Posted by andrew on March 22, 2010 under John | 
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It was Joe day for the Minnesota Twins as Joe Nathan is lost for the entire 2010 season and Joe Mauer is extended to an eight-year $184 million contract. So much to talk about, watch it here!
Posted by andrew on February 10, 2010 under Andrew | 5 Comments to Read
Evaluating a Draft: 2001
The 2001 MLB Draft could be labeled as a success, if for no other reason than bringing Joe Mauer to the Twin Cities. In 2001, the Twins focused on a thick crop of prep talent, as their first four picks were fresh out of high school. So far, it looks as if two of those first four picks are bound for successful major league careers. Let’s take a look at the notable picks in the 2001 Draft.
1st Round (1st overall) – Joe Mauer, C
Despite the criticism this pick received, I’d say things have worked out fairly well for the Twins. Minnesota passed over USC super-star Mark Prior, who many viewed as the best prospect available. The Twins instead took home-town boy Joe Mauer because they feared that Prior wouldn’t sign with them. In hind-sight, this was obviously a smart decision on Minnesota’s part because of the dominance of Mauer and the injury trouble of Prior, but I think it’s safe to assume that decision was made based on signability issues, not because they thought Mauer would be the better pick or because they foresaw any mechanical problems in Prior.
Prior actually had an incredible few years in the major leagues with the Cubs. He finished seventh in Rookie-of-the-Year voting in 2002, and third in Cy Young voting the next year. Even after several seasons plagued with injury, Prior has a career 3.51 ERA while he averaged a very impressive 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings. If he would have avoided any health problems, there is little doubt that Prior would have been one of the best pitchers in the league.
But picking Mauer was obviously the right decision, regardless of the Twins’ motivation at the time. After just six seasons, Mauer is certainly in thick of the “Best Catcher” discussion. Having won an unprecedented three batting titles, Mauer was awarded with his first (and hopefully not last) MVP Award following the 2009 season, where he hit .365/.444/.587 with 28 home runs in just 138 games.
3rd Round (77th overall) – Jose Morales, SS
Drafted as a catcher, Morales was eventually moved behind the plate. The young switch-hitter has never displayed much power, but has managed to put up excellent on-base-percentages during his last few years in the minor leagues. He has repeated Triple-A for a few years, but this is more a result of his path to the Twins being blocked (see: Mauer, Joe) than his inability to hit.
Morales made his major-league debut in 2007, when both Mauer and Mike Redmond were dealing with injuries. Morales went 3-for-3 in the game, but injured himself in the fifth inning while running the bases, which put an abrupt end to his season.
This year, Morales was slated to be Mauer’s backup, but he required wrist surgery last month and will be out until mid-March.
13th Round (377th overall) – Kevin Cameron, RHP
Cameron was drafted by the Twins out of the Georgie Institute of Technology. While with the Twins, Cameron worked his way through the system as a relief pitcher while posting great ERAs and a respectable strikeout-per-nine ratio. He played the 2006 season with the Rochester Red Wings, but before he was promoted the Padres snagged him as a Rule V pick.
Since then, Cameron, 30, has enjoyed some success in the major leagues with the Padres, and Oakland Athletics. On January 11th, Cameron signed a minor-league contract with the San Francisco Giants.
29th Round (857th overall) – Nick Blackburn, RHP
After watching Blackburn for three years, it’s hard to believe that other teams collectively found over 850 players who they thought would have more successful careers than this right-handed pitcher out of Seminole State University. Blackburn just finished his second full major-league season in 2009, posting a 4.03 ERA while making a reputation for himself with incredible control of his pitches.
Despite having college experience, Blackburn slowly progressed through the Twins’ minor-league system. He never put up flashy strikeout totals, but he consistently managed to ge opposing batters out. He will probably never be a star, but Blackburn is very capable of filling the middle of any major-league rotation.
Posted by John on January 23, 2010 under John | 3 Comments to Read
So the rumors are true, the Twins are having conversations with free agent slugger and long time Twins-killer, Jim Thome. The 39-year old Thome is looking to find at bats his options appear to be down to the White Sox or Twins. Joe C. from the Star Tribune has a great piece covering the topic.
Besides just the sticker shock of the star slugger’s name and his 564 career homeruns, I actually really like the move for the Twins. It would be the perfect addition if Thome was a righthanded bat, but his addition would bring pop to the bench as well as give Ron Gardenhire to play Jason Kubel in left or rightfield and DH Thome. This move could push Delmon Young into working hard and also give the Twins a go to pinch hitter in clutch situations if a guy like Nick Punto steps up with two men on base.
There are a few other points made in this story that are worth nothing:
In another interesting note, St. Paul native, Joe Mauer, will be filming an episode of ESPN’s Homecoming this Wednesday, January 27 at his high school alma mater, Cretin-Derham Hall.
