longstrangetrip

Maybe a little hyperbole here, but the concept is still valid. It seems to me that defenses are taking a lot of hits away from Joe this year with their reverse shift. But many of those lineouts would be off the Green Monster in Boston. Sort of like all of those front row left center home runs Joe hit in his MVP year that are now flyouts at TC. I'm still hoping that Joe will adjust to the defensive shift and begin pulling the ball, but it's not easy to change your approach to hitting when you're already in your 30's. Since Boston is one of the only teams that would consider absorbing Mauer's contract, and because I'm convinced he would be a doubles machine in Boston, does a deal make sense? Mauer for some great prospects and a lot of payroll freedom? I never would have suggested this before this year because any thought of trading Mauer would have been a terrible idea from a PR perspective. But as I heard the boos last night, I realized that Joe is no longer untouchable. Would you be on board with trading Mauer if we could get a decent return from Boston?

Mauer is now 1 for 1 swinging at the first pitch, and 0 for 3 letting it go by. I know he's a future Hall of Famer, but honestly, does he not see this?

Hmmm, if he were a carpenter, would his wife had married him anyway? Would she have had his babies?

I swear Mauer could be a real force again if he started to jump on that first pitch.

Plus it would be a shame to remove the line about Yu being able to make a nice rug out of uncooked fish...one of your best!

Mauer's stat line is not good this year, but I attribute it to defensive shifts, allowing the most hittable pitch of the at bat to slip by, and perhaps lingering effects of the concussion and back spasms. But Joe is an elite hitter, and I expect him to adjust to how pitchers and defenses are playing him. I'm confident he is going to start swinging at that first pitch fastball, and learn to use the whole field (pulling the ball occasionally). If he does, he can be a productive starter into his late 30s.

Could be, but I think it will be a sad travesty if he makes it. There are currently 8 first basemen ahead of him in OPS, and ten ahead of him in slugging. It would be unfair for him to leapfrog at least half of those guys. And to make it as a DH, you have to compare him to all AL players...and Joe currently has 45 AL hitters ahead of him in OPS. When he was a catcher, Joe could always count on getting voted in, mostly because of body of work and name recognition. But I don't see him ever getting voted in over Miggy and Pujols, so his only chance is being a manager selection, and that is always a more objective process. I think the day Joe agreed to move to first is the last day he ever could think about an all star game. Harsh, I know...but competition at 1b is completely different from that at catcher.

I was lucky to watch in person 4 of the 5 road games last week...nice start in SD but a disappointing finish in SF. Havingpreviously just followed this year's team on TV, it was interesting to get to the ballpark early to watch how the team interacts. I also trained the binoculars in the dugout occasionally to observe interaction there. What became clear to me is this is no longer Mauer's team, but appears to be Dozier's. Pre-game and in the dugout, the younger players clearly seem to look to Brian for leadership...Mauer doesn't interact much at all, but prefers to keep to himself. I like the idea of a Dozier-led team, as I think he has Jeter-like qualities. His pre-game preparation is extraordinary, and probably has a lot to do with why he never gets hurt and always seems to be ready at game time. And he is Pied Piper like in this, with several of the younger players following him in his pre-game routine. Mauer on the other hand is invisible pre-game. Maybe he is stretching in the locker room, but I don't know. And in the dugout, it is Dozier who seems to keep guys loose and who is the first guy off the bench to congratulate a player who has performed. Where am I going with this? I never liked the personality of a team that was led by Mauer and Morneau. I saw them as gifted players to be sure, but lazy and content to a certain degree, and their laid-back attitudes almost smacked of complacency. And since they were the clear team leaders, this tone rippled through the rest of the squad. This may be harsh, but I see Mauer/Morneau's leadership style as a factor in the poor results the past three years. I'm optimistic about the future of this club if they continue to adopt more of the habits of Dozier, and fewer of those of the M boys. I think Molitor's presence in the dugout also has a lot to do with what appears to be a more fiery team, and I would love to see him replace Gardy sooner than later.

I'd like to think Dozier is a lock to make the team as a reserve. He's still up among the 2b leaders in OPS and RBI, and leads the pack in HRs by a mile. And his defense is as good as anyone. My second choice is Perk. He leads the AL in saves (despite pitching for a sub-.500 team), and is a hometown boy. Hughes has a shot if he continues to pitch like he has been, but he had a shaky start, so one poor outing probably eliminates him. Mauer is so far down the list in 1b production that I can't envision him getting hot enough to get close to deserving a spot on the roster. Zuke has had a great start to his season, offensively at least, but I think he regresses to the mean for the next month and falls out of consideration. My best guess right now: Dozier and Perk.

Good article, Nick. I'm guardedly optimistic, which is two 3-syllable words that allows me to avoid forming an opinion. With Fuld not ready to contribute, I'm okay with Hicks seeing what he can do with his switch in the majors. Today was a promising start, with a couple hits along with 2 K's. As I mentioned in another thread, I didn't see his second K, but the first was on a very tough slider...so I excuse that one. RiverB makes a great point above though. Aaron hasn't looked sharp at all batting LH against tough breaking balls, so the bar is already set pretty low. He also has a fairly good eye, as evidenced by his high walk rate, so maybe he will learn quickly how to lay off the outside slider. Time will tell...

