ThejacKmp

Agree. But I think you know as well as I do that often people do get worked up - it's not a conversation, it's an argument. I think that's when saying "worked up" is a fair characterization.

The odds of Mejia really being a part of the future is pretty low though. With Romero, Gonsalves, Jorge and Thorpe in the minors plus Pineda, Santana, Odorizzi and Berrios at the MLB level next year, Mejia seems like minor league depth. Not ragging on him, I love having a guy like Mejia in that role. But his upside is maybe a #4 starter. Seems like we overstate Mejia a bit. Hughes has worked hard to get back to the ML level. There's a value to demonstrating that you'll stick by veterans who work hard. Hughes is well-liked in the clubhouse. If they were blocking Romero, I'd get the argument. But giving Hughes a start or two over a 6th/7th starter like Mejia seems pretty defensible.

At that point, doesn't he stop being the 25th man? A 25th man provides: Pinch running late in gamePinch hitting pop for late in a gameOccasional start in getaway gameDefensive replacementThe Twins don't need a defensive replacement in the OF. Lamarre doesn't have the pop but he's not bad for pinch running or the occasional start in a getaway game. I've seen people get worked up about Danny Santana or Florimon for years. Never makes much sense - the 25th man doesn't really matter. What matters more is the guy waiting in AAA who comes up if someone is actually hurt. That's Granite/Wade in the OF, Gordon in the IF and Who-Knows-What at C. I think a fairer criticism might be Grossman. He had a great 2016 and an okay 2017 but has started slow this year. Small sample but if he's more 2017 than 2016 by mid-June, the Twins might have to think about hitting the trade market for a better 4th RH hitting 4th OF. That's not a big problem - guys like that never cost much and are usually veterans who can bolster the clubhouse.

Meh, is Hughes that much worse of a call the Mejia? I'd like to see Hughes get a shot. As long as the Twins have a quick hook with him and aren't giving him too much rope, I think the difference between Hughes or Mejia being the bridge to Santana is negligible.

No problem with the Lamarre moves. Makes sense to get an extra pitcher for the Puerto Rico series and Lamarre is the obvious candidate to do it. That's what being the 25th guy on the roster is about. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Buesnitz/Moya when Lamarre is done with his ten days and can come back. I wouldn't be surprised to see Moya head down and Buesnitz stay. The Twins could use some depth with Hildy and Duke being a little erratic. Allows Molitor to have a quick pull with them. Not going to judge this till we see who's on the team in NYC.

Can we take a minute to say how crazy it is that his OPS is 7th with no HR or 3Bs? I know it's small sample but even so, you'd think that enough guys would've hit 5-8 HR and be ahead of him. Speaks to the insane OBP he's been putting up this year.

That table is a creation of my own but it's based on reputable sources. Fangraphs lists a player WAR and calculates what each point of WAR is worth per year. From there it's just multiplication and addition. Feel free to check the math but I did it twice and got the same numbers. Not sure about your 2013 point either. Mauer had an .880 OPS and played 75 games at C. That's pretty valuable even if it isn't 120 games at C. No one is saying the contract paid off. If you read the chart, it says that Mauer has not provided the value of the contract. Says it pretty explicitly. He'd need a 6.0 WAR season (basically Joey Votto) to make the contract with it. He'd basically have to play pretty near the level he's playing right now all year. My point is that he's close to being worth the contract (conservatively assuming he ends up with 2.0 WAR he'd end up being $40 million under the contract - which averages out to like $5 million/yr) and that's with a pretty-close-to-worst-case scenario: concussions forced him from catcher 3 years before we expected and cost him basically two years without being a big enough injury the Twins got insurance money. P.S. For fun, I also looked at 2006 to 2010. On a $33.4 million contract, Joe Mauer produced $164.51 million of WAR. That's pretty insane. P.P.S. If Mauer puts up 2.0 WAR season, it's be worth $20 million+. Now he's not going to get that because the upside isn't there and the downside isn't but $8 million is really low. I'd see $10-$12 million and think the Twins could be getting a nice bargain. P.P.P.S. Are you suggesting that Joe Mauer is on steroids? That seems pretty unlikely

