Search the Community

Joe Mauer will make the Hall of Fame. Maybe not this year, but it’s inevitable. Even with injuries marring the latter portion of his career, his peak performance at the game’s most demanding position makes the honor more a matter of when, not if. Still, there’s a small, if vocal, opposition. Poisoned by years of talk radio bluster and rancid internet commentary, these absolute goons will let you know, in no uncertain terms, that Joe Mauer is soft. A loser. A faker. We asked these numbskulls to expand on their now decades-long campaign against reason. This is what they said: Damon Kubesh, Rochester: Sal Butera got a ring. Tom Nieto got a ring. Junior Ortiz got a ring. Joe Mauer got bilateral leg weakness. In case you missed it, that’s not a ring. Gale Stalmach, Comfrey: In my day, you didn’t get concussions. You got your bell rung, shook it off, and kept going. Now everyone’s soft, and it’s because of Joe Mauer. They call it CTE because it’s Communist Twins Excuses, that’s what. Scott Jankowitz, New Prague: I called into KFAN once to tell The Common Man (Dan Cole, longtime afternoon host) what I really thought about Joe Mauer. He hung up on me and started talking about golf. Some people don’t want to hear the truth. Abe Willis, Fridley: Here’s an advanced metric for you: Don’t hit singles when you’re making $23 million a year. These nerds who say he was underpaid when he was hitting all those dingers should take their spreadsheets and calculate why every Twins beat writer has me blocked on Twitter. Paul Lang, Minneapolis: I saw on Tik-Tok that we invaded Iraq to get oil money to pay for his contract and that makes him a war criminal. You want me to honor that? Nate Lunde, North St. Paul: I pitched against him in high school. Got him to a 1-1 count before blue started squeezing me, so I piped one down the middle. Let’s see what you got. The home run he hit off me never landed, and not a single person in my life has let me forget it. I hate him. Tom Hanson, Anoka: Much like the patriots who tried to take our country back on January 6, 2021, I’m not afraid to tell people the truth: Joe Mauer should’ve been cut on the first day of spring training in his rookie year. If I knew how to contact my children, they’d tell you I’ve been on the case since day one. When my fourth wife Rhonda gets back from her ceramics instructor’s one-on-one weekend cabin retreat, she’ll tell you the same.

Since his playing days, Joe Mauer has been recognized with a few key accolades. The Minnesota Twins wasted no time making sure no player in franchise history would again wear the number 7. Last season, they brought Mauer back onto the field and inducted him into the franchise Hall of Fame with a ceremony at Target Field. The only thing left is to create a bronze bust in Cooperstown's plaque room, which in my opinion should happen during the first voting cycle. No player in franchise history seems to have their production more scrutinized than Mauer. From a fanbase that continually clamors for ownership to spend money, his record-breaking contract was primarily held against him despite providing surplus value and having to move positions following a career-threatening injury. Beyond that, his mild-mannered personality doesn’t often elicit significant favor, and his true talent somehow flew under the radar. As a catcher, Mauer was among the best to play the game. He won three batting titles from behind the plate, something no other player has done in major league history. At the most demanding position on a baseball diamond, Mauer won three offensive awards that tested durability and the chief offensive ability in the sport. While he was not the current iteration of Luis Arraez, Mauer earned his batting titles through plate discipline, consistency, and a picturesque left-handed swing. He never slid defensively during that time either, racking up three Gold Glove awards while needing to compete with Ivan Rodriguez and Matt Wieters. The move to first base is where Mauer’s Hall of Fame candidacy hits a snag. His offensive production dropped mightily as a corner infielder, but the move was forced as a result of his traumatic brain injury. Although he never fit the bill for the position, hitting just 38 home runs after moving to first full-time, he remained an above-average offensive producer with a 105 OPS+ across 680 games. His .278 average in that span was plenty respectable, and he still finished with a career .306 average. Beyond transitioning to an entirely new position at age 31, Mauer again found a way to excel. He recorded 1,000 innings at first base in 2015 and posted a -4 DRS (defensive runs saved). In 2016, he turned that on its head by tallying 7 DRS and 9 outs above average (OAA in the first year Statcast recorded the metric). By 2017, he was worth 13 DRS and 11 OAA, making him the best defensive player at the position statistically. Antiquated voting gave Eric Hosmer the Gold Glove as a reflection of his offensive prowess despite owning -5 DRS and OAA numbers. Had Mauer been correctly given the award, he would have been the third player in major league history to win a Gold Gloves at multiple positions, joining Darin Erstad and Placido Polanco. So often, Mauer’s case for Cooperstown is compared to that of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina. Despite having been a historically below-average offensive producer, the latter is seen as a surefire first-ballot candidate because of his defensive prowess and team accolades. Mauer is often denigrated for his time spent at first base after being forced out behind the plate. When voting for the first time, though, it’s not about comparison to outside noise as much as it should be a yes or no. Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system, which focuses on the worthiness of Hall of Fame enshrinement, places Mauer seventh among catchers. The six above him are all in, and Bill Dickey, along with six others behind him, are in as well. With a ballot introducing only Adrian Beltre as a sure inductee and Todd Helton as a worthy holdover, the ability to vote for ten players should have Mauer’s as an easy name to check. Last week, Cody Christie looked at the ballot, where Mauer falls amongst his competition, and the case he has. The outline seems to set the record relatively straight. We haven’t seen the acceptance of controversial players, whether steroids or other transgressions, be moved in, but Mauer has none to overcome. His most significant detriment may have been getting hurt and taking a payday that rubs some the wrong way. He was the Sandy Koufax or Johan Santana of his time behind the plate, and he continued on from that. What ballot a player gets in on is as inconsequential as forcing a guy to wait for the sake of merit. You can track the results with Ryan Thibodaux on X at @NotMrTibbs. If done right, this one shouldn’t be hard. Vote Mauer and call Joe in January.

On Monday, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced the candidates for the 2024 ballot, which includes 12 newcomers and 14 holdovers from last season. Twins legend Joe Mauer is among a strong rookie group on the ballot, including Adrian Beltre, Chase Utley, and David Wright. Beltre is a lock to be elected on the first ballot, while Mauer and Utley also have strong cases to join him in Cooperstown. Here’s a look at Mauer’s candidacy and how the rest of the ballot impacts his election chances. Mauer’s Cooperstown Case Mauer played his entire 15-year career for his hometown team after the Twins drafted him with the first overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft. For his career, he hit .306/.388/.439 (.827) with a 124 OPS+ on his way to winning three batting titles and five Silver Sluggers. He was the first American League catcher to win a batting title and the only one to win three batting titles. Defensively, he won three consecutive Gold Gloves from 2008-10 and was elected to six All-Star Games. His 2009 MVP season is arguably the best offensive season from a catcher in baseball history. He missed the season’s first month with a back injury but quickly made his presence felt with a home run in his first game back. Mauer finished the season hitting .365/.444/.587 (1.031) with a 171 OPS+. He set a major league record for highest batting average by a catcher and became the first repeat batting champion in nearly a decade. Keizo Konishi of Kyodo News, a member of Seattle’s BBWAA chapter, gave Miguel Cabrera a first-place vote, which was all that kept Mauer from being a unanimous selection. Catcher is an underrepresented position in the Hall of Fame, which makes Mauer’s candidacy even more interesting. JAWS is a system to measure a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness by averaging their career WAR with their 7-year peak WAR. Using JAWS, Mauer is the seventh-best catcher in MLB history, with every catcher ahead of him already elected to the Hall of Fame. Mauer is one of the best catchers of all time, and the only question is whether or not he will be elected on his first ballot. Breaking Down the Ballot Among the newcomers to the ballot, Beltre is one of the top all-around players in baseball history. He recorded 3,166 hits and 477 home runs and won five Gold Gloves, including two Platinum Gloves. There is a genuine possibility that he will become the second player in history to be elected unanimously (Mariano Rivera). JAWS ranks him as the fourth-best third baseman of all time behind Mike Schmidt, Eddie Matthews, and Wade Boggs. Utley’s case is more up in the air because his JAWS total ranks just outside the average of the Hall of Famers at second base. He was a six-time All-Star and won four consecutive Silver Slugger awards from 2006-09. There are also some likely inductees among the holdover candidates from last year’s ballot. Todd Helton received 72.2% of the vote last season, which fell just short of the 75% needed for induction. In his career, he was a .316 hitter with 2,519 hits and 369 home runs. According to JAWS, Helton ranks 15th among first basemen, which is ahead of the average of the 24 players at his position. Billy Wagner landed on 68.1% of the ballots in 2023 and is down to his final two ballot cycles to reach 75%. His 422 saves are sixth on the all-time list, and he was a seven-time All-Star. Relievers are among the least represented groups in the Hall, and Wagner ranks sixth all-time in JAWS. Every reliever ahead of him has already been elected to Cooperstown. Prediction Beltre, Mauer, and Helton will be elected during the current voting cycle. Utley will do well in his first year on the ballot but will need multiple years to be inducted. Wagner will climb over 70% this year before being elected in 2025, his last year on the ballot. The 2024 inductees will be named on January 23rd, 2024, on MLB.com and MLB Network. The induction ceremony will occur on July 21st, 2024, starting at 1:30 PM in Cooperstown, NY. Should Twins fans start planning their trip? Will Mauer be elected on the first ballot? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

It is very possible that Byron Buxton's knee is chronically and/or structurally compromised, in which case this year will only serve as a harbinger of things to come. Maybe he never bounces back from this and his body ends up forcing him to retire at any early age. Could happen. But frankly, I've been hearing way too many Twins fans treat that as a casual assumption, forgetting the fact that Buxton has rebounded from injury time and time again in the past, and isn't yet 30. I find it annoying. There's just not a lot of value in hand-wringing over the scenario where Buxton's days as a productive player are over -- even if you see it as probable. We don't need to sugarcoat the fact that things looked bleak this year: his surgically repaired knee never seemed right, forced him into (ineffectual) designated hitter duty in the first half, and shut him down after early August. When Buxton limped out up to the plate for a fruitless pinch-hitting appearance late in Wednesday's elimination game, it was simultaneously a cool and sad moment. A sign of the end for this broken-down superstar? Not necessarily. Leading up the postseason, as Buxton pushed himself to become viable for the ALWC roster, he spoke with La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. One thing that struck me about Buck's quotes in the article was how he seemingly attributed much of his difficulty in 2023 to the arthroscopic knee surgery he'd undergone the previous offseason. "I was still coming off surgery," Buxton said. "I had never played a year following knee surgery. I was still trying to figure this out, all year." Neal's article also included this tidbit: Probably (okay definitely) an optimistic spin from La Velle there, but the underlying point is a valid one: sometimes it takes a while for the body to bounce back from surgery, even a supposedly "minor" one. Just ask Joe Mauer. After injuring his knee late in the 2010 season, Mauer underwent arthroscopic surgery during the offseason. The following season was a disaster, for both the team and Mauer specifically. He posted career-worst numbers and missed two months while taking fire from fans who were befuddled by the team's "bilateral leg weakness" diagnosis. He was 28 (one year younger than Buxton is now) and the vagueness of his health situation left many wondering what Mauer's future would look like. Later on, as things came into focus, it became clear that the catcher simply struggled physically to rebound from knee surgery and probably pushed himself back too soon. And here's the upshot: in 2012, once Mauer had another offseason to recover and distance himself from the knee surgery, he was pretty much back to his regular self. He played 147 games, made the All-Star team, and led the league in OBP. The surgery worked, it just took a little longer than some would've liked. Mauer was in the same form in 2013 up until another unrelated injury came along and DID permanently alter the course of his career. That sort of thing will be an ongoing concern for Buxton even if he can get past the knee issues. But the point is that his injury-wrecked 2023 campaign does not indicate that Buxton's knee is shot. The body works in unpredictable ways and there's no telling what another offseason building back (without pushing recklessly toward a return to the field) could do for the formerly elite slugger, still owed $75 million and heavily incentivized to add onto that number by returning to MVP form I'm hanging onto that hope as we head into this offseason, while acknowledging that the Twins front office absolutely needs to prepare themselves with strong contingencies in center field, as they did this year.

