D. Hocking

I like Reusse and he has forgotten more than I will ever know about baseball, and I do think he has valid points and I am wishing they would have done more about the line-up. However, while he has never exactly been Pollyanna, when I listen to him now, I really get the impression I am listening to someone who is just waiting to retire and is not really into whatever he is covering. I think it is even more apparent now that they have split him and Mackay up. I think he is a little more doom and gloom because he really doesn't care anymore. I know is down in Fort Meyers right now, but in general, I am not sure how deep he digs in anymore. At 67 I don't blame him, and he can still be entertaining and write a decent article, but I do think he is coasting a bit at this point.

I have changed my mind and decided it is sacrilege because that would explain this weather and the roads, and this winter in general. We are being smited from above because of Mackey's sacrilege. Thanks Phil. Hrbek was my brother's favorite player - but he would often go off on his less than svelte physique that grew every year and throughout the season. He always felt he could have been better had he been a bit more disciplined.

I would probably say Kirby (largely due to the world series). However, I don't think the comparison deserved the outrage or is as crazy as a lot of the critics think. I think Kirby benefits from the passage of time and nostalgia from those World Series victories. That coupled with the premature abrupt end of his career and his early death lead people to mainly remember his highlights and create a legendary image compared to someone who they can still watch everyday and criticize every mistake in real time (and now with today's social media analyze to the extreme). I also think some of Mauer's critics just cannot get past the contract. It is a factor of what should be expected, but some people use that to the extreme have some unrealistic expectations of what he should be producing. Anything less than 2009 is a failure. It will be interesting to see what the comparison will be 20 years from now when some of the people debating the question were kids growing up watching Mauer play and Kirby was more of a historical figure. I think we tend to elevate players who we were excited to watch as kids.

When you are worried about maintaining a job and competition, having this kind of set-back now has to be stressful. I feel bad for him. I know they have come a long way with some of those surgeries and recovery time, but its not like he is going to be feeling 100% when those two weeks are up, and he will be behind everyone else.

Common would find any positive statement preposterous. He is nothing if not predictable. I think he can be funny, but he is pretty lazy in that he has been doing the same shtick for years and after awhile you can predict what most of his reactions will be. He would do better if he did not have to fill three hours. However, I still have faith in John's ability to be preposterous.

This might be one of my favorites (but you have my full support John): 33) Ken Rosenthal: tweeted "Young (Delmon) coming off microfracture surgery on right ankle, #Phillies think he may be able to regain mobility in OF"

I believe I have seen this name mentioned cryptically before, but was not sure if it was real or a myth. Do I need to say the name three times in order for him to appear? On topic, I think the board does a pretty good job moderating. With this many people and so many opinions, you are never going to please everyone all of the time. I have seen enough boards that have devolved into spiraling arguments that get personal, so after a couple of years all that is left are handful of posters who think they are sports (or whatever the topic is) geniuses, and they tend to be more than a little glass half-empty. I think the Strib and some other boards have a few soft ball players posting that are sure if they would have gotten the right break, they could have Joe Mauer’s contract, and they would hit with the power they think he should be hitting. If the moderators err on the side of caution when deleting comments they think might fans flames of division rather than discussion, the board is robust enough to handle it. As someone who can veer to sarcasm, I know it is easy to misinterpret something in print that is meant to be a good natured kid, but comes off as a straight-out dig. Not always easy to detect tone in written words. Soon enough there will be more baseball to discuss, and while compelling, the topic of to moderate or not moderate will slide down the discussion priority list.

I hate to say this, because it is bound to disappoint all of the loyal Denny fans on this board (which is probably the vast majority of the board), but I am not Denny. I chose the name, because I started paying more attention to the Twins during his tenure. Hocking is a family name, and I have fond memories of my Dad coming into the room and asking how cousin Denny was doing (no real relation). I chose the name with memories of my Dad in mind, but now that I think about it -- he might not have wanted to be that closely associated with "cousin" Denny. FYI - I think your avatar has given me a few nightmares (no offense meant if that is really you and not a photoshop).

I swear I heard on the radio once how one of the players was freaked out/scared by Cuddyer's card tricks thinking of them as a sort of dark magic. Was Cuddy really a goody goody force -- or did he rule by using his Cards of Hell as intimidation?

Torii swung at Justin - missed Morneau but hit the wrong place at the wrong time Nick Punto. I think having a firey personality can help, but I think it is largely a talking point reporters come up with to fill space when they have nothing else to say about a losing team. It is not like the Twins lost a key spark plug in 2010 when they won over 90 games and 2011 when they won a little bit less than 90 games... They had some key injuries and the pitching staff had sprung a few leaks. A live-wire or two could help infuse some life into the team and help build some momentum, but if the talent is not there it does not really matter.

Respectful, objective admiration of the athletic play and skill and of the woman athletes and focusing solely on their competitiveness and intelligent play of the game?

Thanks, It is. I was afraid it might be too edgy for the board - esp. when Mauer got heated and started lacing his quotes with profanities such as "G&^z L23$#e" and "b&%^*h of h#$%y". I hope he does not talk like that in front of the twins (the ones living at his house, not the team).

I am not sure if you can post links here (although I suspect this article by Randball's Stu will at some point be linked on the front page) - but there is more to the story of why Mauer was switched positions. I wish Mauer would be more about baseball and less about going out of his way to make controversial statements about hot topic issues such as dairy products. We are lucky to have such great local journalists as by Randball's Stu to uncover the uglier side of the game, even when it involves difficult, tempermental players such as Mauer. I bet Mauer goes after him the next time he sees him.