I don't think Kelly is saying that people go just to see Mauer - she's saying that Mauer has value beyond what is on the field. For one thing, he certainly sells memorabilia that benefit the bottom line. I'd also argue that while you may not be going to see games to see Mauer, plenty of Minnesotans still see him as a big draw. No one goes to a game for one position player (well, maybe Bonds back in the day?) but Mauer is a big part of the Twins experience. I can't tell you the number of times I've been queueing for a day game (hooray "working" downtown in the summer!) and heard people in line talking about whether or not Joe will get the day off. He's no longer the face of the franchise but he's top-5 player on a given day for most Twins fans. For me still #1 but I'm an extreme Mauer-lover. I think some sense of decorum plays into this. The Twins could likely go out there and find someone cheaper with more upside, especially since they have Sano and Morrison for next year at 1B if need be. But there's a sense of doing the right thing - if Mauer can play at an MLB level and isn't asking for $18 million/year, it seems like you're picking a fight for no reason. It also can't hurt to have demonstrated that kind of loyalty, especially when you think about the Twins FO need to sign guys like Berrios, Buxton, Kepler etc. in the coming years. Showing you take care of your guys has to have some impact. I was thinking about that when Joe was getting his standing O for #2000 - you have to think that Kepler, Buxton and co. were thinking about whether that could be them someday. These guys play for the money but they were all little kids too, thinking about being the hero in the big game. All of this will be a moo point when Mauer hits .400 for the year of course.

Because those are the only two options

Um, no one said it did? I a!so never made the argument he was in the Wizard of Oz.

I just bought four tickets to tonights game for $6 each (with fees). Hoping that I just bought $6 tickets to a nice May game. If not, only out $24 since I'm not sitting through rain and snow tonight. Good call? Bad call?

Twins have no obvious internal candidate to replace Mauer. They'd need two of the following three things to happen for Mauer to not make sense in 2019: 1.) Miguel Sano shows he absolutely cannot play 3B but is a big enough bat to demand full-time DH. 2.) Brent Rooker is ready for the bigs but cannot play corner OF. 3.) Logan Morrison hits 40 homers and needs to play everyday. #1 seems like a huge stretch - the Twins don't have an obvious 3B candidate to replace Sano unless you want to play Escobar every day and the Twins have every reason to keep Sano at 3B and maximize his value as long as he's not putrid. #2 seems unlikely since Rooker should at least be a capable 4th OF and also has a long way to go to be a sure-fire MLB player. I can see him needing at bats in the second half of 2019 easily. Being a for-sure guy in spring training? Unlikely. #3 seems most likely in spite of Morrison's struggles. However, it seems more likely that Morrison hits okay and can be the LH half of a DH platoon next year. Perhaps platooning with Rooker/Sano? I can't see any reason the Twins don't go year to year with Mauer going forward. Or sign a two-year deal with an understanding that he may be in a platoon at 1B with Rooker/Sano in the second year of that deal. Three years from now may be a different story. Mauer'd be 39 and the Twins would have Diaz etc. on their way up (or potentially Dozier at 1B if they resign him). But sign him! Two years, $15-$18 million. He's not going to want to break the bank and it's time for Twins fans to deal with an underpaid Mauer.

Let's take it a bit further and look at the huge Mauer contract: 2017: Mauer has 2.3 WAR. WAR is worth $10.5 mill. Mauer is worth $24.15 mill 2016: Mauer has 0.9 WAR. WAR is worth $10.2 mill. Mauer is worth $9.18 mill 2015: Mauer has 0.2 WAR. WAR is worth $9.6 mill. Mauer is worth $1.92 mill 2014: Mauer has 1.6 WAR. WAR is worth $7.7 mill. Mauer is worth $12.32 mill 2013: Mauer has 5.2 WAR. WAR is worth $7.2 mill. Mauer is worth $37.44 mill 2012: Mauer has 4.5 WAR. WAR is worth $6.2 mill. Mauer is worth $27.9 mill 2011: Mauer has 1.2 WAR. WAR is worth $7.4 mill. Mauer is worth $8.88 mill. Thus far Mauer has been worth $121.79 million in all but the final year of a $184 million contract. He needs a pretty big throwback season to make the whole contract worth it. If WAR is worth $10.5 million this year he'd need a 6.0 WAR season. So far he has 0.6 WAR and is on pace for 8.8 WAR. Let's rewrite this narrative and make that contract worth it!