Box Score Starting Pitcher: Sonny Gray - 4 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (83 Pitches, 57 Strikes, 69%) Home Runs: None Bottom WPA: Gray (-.302), Royce Lewis (-.152), Ryan Jeffers (-.038) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The Twins came into Tuesday's Game 3 riding high after bringing the home field advantage back to Target Field. With a sell-out crowd awaiting them, the former stars were shining. Johan Santana tossed the first pitch to Joe Mauer (who made an excellent scoop!), and Pablo Lopez was shocked to see his fellow Venezualan hero Santana sporting a #49 Lopez jersey. It turns out that was the highlight of the game for Twins fans, because once the actual pitching started, the Astros started teeing off. Sunny Skies = Astros Runs Gray had yet to surrender a run in the 2023 postseason, but by the time he left the mound in the first inning the Astros sported a 4-0 lead. The afternoon shadows had not yet crept in, and the Astros hitters were more than ready for Gray's offspeed pitches. Jose Altuve led off the game with yet another hit, this time a single. Yordan Alvarez was initially awarded with a double to right, but that was later changed to an Alex Kirilloff error on a play that loomed large early. With runners now at second and third, Kyle Tucker finally scraped across an RBI single. Gray looked to get out of the danger, but Jose Abreu is danger. Target Field was not yet silenced, but the game now carried a sense of urgency and angst. In the bottom half of the first, Javier struck out Edouard Julien to start off the frame, but Jorge Polanco worked a walk, and Max Kepler boomed a double to put the Twins back in business with runners at second and third with only one out. Now in the shade at home plate, Royce Lewis echoed shades of Game 1's beginnings, by reaching on three straight pitches and leaving runners in scoring position. October Correa was up next, but he too could not time Javier in the shadows, and was the third strike out of the inning. October Javier is Real The Astros have another playoff ace, and his name is Cristian Javier. The talk entering today's game revolved around the extra two runs per game that Javier gave up this season compared to 2022. His K-rate was down from 33% to 20%. The more important statistic was his 11 innings of one-hit baseball in the 2022 postseason, and the fact that it definately carried into today's contest. Javier scattered five walks alongside the one hit, but his nine strikeouts continually came at the right time. The Twins left runners in scoring position in the first, third, and fifth against Javier, and he completed five scoreless yet again. Alex Bregman Still Has "It" Alex Bregman finally delivered in this series, blasting a lead off home run in the top of the fifth. After allowing another double to Alvarez, and a walk to Tucker, Gray left the game and Emilio Pagan came in with cluttered bases, and he left them cluttered to send the Twins to the bottom of the fifth down 5-0. Kenta Maeda got the call for the sixth inning, and it was Bregman who again built the Astro lead. This time he delivered a single that plated Jeremy Pena with one out to make it 6-0. Twins Finally Break Through, and Then Break Down Yet Again Once Javier left the game in the top of the sixth, the Twins and their packed stadium gathered some hope for a rally. Correa led off with a single, and Matt Wallner worked a walk to put Correa into scoring position. Willi Castro was looking to give the fans something to finally cheer about, and he delivered the first run of the game with a single to right. With the fans on their feet yet again, Ryan Jeffers stepped up to the plate and promptly hit a hard ground ball to the wrong man. Pena dove, flipped and the Astros completed the 6-4-3 to strand yet another runner in scoring position. Bailey Ober came in and pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but the ninth was not as kind to him. Alvarez launched his fourth home run of the series to up the score to 7-1. Ober walked Tucker, and then gave up a moon shot to Abreu for his second of the night. 9-1 Astros. The Twins crowd tried their best, but they started streaming out before the game ended thanks to the endless Astro assault. Griffin Jax came in to finish off the ninth inning, and the Twins bats stayed silent to end the game. The Twins need to turn the page on today, and deliver tomorrow to send us to one more Pablo Day on Friday. What's Next Game 4 pits Twins RHP Joe Ryan (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 11-10, 4.51 ERA in regular season) against Astros RHP Jose Urquidy (0-0, 0.00, 3-3, 5.29 ERA in regular season). First pitch changed due to the Rangers sweeping the Orioles Tuesday night. The Twins will now have their first pitch at 6:07pm CDT at Target Field on Wednesday evening. Postgame: Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Maeda 0 43 0 0 25 68 Ober 0 0 0 0 38 38 Pagán 0 14 0 0 14 28 Stewart 0 0 22 0 0 22 Paddack 0 19 0 0 0 19 Thielbar 0 18 0 0 0 18 Jax 0 0 0 0 9 9 Durán 0 0 7 0 0 7 Varland 0 0 0 0 0 0

This is Part 2 of a series looking at how much the Twins organization has turned over since the beginning of the club's infamous 0-18 streak. For the best reading experience, start with Part 1, which reviews the 2004 and 2006 playoff teams and outlines the concepts and aim of this series. 2009: Sailing Back East The Twins missed the playoffs in 2007 and 2008, though in 2008, that miss resulted from a lost Game 163 tiebreaker against the White Sox. Luckily, they used that Game 163 experience and came out on top of another Game 163 tiebreaker in 2009 to clinch the Central crown. At this point, parts of the team separate from the players started getting replaced. After Terry Ryan's retirement, Bill Smith became the club's general manager. If you're counting that position as a part of the Twins' ship, we have our first turnover of a lead executive. Also, Carl Pohlad passed away early in 2009, and his son, Jim, took control. Although there were only two seasons between 2006 and 2009, almost every piece from the previous series wasn't a factor in the 2009 series. Only Mauer, Cuddyer, Punto, Nathan, and Guerrier had played in 2006. Longtime franchise staples Hunter, Santana, and Radke, who each had captured the hearts of Twins fans in the early parts of the decade were no longer with the team. Hunter left in free agency, Santana was the subject of a long, messy trade season after 2007, and Radke retired after 2006. Kubel played in his first series since 2004, and Francisco Liriano had his playoff debut in 2009 despite being an integral part of the 2006 team in the regular season. Morneau, like would happen in 2010, missed the postseason due to injury. Cuddyer started at first base in his place, his third playoff position in three years (second base, right field, first base). The lineup featured new, young pieces like Denard Span, Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez, and backup catcher Jose Morales (not to be confused with LOOGY Jose Mijares, who was also on this squad. This group was supplemented by veterans like Orlando Cabrera—whose deadline acquisition was something of a catalyst for the team— and utility man Brenden Harris. Almost everyone in this offense was developed entirely by the Twins or was traded for early in their careers. Oh, designated hitter Matt Tolbert was there, too. Can't forget Tolbert. The likes of Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn, and Brian Deuensing replaced Santana, Radke, and Bonser. Nathan was supplemented in the pen by Liriano, Mijares, and Guerrier and a combination of Game 163 11th inning LOOGY hero Ron Mahay and 6'11" tattooed behemoth Jon Rauch. Although less than a quarter of the players who were trounced by the A's in 2006 returned for this series, the Yankees (and Phil Cuzzi) swept the Twins in short order. Only Cuddyer, Kubel, and Nathan faced the Yankees in the 2004 ALDS and again in 2009. Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera played in both for the Yankees, in case you were wondering. The count is at nine. Returning pieces from 2006: Michael Cuddyer, Matt Guerrier, Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Nick Punto New pieces in 2006: Nick Blackburn, Orlando Cabrera, Brian Deuensing, Carlos Gomez, Brendan Harris, Jason Kubel, Francisco Liriano, Ron Mahay, Jose Mijares, Jose Morales, Carl Pavano, Jon Rauch, Matt Tolbert, Delmon Young Italics indicate the player never appeared in the playoffs for Minnesota after this year 2010: Redux Guess who's back? That's right, it's a sea battle between the Twins and Yankees in the ALDS. The Twins had a crew reasonably similar to the 2009 squad. Nathan's 2009 injury left Cuddyer as the only player who had played in all four playoffs, though Kubel had also played in 2004 but did not play in 2006, and Jesse Crain played in both 2004 and 2006 but didn't pitch in the 2009 postseason. The Yankees returned Jeter, Rodriquez, Posada, Pettitte, and Rivera from the 2004 series. The Twins swapped one Orlando out for another, parting with Cabrera but signing veteran second baseman Orlando Hudson in the offseason. Four times in four years the Twins now had new second baseman (Cuddyer, Luis Castillo, Punto, and Hudson) and shortstop (Guzman, Bartlett, Cabrera, J.J. Hardy). Hardy came back in a trade that sent away the prize jewel of the Santana trade, Gomez. Other notable changes included one of the greatest year-to-year step-ups you'll find, replacing Brenden Harris with future Hall of Fame slugger Jim Thome at DH. Although Thome's career was winding down, he could still wallop the ball, and his presence was more than welcome. Danny Valencia, then a promising third baseman of the future, had a terrific series for the squad, and Jason Repko, a great name to pull when you're Remembering Some Guys™, also played a role. Scott Baker made his playoff debut as a reliever, and Liriano replaced Nick Blackburn in the playoff rotation instead of relieving as he did in 2009. Matt Capps, Proven Closer™, was a trade deadline acquisition to replace an injured Joe Nathan. Besides Jesse Crain returning to the picture, the only other bullpen difference was Brian Fuentes in place of Mahay, which fits, given their relative obscurity among Twins fans. As could be expected, there was no massive overhaul between playoff teams in back-to-back years. The substantive differences were the loss of Nathan, the Orlando swap, Gomez for Hardy, and the presence of Jim Thome. Otherwise, the turnover was insignificant. The count is 12. Hopefully, the Twins can get a third straight crack at the Damn Yankees in 2011. Returning pieces from 2009: Michael Cuddyer, Brain Deuensing, Matt Guerrier, Jason Kubel, Francisco Liriano, Joe Mauer, Jose Mijares, Carl Pavano, Jon Rauch, Denard Span, Matt Tolbert, Delmon Young New pieces in 2010: Scott Baker, Matt Capps, Jesse Crain, Brian Fuentes, J.J. Hardy, Orlando Hudson, Jason Repko, Jim Thome, Danny Valencia Italics indicate the player never appeared in the playoffs for Minnesota after this year 2017: The Ship Sails Again So. A lot happened. As would be expected when a team misses the playoffs for six consecutive seasons, there aren't many similarities. This is to be expected. Six years is enough for an entire successful career in Major League Baseball. Since 2010, Terry Ryan had been given control of the team following Bill Smith's 2011 firing. Ryan was also relieved of his duties in the middle of 2016, replaced by interim general manager Rob Antony before the hire of Thad Levine as the Twin's GM and Derek Falvey as President of Baseball Operations. I'm not great at math, but that's four men who were called GM between trips to the postseason. Longtime manager Ron Gardenhire had also been fired. Hometown hero Paul Molitor took over as the team's skipper. Only Mauer remained from the 2010 team. Crain left the team after the 2010 season, and then Cuddyer and Kubel followed suit after the 2011 season, marking the departures of the remaining Twins who played in the 2004 ALDS when the streak started. If you've been waiting for a golden opportunity to state that the team has officially turned over, here's your chance. New ownership took the helm prior to 2009. Executive and field managers were replaced. No players remained from the 2004 series. And only one player even remained from the 2010 team. Mauer himself wasn't the same. The former MVP catcher was in the waning hours of his career and playing first base. Sure, you could argue that he was part of the streak because he was on the team but injured in 2004, but he played no part in that series. And he's the only connecting unit to that team unless you wanted to include someone like President Dave St. Peter, who plays no part in the on-field matters. It's like replacing every piece of a ship except one board that's getting close to disrepair and another with no functional purpose. And even the board in disrepair didn't come with the ship when you bought it from the ship store. To add to that, an entire core came and went in the intervening years. It could be debated whether an organization can have a core when they are one of the worst teams in the league, but the team was no longer built around the M&M Boys in that stretch. Although the team didn't win, they did have promising pieces that they hoped to form into a competitive team. Even after the exits of assumed building blocks like Span or Young, the entire Twins careers of fan favorites and exciting young players (and All-Stars) like Valencia, Trevor Plouffe, Ben Revere, Brian Dozier, Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, Eduardo Escobar, Danny Santana, Eduardo Núñez, and Kennys Vargas existed entirely or at least mainly within this window of time. Did I cast a wide net with those names? Yes. Are they all good examples? No. But it was an era of Twins baseball. The team tried to build around that rag-tag group. I think that counts as a separate core. Many well-respected evaluators had big dreams for many of those players. We can skip the specifics of this playoff team that only played one game. Remarkably, they were the first team to go from losing 100 games in one season to making the playoffs in the next—in no small part due to the addition of a second Wild Card team. Many of the above names had played in that one-game Wild Card. Many who played in that Wild Card would go on to play in more playoffs for the Twins. You can see the names below. The count is 13. Returning pieces from 2010: Joe Mauer New pieces in 2017: Ehire Adrianza, Matt Belisle, Jose Berrios, Alan Busenitz, Byron Buxton, Jason Castro, Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, Chris Gimenez, Zack Granite, Robbie Grossman, Trevor Hildenberger, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario, Ervin Santana Italics indicate the player never appeared in the playoffs for Minnesota after this year