I know my least favorite is his careless, post-game celebration stomping. Watch where you step Jacque!

I remember reading somewhere last summer after his concussion, someone saying he would not catch the rest of the year, and implying that he could very well not catch again period - and that Domit himself did not want to catch again. It was from a pretty unofficial source, so nothing you would want to rely on, but it at least seemed somewhat credible. The Twins (and probably most sports teams) are pretty good at underplaying or underreporting the ramifications of an injury. Looking back at some of Terry Ryan's quotes right after Mauer's concussion, he made it sound like the symptoms were clearing up and he would be playing soon, when in reality Mauer was having some pretty intense symptoms and would continue to so for two months.

He could have simply been distracted and/or mezmerized by the Sid's circa 1975 tape recorder.

He could have simply developed an aversion to talking to the press from his years in New York. Once something like that becomes a bit ingrained, it takes awhile to overcome. Even if he objectively knows the Minnesota press is a different animal, it might be awhile before he is relaxed talking to reporters.

Is it my imagination or is there more catcher movement this year than normal. It seems like a lot of decent catchers (McCann, Salty, AJ etc, possibly Weiters) are changing teams (or in Mauer's case position). AJ would have been interesting, and possibly a welcome spark plug, but I am not sure it would have been a good fit in reality. I guess we will never know.

Wasn't Ozzie's quote that you hate him if you play against him and hate him a little less if you play with him (although I think he was saying AJ's pros outweighed his cons). I do think someone with a little more outspoken and extroverted could add to the team in the right circumstances. Under the right circumstances, I think AJ could be a good addition, and could definitely see him pushing a team on the edge to the next level. I am not sure how he would be if the team still really struggling and not improving (which hopefully won't be the case). He might go from being the edge needed to just being a toxic presense in the clubhouse - going from pumping people up to casting one big black cloud in the clubhouse. I guess with clubhouse chemistry, you never really know how things are going to translate from paper to reality until you are playing the game. With the Twins having a less than ideal year last year, I checked out a little bit on baseball in general. Does Texas have a catcher on the rise or did they see signs of decline, and were they not interested in offering an extension to AJ?

When I was a kid who might have had a bit of a Prince Fielder build wore jeans that were literally sized "husky". Kids were made fun of if people knew they were wearing "husky" pants. The wonderful world of Tough Skin Jeans. I don't really have anything new to add to the actual topic. I am a bit of a homer and think Mauer will probably age better, partially due to his build (unless his knees are already too damaged) and I think his hitting style won't suffer as much from getting older, plus he seems to have a pretty good baseball IQ where I think he will continue to make adjustments to remain effective.

I don't think he is ever going to be overly vocal in the locker room, but from hearing Perkins and other pitchers over the year, it sounds he is very competitive over-all and has an intensity during the game. He may not be an extrovert, but I don't think he is as passive as his critics suggest. Coomer and Atterberry have a hotstove show on KTWN Wednesday where they aired an interview that they did with him (probably the same time as Rosen and Fox Sports did theirs). He is sad to give up catching, but I think he is moving on and it sounds like he is working with the staff on making adjustments for his workouts and is planning on talking to Justin and other first basemen on what they do to keep their legs in shape during the season (since he will no longer get the 9 inning crouch workout). They also asked about base running, and he said he plans on doing more since he won't need to worry as much about his numb legs giving out. Regarding leadership, he did say he should be around more for the hitting meetings etc. In the past he has often been off with Anderson and the pitchers during the hitting meetings. I know nice does not win games and his media persona could be an act and he could be the biggest jerk behind the scenes, but for someone who has been dubbed the golden boy since about age 14 and been treated as a star since age 20, he comes across pretty down to earth. I saw a comment after the announcement [not on this board] by someone calling him soft for giving up catching and criticizing him for milking his paternity leave and making up a phantom headache to get out of the rest of the season. Not that he is above criticism, but some people like to hold on to their Mauer hate. It would also be interesting to see a couple of those critics try to catch a MLB game and see how well they can tough it out.

I was kind of wondering if the new "better" mask they gave him last year might have actually contributed to his getting the concussion. Reading some of his quotes from the press conference, it sounds like there were days post-concussion where he could barely function. Shockingly, I think they downplayed how he was actually doing making it seem that he could come back anytime and he was probably not even close to being able to play. I did hear one audio clip from the press conference, and not surprisingly he sounded pretty down about it (well - as much you can determine Mauer's emotion from his sometimes less than expressive voice?). It is kind of a bummer to his catcher career end, but realistically, even without the concussion this day probably was not that far down the future. Too bad it had to happen like this, and that Joe did not have more control over his transition.

In Mauer's teleconference, he said he did talk to Morneau prior to making the decision. Sounds like he was still having symptoms well into October. I am guessing he has had a number of undiagnosed concussions. The reason he went in for a test this time was he was dizzy enough he was missing ground balls in fielding practice. It would not shock me if he has ignored lesser concussion symptoms in the past. I read a comment about someone complaining that his .324 average would be average for a first baseman. I am thinking half of the first basement were not batting above .324 last year.

Interesting about Saltalamacchia - I think McCann also is going free agent. I was initially surprised that they made the formal decision so soon, but it does help them try to work on the roster without Mauer being a wildcard. Plus it will be one less media issue hanging over the club. I was reading the Yahoo comments on the Mauer story. I might be biased, but it makes you appreciate the comments on this board all the more. The Yahoo comments are not exactly not exactly well thought out (and tend to be a little more half glass empty...).