It's getting so bad that it's kind of sad watching Mauer hit. Don't both sides have to consider finding something wrong with Mauer and putting him on the DL? Only short-term but two weeks helped last year.
There's really not much competition outside of Druggie Strawberry. He's a Hall of Fame catcher. The problem moving forward is he's no longer a catcher.
The playoff futility is so hard to ignore. A 6-21 record and half of the wins game in the first playoff appearance. I don't see why Ron Gardenhire can suddenly figure out how to manage when it counts when he's never done so before.
If you don't include on-base, and walks than I could see Mauer being passed on after a down 2014. I'm optimistic he's going to be better than last year but pessimistic we'll ever see the old Joe Mauer. .288/.369/.417
I think ownership made the final call on this hire. Terry Ryan was open to hiring an outsider but wasn't going to fight hard to change the mind of Jim Pohlad.
I don't think it's the job that would be keep Maddon from having interest. It's the ownership and front office placing a self induced salary cap on the team.
If it walks like a duck.... Couldn't the high increase in home runs one season and decline the next be a sign the season was on the up and up? Kind of like Wade Boggs in 1987 or Joe Mauer in 2009.
One thing I'm wondering is whether Terry Ryan honestly went into the search willing and prepared to hire an outsider or his he kind of caught off guard that maybe the best candidate may not coach in the Twins organization?
This was only speculation on his part but Reusse didn't think Molitor had anything more than a 30% chance of being hired and the team is going to seriously look outside the organization.