jokin

No question that Mauer has had a great career, and he definitely doesn't deserve some of the ridiculous things said about him by the "responsible" media, as in the cases of Dan Barriero, Michael Rand and Patrick Reusse, let alone the 1000s of rubes spewing garbage on the various social media. But regardless of casting fault or blame, I think it is legitimate to examine and identify the large amount of time, and the types of at-times, unusual injuries/illnesses, that Mauer has had to deal with, as well as the large amount of time spent on the DL or DTD list, in the context of his great career. As far as being one of the best hitters in the game, at the Catcher position, sure. But take the example of all 1st Baseman in 2014.... Mauer's career wRC+ at 132 (OPS+ 133) would rank him in 9th place this year, behind Adam LaRoche, and just ahead of Michael Morse, not exactly the first guys you think of when you think about "elite" hitters. Here's the link: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=1b&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2014&month=0&season1=2014&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=17,d

And yes, given the 92 games/year at catcher which is Mauer's career mark, he only played catcher in 56.7% of the games available. As a prevous poster stated, the WAR stat has a big, fat thumb on the scales for the position. Everyone, I think, is in agreement, Mauer's extensive down time on the DL and DTD list over the years, along with his transition away from catcher, to part-time and now, no-time, to becoming a below average production 1st baseman has lowered his value, and hurt the team's potential offensive production (imagine Abreu playing 1st instead over the life of Mauer's contract and Mauer at 3rd or in the OF, instead).

You're conflating arguments here. The topic I addressed was in response to judging a career with "Mauer as a catcher for the first 10 years of his career." and the question overriding the OP, of Mauer's health and durability, not his value strictly as a hitter or a question of if he's a better player.(of which I'm in agreement with you 100%). And AJ isn't a lonely example (just a familiar example to Twins fans), I could list a bunch, but how about: Brian McCann will have caught 100+ games in 8 of 9 seasons and will have averaged about ~132 caught games/year, Suzuki will be 6 of 7 @ 100+ (his string is only broken last year from playing behind a better catcher, not health issues), and will have averaged ~122 games/year at catcher vs Mauer's games caught average over 10 years of 92 games/year. It would be very difficult to field a very competitive team if the majority of the position players only averaged 60% or less availability to play their best position.

Seth, perhaps there's some confusion, I know I am confused, but Mr Brooks responded to this comment of yours: Which didn't make sense since Meyer had, in fact, strung together SEVEN straight starts going back to late June, before his recent two misfires. In those 7 starts, from June 28 to August 3, Meyer had: 10.00 K/9...1.77 ERA...1.06 WHIP... .159 BA. Going back before those 7 starts, it looks like there were 3 "dead arm" starts in mid-June, where his pitch counts/inning limitations were imposed, seems like those appearances can easily be thrown out as more like "rehab" starts. Previous to that "rehab" period, Meyer was on a string of 9 starts, dating from April 23 to June 7, where even with 2 in a row at one point, being clunkers, the other 7 of which were anywhere from "really good" to "really great" starts. In those 9 starts, clunkers and all, Meyer had: 11.50 K/9...2.77 ERA...1.23 WHIP.... .203 BA. Demonstrably, I wish we had this kind of "consistency" with any of the guys currently on the major league roster.

Joe has only played more than 100 games at catcher in a single season 5 times in his career, and none since 2010. This is a critical demarcation point in the Mauer timeline.... he was basically "done" as a full-time catcher in that year, at age 27, which was the LAST YEAR of his old contract, BEFORE he began his new 8 year, $23M/year deal. Since then, he's only played 201 games at catcher in the last four years. By contrast, a much older AJ Pierzynski, by the time this season is over, will have caught over 110 games or more/season every year of the last 14 years, and every year of his full-time career. In the last four years, from ages 34-37, AJ has caught 443 games to Mauer's 201. Even Ryan Doumit has played the position 164 games in the same time frame.

This score is reversed.

That means he has to start again at the beginning and start a new string....lather, rinse repeat..

Like Morales and Fuld, signing Drew during spring training for a short-term deal still would have made sense as a bridge-and-flip candidate, especially batting primarily against RHP.

Ditto on that, Eric, much appreciated.

Thanks for the video feed, good stuff. Looks like it's all early movement on the breaker. Any gun readings in Beloit for Batts, SD? What was his primary "out" pitch for those 7 Ks? Even for a 4th-year college pitcher, 3 levels in a month and a half is pretty impressive. Counting his college innings, he now sits at nearly 147 innings pitched on the year.

Salivating, maybe so, but let's remember how hard the Twins went after Garza (2015 FA Justin Masterson is the closest comp to Garza through age 28) and Santana on long-term deals last offseason, well after the others were inked, I think that bullet is still in the chamber.with high end target James Shields in the sights and something like smaller, but near #2 bounceback candidates, Masterson and Brandon McCarthy as other legit options to consider.

I want to thank you again, RP, for all the fine work, the site is really spiffed up quite nicely. Any word on how the Roster & Payroll area under construction is coming along? (I miss the running cumulative payroll total dollar amount and the individual contract bonus clause features).

You mentioned 3 spots locked in, that leaves a battle for two spots, not one. Meyer is likely not going to be called up until next July at the earliest, which then leaves 3 pitchers battling for two spots. I think if Milone performs up to his previous capabilities for the rest of the year, he's almost certainly lock #4- and don't forget, Tomaso is bound to be getting #3.5-4M in arbitration. That leaves May attempting to beat out Pelfrey and possibly Pino. I sense a trade coming from among this group, and perhaps another attempt at a Garza-level FA signing in the offseason.

