Mauer at 1B nearly every day

[Oldgoat_MN]

We have Mauer at 1B nearly every game. I truly hope that was never the plan.

 

At this point I wouldn't mind if they called up Hague. Not as a long term solution, but he's hitting.
This is a temporary fix until Park is healthy and hitting again or Vargas starts hitting. Hague bats RH, so might platoon well with Mauer.

 

And if anyone wants to point out he's not on the 40 man, so what? Drop JR Murphy. If he gets picked up (seems unlikely) then move Rohlfing to AAA. Unless something drastically changes for Murphy this would not be a big loss.
Need room on the 25-man roster? DanSan. Or a pitcher. Or both.

 

Thoughts? Better ideas?

[Comrade Bork]

I just can't believe after years of way to many 1b/DH types that all it took was 2 injuries to completely wipe out our depth at the position.

 

Send down any reliever with options and call up Palka. He's got almost as many innings at first in the minors as he does in the outfield. Mauer batting .209 in the top half of the order everyday has got to stop. Straight swap him and Polanco in the lineup.

 

13 pitchers is STILL the worst part about this roster.

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

I just can't believe after years of way to many 1b/DH types that all it took was 2 injuries to completely wipe out our depth at the position.

Send down any reliever with options and call up Palka. He's got almost as many innings at first in the minors as he does in the outfield. Mauer batting .209 in the top half of the order everyday has got to stop. Straight swap him and Polanco in the lineup.

13 pitchers is STILL the worst part about this roster.

I hadn't taken the idea of Palka seriously because of his high strikeout rate. After looking again I see that he seems to be making better contact. Palka might be an option.

 

I wonder, who would manager Mike Quade recommend?

And yes, 13 pitchers seems ridiculous. 

[ThejacKmp]

You don't even need to bring anyone up. Just use Sano/Grossman at 1B when lefties are playing. I get wanting to give Sano a solid spot at 3B but you're not asking him to do it a lot (once a week) and you're not asking him to do something he hasn't done before (like OF last year). And your 3B defense is better with Escobar there.

 

If the Twins wanna drop a reliever, I'm fine with it. But they don't even have to bring someone up to solve this problem. 

[USAFChief]

I just can't believe after years of way to many 1b/DH types that all it took was 2 injuries to completely wipe out our depth at the position.

Send down any reliever with options and call up Palka. He's got almost as many innings at first in the minors as he does in the outfield. Mauer batting .209 in the top half of the order everyday has got to stop. Straight swap him and Polanco in the lineup.

13 pitchers is STILL the worst part about this roster.

Palka's a LH hitter. Really doesn't help, unless you're taking Mauer out of the lineup completely, and that's just not going to happen.

[Comrade Bork]

Palka's a LH hitter. Really doesn't help, unless you're taking Mauer out of the lineup completely, and that's just not going to happen.

Even if he doesn't spell Mauer, Palka is still high on my list of guys I'd call up to replace a pitcher.

 

The LH bat thing makes sense though I didn't think about that.

[drjim]

Ask and you shall receive. Mauer on bench today against a lefty.

[Winston Smith]

Joe has a home town scholarship and I really doubt he sits much until after next season. Just isn't the "Twins Way". I just hope they don't resign him after next year as a veteran presence.

 

Of course how can you sit our cleanup hitter?

[Dr. Evil]

Sano at 1b and Esco at 3b more often gets my vote.

[flags]

Mauer is sitting pretty regularly against lefties, which i'm pretty sure was the plan all along. As long as Molitor keeps that up, i have no problem with Mauers playing time.  Not sure he needs to be the clean up hitter though 

[Riverbrian]

Sano at first today. 

 

I think it's wonderful

 

7 more games at 1B for Sano and he gains 1B eligibility for my fantasy team. 

 

Oh... And... Escobar has been playing well and he deserves more time in the lineup. Escobar has been on the bench for 4 straight games which is what you do with a guy who performs when given a chance I guess.  

 

I get the concept of small sample size but some small sample sizes are caused by managers keeping the sample small. I was personally hoping that Molitor wouldn't extensively sit a guy hitting .273/.407/.862 and play a guy hitting .208/.258/.482 every day.