I hate the White Sox too. That said, even though I'm a third generation Cubs fan with season tickets in the family since the 1950s . . . White Sox fans are way better. They give a crap about the team, they're more diverse, they aren't douches. I hate them but I have to accept that they're decent fans who are constantly being overshadowed by their flashy older brother.

Pour it on Twins fans, pour it on.

It was a question of if. If Hildy wiggles out and it stays a big twins lead, you're seeing kinley and moya and co. Reed wasn't preordained to pitch today.

All right, let's get this in the 9th. Time for Logan Morrison to walk us off.

Man, I really had this wrong. Well played Molly, well played. Also, we should cut Rosario.

Confused by the lineup choices. McCullers is a righty but has pretty stark reverse platoon splits. Last year RHB put up a 754 OPS while lefties only had a 605 OPS. That's pretty similar to his career stats. I like putting seven lefties out against righties in general but not today. Would've been a good day to get Grossman, Sano, etc. in the lineup. Not sure why the Twins are running out this lineup but could be a day with few runs.

Yeah, I'm not worried about this. This is a finger injury and it seems like the setbacks are a matter of weeks and not months. If it was an arm issue, I'd be circling the wagons. As is, the Twins will get a nice boost when Santana comes back. And I don't mind getting a look at Hughes, even if I don't expect it to go well. I think they'll have a quick hook with him, especially if May/Santana are ready beginning of June or Gonsalves/Romero looks ready for a few starts until Santana/May are back.

Rosario has the same K rate as last year and his walk rate is up from last year (SSS acknowledged). His BABIP is .217, 100 points less than the past. Rosario will be fine, he's just getting unlucky. I haven't seen a lot of bad at-bats - he's had some nice tough battles fouling off balls actually.

Verlander is a tough pitcher and he was on tonight. Not going to say this game is evidence the Twins offense is terrible. LoMo has a career OPS+ of 108, he'll be better than this. He's just really slumping. He looks like he's pressing at the plate, a few days off might do him some good. It does seem like the "This is Joe's Last Year, It's Logan Morrison Time" train of thought has stalled.

1.) No problem on the ball in. I want him to be aggressive on that in the situation. Would've been nice to see him lay out and I wonder if the cold plays a role in him not. 2.) He seems to be having some issues with the Target Field wall this year. Seems like a coach should take him out and give him some reps - he's definitely having trouble finding the track. 3.) No issues with Rosario hitting into a double play. He hit the ball hard, he just hit it right at someone. The shift works, the shift works. You could argue he should try to coax a walk but in a 2-0 game with LoMo up next, I like him being aggressive. Sometimes the process is good but the result is not. 4.) Surprised there hasn't been more on this about LoMo. He's looked awful and seems like he could use a day or two off. His at-bats aren't even looking good. Seems lost. Eddie has his ups and downs. LoMo just has downs.

They want opening day to be an event. If Opening Day gets pushed back to the Saturday game, then those tickets are much less exciting and sales might drop. By having a day after, they make it more likely that you will actually see the first game of the year.

Yeah this. And I think we need to acknowledge that a lot of that is on white people because we tend to freak about being called racist. Nothing gets our hackles up like being associated with slaveowners and skinheads - which only we are doing in our heads. But it's hard not to. If you're a reasonably educated and empathetic person you have a lot of white guilt. You go through the world feeling bad because a part of you always knows that any success you have hinges in part on skin color and that choices you make contribute to the terrible racial dynamics of our society (I have a friend who just moved to Saint Anthony Village because his kids are hitting school age. He feels bad because he's sending his kids to a good school that is lily white. Should he do what's best for his kids or try to help the system in South Minneapolis? That's a tough question.) That's why I think we need better language. Not for people of color who experience racism - they can find the nuance without needing new words. But it's a lot easier and more productive in dealing with white people and white guilt. It moves the conversation along to say, "I'm not calling you Bull Connor, I'm just saying that your viewpoint on rap culture is racial. Let's work on that."