LeatherAntenna

Data:
 
In 2017 among first basemen with >400 PA in the majors, Mauer was:
 
17th in WAR,
21st in wOBA, and
21st in wRC+
 
in other words he was on the bottom half of starting first basemen in all these categories.
 
Minnesota boy and the ghost of the past and all of that, the Twins need to make a decision based on baseball, especially when they are competing.  These numbers would not be good enough for any world series contender and should not be good enough for the Twins.  If he is among the top 5-10 first basemen in the game this season, then they should think about extending him, otherwise they should not.
 
Every good thing has its end.

I generally like your story except for two phrases. Offensive ‘juggernaut’? No that’s Walt Disney imagination. An impressive single hitting machine, clutch hitter, great reader of pitches, yes. Juggernaut- not so much. ‘Living Legend’? No, again a long reach. He will be remembered for a long time, Minnesota boy and all. But he has done almost nothing in playoff ball and that just makes his story a great Saturday afternoon matinee.

I generally like your story except for two phrases. Offensive ‘juggernaut’? No that’s Walt Disney imagination. An impressive single hitting machine, clutch hitter, great reader of pitches, yes. Juggernaut- not so much. ‘Living Legend’? No, again a long reach. He will be remembered for a long time, Minnesota boy and all. But he has done almost nothing in playoff ball and that just makes his story a great Saturday afternoon matinee.

How about speeding up the advance of the young arms below deck? It seems to me this a unique opportunity to do this with the class of potential young stars it appears the Twins already have on the starting diamond? A cultural look for one or two years of bringing up the young arms faster may be at a particular crossroads right now.

How about speeding up the advance of the young arms below deck? It seems to me this a unique opportunity to do this with the class of potential young stars it appears the Twins already have on the starting diamond? A cultural look for one or two years of bringing up the young arms faster may be at a particular crossroads right now.

How about speeding up the advance of the young arms below deck? It seems to me this a unique opportunity to do this with the class of potential young stars it appears the Twins already have on the starting diamond? A cultural look for one or two years of bringing up the young arms faster may be at a particular crossroads right now.

How about speeding up the advance of the young arms below deck? It seems to me this a unique opportunity to do this with the class of potential young stars it appears the Twins already have on the starting diamond? A cultural look for one or two years of bringing up the young arms faster may be at a particular crossroads right now.

I suspect we’ll dumpster dive again in the hopes of finding a diamond in the rough. And in the meantime, we can always fall back on “there’s always next year”

Why is this subject so important? Winning the division? It is certainly nice to see the progress lately after the four very bad years but winning the division in perhaps (says the article) the weakest division is not a definition of a great team is it? A deep playoff run, ie the championship series should be the minimum goal in my estimation. Again, I am not meaning to downplay the progress this team has made lately and I love the youth, we have the formations of a very strong roster for some years to come. I just believe expectations should be higher.

Why is this subject so important? Winning the division? It is certainly nice to see the progress lately after the four very bad years but winning the division in perhaps (says the article) the weakest division is not a definition of a great team is it? A deep playoff run, ie the championship series should be the minimum goal in my estimation. Again, I am not meaning to downplay the progress this team has made lately and I love the youth, we have the formations of a very strong roster for some years to come. I just believe expectations should be higher.

Very nice piece, thank you! I have a molitor story. My youngest brother was married in 92. Both my brother and his wife were big fans of Molitor and took their first date at a Milwaukee game several years before. The two took a honeymoon in Toronto where they timed it for a Molitor appearance. My brother in advance of the honeymoon wrote to Molitor, telling him he and his wife were big fans and they would like to take Molitor to dinner in Toronto if he had any time. He never heard from him before or in Toronto and never really expected to. Three weeks after his honeymoon he is home from work at lunch and he gets a call. It’s Paul Molitor apologizing about how mail falls behind sometimes during the season and he had just opened the letter my brother sent.

Very nice piece, thank you! I have a molitor story. My youngest brother was married in 92. Both my brother and his wife were big fans of Molitor and took their first date at a Milwaukee game several years before. The two took a honeymoon in Toronto where they timed it for a Molitor appearance. My brother in advance of the honeymoon wrote to Molitor, telling him he and his wife were big fans and they would like to take Molitor to dinner in Toronto if he had any time. He never heard from him before or in Toronto and never really expected to. Three weeks after his honeymoon he is home from work at lunch and he gets a call. It’s Paul Molitor apologizing about how mail falls behind sometimes during the season and he had just opened the letter my brother sent.

Love the graphs and graphics! Especially the home run display.
 
 

Not necessarily shocking per se, but according to some advanced statistics Kepler and Buxton are the best defensive players at their position and it's not really close. Buxton leads all OFs in Range Factor at 3.25 and it's not even close, Kepler is the best RF at 2.39 (The career active leader in CF is Lorenzo Cain with a 2.93 and the single season record is held by one Kirby Puckett with a 3.67 in his rookie season). Kepler leads all fielders in Total Zone Runs (basically runs saved above average for your position) with 14, Buxton is tied for #2 with 11 (for a little context Ozzie Smith averaged 12.5 per season for his career and Andruw Jones averaged 14). So essentially Buxton and Kepler have combined for 25 runs saved above average at their positions and pretty much played near HOF level defense. That's pretty neat

ST stats are meaningless just as 0-9 opening season stats are meaningless. Seriously if ST stats are meaningless then why do we even have ST? We need to spend 30+ days getting warmed up? Here's to hoping Park makes the front office look silly.

ST stats are meaningless just as 0-9 opening season stats are meaningless. Seriously if ST stats are meaningless then why do we even have ST? We need to spend 30+ days getting warmed up? Here's to hoping Park makes the front office look silly.

ST stats are meaningless just as 0-9 opening season stats are meaningless. Seriously if ST stats are meaningless then why do we even have ST? We need to spend 30+ days getting warmed up? Here's to hoping Park makes the front office look silly.

ST stats are meaningless just as 0-9 opening season stats are meaningless. Seriously if ST stats are meaningless then why do we even have ST? We need to spend 30+ days getting warmed up? Here's to hoping Park makes the front office look silly.

ST stats are meaningless just as 0-9 opening season stats are meaningless. Seriously if ST stats are meaningless then why do we even have ST? We need to spend 30+ days getting warmed up? Here's to hoping Park makes the front office look silly.

ST stats are meaningless just as 0-9 opening season stats are meaningless. Seriously if ST stats are meaningless then why do we even have ST? We need to spend 30+ days getting warmed up? Here's to hoping Park makes the front office look silly.

I sure hope that Berrios doesn't make the Twins look bad.

Mauer at cleanup so says the article? Well he does have a trend going, 10 HR in 2015, 11 HR last year. Who knows, maybe this year 12 HRs is in the cards.

Mauer at cleanup so says the article? Well he does have a trend going, 10 HR in 2015, 11 HR last year. Who knows, maybe this year 12 HRs is in the cards.

Mauer at cleanup so says the article? Well he does have a trend going, 10 HR in 2015, 11 HR last year. Who knows, maybe this year 12 HRs is in the cards.

Mauer at cleanup so says the article? Well he does have a trend going, 10 HR in 2015, 11 HR last year. Who knows, maybe this year 12 HRs is in the cards.