ewen21

I know some Twins fans who have so kind of cult hero thing going on with Grossman. We really need to get away from that kind of thing as a fanbase. IT was sort of the same thing going on with Punto. Mediocre players who held in high esteem. Are we trying to be the cutest team in baseball? Sheesh

Let this be a lesson..... Stop hyping prospects. I visited Twins boards for years and these two have been hyped up as saviors for years. I am actually psyched about Kiriloff and Lewis, but I don't need to read about how their talents are so amazing that I need to be in awe and genuflect when their names are mentioned Those kinds of articles ran constantly on Buxton and they really got tiresome to me. Can he at least play a game in the majors before we get so giddy?

Defense does NOT make up for his horrendous bat. If he is south of ,700 he hurts the offense too much. He was not earmarked to be Jackie Bradley Jr and if he turns out to be that he is a bust. The kid was hyped up so much in so many places so he was set up to be that if he failed. I wanted to wait and see before I anointed him anything. At this point, I don't view him as a "super-prospect" so I don't think he deserves endless rope. This article needed to be written. Both players have forced the Twins to think this way. This "play him everyday and let him take his lumps" mantra doesn't work 95% of the time. Just because Hrbek was called up from Visalia in 1981 and it worked doesn't mean it is going to work. People need to understand this

They'd trade prospects to make the team better now--something the Twins never did during our mini "run" in the 2000s

Excellent point, then again, he had the dumb luck to be leaving a club while he ran over a cop with his car. That just doesn't look good (innocent or not).

Looks to me like are making much assumptions as well. If someone says he ends up in "situations" because he isn't using good discretion how is that off base? Going out until 3AM leaves ANYONE wide open for a lot of things to happen. Whether it is an accident or not he takes responsibility for it. Apparently the officer was friends with Sano from school. How do we know the initial reports to reflect reality better? How do we know Sano didn't broker a deal with his officer friend? It all seems fishy and I rather doubt he was 100% sober at 3AM leaving a club. Sano does silly things. If he gets judged for it then OH WELL.

We need to have Grossman for a 4th year? I tell you what....if we bring him back this team has issues

Looks like the Twins were trying their best to read the guy and he left everyone confused. It is important that he give the team the proper notice, in my opinion. Joe was pretty much treated like royalty by the organization since day one. For him (with his concussions and significant decline) to be wishy-washy about this really is typical of how he's carried himself. Sure, he is a genteel and sweet fellow, but on the other hand, he is a tough guy to do business with--and understand.

If he did then why on Earth would he stand in front of the fans and tell them he's still not sure?

Totally agree. I don't get the counterintuitive logic of "his value is down after playing poorly so let's go get him". It is the same stuff I read when it came to Buxton. He had a lousy year, so let's extend him! WHAT???

I don't think he has been "money" for a long LONG time. I soured on Joe when he bunted in that game against Cleveland in the 2010 season.. Until then I was a big fan. I even had a picture of him swinging as my screen saver. Something happened to Joe between the 2010 and 2011 season. When I saw him first come into ST in 2011 I saw red flags everywhere. He looked like he did not do a blessed thing for the entire off season and that to me a major offense. I paid attention to what he said very closely during this time and he kept reiterating how important it was to get "rest" and that he was taking "baby steps". I think having that knee surgery (which was not major) and being swept by the Yankees again really did a number on him. I think he retreated that winter and went into a deep slumber. He looked frail. It looked like he pretty much decided he would "rest" all winter and that plan didn't include any kind of strength training. Five months of relative inactivity really can do a number on anyone. Not only did it strike him physically, but also psychologically. He knew he couldn't go before the season even started. THen the Twins scrambled to make excuses because Joe went MIA. In my opinion, Joe was very fortunate to be playing in his home market. Had he been in any other town he would not have been protected the way the Twins protected him. People were afraid of losing him to Boston or NY, but if he had this play out in either of those two towns he would have be demolished. He was criticized, but only in the vast wasteland of the Internet. The media barely touched it, imo. THen with the lack of power and the excuses for that. He hit more home runs on the road in 2009 (12) than he has in an entire season since. The come up with the baloney excuse about Target Field steal his power really rung false with me. Subtract out every single home run he hit in the Dome that year and just take his road numbers and he STILL hit more home runs than any year since. The guy just stopped turning on the ball. He always "went the other way" but he at least would turn on pitches enough where the whole league didn't put on this bizarre opposite field shift. Just so many things about Joe I don't get. He isn't my type of player and I think at this point he is more harmful than helpful to this team.

