An .800 ops is an .800 ops

If it swings up 70 points in a hot week, it is probably the peak rather than a new norm. A "true .750 OPS hitter" will probably swing between .700-.800, which is what Mauer has spent the last 3 years doing, the last week included.

 

I'd like to see his hot streak continue up to .850 OPS before I get too confident about him being a "true .800 OPS hitter" going forward.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

If it swings up 70 points in a hot week, it is probably the peak rather than a new norm. A "true .750 OPS hitter" will probably swing between .700-.800, which is what Mauer has spent the last 3 years doing, the last week included.

I'd like to see his hot streak continue up to .850 OPS before I get too confident about him being a "true .800 OPS hitter" going forward.

Yeah. Right now, I'm thrilled with the .800 OPS but I'm waiting it out before calling him an .800 OPS player again.

 

I was hopeful when Mauer started the season with such strong peripherals (walks up, strikeouts down) but as we all saw, that trend faded in a hurry.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Season is 2/3rds over. An .800 ops is an .800 ops

 

So if his September looks like June....then what?  

 

It's nice to see Mauer hitting well again, I'd like to enjoy that as much as I can for as long as I can.  

 

But did you consider Eduardo Nunez an .850 OPS player in June?  No?  Yeah, me either.  Let's keep perspective.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

I keep forgetting about Park (I have blocked out a lot of April and May).  How is he doing in AAA?  I know they got him for a decent price, but I remember thinking - do we need another 1B/DH type?

 

quite well.

[Linus]

So basically Joe is doing everything we want at a high level except hit home runs. Sounds like a good player to me.

[Pius Jefferson]

 

Still time for that.

 

It's not the young Killer Bee's of the Red Sox but the veteran Joe Mauer who leads Boston to the 2019 World Series over the Chicago Cubs.

 

[70charger]

 

It's not the young Killer Bee's of the Red Sox but the veteran Joe Mauer who leads Boston to the 2019 World Series over the Chicago Cubs.

 

I'd watch that. I mean, I'm guessing it'll be difficult for the Twins to win back-to-back World Series anyway, so we might as well watch Mauer win another one.

[AlwaysinModeration]

2018- game 7 - walk off walk.

 

[Chief was faster than me.]

Nah. Joe's playing the long game. He's been taking the first pitch for years and years and years just to set up an ambush in the 9th inning of Game 7.

[DaveW]

So if his September looks like June....then what?

 

It's nice to see Mauer hitting well again, I'd like to enjoy that as much as I can for as long as I can.

 

But did you consider Eduardo Nunez an .850 OPS player in June? No? Yeah, me either. Let's keep perspective.

Comparing Nunez to Mauer is pointless, one is a guy with several great seasons, an MVP award and 3 batting titles and another guy is a career util player who had a breakout first half.

[DaveW]

Yeah. Right now, I'm thrilled with the .800 OPS but I'm waiting it out before calling him an .800 OPS player again.

 

I was hopeful when Mauer started the season with such strong peripherals (walks up, strikeouts down) but as we all saw, that trend faded in a hurry.

If he has an .800 ops at this stage of the season, he is an .800 ops player.

 

If he has an .850 ops, then he is an .850 ops player.

 

Players go on hot and cold streaks all the time, the thing that matters when evaluating is where they end up.

[DaveW]

quite well.

Color me skeptical with Park still. A major league fastball is quite a bit different than a AAA fastball.