Posted by John on December 2, 2009 under John | 6 Comments to Read
It had been a couple of quiet weeks since the JJ Hardy trade for the Twins until Monday’s little he said, he didn’t say fiasco over Joe Mauer’s pending contract negotiations.
The confusion started Monday morning when a site called Fantasy Sports Portal reported that, “Mauer has informed the (the Twins) that he will break off talks if the two sides haven’t reached an agreement by spring training.” My immediate thoughts at 10:25 am were the following:
Not only was I shocked that a source like Fantasy Sports Portal would break this story, but it just didn’t seem like Joe’s words or tone. Especially after he had repeatedly said that the contract would “happen when it happens.”
However, a day later Twins MLB.com beat writer, Kelly Theiser, reported that Joe had texted her and denied any reports of a extension deadline. My first thought on this was…. why doesn’t Joe Mauer text me? Then this:
Anyway, my thoughts don’t really matter, the bigger issue is that of Joe Mauer’s contract. I think it’s safe to believe that Joe is true to his word that he will not set a deadline, but there is also no doubt that he doesn’t want to have to worry about this and answer questions from the media every day of the 2010 season. Joe is a very methodical and focused baseball player and will only want to worry about doing whatever it takes to make the 2010 Twins win.
I believe the Twins front office understands the magnitude of this contract negotiation and I’m sure it’s always at the forefront of their mind. I just simply hope they take this little media confusion as a message. Joe Mauer is willing to work and negotiate to remain a Twins, so let’s get it done and both sides will win.
Posted by Dan on November 23, 2009 under Dan | 2 Comments to Read
For years, the BBWAA picks for the Cy Young Awards and MVP were the subject of incredible scorn, especially among the sabermetric community. The 2005 AL Cy Young, for example, saw Bartolo Colon, armed with a 21-8 record, beat Johan Santana despite being subordinate to him in every category besides wins—three wins worse according to Baseball Prospectus’ Wins Above Replacement Player. Every team has their example, every year seems to bring new controversy, but 2009 seems to have been a big step in the right direction.
Zack Greinke netted the AL Cy Young, despite winning just 16 games, the lowest win totals for a Cy Young winner since 1994. There was some controversy over the NL award, but that was a choice among three deserving candidates, someone had to lose.
The BBWAA’s strong year continued Monday with the selection of Joe Mauer as the American League’s Most Valuable Player.
When I wrote about Mauer’s candidacy in mid-August, the primary argument against Mauer was that he didn’t play for a winning team. Had the season ended there, there would have been a big argument over whether Mauer’s superior numbers for a team that finished below .500 and in third place in a comparatively weaker division would be enough to propel him ahead of Mark Teixeira or Derek Jeter, who played a key role on a superior squad.
Fortunately for the Twins, that argument was done in by two months of solid play led by Mauer’s strong close to the season. With friend and fellow All-Star Justin Morneau on the pine, Mauer closed the season with a .391/.449/.652 line in August and .354/.471/.487 in September and a few games in October, simultaneously making the Twins a winning team and showing himself to be a clutch performer.
Philosophical arguments aside, Mauer was nothing short of dominant. He won the slash stat triple crown, boasting the highest batting average (.365), On-base percentage (.444), and slugging percentage (.587) in the AL, with only Albert Pujols’ and Prince Fielder’s slugging percentage preventing him from the major league mark. In the last 70 years, this has only been done nine times. Of those nine, seven were achieved by a first baseman, a left fielder, or a right fielder (hat tip to Ken Funck at Baseball Prospectus). Just twice coming into the season had an up-the-middle player hit anything approaching this well. Add in his 28 home runs, best among catchers, and 19.2% OBI%[percentage of runners on-base ahead of him that he successfully drove in], and it’s easy to see just how big a role he played in the Twins’ success.
But traditional stats can paint false pictures, perhaps advanced metrics will reveal Mauer’s flaw.
It looks as though Ben Zobrist won FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement crown at first blush, except that Joe Mauer gets no credit for his defense, since the defensive component of WAR (Ultimate Zone Rating or UZR) doesn’t categorize catchers. Giving Mauer credit for even average defense would push him over the top there.
Baseball Prospectus’ Value over Replacement Player has Mauer just a tick behind Albert Pujols and well ahead of the rest of the field, 20 runs ahead of Jeter and close to double Teixeira’s contribution. Tex chipped in a few more Equivalent Runs, but Mauer’s Equivalent Average was much, much higher. Among position players, Mauer ran away with the AL WARP-1 crown, though he did finish behind Zack Greinke. (To be honest, there’s a debate to be had as to whether Mauer or Greinke was more valuable to his team, a question that just isn’t salient when the players are Mauer and…any other player in the AL.)
