StormJH1

I don't buy the post-concussion thing as an explanation. I can't "prove" that it isn't a factor because we literally understand .01% of how the brain works and what head injuries do to our reflexes and timing. But there are more clearly observable things with him going on. Mauer, even the 2006-10 version of Mauer, ALWAYS supplemented his average with groundball or low line drive hits. You could probably find hundreds of clips of 5-hopper singles skipping through the Metrodome infield up the middle. There was a thought for years that you couldn't shift Mauer because he was such a great opposite field hitter. Turns out, you CAN shift Mauer, you just do it differently. Teams started putting infielders up the middle in his bilateral leg weakness year, and that was one of the explanations for his struggles in years past. But while you can accidentally hit singles, you can't really "accidentally" hit a double. Teams are now shifting to take away the gaps in the outfield, and they can do this because Mauer cannot or will not pull a ball down the right field line. This is what Mauer is. It's not like he's striking out at ungodly rates this year (Mauer's K's have been up even in good Mauer seasons like 2012 and 2013). When his BABIP is around .320 or lower, the average goes down. In all of his years where he was successful, his BABIP was around .350 (some years significantly higher). People attribute BABIP to luck, but it's also about defense and tendencies. It's like the line from Bull Durham about 20 extra base hits being the difference from getting a call-up. My point about Mauer is and has always been that the perception of his "success" is too closely tied to variations in how often his groundballs and liners fall for hits. He forces himself into two strike counts because he prefers to be a defensive hitter. If Joe Mauer was batting .290 right now, yes it'd be better, but as a #2 or #3 hitter, you need extra base hits to consistently drive in runs. Mauer's emphasis is and has always been to avoid getting out. If he were in Melky Cabrera's spot in the Blue Jays lineup, or Matt Carpenter on STL, he'd score 100 runs or more every year doing that. On this team, with the mostly ordinary lineups behind him, he looks, well, ordinary.

This move is exactly what I hated about the Morales signing. I love seeing Morales in a (sloppy, untucked) Twins jersey, and he's a professional hitter. But it's more complicated to say whether his addition actually makes us a better TEAM. You can't say that for sure when you know Mauer/Morales have 1B and DH covered virtually every game, which means that corner outfield is occupied by two out of the following: Willingham, Arcia, Parmelee, and perhaps Nunez and a bunch of other former shortstops. It guarantees that Pinto HAS to catch, or he can't play. And so far, he hasn't been able to catch. (Mysteriously, I've heard the throwing out runners was the one thing he was GOOD at as a minor league catcher. So how do you "work" on that?) I 100% admit that even a rusty, overweight Kendrys Morales is a better DH than Pinto. But it forces us to play a poorer outfield defense, and leaves no flexibility to get major league at-bats for young players. Didn't we know going into the year that Willingham, Arcia, and Pinto would require extensive at-bats at DH because they were question-marks in the field? I want to see the young guys play, fail, and succeed. Winning 75 games instead of 72 by adding a rental player is nice for Gardy's legacy/sanity, but ultimately irrelevant to this team's rebuild.

I freaking hate this. It's nothing against Salty, per se - I actually liked him and followed him as a Texas prospect for fantasy baseball reasons. But barely over a year ago, the guy couldn't even crack the majors because of the yips: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Saltalamacchia-turns-to-psychologist-to-fix-his-?urn=mlb,242145 I don't buy him as a defensive catcher, and given his body type, I doubt he finishes even a 3-year deal as an "everyday catcher" (or 120-game catcher, since everyday catchers don't really exist). His power is almost exclusively from the left side, and good luck with that at Target Field as opposed to Fenway. Yes, he offers raw dumb power at the catcher position, which is "scarce", but not scarce enough to make this guy a $30 million signing. And it's made even more insanely stupid when you consider that a platoon of Pinto and Doumit (or go get a cheaper defensive catcher if you want another veteran option) could very possible offer the same production as Salty from both sides of the plate. This just reeks to me at the Twins having a distrust of young Latin players at the "smart positions", namely catcher, SS, and 2B. Josmil Pinto could be Yadier Molina and this team would still look for a more "trustworthy" veteran presence. And even if you don't agree with ANY of that, it will almost certainly eat up the vast majority of the FA budget, which NEEDS to be spent on starting pitching. Saying that we need 3 starters instead of just 1 isn't a viable argument at chipping away at the problem in any way possible.

