Alex

Focusing on power (and by that I assume you mean HR) is not a good way to evaluate the value of a hitter. The stat that most corresponds to wins in MLB is run differential. The stat that most corresponds to scoring runs is not HR, it's OBP. In WOBA He's currently ranked 5th at catcher and 7th at first base. At third base, he'd be ranked 5. The league average for 1B is .324, for C it's .311, and for 3B......it's .311. Mauer actually adds the same +value at either position 3B or C. If you don't like WOBA and just want to look at power (slugging-not a full picture of a hitter but that was the stat you picked) well he'd be 12th in both, again. Two points. One, that Mauer is a plus hitter at either way when looking at the big picture, and two, catchers and 3B are hitting almost evenly overall.

Is anyone "with access" asking this question? It'd be nice if they were.

I posted in more detail in the Marquis thread, but I think the Twins' hands were tied with regard to their rotation, maybe more than anywhere else on their roster. With regard to most of it, I think they were kind of stuck with the hoping and praying part to some extent.

I don't disagree with this, though I don't think 3M is much for a starter. While I agree that most could see the staff was in trouble, I don't think anyone really thought they would be this bad, nor that absolutely everything that could have gone wrong with them would. Even if Ryan would have assumed the worst, not sure what he could have done other than sign someone else for the fifth spot. The four other spots were locked in and the players in those spots had little to no trade value. It's not likely they could have signed someone to sit in Rochester who would have wanted to or been a decent upgrade. Though, it is a reason I was disappointed they dropped Doyle, for depth purposes.

There's not a massive enough mistake involved in a one-year $3M deal that's worth getting worried about whether he admits to it, IMO. It's compounded by a lack of depth and the entire rest of the original starters being injured or terrible, as well as the fact that it was the one lone addition, but in and of itself just not a big deal.

Focus less on one AB. You'll be happier knowing that Mauer has been awesome this year with RISP.

Yeah I agree with you. Was arguing exactly that to jokin, sorry if I wasn't clear.

Sort of. He's still got an OPS in the .500s and is King more. I love that he's getting a chance to play everyday so the Twins can make a decent evaluation of him, but he's not really gotten better so far.

Just because more people post it on the Internet doesn't make your argument about the pitcher's trust in Mauer real. Find real evidence please. Pavano and Butera do seem to work together, and that's fine, and Joe has probably been due for a day off.

Finished with 86, so likely below 80.

I'm fine with it. No big hitters on the bench (Doumit still hurting?) and the pitcher spot coming up two more times in the game and Diamond pitching well anyway...I think with the rest of the starters, he's trying to save the pen a bit more. In hindsight it wasn't worth it, though it may also matter, but most critical post seem to be in hindsight. I don't watch enough NL games, to know the numbers here, but I'm fine with it and am not a major fan of Gardy's strategy overall.

He's pitching well, short bench.

In Detroit, Verlander's no-hit bid is broken up in the 9th. Wonder if he forgot to rush from the bench to take a leak in the 8th ala Weaver?

Looks like Diamond will need to make sure to keep the ball down tonight as that thing is carrying.

Gleeman breaks down a lot of Mauer stats. As he says, they're more bad than good overall, but does share some interesting ones about the main complaints (RBI %, WAR, value of AVG vs. OBP, contract space). http://www.kfan.com/player/?station=KFXN-FM&program_name=podcast&program_id=KFAN_PADubay.xml&mid=22098817