When looking at his case for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, it is often contended that he will get in, but the sanctity of being a first ballot entrant seems unfathomable. To wrap one’s mind around that notion must start somewhere following his post catching days. For Twins fans, there has always been a denigration of Joe Mauer’s resume largely due to two things. The first is a contract he signed coming off the most productive years we have ever seen from a catcher. Mauer got paid for what he had accomplished, and in a sport that stifles earnings for years before free agency, that shouldn’t be a concept difficult to grasp. Even with the $184 million extension, Mauer would’ve been substantially more handsomely paid elsewhere on the open market. His deal didn’t stop the Twins from adding, they chose not to on their own. Beyond that, there is the discussion of his time as a first baseman. Nevermind that Mauer transformed himself into a Gold Glove caliber talent (yes, we are still mad, Eric Hosmer), but he did so following multiple brain injuries. The Twins catcher didn’t step out from behind the plate because he wanted to, but instead because he had to. If Mauer had walked away following the concussion in 2013, he likely would’ve waltzed into the Hall of Fame similar to Kirby Puckett. So, when it comes to enshrinement in The Hall, why is Mauer’s case so hotly contested? Take for example St. Louis Cardinals great Yadier Molina. He has roughly the same career fWAR as Mauer, but was a below average hitter (96 OPS+). His personal accolades are all defensive, and he earns extra credit for team World Series rings he won. There is no denying how great his defensive acumen was, but it truly was a career of a one-dimensional leader. Someone like Buster Posey or Brian McCann had a career more similar to that of Mauer, and neither of them ever get mentioned in the same breath as Molina. Posey should be a certain Hall of Famer, and he’ll first become eligible in 2026 having retired in 2021. Posey won an MVP award and also captured a batting title. He wasn’t the defender that Molina was, and maybe not even that of Mauer, but his career 129 OPS+ shows just how much he contributed offensively. It would be much more controversial to suggest McCann is a Hall of Fame caliber talent, and yet he is right in the same realm as these other three. McCann does have a World Series and multiple Silver Slugger’s to his credit, but the only MVP award he ever won was for the All-Star game, and his offensive abilities were substantially less than both that of Mauer and Posey. Some of the discussion surrounding Mauer’s candidacy goes back to the premise of “when” and not “if” he’ll get in. It should not be viewed as some amazing feat to be inducted on the first ballot. There are no additional awards for getting in, rather that you get a bronze plaque for doing so. Nationally it seems as though Mauer is viewed more favorably. Hall of Fame guru and Fangraphs writer Jay Jaffe has long contended that Mauer be inducted, and he recently did a great back and forth with The Athletic’s Dan Hayes on that very topic. Maybe we’ll be surprised next winter and the votes will come in droves for Mauer. It would be disappointing to see it take as long as Molina’s debut to get him in, but then again, perception is often reality for most.

Royce Lewis was the first draft pick taken by the new Minnesota Twins front office. Contemplating between players like Hunter Greene and Kyle Wright, it was the talented California infielder that was coming to Minnesota. It was evident from the start that Lewis had plenty of tools and talent, but his minor league track record was anything but straightforward. There were massive swing changes he worked on, and then there were the interruptions. Covid canceled a season before a slip on ice in Texas took out another. Then there was the fluke play in centerfield with the Twins that wiped away even more games. By the time Lewis returned to the Twins this season, still with his rookie status in place, he had played just 60 total professional games since 2019. To put that into context, Diamondbacks star rookie Corbin Carroll played 100 games in the minors in 2021 and 2022 before making a 32 game cameo in the majors last year. Orioles rookie Gunnar Henderson got in 217 minor league games the past two seasons before making it to the big leagues. Even 20-year-old Jasson Dominguez played in 295 games on the farm over the past two years before lighting up pitching for the Yankees. Lewis has age on all of them. Recently having turned 24-years-old, maybe that’s why he has been able to stay so focused and dedicated to his craft. Maybe it’s been the influence of big league mentors like Torii Hunter. Maybe it’s been a support system that include incredible parents, Cindy and William. No matter what it is, the hurdles that were placed in the way of Lewis have done nothing to slow him down. Through 47 games with Rocco Baldelli’s Twins this season, Lewis has looked every bit a contender for Rookie of the Year. He won’t win the award lacking time to accumulate equal stats, but the numbers compared to games played are jaw-dropping. He owns a .915 OPS while batting .320. He’s launched 11 home runs and has seven doubles to his credit. He’s producing offensively while sliding to the hot corner as an attempt to accommodate Carlos Correa and Edouard Julien on the dirt. Although the Twins have not been an offensive juggernaut all season, the production has largely funneled through Royce. Having played in half as many games, his 1.9 fWAR ranks third among hitters behind only Ryan Jeffers and Julien. Lewis was playing well before going down with an oblique injury, but he has been otherworldly since his return. In 21 games he’s slashing .313/.387/.627 with five doubles and seven home runs. If Lewis’ career to this point could be defined by anything, it’s the word “adjustments.” He’s had to adjust his expectations while dealing with stops and disappointments hurled his way. He’s had to work his way back and make tweaks to better his game. The amount of adversity he’s fought through would deter many. He’s been vocal about his faith, and that’s definitely something he has leaned on. It’s also a tireless work ethic that has propped up his ability to succeed. When the dust settles on the season, it’s more than possible that Lewis tallies an fWAR total in the top 10 for rookies across baseball. That would be nothing short of a miracle given the playing time he’s recorded. Again though, it’s all just a reminder of how abnormal what Lewis is doing is. As his career goes on, Lewis will need to make adjustments. Opposing pitchers will work to figure him out, and they certainly will hope to avoid giving up grand slams on back-to-back nights. If there’s someone that should be expected to make those adjustments though, it’s Royce. Not everyone saw this type of production coming, but you can bet Lewis knew he had it in him all along. Minnesota has a potential superstar in the making. The organization has been searching for a consistent star since the likes of Joe Mauer. Lewis gives hope that the next one is developing right before our eyes.