When positional considerations are included, Mauer blows away the rest of the field. His contributions in terms of controlling a young pitching staff and adjusting to an uncharacteristically unsettled rotation are just two of the things that make catching uniquely difficult. The fact that other positions don’t have to deal with these issues shouldn’t take away from players like Jeter and Teixeira, but it is something that makes Mauer that much more valuable to his team.
I would love to tell you that this was a close vote, or that there are a lot of things that make this a difficult decision, and if the voters would actually vote for pitchers. Between Mauer and Greinke, I’m inclined to say that Mauer is still the MVP, but I’m certainly willing to hear arguments to the contrary. Irrespective, the voters have made it abundantly clear that a pitcher’s place is not in the MVP voting. In a battle between Joe Mauer and the rest of the position players in the American League, it just isn’t close.
The voters got this one right, continuing their strong showing in 2009, Joe Mauer truly is the American League’s Most Valuable Player
Posted by John on November 9, 2009 under John | 3 Comments to Read
As a young boy who was slowly falling in love with the game of baseball I found myself really focused on my favorite players and the stars of the game. For me it was always Kirby Puckett and Ken Griffey Jr. I never strayed away from the Twins as my favorite team, but there were phases of Frank Thomas, Cal Ripken Jr., Jeff Bagwell, and Darin Erstad (yes, Darin Erstad).
Today I continue my unwavering love for the Minnesota Twins but don’t find myself as enamored with specific players like I used to. Even our own players. Of course I love Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, Denard Span is really growing on me, and I’ve liked Kevin Slowey since I spoke with him last March. Yet if the Twins made a trade involving these players that made the team better at the end of the day I would not suffer much sadness or frustration (except Mauer because there is no trade that makes the Twins better with Mauer leaving).
I’d like to think this is because in my older, wiser age I am more committed to the team than the individual player. Perhaps, it’s because I moved out of my baseball card trading days which were dominated by collecting certain All-Stars and having the best players. Or did I lose my trust in players because of the steroids scandal that left many of the stars of my childhood tainted?
I can’t seem to put my finger on it at the moment, but I’m curious if anyone else feels the same way? This revelation came to me last week with the Twins announcement to trade Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy. For the past two years there were moments when I got caught up in the Gomez craze and thougtht, “Hey, this kid could be something special or at least he’s electrifying to watch.” I never went as far to purchase that Gomez t-shirt, but I had high hopes for the kid. However, when the trade was announced I never looked back at Carlos crossing the border into Wisconsin. I was excited to have a player like Hardy and truly believed the team was better that evening than it was the day before.
The presence of baseball heroes and stars is essential for the game, especially in terms of marketing. Yeah the longball helped revitalize baseball in the late 90’s, but it was really the chase between two lovable characters like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa (who by the way is becoming white) that filled stadiums across America. There are many exciting young players in the game today that catch my attention. Those worth being mentioned include Hanley Ramirez, Tim Lincecum, Grady Sizemore, Zach Greinke, Justin Upton, Albert Pujols, and of course our own Joe Mauer.
However, I’m happy to be invested in the team concept and knowing that although a player like Joe Mauer could someday (GASP!) leave the team, at least the Minnesota Twins will still be there. Well, at least until contraction rolls around again.
Posted by John on October 1, 2009 under John | 4 Comments to Read
So the Twins set out to take three of four from the Tigers in Detroit, but left with a 2-2 split and a very slim hope for a playoff berth.
After a crazy split double-header on Tuesday the Twins suffered a tough loss Wednesday night and then saved their season today with a victory. It’s tough to dive deep into these games as there were so many big moments and varied emotions. I can’t call the series anything but a disappointment, but yet I’m not too surprised with the outcome.
The Twins played a tough game against Rick Porcello, ran into a dominating Justin Verlander, but the real killer was scoring just two runs against Eddie Bonine last night. The most unfortunate thing about last night’s loss was that the Twins looked like a team that just ran out of gas. They’ve shown so much fight and determination, but last night I felt like they played uninspired and defeated from the opening pitch.
On the bright side of things the Twins were able to make tomorrow night’s game at the Metrodome meaningful and give all of us Twins fans a reason to watch the scoreboards and become Chicago White Sox fans for the weekend. ESPN says no team in baseball history has ever made the playoffs down two games with just three to play, but we can hope right?
TARGET FIELD TICKET GIVEAWAY UPDATE
I created an Excel document to track all the entries for the Joe Mauer 2009 batting average contest. There were over 30 guesses submitted between TwinsMVB.com and YouTube. Unfortunately, some people guessed an average that had already been submitted, so those individuals are listed in the second and third columns. As of Thursday evening, Mauer leads the majors with a .367 average.