Maybe he doesn't want a big send off and wants to leave out the back door. If so I don't begrudge him that wish. It is just I think he is being selfish if he keeps dragging it out. He should announce it very soon

Doesn't matter who started it. The shoe fits

There is an army of people like that and all it has done is create polarization. Gleeman was posting "comparison without comment" numbers a year or two after it became apparent Mauer was shot (to me that is 2011). He totally cherry picked Joe's best stats from his best years. He made a "comparison without comment" to Tony Gwynn(!). Totally absurd. That is a quintessential, paradigmatic example of why Mauer was given the "Baby Jesus" tag. Same with the OBP is the best thing ever and RBI mean nothing takes that surface in many breakdowns of Joe's numbers.

Had he been playing for them he would have been playing under a lot of scrutiny and pressure. He would not be able to fly under the radar. No way in the world Joe could have handled playing in the bright lights of NY or in a town like Boston where fans and the papers are as hard on players as it is anywhere. Nevermind the pitching. I don't like Joe's chances in that environment. Had he signed a big contract with those teams (no way he would have because he had no intention of doing so) he would have been skewered

I am a Twins fan first. I don't see where signing Joe to hang on a little longer is a good thing on several different levels. Not for the Twins, not for Joe or his family.

I surely hope Joe doesn't drag this out although it would be fairly typical of him. Seems to me like this is a simple decision. Here is a player who is clearly well past his prime and has told the media that he felt the after affects of a concussion for THREE YEARS. Then he needed several weeks on the shelf again this year for a concussion. The Twins owe Joe Mauer nothing. They made him rich, gave him the benefit of the doubt whenever necessary and praised him (even during times where it was not deserved). If Joe drags this out past Thanksgiving and his decision still isn't made by the time we approach winter meeting, I have a problem with that. We need to build a roster. Mauer has had all year to think this one through and there is no reason to be all wishy washy about it. If he is, and this drags out for a long period of time during the offeason, he is doing the Twins a disservice. I hope to heck he understands that although I have my doubls. Joe just kind of does Joe. And that is that.

Correa's liftime batting average is 47 points higher than Buxton's and his OPS is 160 points higher. Not sure when or how Buxton finds himself as a hitter, but if he can't he will be a bust. I don't like saying that, but I can't spin this one.. Buxton was being compared to Jackie Bradley last year when Bradley hit well in the first half of 2016. Well, Bradley didn't hit last year and he isn't this year. Still he is hitting better than Buxton. He is also on par with Buxton in the field. Buxton isn't even Jackie Bradley Jr. at the current moment.

WHat???

That is simply not true. The problem is we don't have enough players worthy of promotion.

Trading Span and Revere amounts to gutting the team?

Sorry, but I cannot help but roll my eyes at the title of this article.

Ryan gutted the team? He really never did that. All he did was let guys walk when they became free agents. People refer to gutting the team as a means to completely change the system, and that surely needs to happen. It needs to start with Joe Mauer. This organization will never be able to function at an optimal level with Mauer being designated as some Minnesota figurehead player who has his own set of rules. If he were a leader and held himself to a very high standard that would not be much of a problem. Joe has been gingerly playing the game of baseball for a number of years right now. He cannot be held up as an example for young players. He is completely unrelatable. His reality is a Minnesota Twin is like no other. Move on from Joe and see how much things change. It is not like we need Joe Mauer. He is a replacable part at this point, and indeed, he needs to be viewed as such.

Buxton is supposed to be a high character guy. Instead of getting mad at the Twins he really needs to look in the mirror. The Twins have been ultra supportive and very very patient with him. If he cannot stay healhty then at some point he needs to address that. It isn't like the Twins made him get injured. It isn't all their fault he can't hit either.. The idea that the Twins somehow screwed Buxton really is mystifying to me. Sure, they haven't done well developing players, but when is it ever going to be on Buxton? When is he going to put on the big boy pants and be a major leaguer? I am very disappointed in him and with how he conducted himself at the end of this sesaon. If he thinks he's an elite player then he is delusional.

Chasing down "an ace" is a fool's errand for almost every team most years for myriad reasons unless you are a contender looking for that additional piece to put you over the top. Getting "an ace" adds no assurances: 1. Pitchers are very much year to year. The likelihood of injury and a guy having down years is very high. 2. Most pitchers considered to be "an ace" are getting on the other side of the hill (if they aren't there already) 3. We are not by any strech contenders so this is not a one player fix. 4. We had an ace in Johan Santana and that didn't exactly get us far in the playoffs. The problem was we could not hit in those series. Go back and look it up if you don't believe me. I am tired of all this "gotta get an ace" junk. All those who screamed about Darvish, how did that one work out? While I think Ted is overly optimistic, I don't see pitching as a big problem next year. 2019 is a big BIG year for the development of some young arms. Then again, if Buxton, Sano and Kepler are dogs again we can forget about 2019. All three of them need to play very well for us to have any shot