With Joe Mauer’s number “7” having been immediately retired following his playing days, it was only right that he would eventually be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. He is on the ballot for Cooperstown this cycle, and will eventually be enshrined in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Replicating that standard probably doesn’t need to be the goal, but finding a viable catching option has been a pursuit since he was forced from behind the dish. Brain injuries took a toll on Mauer and forced him to first base for the 2014 season. Ron Gardenhire, Paul Molitor, and Rocco Baldelli have employed plenty of catchers since, but which seasons stand out as the best since Mauer put away the shin guards? 5. Kurt Suzuki - 2014 The first man to take the plate in the post-Mauer era, Suzuki earned his first all-star appearance in 2014. Playing in 131 games, his 105 OPS+ was a career high at the time, and he wound up catching the final out from teammate Glen Perkins at Target Field in what was Derek Jeter’s last All-Star Game. Suzuki was a quality veteran who did everything decently well. It was a solid transition for the position and provided some veteran stability to an otherwise poor Twins team. Replacing Mauer’s production at catcher was never going to happen, but getting average across the board was worth circling at an otherwise difficult spot. 4. Jason Castro - 2017 Following the Suzuki tenure, Castro came over as a former all-star for the Houston Astros. He flashed some offensive prowess during the 2013 season, and the hope was that he could replicate that success with the Twins. Castro was a solid defender, and his 93 OPS+ was decent for the role he was playing. Castro helped to bring that Twins team back to the postseason, and it was a good first showing for the time he spent in Minnesota. 3. Mitch Garver - 2021 The only player to make this list twice, Garver rebounded in a big way after an awful Covid season. Playing in just 23 of the 60 games during a shortened 2020, the former Twins prospect showed he still had what once made him a Silver Slugger. Garver played in only 68 games during 2021 as he dealt with injury again, but his .875 OPS and 139 OPS+ from the catcher position were as impressive as anything Twins fans had seen since Mauer. Despite the shortened exposure, he still blasted 13 homers and showed plenty of value. 2. Ryan Jeffers - 2023 What Jeffers is doing this season is unlike anything we have seen for the Twins since Garver went on his 2019 run. Christian Vazquez was signed in the offseason to be a stabilizing veteran presence that would at least warrant a 60/40 split behind the dish. Jeffers has pushed that to 50/50 at best, and should be on the 60/40 side sooner rather than later. Across 71 games he owns a career-best .862 OPS and 136 OPS+. Minnesota was chided for taking him in the second round of the 2018 draft as Jeffers was seen as a potential designated hitter. Instead, the Twins coached up his catching skills and made him a great receiver with adequate blocking skills. The bat has continued to play, and he looks the part of a regular for years to come. 1. Mitch Garver - 2019 A decade after Mauer won an MVP while posting a 1.031 OPS and 171 OPS+, Garver did his best impression. A key part of the Bomba Squad, the New Mexico-native slashed .273/.365/.630 (.995) with 31 big flies. Garver played in just 93 games that season, and was launching baseballs out of ballparks at an alarming rate. He adopted new catching techniques with Tanner Swanson helping to provide insight, and Garver positioned himself as among the best backstops in the game at that point. Injuries are really the only thing that have held him back since, and while we won’t likely see the juiced ball production again, it was the 2019 season that put a ninth-round pick from 2013 on the map. Minnesota has the good fortune of having Jeffers under team control through the 2026 season. Vazquez becomes a free agent the year prior. Maybe it’s Alex Isola, Jair Camargo, Chris Williams, Ricardo Olivar, Carlos Silva, or some other prospect that makes the next impact. No matter what, Minnesota will continue looking for Mauer-like production at catcher for years to come. They likely will never find that sort of player again, but good impressions are noteworthy along the way.

I was watching Gavin Williams dominate the Rays on the 12th when it dawned on me that I had yet to see him pitch against the Twins. Maybe that isn’t unusual. He only has 11 career starts, after all. But, I think it’s emblematic of a bigger change amongst MLB: the new schedule. There are certainly perks to having every team in MLB play every other team. Estranged fans in an opposite league’s city no longer have to wait eons to see their favorite team play. Teams in poor divisions—no comment—will find it harder to hide behind their weak foes; outside exposure will reveal just how behind the MLB meta they are. And it’s just plain cool to see Spencer Strider and Mitch Keller pitch against my favorite team, even if Minnesota loses. These are all good things, changes that improve MLB’s ecosystem. But, perhaps, the trade-off—with rivalry games taking a smaller piece of the scheduling pie—creates an adverse effect. Familiarity is important. I instantly remember Ryan Raburn, Brandon Inge, Brennan Boesch, Jeremy Bonderman, Phil Coke—always Phil Coke—Gerald Laird, and a whole bunch of other nondescript members of the 2000s–2010s Tigers. They weren’t the best players. Most never made an All-Star game. Lord knows I saw them plenty, though, so they’ve stuck with me, still pestering and badgering my mind when I should be thinking of other things. I think that matters. Seeing the same names, looking at the same faces, perhaps a little older, more wrinkly and lethargic than they once were, establishes a connection. It makes their achievements more visceral. I really didn’t care too much when Andrew McCutchen blasted a three-run homer the other day, but when Miguel Cabrera went yard, well, There Goes That Bastard Harassing My Favorite Team Once Again. I’ll pop champagne and dance in the street when he retires. As much as it stinks, that feeling—the painful, personal shared experience you feel seeing an old nemesis kill your team once again—draws us to the game. It coaxes Joe Mauer out of the shadows of retirement to congratulate a man who spent his career terrorizing his team. And, Gavin Williams. Just as important as celebrating known enemies is welcoming new ones. Baseball is special in this way. We know Williams not to be just another face, and arm, and shoulder, and torso: he’s the Next Big Thing in a long line of very impressive Cleveland pitchers. He’s the new Cabrera. How can I hate the new Cabrera when I’ve never seen him? Maybe it’s small potatoes only meant to bug the more sentimental amongst us. Maybe I need to stop being weepy and nostalgic about a bunch of people who don’t know I exist. I think it does mean something, though. If this is to be a sport of men with conflicting interests, then the highest drama—the emotions stoked not by an amorphic player—but, rather, someone who has done it over and over, or will soon do it over and over, is the game’s heart and soul. It draws us to love and hate. It draws Tim Anderson and José Ramírez to throw hands. The Twins and Guardians will play two more series against each other before the season ends. Maybe Williams will pitch one or two times, and his dominance will force me to re-think this premise. Or, maybe, the Twins will smoke him, causing me to mock him and Cleveland’s “so-called pitching factory,” and, well, I guess the emotions are already there. They’ll always be there, certainly. But we shall see if they remain sparked when the familiarity is weakened.

Coming off of the 2009 season, Joe Mauer was on top of the baseball world. He had just completed a season in which he slashed .365/.444/.587 with a career-high 28 home runs and 96 RBI. Mauer was voted American League MVP, one vote shy of earning the honor in unanimous fashion. Mauer also found himself one season away from becoming the most sought after free agent in all of baseball. However, in March, heading into the 2010 season, in what would have been his final year under team control, the Twins signed Joe Mauer to an eight-year, $184 million contract extension. The contract was the fourth-largest contract ever handed out in MLB history at the time. The reasoning behind the Twins inking Mauer to such a large contract was not difficult to understand. Mauer had been playing like a Top-5 player in baseball over the first five seasons of his MLB career, and at just 26 years old, Mauer had not even hit his athletic prime yet. Mauer was hitting better than a catcher had hit in a long time, and brought value to the Twins on both sides of the ball. Additionally, the Twins signed Mauer to the contract extension just one month before they opened their brand new stadium, Target Field. There was no move that would have excited a fanbase and opened up a new stadium better than extending the hometown hero, Joe Mauer, to a massive contract extension. For an ownership group that was constantly criticized for being tight with their money, their paying up to keep Mauer in Minnesota was a massive boost to a fanbase at the perfect time. So, the contract extension was definitely the right move at the time, but how did things play out after Mauer signed the extension? In the season immediately following his contract extension, Mauer proved to the Pohlads that their investment was well-spent, as he was an all-star, finished Top-10 in MVP voting, and won his third consecutive Gold Glove and Silver Slugger from the catcher position. Things took a bit of a turn in 2011, though, when the infamous “bilateral leg weakness” began for Mauer. He only played in 82 games that season, and he started to get his first action at first base. His gradual transition to first base continued in 2012 and 2013 until he became a full-time first baseman in 2014 after Ike Davis's foul tip off of Mauer's face mask caused him to abandon catching for good, just four seasons after signing his extension. After becoming a full-time first baseman in 2014, Mauer would never go on to make another all-star team, earn MVP votes or Gold Gloves, while averaging just 1.4 fWAR per season through his final season in 2018. Aside from being an elite hitter, what made Mauer so valuable and worthy of such a large extension was the fact that he played the catcher position. It’s so rare to find a catcher with elite batting skills, and that Mauer was such a great hitter was invaluable. When the Twins signed Mauer to the $184 million extension, they did so assuming that they would be getting an elite catcher for most, if not all, of the contract. How things turned out, though, was that Mauer was only a full-time catcher for the first season immediately following the extension. For five years of the extension, Mauer wasn’t a catcher at all. If we look at Fangraphs’ financial value metric, Joe Mauer provided $125.7 million of value, despite earning $184 million over that timeframe. From that metric alone, one would conclude that the extension was not worth it. Although the dollar value says the money wasn’t worth it, the contract extension was still one that was ultimately the right move. The contract extension was worth it because it launched the opening of Target Field. It kept the hometown kid home. It signaled that the Pohlads weren’t, in fact, “pocket protectors”. It showed that the Twins were willing to spend money and ready to compete. In the end, it was injuries that kept Mauer’s extension from providing the value they thought they would get when they inked him to the contract. But even though they didn’t get that value that they had hoped, the contract provided value for the Twins that went beyond the diamond. Do you think Joe Mauer’s contract extension was worth it? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