It wouldn't be the first time that was true, now would it? It's strange, they were enamored enough of Ryan Doumit to extend him two years, whereas Pinto seems to be better than Doumit behind the plate now, and possibly, or likely, better than Doumit at the plate quite soon.

Based on his AAA performance and the Twins current situation, when he's called up in September, he really should be catching 3 out of 4 games for the duration of the schedule....to make a decision on his status for next year, plus a possible showcase opportunity for the offseason. It seems they've soured on him behind the plate, and his catching deficiencies were even obvious to us laymen, enough to the point that the Twins just gave at least $12M to a 30+ catcher, based on sort-of a fluky career-year at the plate Perhaps a bunch of teams took notice with what the A's and Braves have done with multiple catching options and give the Twins multiple nice offers for Pinto at the winter meetings....

Hah! You got that right...just ask Max Murphy and Tanner English, from completely unheralded, unknowns to Titans of the Appy.

Yes, you are. And I hope the Twins consider it strongly, Max might just be turning a corner. Not only is he having a great August, his current batting tear dates from July 13. His slash since then: .371/.443/.500/.943 with equal 10% K and BB rates. Not much power to speak of, but that should come in time, meanwhile his LD% is soaring way above his career norm, at 21.6% in July and August, perhaps he is finally mastering FSL pitching and is ready for the next step. He still seems like the kind of prospect that's going to be at least a year each at the next 2 levels, though.

I can offer anecdotal evidence on Pinto. I was at the Meyer-pitched game in Louisville. Pinto was his starting catcher and also Meyer's battery-mate in the pre-game warm-up. It was interesting to note that Pinto was quiet as a churchmouse for the duration of the long-toss and bullpen, but it was Dan Rohlfing working next to the tandem who was visibly the most vocal guy in that grouping. Just an observation, but in the wake of how pleased the Twins brass are with Suzuki's take-charge persona with the pitching staff, is there a language or personality issue that makes the Twins reticent about Pinto at the position? If Suzuki is the #1 catcher over the next two years, that would mean that Pinto would be 28 years old after Zuke's departure, 3 years from now, and presumably the likes of Turner, Garver, et al. would be challenging him for the #1 spot. As far as Pinto's catching in the game I witnessed, he looked fine behind the plate when Meyer was throwing. He went out to settle Meyer down a couple times in the 2nd inning, when Meyer was having all kinds of trouble locating his pitches and they were then able to coax a pop-up and strikeout to get out of trouble, and they had similar results in Meyer's other tough inning. I did notice though, that when Achter came in, they immediately gave up a wild pitch on a play where pitcher and catcher were clearly not on the same page, resulting in a run charged to Meyer. Oliveros later threw a wild pitch that Pinto wasn't able to block effectively. Pinto did make it through the whole 15 inning game, and ironically enough, Dan Rohlfing, of all people, earned the save, pitching the final 15th frame. Pinto's hitting approach looked very polished and selective, much improved from his last month with the Twins. When I looked deeper into his stats after the game, sure enough, his O-swing % rate is a paltry 6.6%...vs a whopping 25.2% with the Twins. His current BB% and K% are synchronously 14.1%, these both represent the best numbers in his career. While working deep into counts, he didn't get cheated on hard hit balls. His LD% of 21% is a career high, and some 4 points over his minor league average. His slash numbers are very, very solid in Rochester....287 BA, .897 OPS, and he's been on an absolute tear of late- .321/.400/.590/.990- over his last 22 games and 90 PAs. Of his 25 hits in this stretch, 14 are XBH, yielding an ISO of .269. Among catchers, he ranks 2nd with an OPS+ of 147 (10th best overall in the IL).

As the organization is now fully in the process of actively moving to the next phase of the rebuild, with the health of the GM in some doubt, the question of succession looms as large as any with the franchise. If they do not have an active succession plan in place, the owners are being derelict in their duty. I hope the young up-and-comers are at the top of their list and on speed dial. A dose of vigor injected at the top of the organization, advised and guided in the best of Twins Way baseball by the steady hands of TR and Gardy in the background would seem to be the best course. Thirty-Something Assistant GMs, David Forst of Oakland and Jeff Kingston of Seattle, would be a good place to start the process.

Jake Reed. Also, 4 year college guy Matt Batts is surprising a lot of people (7 Ks, 1 ER in 6 IP tonight)

Yeah, I just noticed that AAA ends a whole week earlier this year than in 2013. But Pelfrey could throw at instructs and still have a shot at a start or two before the season ends, I wonder what Boras will push for, he seems to get whatever he wants from the Twins, re Pelfrey....

Do you have a link for this information? Here is the latest I can find, from July 15, and again on July 30. It seems to somewhat contradict your statement, unless there is something more definitive out there I've yet to find:

Not much controversy...yet...? Wait until Pelfrey pokes his nose back into the conversation. He sits on the bench each day, I'm assuming that he's planning on rejoining the team in September with the intention of getting a few starts himself.

Isn't there still an outside chance that Swarzak is trade bait? The 15 day DL would derail that (admittedl) small chance.

Shields for 4-5 years, yes. Extending him out to 36 or 37 is certainly a risk, but the guy will have a track record of 8 straight years of 200+ innings, averaging 223 innings per year. His ERA+ over the last 4 years is 125. There are ways to tweak the contract, such as incentives or front-end loading it, to make it more amenable and less risky to both side's satisfaction.