THE Average Sports Fan 12:13 Are we seeing the beginning of Joey Votto slowly becoming Joe Mauer? Jay Jaffe 12:16 As I noted earlier today, in the comments to my Anthony Rizzo piece (https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/anthony-rizzos-dramatic-turnaround/), since I wrote about Votto on April 20 (http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-reds-slump-has-extended-to-joey-vot...), he’s posted a 168 wRC+, three points ahead of last year, and he's up to 132 overall. I wouldn't worry too much about the performance aspect of it. As for the way the fan base has been conditioned to resent high-salaried players on teams that cry poor — something that we've seen all too much of in the case of Mauer — ugh. Those are the real losers, the ones who can't appreciate greatness even if the great player is stuck in a lousy situation. https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jay-jaffe-fangraphs-chat-5-31-18/