Let’s be clear that while an induction into a team’s Hall of Fame is an exceptional accomplishment, it’s equally an effort to drive ticket sales. Someday he’ll have a bronze statue on Target Plaza, and Minnesota will again see the gate swing wide open. Neither of those compare to the honor that was immediately bestowed upon Mauer as his number “7” was retired. For fans of a certain age, Joe Mauer is the embodiment of the popular Sandlot phrase, “heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew had long finished their playing careers. Tony Oliva’s didn’t match up, and Kirby Puckett either didn’t cross into the same threshold or is held in lower regard. For this 32-year-old, Mauer is the closest it gets to the greatest ever witnessed in a Twins uniform. (Editor's Note: This, ummm... older-than-32 Twins fan believes Kirby Puckett crossed that line and threshold, and his playing career is not held in lower regard. His post-playing career is a different story.) For the occasion, white chairs were set out in foul territory. Twins greats and former teammates alike had a front row seat for the occasion. Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Josh Willingham, and plenty of past players that shared a clubhouse with Mauer made their way back. Justin Morneau now calls Target Field his office as a broadcaster, and Kent Hrbek can always find a reason to be back at the ballpark. Family and friends of Mauer also made their way to the occasion, including wife Maddie, and their young family. Taking the podium as the emcee, Dick Bremer eloquently discussed who Mauer was and still is. He noted that Mauer just entered his senior year of high school in 2000 when the Twins created their Hall of Fame. Speaking on his exploits from youth ball all the way through the big leagues, Bremer summed up Mauer’s career perfectly calling it a “Well-played journey.” With some former players not in attendance, video tributes came rolling in across the newly installed big screens. It was recently-inducted Hall of Famer Jim Thome that put it best saying his congrats and ending with, “I hope there’s another hall of fame in your future.” Taking over for Bremer and introducing the other part of his M&M moniker, Morneau steps up. “Well, my friend, you not only lived up to those expectations but you exceeded them. It’s not easy being the face, or in your case, the sideburns of the franchise.” Morneau delivered his thoughts with a wide grin on his face, and was clearly proud of what his friend had accomplished. Finishing with a story of when the pair ran into a fan with the name Joe, Morneau recalled, “This person thought as much about you as a player, but even more as a person, to name their child after you.” The pair embraced and the microphone was passed. In a way that only he can step in, Mauer took over the podium as his ballad, “What You Know” by artist T.I. rang out. Mauer thanked the crowd for being there, everyone that showed up for him, including his dad Jake, as he was certainly looking down on him from above. The entirety of Mauer’s speech was related to that moment he got a call from Carew in the car with his girls. The twins asked what it took to make a Hall of Fame, and the Minnesotan put it in the most thought out description possible. Noting the support system it takes, Mauer touched on his dad, “I tip my cap to you, dad, and for being one of the main reasons I’m standing here today” choking back tears. Maren and Emily are very clearly the apple of his eye, and having them look on with wide smiles and pride was certainly something Mauer shared for his own dad. Knowing how she held down the fort, Mauer said, “Thanks for always being there for me, mom, and supporting me from day one.” Leadership is another thing that provides a Hall of Fame opportunity. The youngest of three boys, Mauer talked of the relationship Jake and Bill provided him. They pushed him, and allowed him to be part of their experiences as well. He told his girls they now have that responsibility for son Chip. Continuing on leadership, Mauer talked of his wife, Maddie. “We are very lucky to have a leader and a role model like their mom. Thank you for all you do for our family, I love you.” The crowd for this occasion was not just in the stands, but in those white seats on the infield as well. Teammates spanning nearly two decades made it back to Target Field. “I want to thank you boys for traveling here tonight and celebrating this moment with me.” Those in the stands, sitting in a stadium that was built largely because of what Mauer did for the organization, Mauer had a message for the fans as well, “I want to thank you all for supporting me, even in my down moments. It truly means the world to me.” As he often did, Mauer turned the focus back to the task at hand, and with a handful of Diamondbacks and Twins players at their respective dugout railings he said, “Good luck out there tonight boys, go get ‘em.” Paul Feiner, the only player to ever strike out Mauer in high school, brought three balls to the newly-inducted Hall of Famer. One was for each of his children. They delivered a ceremonial first pitch, and the night was set to get underway. The game could have been inconsequential, but in a postseason race every win matters. The Twins handled business bludgeoning the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-1. Most impressively in that win was the performance of starting catcher, Ryan Jeffers. On a night with a backstop going into the Hall of Fame, Rocco Baldelli’s starter went 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs. It was a storybook ending to an evening. It’s very likely we won't see a player like Mauer again for decades. The Twins haven’t had a Hall of Famer enter Cooperstown without significant help for years. Top prospects flame out or fail to reach expectations. We’ve seen that with Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. What Mauer did as a hero playing entirely for one organization is something only dreamed up in storybooks. Accepting that reality makes Saturday even more impactful. As a state, and collectively as Twins fans, few things are more exciting than seeing success for one of our own. Joe Mauer epitomized that, and seeing his career immortalized after he has hung up his cleats is truly something to behold.

Often lost in sports is that these players are human, with their lives naked and popular. That openness leads fans to having—or thinking they have—insight into their personhood. I have never met Carlos Correa, but I feel that I know something about him and his personality, simply because I’ve watched him on my TV for nearly two years now. I know who his wife and child are, I know he went to High School, at the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, and I know that he sometimes likes to one-hop throws to first base. Reserving three hours nightly to watch them play does that, and, without even realizing it, I have seen Correa more in my life than any of my aunts. It becomes a quiet comfort. While the people we meet in our life change and move, evolving as we do, sometimes fading away as the realities of adulthood command much of our attention, those three precious hours—treated religiously every night—offer a rare stability. I know I’ll see Max Kepler tonight, just as I have since he was 22, and I was in High School eight years ago. That’s a sort of emotional attachment usually reserved for the most intimate members of our life. And so: Joe Mauer. For 15 years—a decade and a half of everyone’s life—he was a rare constant. He joined a team with Lew Ford and Brad Radke, and left it in the hands of Eddie Rosario and José Berríos; he entered as a catching phenom, and left it as a worn-down first baseman; he started in the Metrodome, and left in the cool open-air breeze of Target Field. It was an atypical relationship between player and franchise, one that goes unnoticed and often underappreciated in an arena where one’s job is never safe for an extended period of time. Any slip in performance is met with calls for a trade or a signing, and personalities and people clash, with players soon finding themselves on different teams. Rod Carew was an Angel for seven years, Johan Santana tossed over 700 innings for the Mets, but Mauer never left. That quiet comfort—the familiarity of the shared experience—grew with Mauer as with no Twin in recent memory. As players and coaches went, there stood Mauer, penciled in at a different position perhaps, but still smiling, still slashing doubles into the left-center gap. I think, perhaps, this amount of exposure separates baseball from most other sports; I have to think for a decent amount of time to remember a time when Kirk Cousins hasn’t been the Vikings QB, but even his Minnesota career only amounts to 80 regular season games—less than half a typical baseball season. Mauer’s was 1,858. Inevitably, something he did on the field became connected with a life experience, something near and dear still fondly remembered today, in part because Mauer helped make it visceral. It’s unsurprising that Mauer donning his catching gear for one last time in 2018 evoked the kind of reaction it did; here was a man—Minnesota’s man—reminding the fans of good times, when our heroes were immortal and forever young; when the shackles of expectations and disappointment could fall aside and we could, revere and celebrate together. That 2018 team wasn’t good, but at that moment, no one cared; the moment was Mauer’s and his alone. When we see Mauer on the field to enter the Twins Hall of Fame tonight, we will all be flooded with memories. Some may think of his MVP season, some may recall his one-and-only walk-off homer in 2017, and some may think of his perfect Twins introduction: his first career hit smacked right up the middle. In all cases, though, there will surely be personal artifacts—parts of each person's life critical and endearing to them—associated with each moment; perhaps he cracked a big hit on an especially raucous night partying in college, or perhaps iconic behind-the-back snag preceded a first date that soon became a marriage. In any case, and in memory, the magic of Mauer is time: his extended, wonderful career became intertwined with the fans and their lives, making him a rare warm comfort with his familiarity and excellence.

When Joe Mauer is inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame Saturday, joining 37 other players and staff like Kirby Puckett, Jim Kaat, and Tom Kelly, Twins fans will have a chance to look back at a childhood hero, and arguably the biggest star Minnesota sports has ever seen. One cannot overstate the impact that Joe Mauer had on the state in the early-to-mid 2000s and what it was like being a kid watching Mauer’s reign. To Twins fans of a certain age, Mauer represents some of our first memories of being a fan. He was not only an “American Idol” like the famous Sports Illustrated cover proclaimed, but a hometown, childhood hero, and a role model. As a kid who grew up playing softball with a baseball-playing brother and an older sister who also played softball, Twins baseball was huge in our family. We watched all the games on FSN North, our parents took us down to games at the Metrodome almost weekly, and we went to all the free player autograph signings at Cub Foods and the now-defunct Twins Pro Shop stores. And Mauer was everywhere. He was the star of the hilarious Twins “This is Twins Territory” commercials of the 2000s, including one paying homage to the classic Mean Joe Green Coca-Cola TV commercial in which Mauer gives a kid his sideburns (fun fact- the kid in this commercial is the brother-in-law of Twins Daily writer Lou Hennessy) and one in which pitcher and “Joe Mauer’s teammate” Pat Neshek fields questions from crazed Mauer fans who want to know if Mauer has a girlfriend, if he smells nice, and even what his favorite kind of cheese is. “Kids, does anyone have any questions that aren’t about Joe Mauer?” asks the Twins PR staffer (commercial at 1:36 of this video). Then, when the Twins were preparing to make a move to Target Field and take baseball into great Minnesota outdoors, Mauer and Joe Nathan starred in the classic “Take It Outside” commercial featuring Mauer’s mother, Teresa, and the nostalgic “Sandlot” commercial in which Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Michael Cuddyer play some sandlot baseball at the future Target Field stadium site. He was in a “This is SportsCenter” commercial with Scott Van Pelt, in which Van Pelt, who does not know anything about Minnesota, humorously tries to relate to Mauer the Minnesotan. “You ever meet Prince?” Van Pelt asks Mauer. He was on national magazine covers, in video game commercials like MLB 10 The Show and MLB 11 The Show, in which Mauer is still a really nice guy even when getting taunted while playing The Show and instead lets is bat do the talking, and national shampoo commercials. Locally, he was in even more TV spots, like for local health clubs. Mauer, arguably, is the biggest sports star Minnesota has ever had. Think about it: when has Minnesota otherwise had a sports star on the cover of video games and national TV spots? Never. (The number of kids who do the Griddy on the Target Field big screen suggests that Justin Jefferson might reach these heights, but he is the only star I see as having the potential to reach this type of national visibility. And yet, there are so many other high-profile NFL stars to compete with, and the batting stats Mauer managed to have as a catcher were truly remarkable). But even as Mauer’s national star rose, he was still ours- the hometown kid from St. Paul who never left and continues to make Minnesota his home. Outside of TV commercials, he was on “Got Milk?” posters we had hanging up in school, and he was on a Minnesota Department of Health anti-smoking poster emblazoned with “Fast, fearless, strong, and tobacco free” with a picture of Mauer mid-swing that I still have hanging up in my childhood bedroom. Kids in backyards playing wiffleball pretended to be Mauer, and undoubtedly he inspired more than a few kids to put on catcher’s gear. Kids practiced using Joe Mauer’s QuickSwing hitting device. Kids wanted to “be like Joe” and always the friendly, wholesome role model known for community volunteering and signing autographs; parents were all for it. A common thread among commercials and 2000’s media featuring Mauer is that he was shown as a wholesome family man. He epitomized "Minnesota Nice." His mother, Teresa, frequently starred in commercials with Mauer, like the “Take it Outside” spot and a Kemps Ice cream commercial in which Mauer catches a scoop of ice cream like a popup in the kitchen. In a different Kemps commercial for milk, Mauer shows up for dinner at his mother’s door with a bouquet and a gallon of milk. “Boy, that was good, just like old times, huh, ma?” Mauer says after dinner as he takes a big swig of milk. “Exactly, so you’ll be doing the dishes,” Teresa Mauer responds. The message of these commercials seems to say that even though we may know him as a multi-millionaire All-Star and batting champion, he still loves his mom, does the dishes, and is still that boy from St. Paul. Mauer was also portrayed as a type of “everyman” like us: even though he is a national star and an adult, he plays video games with his friends, eats dinner with his family, and keeps his hair and sideburns looking good using Head and Shoulders shampoo. Commercials showing Mauer playing sandlot baseball and video games also show Mauer in a nostalgic light that makes us think of our own childhoods. I remember my parents taking my siblings and me down to Joe Mauer Bat Day at the ‘Dome in 2006 and waiting in long, snaking lines for it- but it was all worth it, and I still have that beauty today. There was also a Joe Mauer sideburns giveaway in 2006. And when he put on the catcher’s gear one last time in his final game in 2018, there was no dry eye in the stadium. A recent college graduate, I watched Mauer step behind the plate from my spot along the first baseline. I wasn’t a little kid anymore- and Mauer had a constant presence on the team from the time I was in 4th grade until I was in law school. In the literal sense, I grew up watching Mauer. So, on Saturday, as the Twins induct Mauer into the coveted Twins Hall of Fame, fans will once again have a chance to celebrate one of Minnesota’s biggest points of pride and a nostalgic, childhood hero to many.