I heard this news last night and it made me a little sick, but here's the thing: Yes, you can fault Terry Ryan for being excessively risk averse and having 25-year-old preconceptions of what FA's should cost...and I absolutely fault him for those things. But for a Twins team this bad, I'm don't honestly believe that $68 million for a 1B/DH, even one that hits 25-30 HR's a year, really solves our problems. Especially if you do that in lieu of any other pitching help from free agency or international signings over the next 2-3 years. I think Mauer is usually the 1st baseman next year, and Arcia and Sano look like they are sure bets to be sure-fire MLB players (not necessarily stars) in the upcoming years, and both of them are all-bat-no-defense. Cespedes and Puig absolutely worked out, but like domestic prospects, there is no guarantee that you come up snake eyes with that major investment until you see some MLB results (see: Nishioka, Hideki Irabu, Kaz Matsui, etc.). Until you're at highest level, you never know if there's some irreparable hole in Abreu's swing that good pitchers can exploit. It doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, the front office has to do SOMETHING aggressive, or we are unlikely to break the top 3 of the AL Central any time soon. Even just sitting on our offensive prospects, we don't have the rotation to run with these teams if we're unwilling to sign high-end starters in FA and are waiting on 18-year-old draft picks to grow up.

Yeah, that's just it. I've tiptoed uncomfortably around the race thing before, but it's not just coincidence that the guys up for long-term deals that actually got them were Mauer, Morneau, and some other midlevel deals (Willingham, Doumit, Cuddy, etc.), whereas there's basically no example of the Twins wanting to keep an African-American or Latin player and said player also wanting to sign here long-term. Yes, they offered big money to Hunter and Santana, but there are too many examples like Castillo, Hudson, Liriano, and on and on where it seemed the relationship should have gone better than it did. Then you see some of Gardy's criticism of Hicks' coachability early this year, and the 4-game benching of Sano in the minors, and you worry that there may be bigger cultural problems in the organization. But the race thing really is speculation/conjecture, and it isn't the most important issue. The problem I have is the framing of the whole question. When you ask a whole team of guys who literally are fringe MLB'ers what they think of their employer in very public setting, I just don't see any value to their response.

I could ramble quite a bit on this, so I'll try and state my opinion once and be concise: I kind of agree with the "Gleeman position" on Gardy and managers in general, which is that they aren't nearly as important as the talent on the field. Despite all logic telling me that a manager (or at least a freaking pitching coach) should get fired after 3 terrible seasons, I can't say that 2013 was Gardy's fault, so I can't really say he should be fired. BUT...if neither Gardy or Anderson is held accountable for the on-field product, and the front office seems so secure in their jobs and their freedom to continue with the way they do business (which includes no indication of any desire to explore expensive free agents as at least a partial solution to the on-field ineptitude)...then how is this a tenable situation going forward? I'm more angry at the front office than Gardy because I can't even imagine an alternative approach that Gardy could have taken to get this team to 80 wins this year. On the other hand, there are a number of ways this front office could have changed in the past, or going forward, that could have resulted in a better product, and they just refuse to do it because they know their way is right. There is a culture of losing brewing on this team, and it will only become more entrenched the longer all of the actors involved feel free to pursue "business as usual". At the end of the day, "fault" isn't the only thing that matters. You have to do something to enact change before you are entitled to receive it.

Only if you know what you're doing... Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never thought of 3rd base as a position that's particularly easy on the body. It doesn't have a life span as short as, say, center field, but you can think of laundry list of 3rd basemen who had back problems and other ailments regularly in their careers as everyday 3rd basemen (Eric Chavez - back, Longoria - foot issues, Zimmerman - every body part). Now, that could be due to the fact that bigger guys play that position, and tend to break down. But at 6'5", Joe is also a "bigger guy". I really don't feel like 3rd base is either a long term solution, nor that it would keep him appreciably healthier over catcher (minus the foul tip aspect).