Deceptive? How odd. Regardless, his approach leads to fewer first strikes than the average hitter by a considerable margin. This should lead to favorable counts in which most hitters have a better chance of reaching base. If you believe the stats are deceptive, you're then assuming that these average hitters are swinging at balls, thus artificially inflating their strike counts. In truth, I'm sure they are to a small extent, but then, shouldn't they be taking those pitches? Even accounting for that notion, is that entire difference (~5%) that these hitters are swinging at bad pitches? Think of how that frames your point: The average hitter ends up with more first strikes because he swings at balls outside of the strike zone. By that logic, disciplined hitters should swing at more balls, so that pitchers throw them fewer strikes on the first pitch? My head is about to explode here. There is game theory involved in first pitch strikes (see my recommendation below) and an equilibrium involved, but I don't think Mauer's anywhere near it. (He should be getting 60% or higher before he starts swinging more). Even if, for some reason, you still don't buy into it, I think it quite resoundingly refutes the idea that Mauer is getting fed MORE first pitch strikes than most hitters, which is the perception and frequent argument. If you still don't buy that, I'd highly suggest p.358-361 of The Book by Tom Tango (paying special attention to 361, the discussion of Boggs and Youkilis, hitters with similar approaches to Mauer.)

I'm pretty much done with this thread, but, people, stats are so easy to look up. Good find on the counts. I actually had the impression that Mauer was just as good a hitter behind in the count. Never had a reason to look that one up though, so hadn't bothered. He's definitely not good down in counts as I expected. As far as first pitch strikes: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1857&position=C#platediscipline This season Joe Mauer's first pitch strike % is 54.5% (not unusual for him). Josh Willingham's 1st pitch strike % is 56%, and that's low for him. MVP Ryan Braun is 58.6% this year and 59% last year. Josh Hamilton is 63.2%. Cabrera is 60%. Need I go on? There are hitters that are lower, but does anyone really think that pitchers would want to get behind these guys? League Average since 2002 has been between 58.3 and 59.4, so it's safe to say that Mauer sees fewer first pitch strikes than most hitters. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=5&season=2011&month=0&season1=2002&ind=0&team=0,ss&rost=0&age=0&players=0 So, pretty much well below average. Another interesting stat is that he is a .967 OPS hitter on first pitch swings. It's really his second best count after 3-1 (he's even better at 3-0, but he's put 4 pitches in play his ENTIRE career in this count, so I'm going to set that aside.). This means he's pretty selective, so imo.... No matter what people say about Joe's leadership, the possibility of his decline, lack of power, etc...etc...the guy is a professional hitter and knows that aspect of the game better than most other ballplayers, and certainly, better than those of us here.

I was thinking exactly the same thing when I heard Barreiro yesterday, that maybe Mauer is trying to judge the strike zone and gather information rather than the fact that he just didn't want to swing at a ball. I've also never like Barreiro's take on Mauer. I think he has things, and responsibility reversed. I don't think it's really Mauer's job to change his personality and leadership because of his contract. It's up to the Twins to recognize what they have and pay what they think it's worth.

Last year injury communication was an issue and definitely shaped the way fans perceived players (the entire bilateral leg weakness). I actually did find it odd that Gardenhire was making injury reports and then unsurprised to hear they were wrong. It's not a huge deal, but it does show just how far some of the issues with this organization run. (Though, interestingly, Doumit was highly concerned and hadn't directly heard he was on the DL, according to Joe C's article. So this kind of thing does affect players.)

Doumit had a calf cramp tonight. Capps sore arm and was not going to pitch tonight, according to Gardenhire. Blackburn's thigh is hurting and sounds like he might end up on the DL. Gardy mentioned an MRI for someone but I missed who it was. Anyone else catch it?

Woah. Dick just used OPS.

I think his point was simply that it's at least worthwhile to give Plouffe a couple more weeks. I think he used Casilla for comparison as is arguably a worse hitter (Aaron Gleeman mentioned that he is one of the ten worst Twins hitters in history with over 1000AB) and has a much bigger track record to prove it in the bigs yet people don't seem as upset about his being in the lineup. Even though we'd like the Twins to win more games, they're in a position where they can give Plouffe some more time, just in case before they cut ties with him.

Yeah, how many runs have they cost themselves far? Four? This means the Tigers are responsible for almost every run in the game.

This post came true in less than 5 minutes. Impressive. Coincidentally I was talking to my dad, who wasn't watching the game yet, when Tigers had runners at first and third and told him he should turn it on quick or he might miss the Twins being ahead. I was mostly joking.

I totally get that line in Richard III now, "My kingdom for a starting pitcher!"