Mauer’s Myths: The Hero Minnesota Didn’t Deserve

Bad form to dis a guy when he is taking his victory lap. 

Thanks Joe, forgive the critics

Sadly, I think Mauer should have been lead off or 2nd for most of his career.   Ask Morneau, Cuddyer, Young, Kubel  and Thome if they appreciated Joe bating in from of them.    A lot of ground out RBI and sac flies can be credited to Joe who would advance guys on the rare occasions that the guys ahead of him got on.    We know he isn't a home run hitter so the low number of RBI with RISP is still indicative of guys not getting on base enough.    Casilla, Punto, Everett, Hocking, Dozier are just some of the guys that Mauer batted after.   Not exactly high OBP guys.    

As far as clutch the Twins had 3 of the closest pennant races in history and Mauer was fantastic in the last months of those seasons.   Look at his last two months of the wild card race last year.    Personally,  I hope he comes back next year because even if he is not one of the best 1b batters, he is still one of the Twins best batters.

I once watched a weekend series where the Twins scored 9 runs as a direct result of Joe getting on base or moving guys over and the net result statistically for him was 0 RBI and 1 run scored.   The 4 and 5 baters (Morneau and I don't remember) got 8 RBI from a bunch of sac flies, ground outs and singles.    That is why Mauer did pretty well with the runs created stat that the casual fan just doesn't recognize or appreciate much.     Mauer is at #205 with lots of HOFers behind him and a lot of players ahead of him that only were ahead because they played longer.    Piazza is the only catcher that was ahead of him for runs created/seasons played.    I think Mauer's longevity actually hurts his case a bit.   His average career stats have taken a big hit from the last 5 years.      

This was kind of cool:

Johnny Bench
@JohnnyBench_5

#joemauer was celebrated by everyone for his character, class and ability. How cool to catch that last game. Wish it had been more! @Twins @MLB

 

Mauer’s first ten seasons in the majors was one of the greatest runs by any catcher in baseball history. From 2004 through 2013 he hit .323/.405/.468 for a OPS+ of 138 and accumulated 42.9 fWAR, three batting titles, three Gold Gloves, five all star appearances, five silver sluggers,and an MVP trophy. (A good chunk of that was written by Sickels, I added some info).

 

Mauer was a FANTASTIC player from 2004-2013.  The offense he was able to put up while playing quality defense at the most physically demanding position (catcher) was incredible.

This. And catcher is not just the most physically demanding position it's also the most mentally demanding position. The fact that he hit the way he did while being outstanding as a catcher is why he was the best baseball player in the world over those ten seasons. And that includes Albert Pujols.

This was kind of cool:

Super cool. I'm a big Johnny Bench fan (the Reds are, sadly, my NL team). I think Mauer belongs in that same catching pantheon.

Compare Joe Mauer to Sandy Koufax. Both were injured during their prime. Koufax quit after 12 years. His 3 years with Brooklyn, which were mediocre, were before his 9 best years. with LA, which were outstanding. Mauer kept playing after his injuries. Mauer player 5 years of mediorce baseball (10.4 WAR) after his best years.. I contend that Mauer's 10 best years as a catcher were so superior to any other catchers' 10 years (3 batting titles by a catcher- never been done before), that they compare to Koufax's 9 best years as a pitcher in relation to other pitchers. Did Koufax, as dominant as he was, ever do anything that no other pitcher has done before or since? No. I admit Koufax was dominant at his position for 9 years, but so was Joe Mauer for 10 years, in relation to all other catchers in the history of MLB. If Koufax deserves to be in the HOF (and he certainly does), then so does Joe Mauer (and he certainly does).

Koufax won 3 Cy Youngs in 4 years. Keep in mind that was AL and NL combined then. No one else won more than one when it was combined. Koufax won 5 consecutive ERA titles (3 of which were MLB ERA titles) and had six consecutive seasons where his FIP was MLB best. Pretty sure those are unique to him.

I'm not going to disparage Mauer, I think he's a HOFer.

 

But he was nowhere near the player Pujols or Miguel Cabrera were.  Pujols hit 400 HRs in that decade.  He out-paced Mauer by almost 16 WAR over that time.  I think we can appreciate Mauer without too much hyperbole.

I don't think you trade 10 years of Berra's,Campanella's and Bench's offense for Mauer's.

If Joe Mauer is/was so great why is it always necessary for someone to revisit and reaffirm that Joe Mauer is so great?

Because of posts like yours.

What the heck were you looking for when you ran across this old article?