I may have made this point on a different thread, but even several decades ago (Craig Biggio being my favorite example), if you were a catching prospect that had good speed, or happened to be a very good hitter, organizations would get them out from behind the plate early to prolong their career. I think it's safe to say that the cumulative effect of brain trauma on something as "benign" as a foul tip to the mask wasn't appreciated in the late 1980's as much as it is in 2013. Joe Mauer is stubborn about wanting to do things his way (playing catcher, offseason routine, etc.), but he's also not Cal Ripken. We've seen time and time again that he will sit out if he's not 95% or better - either on his own decision or pressure from those making the $184 million investment. Even if he avoids more head trauma, which seems unlikely, the daily wear and tear on his knees and body are not going to help him as a hitter - it can only hurt. If a 1B/DH split meant 145 games per year of Mauer hitting instead of 120 games as a C/DH, don't you like that scenario better? Ask yourself this, if Justin Morneau had originally been a catcher (and was really good at it), would you advocate moving him back behind the plate this year? If not, then why is the answer any different for Mauer. If you wait for him to have one or two more incidents like this, you've waited too long.

THANK YOU. Even the SABR guys tend to disagree with this, but position scarcity has little or no value unless all 9 (or perhaps at least 6 or 7) of your positional guys are above-replacement hitters for their positions. No matter how good Mauer is playing catcher - the fact that he happens to play catcher is irrelevant to the overall offensive strength of the team...UNLESS you are overflowing with good options at other positions. If Parmelee and Colabello are the 1st base options, and they both stink next year, then you haven't gained anything at all by "opening up" 1st base for somebody else to play (by having Mauer at catcher). Positional scarcity has some validity, but what people miss is that it has as much or more to do with the quality of the other 8 guys than it does with the quality of the guy overperforming at a "scarce" position.

Yeah, the idea that Mauer should go learn 3rd base in his Age 31 season is something out of fantasy baseball, video games, or whatever...but it isn't set in reality. Most 3rd baseman who have been doing it for a decade or longer are starting to wind down by age 31. Reflexes slow, athleticism diminishes, and many of them wind up out of the league by their mid-30's unless they can really hit or if they have a background as a middle infielder and can play other positions. An aging Joe Mauer could hit well enough to play 3rd, but there's no long term value to throwing him out at a completely unfamiliar position that takes entirely different skills than catcher or even 1st base. Couple all that with the fact that one of the top hitting prospects in baseball already plays that position (how well remains to be seen), and this just makes no sense. I think Mauer spends significant time at 1st base next year (if healthy enough to play, of course). He also DH'es some, perhaps against lefties with Colabello playing 1st for those games.

Sensitivity to light, noise remain for Mauer | Star Tribune My favorite thing about that video is this exchange: Reporter: Joe, what are your symptoms? Mauer: Um, sensitivity to light... (As reporters shine a GIGANTIC HEAT LAMP directly in his face) I don't understand why anyone in the media or fanbase legitimately thought Mauer was playing again this year, or why you'd want him to. The team has shut him down in other years (such as the end of 2007, or intermittently in 2011) over situations far less career-threatening than this. Mauer was good this year, and I think most educated fans have come around on the type of player he is and his importance to the fans and franchise. But his future as a catcher is seriously in doubt, and we just have to hope that he heals from his bruised brain (because that's what it is) in time for next spring.

Actually, when I looked at the full list, I think there's more halfway decent pitchers that could actually be in range for the Twins than last year's list. Last year had more high-end talent, but there's a lot of injury guys in there or guys that have aged (Halladay) or otherwise slipped from a higher level (Lincecum, Josh Johnson). I guess one thing that's concerning is that except for Lincecum and maybe a guy like Ervin Santana, there aren't a lot of guys on that list you could see being effective 3 or more years down the road, even in a best-case scenario. Paul Maholm certainly looks like a Twins pitcher, doesn't he? A lot of people will look at giving a guy like Phil Hughes a shot, but I was surprised when I looked at his numbers and realized that other than 2010 (which was by no means "elite") he never really put together a "good" full MLB season as a starter. I'd take Baker back, but are the Cubs really going to let him walk? He'll make all of 3 starts this year, what if he looks okay? (He went 5 and was okay in his first one).

I actually think I agree with Nick's underlying premise, which is that the Twins are more interested in spending than we think they are. But I think they had that same attitude LAST offseason, as well. The problem is that they show up to these negotiations with a late 90's perspective on what players should cost, and there's always at least one other team that's willing to overpay. That being said, of the "mid-tier" starting pitching options from last season, how many of them actually would've been a significant help? Anibal Sanchez re-signed fairly quickly, and ended up getting more "elite" money than people expected. I guess Jeremy Guthrie and Brandon McCarthy have been okay, but neither of them would've been a clear-cut "ace", even on this lackluster staff. The chances of at least one of Deduno, Gibson, Hendriks, etc. emerging and giving you that same exact production for FAR less money is always going to appeal to the Twins over free agency, and probably rightfully so. There's really no "half measure" solution to a bad pitching staff. Either you spend $80 million+ to buy a top-tier pitcher, or you wait until you develop them yourself. Otherwise, you're just perpetually adding replacement level crap.