Joe Mauer retired following the 2018 Major League Baseball season. Less than a year later, constituents were gathered at Target Field where the Minnesota Twins were retiring the number “7” forever. That move, to make sure no one would ever wear Mauer’s number again, serves as a much greater reminder of who Mauer was on the field. On Saturday, Mauer will join 37 other members of Minnesota’s Hall of Fame. The group includes broadcasters, players, and executives. Mauer’s enshrinement is a straightforward one, as he was among the best to ever wear a Twins jersey. What is neat about the timing is that Minnesota is bringing Mauer into their Hall of Fame during the same yearly cycle that he will be on the ballot for Cooperstown. When the BBWAA gets their official ballots for the next voting cycle, Mauer’s name will be listed along with Adrian Beltre, David Wright, Chase Utley, and even former Twins teammates Denard Span and Bartolo Colon. Many of the first-year players don’t have much of a hope to see a bronze plaque in Cooperstown, but like Beltre, Mauer should go in on his first ballot. Although Mauer’s case for enshrinement in Cooperstown has been debated by plenty of analysts across baseball, he seems more likely than not to get in. His career was stunted by injury, but Mauer was one of the best offensive catchers of all-time, and has three batting titles to show for it. He won an MVP, and nearly became the third player ever (joining Placido Polanco and Darin Erstad) to win Gold Glove awards at multiple positions. Playing in just shy of 1,900 career games, Mauer doesn’t have many of the counting stats typically aligned with automatic induction into The Hall. He is well short of 3,000 hits, topping out at 2,123, and hit just 143 career homers. To boil his career down to those statistics is doing a disservice however. Not only was Mauer a career .306 hitter with a 124 OPS+, but he played incredible defense behind the plate. As a catcher, Mauer’s 53.0 fWAR ranks 15th all-time. He’s just over two-points behind Yadier Molina, who is seen as a surefire first ballot guy despite producing so little offensively. With Molina having just retired in 2022, he won’t be eligible for balloting until 2027, and while it may be cool for the catchers to go in together, it would be sad to see Mauer wait that long. Back when Mauer hung up his cleats, doing so with one of the greatest moments Target Field has ever seen, baseball writer Jay Jaffe put together a piece outlining his credentials. Jaffe has long been a master of Cooperstown worthiness, and his closing statement regarding Mauer’s candidacy summed things up well. “Mauer nor Utley is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer, but both should benefit from the increasingly mainstream usage of advanced statistics in baseball coverage and from an evolving electorate that will soon include members from sabermetric sites…here’s hoping this pair will be part of Cooperstown’s Class of 2024.” We’re still many months away from seeing how the Hall of Fame vote will shake out, and you can bet @NotMrTibbs and his tracker team will keep us updated throughout the process. What seems fairly certain to think on though, is that this weekend’s Twins Hall of Fame ceremony won’t be the last of its kind for Mauer. Fans were given plenty of moments to smile upon throughout Mauer’s playing career, and the first of his retirement tour was in putting his jersey off limits. The Hall of Fame represents another stop, and Cooperstown after that. Maybe someday Target Field Plaza will put a statue up for him as well, and we’ll continue to see the man that was among the greatest catchers in baseball history get his due.

Opening the season as Iowa’s Friday night starter, Ty Langenberg dealt with some adversity as he took a brief trip to the bullpen before rejoining the rotation. Looking like one of the better arms across the Big Ten, Langenberg parlayed a successful Cape Cod showing into some strong numbers for the Hawkeyes. Looking to get right into his professional career, Langenberg will be heading to Fort Myers soon and taking the next step in his baseball journey. Before getting there, he had time to catch up with Twins Daily. Twins Daily: Last year at Iowa, what do you think set you up for this draft and venturing into professional baseball? Ty Langenberg: I think it started with the summer. I was fortunate enough to play out in the Cape Cod League, and I did pretty well. That put me on the radar of a lot of different scouts and got my name out there. Coming into the fall, I had a little helium with my name. I had a pretty successful fall and made some more improvements. I was fortunate enough to earn the Friday night role which helped my name a little bit more. I actually had a pretty rough start to the season. In five starts, I underperformed in the Friday night role, and we had two other guys that were right behind me working. They moved me into the bullpen for a week, and I had to work through some things to make in-season adjustments. I battled adversity, and I think that was something scouts liked to see. I entered back into the rotation and had success, ultimately finishing strong, and I think that mattered a lot. TD: How did making some of those adjustments and dealing with differing levels of adversity help set you up for the enhanced competition within professional baseball? TL: It was really that first taste that not everything is going to sunshine and rainbows at the next level. There is limited time to make those adjustments. When something goes wrong, I need to be quick and precise when working through adjustments. Being able to work through pitch grips or mental cues then quickly going to the mound and finding things that take hold was huge. TD: What are you comfortable throwing on the mound and what do you feature? TL: I throw a four-seam fastball and changeup is probably my second best pitch. I also have a slider and a cutter. Fastball usage is probably around 40-50% with the slider and changeup making up the rest. My fastball isn’t something I’m afraid to go to in deeper counts, but I wouldn’t say it’s my best pitch. I ride it a little bit from a lower slot and that seems to work well up in the zone. Typically late in counts, my changeup is going to be my best pitch. It worked well for me when I played out in the Cape Cod League, and it’s something I brought back after making some tweaks out there. For a changeup, it’s kind of funny as there isn’t a huge change in velocity. I still throw it pretty firm, but I try to kill the batter with the movement on it. It’s my best pitch. My next step in professional baseball is to get a handle on a consistent, sweeping, slider. It’s a pitch that was pretty inconsistent this year. When it’s working and on, it can be one of my better pitches. The cutter was pretty much an emergency pitch when the slider wasn’t working. TD: Entering professional baseball, what are you most looking forward to from a development standpoint? TL: I’m really looking forward to the pitch design aspect of things. I know the Twins are a great organization for all of the analytical and data focus. They use all of the resources they have to develop a pitcher to their liking. The University of Iowa had a great program and we had a lot of that stuff. I’m excited to see how the Twins handle it, and I can compare and contrast to what Iowa did. TD: Being so close to the Twins organization logistically, what do you know about the Minnesota organization? TL: It’s really cool because growing up the Twins were my favorite team, and I had a lot of family that lived in Minneapolis. I’ve kind of known them from my start in baseball, watching Joe Mauer when I was younger, and now following them up to this point. Now I get to learn more about what they are as an organization and what they preach. It’s cool to end up with my childhood favorite team. It’s also cool they have a High-A affiliate out in Cedar Rapids right next to Iowa City. Staying pretty local is a good feeling. TD: Off the baseball field, what are you doing to de-stress? What hobbies do you have? TL: I do quite a bit of different things. Big thing I do is golfing. I like golfing, that’s probably my main thing. Video games are big too, I love playing video games whenever I can’t golf. If I’m outside and not golfing, I’m probably fishing. Welcome to Twins Territory, Ty!

Despite the Minnesota Twins posting a Major League Baseball record 307 home runs, they did not have a single participant in the Home Run Derby that year. Nelson Cruz, Max Kepler, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, and Mitch Garver all blasted more than 30 homers individually, but none of them competed in the longball event held at the Guardians Progressive Field. Over the years, Minnesota has had their fair share of Home Run Derby participants. With the next iteration of the event on tap, here are the top five performances in franchise history. 5. Brian Dozier 2014 Once a failed shortstop for Minnesota, Dozier turned himself into among the best offensive second basemen in all of baseball. He found a way to yank pitches out to left field, and his home run numbers went through the roof. Despite missing the All-Star Game in 2014, Dozier was invited to participate in the Home Run Derby. He was a hometown contestant with the event held at Target Field, and despite just hitting two dingers, his appearance fueled excitement. Yoenis Cespedes ultimately won the event, but Dozier would go on to blast 42 home runs just two seasons later. 4. Miguel Sano 2017 As a first-time all-star, Sano took his talents to South Beach and appeared in the Home Run Derby following a 25 dinger season the year prior. Hometown favorite Giancarlo Stanton was expected to win, but Sano drew a favorable bracket matchup with the Kansas City Royals Mike Moustakas opposing him. After knocking off the Royals third basemen, he also bested future teammate Gary Sanchez to find himself in the finals against Yankees star Aaron Judge. Sano came up one longball short, but his showing was beyond impressive and highlighted a story of player that had been clamored for since being a teenager. 3. Joe Mauer 2009 Through his first 561 career games Mauer had just 44 homers to his credit. Having won two batting titles already, the Minnesota-native began flipping baseballs into the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome seats. He finished 2009 with an MVP award and 28 homers. Invited to the derby that year in St. Louis, Mauer’s five first-round dingers forced a swing off with Albert Pujols and Carlos Pena. He wound up netting no more and went home quietly, but his season ended with some better hardware. 2. Tom Brunansky 1985 Competing in the first-ever iteration of the Home Run Derby, Brunansky represented the Twins with the event held at the Metrodome. He was a first-time all-star and his 32 dingers the season before was a career high. Parameters were obviously be shifted as the event drew popularity, but in its introduction, Dave Parker won, sending just six longballs into the seats. Brunansky finished second with four to his credit. He tied with all-time greats such as Carlton Fisk, Dale Murphy, Eddie Murray, and Jim Rice. 1. Justin Morneau 2008 Forever known as the Josh Hamilton derby, Morneau wound up winning in New York. Widely regarded as one of the best contests of all time, Morneau made it through the first round with eight homers to his credit. After Hamilton’s 28 blast barrage, he couldn’t keep things going in the final round. Morneau launched five homers in the final round to take the crown. The field was an interesting one with only Morneau, Hamilton, and Lance Berkman as true sluggers. More pure power hitters like Ryan Braun, Dan Uggla, and Chase Utley also filled out the competition. Which is your favorite Twins Home Run Derby performance of all time?