Hicks has really frustrated me at times, and I have to admit I was close to writing him off this weekend. But with the switch hitting development, I'm okay with waiting to see what he does with it. There are two things that Aaron has struggled with: hitting from the left, and playing balls over his head. He still needs a lot of work on going back on the ball in CF, but I'm eager to see what he does against RHP as a righty. I didn't see his second strikeout today, but his first three at bats gave me something to be excited about...2 hits, and a strikeout on a nasty slider that many would have waved at. Seeing balls spinning away from him is going to be challenging for awhile, and it remains to be seen how long his adjustment period will be. It would be nice if the Twins had a coach who could throw a good slider to give Hicks a lot of looks at it, but I don't know if they have someone like that...or if Aaron is willing to put the work in to master this new challenge. Hicks' arm, foot speed, and ability to make sensational plays on balls hit in front of him or in the gaps, makes him an intriguing prospect. If dropping LHB can significantly improve his hitting, we may have a viable option for our pre-Buxton CF.

Or maybe you're remembering the dome, where the Twins did have the 3rd base dugout.

Whoops I had that one wrong too...always thought it was "that girl put a Rougnud Odor on me"

I agree that the OF has been a bigger problem this year, but I also expect much more from Joe based on the high percentage of the payroll we spend on him. I don't know that I agree that players and coaches are that smart. After all, it wasn't until this year that they figured out that the left fielder needs to play just off the line against Joe. I also think it has taken them a long time to realize he's not going to swing at the first pitch. The 0-0 pitch to Joe now looks exactly like a 3-0 pitch, and it didn't use to.

Way too harsh! He'd be flat broke by the time he got to 1745 years old. And I'm still confused. Is it "excuse me while I kiss the sky", or "this guy". I'll hang up and listen and mail you the $100.

I know I'm guilty of that, beezer, and it usually bugs me too. But you can't argue the fact that Mauer is rated 18th among first basemen in OPS this season, and that is really hurting the team. It seems to me to be a worthwhile topic to discuss why he is so unsuccessful this year, and my theory is pitchers have finally figured out that they can get ahead of him in the count every time with impunity, since he's not going to swing at that first pitch. And ML pitchers love to work ahead in the count.

Does it seem to anyone else that Gardy's challenge success rate is about 15 % and our opponents' rate is about 85%?

So true. In fact, I think Joe should be embarrassed to be the only player in the major leagues with a BA over .260 to have a higher OBP than SA (at least last week when I checked). You have to be an extraordinarily soft hitter, and not helping your team enough, to have that unusual aberrant stat.

In all fairness to Joe (although I do go nuts when he takes that first fat pitch), the bizarre outfield shift he is getting now might take perhaps 25-30 hits away from him this year, many of them doubles. It looks to me like he is trying to change his swing to become more of a pull hitter though, but it might take some time to get used to it. My simple mind tells me his best chance of really driving a pulled ball comes on that first fastball he invariably lets go by.

I'm so tired of Mauer taking the fat fastball he always gets for strike one, and then later in the account having to hit the pitcher's pitch...too often a slow roller to the 2B. My new nickname for him is J(O and 1) Mauer, pronounced Joe and 1 Mauer, because he is always behind in the count. I know it sounds foolish of me to criticize the highest active batting average hitter, but I just think he could be so much more effective if he jumped on the first grooved fastball.

Yeah, me too (thinking Correia was having a good outing). I'm not a big Correia fan, but that was a hard luck inning. He makes a nice pitch to Odor that should have resulted in the third out, and he pokes it into the outfield. 5 minutes later two runs are in.

IN THIS GAME, Hicks didn't look too good waving at that outside slider for strike 3. He hasn't seen a ball moving away from him before, so there may be an adjustment period. I hope he can do it, but I'm not optimistic.

Wow, that is great news! His career OPS differential is around .180, and this year it is .280. I have to admit I was close to giving up completely on Hicksy, but this gives me a little hope. I still worry about his commitment to the game though. I'm sure he had fun playing Pebble Beach Wednesday, but I would have rather read about him taking some live batting practice as a RHB.

One question about the Texas lineup today...just how unpleasant is a rougned odor?

I'm back in LA after following the club around the state the past week. Saw 4 out of 5 games, but opted to jam on our guitars with an old high school friend in Oakland yesterday rather than watching another loss...just didn't feel confident after two losses with Nolasco on the bump and our meek lineup. I patted myself on the back when I saw the game results. Wow, it's nice to see a lineup with a little pop in it again, although it's tough to get excited about Correia on the mound trying to end the 3-game slide. Nick Tepisch can get a little wild, so with some patience, I think we can outscore them today and rubber band back to .500.