I'm of the same opinion. I don't know if I'd go as far as saying we've seen Mauer catch his last game (or even the end of him as a starting catcher), but that may be closer to the truth than people expecting business as usual for next year. Lemme get this straight, we don't want to "risk" Doumit catching mop-up games in September, but we'll throw Mauer behind the plate for some post-concussion meaningless "parade" games?! I don't think so... This organization has experienced concussions several times over and knows what they are capable of doing to a career. Even 5 years ago, the idea that foul tips to the mask could cause permanent brain damage would have been viewed as laughable to most. Now, if it's even an outside possibility, what really is the point of throwing $184 million behind the plate? The "positional scarcity" crowd is technically right when they say Mauer is more valuable at catcher, or that Arcia is less valuable at 1st base, but that argument presupposes that you're (a) a competitive baseball team where just a little bit more production could have postseason implications; and ( a potent lineup where you presumably have more than 9 quality hitters available to fill out a lineup card. In other words, if keeping Mauer at catcher is necessary to free up 1st base for...a platoon of Colabello and Parmelee, then you really aren't benefiting from Mauer's ability to catch. Mauer/Colabello may be slightly better than Pinto/Mauer, but it's not like it's the difference between Pinto/Mauer and Mauer/Prince Fielder or Mauer/Chris Davis.

There may well be a link between PED's and the popularity of the game. If individual longevity were correlated to the popularity of a sport, how do you explain the NFL, where star players burn out more quickly than any other sport? RB's have an avg life span of 3 years in the NFL. I think the ability to hit a round ball with a round bat at 90mph, and to do it with statistical consistency that we deem acceptable at an MLB level is just a very fleeting thing. Kubel can still play, but if he's not hitting .270 with power, his skill set is really quite limited. He can't run, and he's certainly not an asset in the field. It's easy to say "oh, he can just go to the AL and DH", but there's only 15 full-time DH jobs in the AL, and the expectations for a pure DH are higher than any other position.

The Doumit re-signing was popular and I never understood why. People really thought he would play a lot of 1B to spell Mauer when he was first acquired, and it turns out that's his worst position. Though he plays RF now and then, I really can't remember a time when it was necessary to have Doumit as an OF option, especially now with guys like Colabello and Parmelee hanging around. My point is: he's a bad catcher and overrated as a "plus bat" pretty much anywhere he plays. He got extra-credit as a super-utility player, when that's really not the case. We would've been better off spending the money on a traditional backup catcher, or developing an internal option like Hermmann. All that in mind, if Pinto is still considered a project, we don't need to see him now. I suppose if the minor league season ends early, then calling him up to the MLB club is better than not playing at all, but it's not a priority yet. Kind of sad that fans had finally come to peace with Mauer as a slightly-more-than-part-time catcher (with good defense this year)...and now this concussion stuff may actually force our hand in moving him. It's just funny that with some players (Biggio), they get moved away from catcher VERY early in their careers, but now at Age 30, that decision may be made with Mauer...and Mauer was about as good a hitting prospect as anyone.

To the extent we care about 1B defense, I watch the Twins pretty regularly and I still think of Morneau as an above-average 1B defender. I hear people like Bonnes casually refer to his declining defense, but there are guys around the league that can barely move that play 1st base (or they are former catchers or OF'ers that are just there to get a bat in the lineup). Morneau's range may be down, but I consider him "elite" at grabbing bad throws. MN fans are also spoiled because they've had over a decade of Dougie M. and Morneau playing there, and both were very good. But I agree that you let him go, unless he explores the market and is willing to come back for 1 or 2 years, and probably then for less than $5 million per. There are plenty of rostered players that can play 1B or learn it, or you could sign a cheap RH vet. People say "we have the money", but a 3-year deal spends money for this offseason, plus the 2014 and 2015 offseasons. The only meaningful FA spending that will impact our on-field success is a multi-year deal for some decent upside SP who is under 30. Obviously, we won't get the elite guys, but we just have too big of a hole to dig out of it by trading for AA prospects here and there.