 

"Earn your playing time" should be stamped to Paul Molitor's forehead in large font. And Mirrors should be installed all over the club house so Paul can also see his forehead. If you earn playing time... give it to them!!!

 

Sincerly 

 

River "Happy to see Escobar in the lineup once again" Brian

 

[Winston Smith]

 

Sano at first today. 

 

I think it's wonderful

 

7 more games at 1B for Sano and he gains 1B eligibility for my fantasy team. 

 

Oh... And... Escobar has been playing well and he deserves more time in the lineup. Escobar has been on the bench for 4 straight games which is what you do with a guy who performs when given a chance I guess.  

 

I get the concept of small sample size but some small sample sizes are caused by managers keeping the sample small. I was personally hoping that Molitor wouldn't extensively sit a guy hitting .273/.407/.862 and play a guy hitting .208/.258/.482 every day.

 

"Earn your playing time" should be stamped to Paul Molitor's forehead in large font. And Mirrors should be installed all over the club house so Paul can also see his forehead. If you earn playing time... give it to them!!!

 

Sincerly 

 

River "Happy to see Escobar in the lineup once again" Brian

Old man river makes sense for once I mean like always!

[jimbo92107]

The main reason I see for leaving Mauer in the lineup is his glove at 1st base. As usual, Mauer has refined his fielding technique to the point where he's practically flawless at his position. I'm pretty sure Molitor recognizes the value of having almost perfect fielding at first, what with Sano and Polanco across the diamond. When you know your 1B is tall, athletic and has a great glove, it gives you confidence to cut loose and fire the ball on every play. Ask Sano when he threw one high, and Mauer hauled it down from about nine feet in the air. Would Palka catch that? Vargas? Park? Maybe so, maybe no. They're not bad, but Mauer is the best fielding 1B this team has had since Hrbek. 

 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

The main reason I see for leaving Mauer in the lineup is his glove at 1st base. As usual, Mauer has refined his fielding technique to the point where he's practically flawless at his position.

I think Joe gets too little credit for his glove at first. He didn't even really refine his technique, he started out in a pretty solid place. In very limited innings in 2011-13, defensive metrics were pretty meh on Mauer at first but he only logged a total of 480 innings at the position across three seasons. And he wasn't even bad, he was just meh.

 

When Joe took over full-time first base duties in 2014, defensive metrics immediately labeled him as a good defender.

[Riverbrian]

Joe is a fantastic defensive 1B.

 

So was Meintkiewicz. Both had that light hitting .300 potential. 

 

Eventually you need someone like Morneau. 

 

 

[KirbyDome89]

 

You don't even need to bring anyone up. Just use Sano/Grossman at 1B when lefties are playing. I get wanting to give Sano a solid spot at 3B but you're not asking him to do it a lot (once a week) and you're not asking him to do something he hasn't done before (like OF last year). And your 3B defense is better with Escobar there.

 

If the Twins wanna drop a reliever, I'm fine with it. But they don't even have to bring someone up to solve this problem. 

You've seen their bench right?

[USAFChief]

 

 

 

"Earn your playing time" should be stamped to Paul Molitor's forehead in large font. And Mirrors should be installed all over the club house so Paul can also see his forehead. If you earn playing time... give it to them!!!

 

Sincerly 

 

River "Happy to see Escobar in the lineup once again" Brian

If he's going to be reading it in mirrors, won't it need to be "emit gniyalp rouy nraE" on Paul's forehead?

[Linus]

If he's going to be reading it in mirrors, won't it need to be "emit gniyalp rouy nraE" on Paul's forehead?

Well played.

[yarnivek1972]

Is there some reason why no one thinks Vargas should be called up? Of anyone in AAA he clearly has the most upside.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Is there some reason why no one thinks Vargas should be called up? Of anyone in AAA he clearly has the most upside.

IMO, he should have been here on opening day and my opinion hasn't changed.

[ashbury]

If he's going to be reading it in mirrors, won't it need to be "emit gniyalp rouy nraE" on Paul's forehead?

Ǝɐɹu ʎonɹ dlɐʎᴉuƃ ʇᴉɯǝ, if he's standing on his head at the time.

[USAFChief]

Ǝɐɹu ʎonɹ dlɐʎᴉuƃ ʇᴉɯǝ, if he's standing on his head at the time.