AVG.
.382 Betsy Bissen
.381 Kevin Kukowski
.379 Mike Kinsella, Melissa Holm
.378 Bryan Schumacher, Derek Shoden
.377 Nikole Muzzy, Lori Haugen
.376 Josh Raymond
.37572 Steph Sullivan
.37524 Topper Anton
.375 Megan Wellner
.374 Joey Almars
.3735 Brad Silber
.373 Greg Davis
.372 Lucas Severson
.371 Todd Rathbun, Rick Prescott, Lauren
.370 Andrew Kneeland, Ethan Morey
.369 Matt Taylor
.368 Dana Menard, Peter Ilten
.3673 Mark Varner
.367 Kellen Boerger, Kyle
.366 Kirk Meyer
.3654 Alan Johnson
.364 Steve
.362 Adam Taylor
Posted by John on July 13, 2009 under John | Be the First to Comment
Tonight’s homerun derby is less than two hours away and although you won’t see Justin Morneau defending his derby title, you will see Twins star, Joe Mauer. That’s right. The same Mauer who has never hit more than 13 homeruns in a season, but already has 15 homeruns in just two and a half months.
Mauer will compete against other MLB stars in St. Louis including Cardinals star, Albert Pujols, and local St. Louis born, Ryan Howard. It’ll be quite a site to see Mauer, always regarded as an average hitter, rear back and swing for the fences in the derby. If you’ve ever watched Joe in batting practice it seems like he can hit the ball over the fence almost at will. He’s a smart hitter who knows his strengths and what pitches to hit which I think are key attributes to potentially winning the derby tonight.
Mauer will have his high school baseball coach, Jim O’Neill, from Cretin-Derham Hall pitching to him and look for Mauer to surprise many. I like Mauer or Howard as potential winners and I’m excited to watch a Twin swing for the fences. Why not keep that derby title in Minneapolis?
Posted by John on July 6, 2009 under John | Be the First to Comment
Monday morning Twins notes…
1. Great series for the Twins to win two of three from the first place Tigers at the Metrodome. Not only did they win the series, but they did so after a 16 inning heartbreak loss on Friday night. If Michael Cuddyer gets a hit with the bases loaded the Twins win Friday and sweep the series. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that the Central division is set for a dogfight in the second half of the season. I don’t see either of these two teams running away with the division and for the third year in a row the division may not be determined until the final day of the season. NOTICE: I said “two teams” because I do not consider the White Sox and contenders in this division.
2. Even worse than the Friday night loss was the placement of Kevin Slowey on the DL. After two consecutive starts going just three innings, it was clear something was wrong with Slowey. Let’s hope Slowey can heal over the next week and over the All-Star break and be ready to regain his form in the second half of the year. Anthony Swarzak was called up to take Slowey’s spot in the rotation.
3. For the fourth year in a row the Twins will send three All-Stars to the Midsummer Classic. Congratulations to Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan. No surprises on these three and all are very deserving. Mauer will be playing in his third ASG and his second start voted in by the fans. Morneau will be playing in his third ASG as well but has mentioned that he may not defend his Home Run Derby title. Justin did the derby in San Francisco and in New York and has said he’d like to just enjoy it and use the time to rest. Finally, Joe Nathan will participating in his fourth ASG and continues to be one of the best and most under appreciated closer in the big leagues. Congrats boys! (picture courtesy of MLB.com)
Posted by John on July 2, 2009 under John | 2 Comments to Read
For the first time all season (yes, all season) the Twins are two games above .500. That sounds like I’m talking about a losing team that recently got on a little hot streak, but really the Twins have been a team that have hovered anywhere between three games under and one game over .500 for three months. Nonetheless, the club is just three games back of the 1st place Detroit Tigers and there couldn’t be a better time for the Twins to play good baseball.
The Twins turned their road woes around in the month of June going 10-6 away from home since June 8 and finishing the recent road trip to Milwaukee, St. Louis and Kansas City with a 6-3 record. Just like the bast four seasons a combination of a hot June and interleague play seem to be turning the season around for the Twins.
Today the Twins get a much deserved day off as they prepare for a big home series against the Detroit Tigers. This is undoubtedly the biggest series of the season thus far for the Twins and a potential sweep could send a strong message to who is the best team in the AL Central.
Minnesota has nine more games until the All-Star break, all at home, so now is time for our Twins to make a move.
* Speaking of the All-Star game, fans have until 10:59 pm central time tonight to cast their ballots online for the Midsummer Classic in St. Louis. Joe Mauer looks to be set to start his 2nd consecutive ASG and Justin Morneau will need a big push to pass Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis.