It's an interesting point, but what really cemented it was the year that Gardy basically handed the 3rd base job to Punto. He had at least hit for average in years past, but a poor average that year coupled with the usual lack of extra-base hits rubbed people the wrong way. Still, as has been pointed out by others, Punto was a far more popular player with the fanbase than Carroll ever was. It's kind of similar to Mauer - Mauer gets far and away the most criticism, but he's also the most beloved player since Kirby. Actually, you could argue that Mauer's popularity is Kirby (plus) Hrbek's hometown appeal (minus) postseason relevance. Plus, Carroll had the (mis)fortune of playing for horrible Twins teams, and being viewed as an "alternative to Nishioka" in the middle infield. The stakes were much higher when Punto was being given at-bats as a regular, as opposed to being valued as a utility defender.

Nobody seriously thought Diamond was in our rotation plans in 2011, then he opened the year as "staff 'ace'" (I put "ace" in quotes twice to emphasize how much of a stretch that was). When Deduno came up in 2012, he wasn't considered any more realistic of a rotation option as DeVries, Walters, or anyone else...now he's this year's "ace". Point being, yes, I think Albers is smoke and mirrors, but it don't take much to stick with this rotation. As for free agency, I don't expect them to sign 4 guys, but I could see another Marquis-type signing. By 2014, really, both Meyer and Trevor May were supposed to be in the big league picture. Meyer pitched well, but is hurt. May has continued to strike guys out, but he's also getting hit. And neither of them can aim very well, which is of particular concern to THIS manager and pitching coach.

Can't we still eat up to like $3 million of the salary (or whatever the number is?). Also, the salary is pro-rated, so it's not like new team cuts a check for $14 million. They pay for whatever is left. Of course, I'd be relatively stunned to see the Twins make a deal where they pay for another team's player, even if that made it possible for them to get a better player in return.

I honestly don't think of this team as being any better than the 2011 or 2012 teams at this point in the season. Every time I glance at the standings, I'm amazed that we're only 9 games under .500. They have a 27-28 record at home. Still, that's pretty deceptive, IMO. It probably doesn't hurt that the AL added a total bottom-feeder (Houston), that Chicago has been even more terrible, and that Toronto decided to become the Florida Marlins North. Also, Twins teams with losing records tend to get even worse at the end of the season, so this may not be the best time to judge.

It's really pretty amazing. Could you even imagine a lower-value "rental" than trading Butera at the deadline? I expected some 26-year old burnout at Triple A, not a kid at A-ball who actually has put up pretty good numbers. Crap, you could have said this was the return for MORNEAU and some people would have defended it.

I've heard he was an absolute punk when he showed (there's the famous story about Torii b%$&*-slapping him), but there's reason to believe he grew up. Or, at the very least, he matured to the point where whatever his personal flaws happen to be (and we all have them), they never shined through publicly to embarrass himself or the organization. From the perspective of a baseball fan, there's really no basis to think Mauer is any better of a guy than Morneau. He is one of my favorite Twins since I moved here in 2003, no doubt. Probably the favorite. But I'm also realistic about his decline, so yeah, flip him for a bag of balls if you can. If you don't though, it's not a big deal. It should kept in mind that the value of a Morneau "rental" as of 7/31 was two full months of Morneau. By the time a waiver trade would be completed, it's closer to one month. You'd have to be nuts to give up even a C+ prospect for one month of Justin Morneau at this point.

http://www.rotoworld.com/images/headshots/MLB/3602.jpg Peter Gammons of MLB Network reports that Justin Morneau has been placed on waivers. This is standard procedure in August, but Morneau could draw interest from contenders. The impending free agent has seven homers over his last 15 games. We should know more about his status later this week. (From Rotoworld) --- Standard procedure, but it sets a timetable for what we thought could potentially happen this month. Timing is good with his recent power surge.

That's a tough call. 27 consecutive game days is pretty brutal, I'm sorry. I know these guys make craptons of money and blah blah blah, but they are still human beings with lives and families. And of course there's the whole wear and tear issue. I kind of agree with Spirit above about more double headers, except that's really rough on the bullpen. If your starter gets punted in the 3rd inning or something, you're going to burn up most of your pen in the first game. I think some managers have used relief pitchers in both games of a doubleheader, which blows my mind. Back when they used to play more doubleheaders, I feel like starting pitchers stayed in much longer, also. The "26th man" special rule at least helps.