Winning a Most Valuable Player award is the pinnacle of individual achievement in baseball and most any other sport. It's the honor of a lifetime for athletes, placing their names alongside true greats in the history books while celebrating an unparalleled contribution to winning. Beyond all that, Byron Buxton is uniquely incentivized to prove deserving of this particular accolade. His contract structure with the Twins is such that Buxton will get an extra $8 million for winning MVP, adding more than 50% on top of his $15 million base salary. (He receives significant bonuses for finishing anywhere in the top 10, but that's obviously the biggest.) Even with their payroll already stretched to a record high, the Minnesota Twins would be more than happy to pay out those extra millions, given what it would entail for the team. The trouble, of course, is that Buxton has generally come nowhere near making enough plate appearances to have a viable shot. The superstar talent presents a tough balancing act for Rocco Baldelli and the Twins: How best to utilize him in a way that gets him on the field enough to put himself in the MVP conversation, while also managing his workload to minimize injury risk and keep him strong through the end of the year? Last season, the team was essentially forced into the position of trying to navigate this situation on the fly due to an early knee injury, which severely limited his availability. This year, they can aim to avoid the same outcome by planning around a playing time model that maximizes Buxton's impact while taking it relatively easy on his body. For an example of how this might shake out, we need only look back to 2009 when Joe Mauer put forth the last MVP season by a Twins player. Joe Mauer and the 70-15-15 Model One of the most interesting things about Mauer's MVP season is that he missed the entire first month, making his season debut on May 1st. (And, unforgettably, homering in his very first at-bat.) In the spring, Mauer dealt with an inflamed sacroiliac joint – which sits at the base of the spine – and it kept him out of action for nearly four weeks. Once he returned, he was able to play almost every day, making 109 starts at catcher and 28 at designated hitter on the way to accruing 606 plate appearances – plenty to establish him as the unanimous choice for MVP. Mauer's dispersal of games spent at catcher, DH, or not playing shook out roughly like this: Catcher: 70% DH: 15% Off Days: 15% The hope, obviously, is that Buxton will not have to miss a month of the season this year. But Mauer's example shows how the Twins can mix in ample rest days and still get Buck to the number of plate appearances required for legitimate MVP consideration (and to trigger his contractual PA bonuses, which hit at 502, 533, 567, 600 and 625). Planning around this model would essentially mean giving Buxton one day off and one day at DH each week. The comparison between these two is a fitting one to me for a couple of key reasons: Like Mauer, Buxton derives a huge portion of his value from playing excellent defense at one of the most premium positions on the field. In 2009, the Twins were comfortable giving Mauer semi-frequent days at DH and negating that part of his value because they had a backup they were very comfortable with in Mike Redmond. This year, the addition of Gold Glover Michael A. Taylor as Buxton's top backup in center provides a similar luxury. While Buxton is ostensibly healthy at this juncture, the team's conservative approach to moving him along this spring signals a cautionary mindset geared toward prevention. The 70-15-15 model as a guiding principle feels like the sweet spot to me. How Are the Twins Envisioning Buxton's Usage? When I was in camp last week, I took the opportunity to ask Baldelli straight-up if he had a ratio in mind for Buxton's time spent at center field versus designated hitter this year. In 2022, 52 of Buck's 86 starts came in center field compared to 34 at DH, equating to a 60-40 balance clearly driven more by necessity than preference. Unsurprisingly, the Twins manager – notoriously coy about revealing his future plans – was noncommittal in response, describing it as "probably at this point still an unanswerable question." "I would say, we’d play Buck — and I mean it — we’d play him in center field for 162 games if we could do that," Baldelli said. "What he’s going to need as the season goes on, nobody knows the answer to that. So we’re going to react to whatever he needs, and we’ll give him that." Not the most fulfilling answer, but I guess I can't blame Rocco for not wanting to get specific, especially with the season still weeks away and Buxton still yet to make his spring debut. It's all very theoretical at this point. At the same time, this is something the team needs to be very thoughtful and strategic about. While many sports fans may loathe the term "load management," it's a paramount aspect of handling Buxton properly. In an interview with MLB Network Radio later in the week, general manager Thad Levine was a bit more open about acknowledging this reality. "What’d we try to do this offseason, to try to enhance his ability to stay on the field is, I think we really tried to build out our depth," Levine explained. "Going out and getting guys like Joey Gallo, Michael A. Taylor, two additional players in addition to Max Kepler ... who could all play some center field, give Byron some opportunities to contribute as a DH, something that I think Rocco really believes can really extend his plate appearances over the course of the season." You don't say? Levine continued: "The reality was unfortunately he sustained an injury very early last season, ended up playing with it most of the year until effectively he couldn’t anymore. We’re hopeful we can avoid that early-season injury, we’re hopeful that we can sort of insulate him by having some really excellent-caliber defensive players out there who can allow him to DH a little bit more without a known drop-off in our lineup." While Baldelli might dream about playing Buxton for 162 games in center field, it's not realistic and would frankly be an irresponsible thing to attempt, in light of his history. Given his druthers, I have no doubt Buck would push to do exactly that, but it's incumbent upon the manager and front office to be smart and look at the big picture, even if Buxton is feeling good early in the season. As Mauer's precedent shows, there's a way to do it and still put the 29-year-old in good a position to earn his payday and lead the team to glory.

It may seem like just yesterday that Joe Mauer donned his catching equipment one last time before saying farewell to a roaring Target Field crowd. But it’s now been five years since his 2018 retirement, meaning the lifelong Twin is eligible for Baseball’s Hall of Fame. And for the most miserable bastards in Minnesota, it couldn’t come soon enough. “As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve missed him since he retired,” said Tom Hanson, 58. The Anoka resident and classic North Metro redass has been banned from every social media website ever created. “He’s the worst baseball player I’ve ever seen and he should be in jail for stealing money from hard-working Minnesotans. But all the same, I’ve missed sending angry emails about him to our bought-and-paid-for local media shills.” Hanson, who is no longer welcome in the IHOP family of breakfast restaurants, foresees a multi-year campaign against the former American League MVP. “The first year, I expect the baseball writers to step up and keep him out because they do that to good players, too,” said Hanson. “Patriots will do the heavy lifting after that. A sustained barrage of complaints to talk radio, comments left in newspaper comment sections, skywriting. My stepson who no longer talks to me does raps on the internet, it would be nice to bring him into the fold if (ex-fourth wife) Bonnie would quit being such a [INCREDIBLY VILE EXPLETIVE].” Hanson isn’t alone. “All I know is players used to play hurt or they didn’t play,” said Bruce Schafer, 62, of Dayton. “Mauer didn’t even play when he was healthy and now the woke mob wants me to act like he’s a Hall of Famer? Hell no.” Schafer, who frequently shares inaccurate stories about vaccine efficacy and Barack Obama’s long-form birth certificate on Facebook, said the opportunity to set the record straight about the three-time batting champ is one he welcomes. “This is like Christmas and the 4th of July all in one,” said the unloved man. “There are kids out there who’ve never heard the term ‘bilateral leg weakness’ used to mock someone with a brain injury. Just another example of cancel culture going too far.”

Last year, some of the best baseball players ever (Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens) went unelected in their final year on the Hall of Fame ballot. As we know, they were heavily tied to steroids, and that is certainly the reason they are not in. However, the Hall of Fame is a museum and incomplete without acknowledging the sport’s history as a whole. We still don’t have Pete Rose or "Shoeless" Joe Jackson in, and there are plenty of others who have been left out over the years. One can argue whether they would like to see those linked to some form of cheating left out, but the reality is that there are far worse or more egregious offenders already inducted. What should be a cause for concern among Twins fans is the way in which the process played out this season. Coming into this voting cycle, only Carlos Beltran was among the first-time candidates that had any true level of Hall Hope. His support has waned in light of the scandal with the Houston Astros (although, again, that has nothing to do with his playing days), but his resume was always going to be borderline. That left only Scott Rolen and Todd Helton as potential inductees. With the ability to select up to ten players, there were plenty of BBWAA members that turned in blank ballots. Rather than abstain from voting at all, multiple writers went to the trouble of turning in an empty ballot to make every candidate’s chances worse. There were far more that used less than the ten total slots, and plenty that used less than five. Fast forward to 2024. The two Hall of Famers from next year’s ballot should be Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer. It is generally believed that Beltre will make the ballot in his first year of eligibility. The problem is that Mauer is not seen in the same way. For years, it has seemed as though the Twins fanbase was hardest on Mauer. Whether because of a terribly-reported diagnosis of bilateral leg weakness, an inability to blast home runs, or a contract that paid him for previous performance, there have always been detractors here. It seems that nationally Mauer has been praised a bit more. He’s on par with a player like Buster Posey, and he could have challenged the likes of Mike Piazza or even Carlton Fisk without the brain injuries that altered the course of his career. Mauer’s resume speaks for itself. He’s won multiple batting titles and should have won a Gold Glove at first base following a position change (still mad at you Eric Hosmer). There doesn’t seem to be a concern that Mauer is NOT a Hall of Famer, but rather when he gets in. Therein lies the problem, a process that’s broken within the writers voting on behalf of the BBWAA. If Helton and Rolen were seen as the only two candidates close, and Beltre is only joined by Mauer next year, there is no reason both shouldn’t be in on the first ballot. To suggest that the quickness with which a player goes in holds weight is silly. A good portion of when a player is elected has to do with how tight the ballot itself is. There has not yet been enough support for Billy Wagner. Jeff Kent falls off after this season, and Gary Sheffield would need a massive jump in his final year. Despite being among the best ever to play the game, no one is voting for Alex Rodriguez. It’s only logical that if a writer believes that Joe Mauer is truly a Hall of Famer, and said writer has up to ten openings, he would be among them. For writers of the BBWAA to purposely leave Mauer off of a light ballot only to vote for him a year later would be grandstanding at its best. The sanctity of going in on the first ballot gets more weight than the merit of a player’s resume. It has been discussed before that changing the ballot to a simple yes/no scenario may make sense, but that exercise can be practiced in its current format given how few should truly be considered. On a night that MLB Network took up three hours of airtime to market the stars of yesteryear, the writers fell short in getting the necessary names in. Helton should get his due next season, but like Mauer, waiting doesn't make sense. Fast forwarding to the next cycle and knowing we’re in for another light group, it would be inexcusable to leave the Twins legend off for little more than posturing.