Showoff.

[Riverbrian]

 

Ǝɐɹu ʎonɹ dlɐʎᴉuƃ ʇᴉɯǝ, if he's standing on his head at the time.

 

He's gonna need a big forehead. 

[LeatherAntenna]

The main reason I see for leaving Mauer in the lineup is his glove at 1st base. As usual, Mauer has refined his fielding technique to the point where he's practically flawless at his position. I'm pretty sure Molitor recognizes the value of having almost perfect fielding at first, what with Sano and Polanco across the diamond. When you know your 1B is tall, athletic and has a great glove, it gives you confidence to cut loose and fire the ball on every play. Ask Sano when he threw one high, and Mauer hauled it down from about nine feet in the air. Would Palka catch that? Vargas? Park? Maybe so, maybe no. They're not bad, but Mauer is the best fielding 1B this team has had since Hrbek.

 

. So if we had 8 Mauers at every fielding position playing flawless defense wouldn't that be wonderful? Then we would have a team that could score maybe 300 runs during the year and while looking flawless on defense would lose 130 games.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

The main reason I see for leaving Mauer in the lineup is his glove at 1st base. As usual, Mauer has refined his fielding technique to the point where he's practically flawless at his position. I'm pretty sure Molitor recognizes the value of having almost perfect fielding at first, what with Sano and Polanco across the diamond. When you know your 1B is tall, athletic and has a great glove, it gives you confidence to cut loose and fire the ball on every play. Ask Sano when he threw one high, and Mauer hauled it down from about nine feet in the air. Would Palka catch that? Vargas? Park? Maybe so, maybe no. They're not bad, but Mauer is the best fielding 1B this team has had since Hrbek.

i buy this with SS, C, and CF. not so much at first.

 

Mauer is one of the 25 best players on the team and the best first baseman right now, but that's not a real high bar.

 

Man I hope Park gets healthy and goes on a madman tear. He's shown flashes of very good fielding and clearly can hit dingers. It'd be great if he could look as awesome in the bigs as he does on all those KBO videos on YouTube

[DrNeau]

 

We have Mauer at 1B nearly every game. I truly hope that was never the plan.

 

...

 

Thoughts? Better ideas?

 

Daniel Palka. Let the kid come up and swing the heck out of that bat. He's going to miss a bunch, but boy, when he connects. I'd rather watch Palka swing for the moon than watch Mauer stand there - and hope to walk - and take multiple good fastball strikes with runners on and wind up swinging at a worse pitch on 2-2 or 3-2. Happens like every at bat and it's getting ridiculous. 

[Oldgoat_MN]

Just feel I need to give Justin his props.

In 2010 FanGraphs had Morneau as the top rated defensive 1B in all MLB.

here

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Daniel Palka. Let the kid come up and swing the heck out of that bat. He's going to miss a bunch, but boy, when he connects. I'd rather watch Palka swing for the moon than watch Mauer stand there - and hope to walk - and take multiple good fastball strikes with runners on and wind up swinging at a worse pitch on 2-2 or 3-2. Happens like every at bat and it's getting ridiculous. 

Palka also hits left-handed. Replacing Mauer with Palka makes little sense.

 

Vargas or Park, on the other hand...

[Riverbrian]

Players like Trout, Arenando, Betts, Bryant, Rizzo, Donaldson, Machado are everyday players.

 

Joe Mauer is not an everyday player. 

 

To be an everyday player you have to significantly out perform other options. Hitting .260 with a handful of home runs is replaceable. 

 

Joe is one of my top 5 favorite all time Twins... However in 2014 I started to think that we could replace his production if Joe took a seat on occasion. In 2015... I was fairly convinced that we could replace his production if he took a seat on occasion. He has done nothing since then to change my mind and he is at the point in 2017 that I'm worried that we may NEED to replace his production. 

 

[DrNeau]

Mauer:

G: 17

HR: 0

RBI: 6

OPS: .507

 

Palka

G: 15

HR: 5

RBI: 13

OPS: .935

 

Vargas

G: 12

HR: 2

RBI: 10

OPS: .778

 

Park

On rehab assignment. 

 

Replacing Mauer with anyone - at this point - makes perfect sense. Especially Rochester's production leader.