There are a variety of ways to examine a player’s Cooperstown case. JAWS is one way to measure a player's Hall of Fame worthiness as it averages their career WAR with their seven-year peak WAR. Jay Jaffe developed it to compare players' Hall of Fame candidacy across different eras. Some positions have fewer players currently elected to the Hall of Fame, which can skew the averages. However, JAWS provides a solid baseline for comparing a player's candidacy. Hold-Overs from 2023 Currently, voters are considering candidates for the 2023 voting cycle, and Ryan Thibodaux does a masterful job of tracking the publicly available ballots. Players must be listed on 75% of ballots submitted to be elected. Scott Rolen and Todd Helton are the two players tracking above 75%, but their support is not overwhelming. Rolen ranks as baseball's tenth-best third baseman, according to JAWS, while Helton ranks 15th among first basemen. Both players likely fall short of 75% as more ballots become available, resulting in both remaining on the ballot for the 2024 voting cycle, with some other strong candidates joining them. Strong First-Ballot Considerations In recent years, some strong players have fallen off the ballot, but Mauer will join the ballot with some other players that will be Hall of Famers. Adrian Beltre is a lock to be elected next year. His accolades are nearly endless, and he is the only player in big-league history with at least 3,000 hits and 450 home runs among players who appeared in at least 50% of their games at third base. According to JAWS, Beltre only ranks behind Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, and Wade Boggs among third basemen. Beltre should be a nearly unanimous selection. Chase Utley doesn't have the open and shut case like Beltre, but he is still among the all-time best second-basemen. He was one of his era's best players with some tremendous Phillies teams. His resume includes being a six-time All-Star and a four-time Silver Slugger with over 30 home runs and 100 RBI in multiple seasons. JAWS ranks him as baseball's 12th-best second baseman, with multiple players ranked behind him already inducted to Cooperstown. He won't be a unanimous selection, but he is a Hall of Fame-caliber player. Catching Counterparts For Mauer to be elected, many voters will compare him to other top catchers of his era. In recent years, Buster Posey and Yadier Molina have retired, and each has a strong case for the Hall of Fame. According to JAWS, Mauer (7th) ranks significantly higher than Posey (14th) and Molina (22nd). Molina's JAWS ranking has him behind catchers like Jason Kendall and Jorge Posada, who didn't get significant support in their HOF voting cycles. Like Mauer, Posey retired earlier than some of the all-time great catchers. However, he will likely garner enough support when he appears on the ballot for the first time in 2027. Mauer's accolades were significant during the years he could stay behind the plate. He was a six-time All-Star and a five-time Silver Slugger while winning three Gold Gloves. He is the only catcher in big-league history to win three batting titles, and he finished in the top 10 for AL MVP in four seasons, including winning top honors in 2009. He is the only catcher who started his career after 1930 to top the .400 mark in OBP in six seasons. Concussions forced him to move out from behind the plate, but his case is still strong enough for induction. Do you think Mauer will be a first-ballot induction to the Hall of Fame? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

On the surface, Joe Mauer and Buster Posey seem to have similar cases for Cooperstown. Mauer hit .306/.388/.439 (.827) while earning three Gold Gloves, five Silver Sluggers, and six All-Star appearances. Posey hit .302/.372/.460 (.831) while earning a Gold Glove, four Silver Sluggers, and seven All-Star appearances. Both players won an MVP, and Posey won two fewer batting titles than Mauer. JAWS is one way to measure a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness as it averages their career WAR with their 7-year peak WAR. Mauer currently has the seventh-best JAWS total among catchers as he trails only Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fish, Mike Piazza, and Yogi Berra. Those are the best catchers in baseball history. Posey doesn’t rank quite as well, according to JAWS, as he finished his career ranked 14th. This puts him below the average of the Hall of Famers at this position. However, other factors impact Posey’s candidacy. He was a three-time World Series champion, and that certainly plays a role in his Cooperstown case. Mauer and Posey both have some unique characteristics for the voters to consider. Mauer is the only catcher to win three batting titles, and he topped the .400 OBP mark in six of his seasons at catcher. Posey finished in the top-20 for MVP voting in six seasons, including three in the top-10. Mauer finished in the top-20 in MVP voting in five different seasons with four seasons in the top-10. Posey is in elite company when narrowing down his career to a six-year window. From 2012-2017, only Mike Trout had a higher fWAR total, and the next closest player is Josh Donaldson. Mauer’s best six-year stretch (2005-2010) ranks him as having baseball’s fourth-highest fWAR total behind Albert Pujols, Chase Utley, and Alex Rodriguez. He also played 70 fewer games than any of the players ahead of him on the list. Another commonality between Posey and Mauer is that their careers ended earlier than some of the other greats at the position. Posey is walking away at age-34 after one of the best seasons of his career. After concussions, Mauer retired following his age-35 season, which forced him to become a primary first baseman for his final five seasons. It seems like both players have a good chance of eventually getting inducted. Mauer becomes eligible for the first time in 2024, while Posey will be eligible in 2027. There will be plenty of talk about Posey being a Hall of Fame player as he rides off into the sunset. If that is the case, Mauer’s credentials should make him a lock for Cooperstown. Do you think both Mauer and Posey will be elected to the Hall of Fame? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

Luis Arraez became the fifth Twins player to win an American League batting title when he hit .316 over 144 games in 2022. He joined Hall of Famers Tony Oliva (3), Rod Carew (7) and Kirby Puckett (1), along with future Hall of Famer Joe Mauer as batting champs. He was an All Star in 2022. He was named a finalist for a Gold Glove at first base. Tonight, he becomes the first Twins player since Nelson Cruz took home the Silver Slugger for DH in 2020. The 25-year-old from Venezuela hit .316/.375/.420 (795) with 31 doubles, a triple and eight home runs. He also walked 50 times and struck out just 43 times. His eight home runs are two more than he had hit over his previous three seasons. The Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award winners are voted on by MLB managers and coaches. They are based on offensive stats including OBP, OPS, OPS+, home runs, hits, RBI, batting average as well as "managers' and coaches' general impressions of a player's overall offensive value."

The battery is an essential component of the game, and catchers are the magicians who orchestrate it all. Let's look at what a catcher does and which Minnesota Twins catchers were the best at each job that a catcher does behind the plate. Terry Steinbach - The Toughest Catcher It's one of the most demanding positions to play on the baseball field: Catchers are constantly beaten up and hit with bats, balls, and sometimes players. They must squat down on their knees for nine or more innings, catching hundreds of pitches of varying speeds, movements, and breaks. A catcher must be in peak physical shape to stay in the game. MLB made a change to emphasize player safety in 2011 after a collision at home plate that saw star catcher Buster Posey suffer a season-ending ankle injury. Before the rule change where a player could no longer run through a catcher, Terry Steinbach was one of the best but most beat-up-on catchers during his time in MLB. Steinbach was no stranger to catching injuries. In 1988 he was hit by a thrown ball during batting practice, suffering five fractures around his left eye and requiring surgery. He also had a collision with future teammate Kirby Puckett just four days after returning from the injured list. Steinbach took a forearm to the jaw from Hall of Famer Cal Ripken during a collision and, later in the season, was hospitalized after taking a hit to the head from pitcher Bobby Thigpen in a contentious, tied late game. Steinbach, a Minnesota native who started his career on the west coast but ended with the Twins, spent 14 seasons behind the plate. As one of the Twins' best catchers, he also had his best season when he came to join the Twins in 1996 with 34 home runs, and his 100 RBI were the most by an Athletics catcher since Mickey Cochrane in 1932. He also caught Eric Milton's no-hitter in May of 1999 before retiring. Joe Mauer - The Best Defensive Catcher The catcher helps dictate the game because they touch the ball on nearly every pitch. They help set the players before the game and let players know where to stand based on different hitters. Crouched behind home plate, they call and receive pitches from the pitcher, frequently field bunts, and throw out runners trying to steal bases. Catchers frame close strikes, blocks balls in the dirt, and react with lightning quickness as the entire game plays out before them. The position requires a rare combination of spryness, strength, durability, and leadership. Joe Mauer, the best Minnesota Twins catcher in history, won three consecutive gold glove awards from 2008 through 2010. He had a lifetime .995 fielding percentage as a catcher and a caught-stealing percentage of 33%. Mauer led AL catchers multiple times in caught-stealing and fielding percentages. Brian Harper - The Modest Catcher It may seem cruel and unfair, but it's the truth. When watching a game, the focus will always be on the pitcher and their performance. Being able to put aside ego and pride is a huge thing for someone in this position. They have to know that while they contribute heavily in many ways, it's ultimately about the pitcher and helping them succeed. Having humility and the ability to selflessly support the staff, unseen, takes a special person, Brian Harper was that Minnesota Twin. Harper spent six of his 16 MLB seasons with the Minnesota Twins. One of the best catchers in the organization, he was the primary catcher behind the plate for the Twins during the early 90s. He and Jack Morris created a duo in two games that would be integral in the Twins winning the 1991 World Series. In Game 4, Harper stood out when he received a perfect relay throw from Puckett and Chuck Knoblauch and endured a massive collision with Lonnie Smith at home plate. He held on to the ball through the clash to secure the out. In Game 7, Harper not only caught all 10 innings of Jack Morris' legendary shutout but also turned the pivotal 3-2-3 double play with Kent Hrbek to end the eighth inning and squelch the Braves' most dangerous scoring threat of the game. Other catchers that have stood out for the Twins are guys like Mitch Garver and A.J. Pierzynski, rare examples of backstops who can really bring it with the bat. As we get ready for 2023, looking at what is coming up, do you think the Twins will ever have another catcher that can do what any of these three brought to the table?

Over the past few seasons, Derek Falvey, Thad Levine, Rocco Baldelli (and Paul Molitor before him) have seen their starter behind the plate be a revolving door. It’s certainly not an easy position to generate consistency from, but since 2014 Minnesota has had the same catcher in the Opening Day lineup in three consecutive seasons just twice. Kurt Suzuki and Jason Castro, both free-agent veterans at the time, can make that claim. Since, Mitch Garver has drawn two starts with Ryan Jeffers being back there in 2022. From Opening Day 2004 through 2013, the Twins started a catcher not named Joe Mauer just once, when Mike Redmond was tasked with the job to start 2009. Over a stretch of ten years, Mauer was the most given thing in any Twins lineup. Finding something reminiscent of that run must be a goal for the current roster construction. Up-the-middle positions in baseball may be the most impactful players on the diamond. Joining a lack of consistency behind the plate is a shortstop revolving door that has seen no player remain more than the back-to-back Opening Day starter since Cristian Guzman in 2004. That laundry list of talents paired with an ever-changing catching situation is something that begs Twins fans to recall Mauer’s greatness. We’ll likely never see another catcher do what Joe Mauer could. Winning a batting title from that position is difficult, and doing it three times is otherworldly. Mauer’s MVP award in 2009 was one of the best seasons we’ve seen in baseball history. Consistently being able to play at such a physically-demanding position is also not something we see in today's game. Maybe Jeffers winds up developing into a consistent talent for the Twins. After all, the team was substantially higher on him in the draft than most. Jeffers could represent a strong step forward at the position given his relative youth. Even the best free agent available, Willson Contreras, is no sure thing to remain as a backstop for years since he is already 30 years old. Even if Jeffers never shows a shred of Mauer’s total ability, providing stability at such a necessary position would go a long way for the Twins roster construction. We’re just a year away from Mauer’s debut on the Hall of Fame ballot. He will likely garner strong consideration to be inducted in that cycle. Eventually, he should find his way in, the numbers are too staggering in his favor. What will be worth wondering is whether Minnesota can find the replacement they’ve been looking for since Mauer moved to first base, and if it happens before his plaque is hung in Cooperstown.