The Twins' 4-8 start might be easier to handle if their starting second baseman hadn't broken his leg and their MVP catcher wasn't on the disabled list. Here's the latest on the Twins, with a heavy focus on Joe Mauer, who went on the DL yesterday with bilateral leg weakness:
- Tom Verducci of SI.com runs through the list of ailments Mauer has suffered as a big leaguer and suggests the Twins may have to consider moving Mauer to a new position to keep his bat in the lineup.
- So when would the position switch occur and where would Mauer go? Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports suggests it could happen next offseason and argues that the outfield is the most logical alternative to catching for Mauer. Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel will become free agents after the season, so the Twins' outfield will likely have a different look next year. Delmon Young could cost $7.5MM or more through arbitration, so the Twins could consider trading him or Denard Span. Alternatively, the Twins could try Mauer in center field, a position scouts believe he could handle, according to Rosenthal. I don't see that happening if the Twins want to reduce the wear and tear on Mauer's body.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs points out that learning a new position midseason won't be easy for Mauer and suggests that he may have to DH when he comes back this year, even if that means Jim Thome gets pushed from the everyday lineup.
If Mauer is moved that is when the Twins will regret trading Ramos, big time.
Mauer in center? Sounds like something I’d do to the line-ups against me when I used to play 2006 MVP Baseball.
Didn’t MVP only go to 2005? I think MVP 2006 was college baseball.
Whichever one had Manny on the cover.
05, possibly the best baseball game ever made. I wish EA got the rights to making games back again, Sony has done really well but 2K is terrible.
Google “EA sports jumping back into baseball.” There was an article about the possible revival of the game once exclusive rights are over with. It’s an ESPN article.
I miss that game. I was mad when it was gone, though I do like The Show.
It’s all Madden’s fault. They got exclusive NFL rights because they didn’t want competition. So, now they can make a crappy football game and everyone will buy it, but EA can’t make a baseball game.
Still, the Show is great. But, I wasted so many hours in High School playing MVP 04 and 05…ugh..the memories…”Don’t look at me then wait, it was an honest mistaaaaake!”
“Twins may have to consider moving Mauer to a new position to keep his bat in the lineup.”
This should work out fine for them so long as they don’t trade their studd catching prospect for a middle reliever.
Wait…what?
WHY?!
I would think moving or having Morneau and Mauer occupy 1B and DH would make the most sense. If Mauer has bad wheels/knees then sending him to the OF doesn’t sound right.
Either way, good luck to the Twins.I would hate to see the Mauer extension (a right move they made) blow up in their faces.
Watch the Montero for Liriano rumors start flying.
Why? Don’t they need a catcher now?
Granted, it’s a dozen games into the season, but after an awful spring, Martin has impressed. He’s done everything well, he’s hit, played good defense and his game calling has been praised by both the pitchers and coaching staff.Cervelli will return in May, the two minor leaguers could catch in a pinch. Molina and Posada would be last resorts if needed. Yanks don’t need a catcher now!
I meant that Montero is not going to stick at catcher so why would the twins be interested in a guy they may have to one day move to another position .
If anything, I could see the Romine plus others talks beginning. I think the Twins would need a player than can absolutely stick at C and be an above avg hitter for that position vs a tremendous bat with long term questions. Plus the Yanks aren’t trading Montero for Liriano,especially since Liriano has been suspect this year and always seems a pitch away from the DL.
Just heard something stupid on BBT on ESPN. WHy are they promoting this idea that if Mauer can’t catch then that means they have to trade Morneau? They CAN slide one to the DH position and move whoever is their current DH.
Aside from Mijares, Capps and Nathan nothing on the Twins staff impresses me. I just think that the tabloids and talk radio would start the obvious but silly rumors about Liriano for Montero. Seeing the way Martin has started, I can envision the Yanks making a trade involving Romine and keeping Montero at AAA to continue working on his defense and game calling.I hear he’s been hitting the cover off the ball.
As for ESPN, that only makes sense if they think Thome is going to continue being the DH next year.Either way, it is stupid.
too late. Mauer has been mediocre at best since signing the extension. He’s not dominating. Somewhat consistent, I’ll give him that but never dominating.
Great! Now they’re stuck with Butera for the next month while Ramos is tearing it up in the NL. This terrible trade is really gonna sink in for Twins fans when Capps in pitching for the highest bidder next season.
I have zero faith in Bill Smith. He’s going to lead this team into mediocrity and then take a hike. I’m just waiting for the next trade debacle.
Damn. If that happened, they’d need a catcher. How about Wilson Ra-nevermind.
What team, other than the Yankees, have available catcher(s)? I think I remember the Reds. Maybe they can trade back for Ramos with the Nats having Derek Norris coming up.
Mauer is too good defensively to DH. Maybe they should consider trading Mourneau and sliding Mauer to first base.
When healthy Morneau is a huge piece to the Twins lineup and the Twins have him under control for a few more years so trading him would be a leap backward, I think 3rd base or RF would be the best options for the Twins especially since they are probably going to lose Cuddyer and/or Kubel this offseason
Hopefully its Cuddyer and not Kubel. Cuddyer is out of shape and way to expensive now for what he produces. Kubel, just isn’t gettting the playing time to be productive like he can be. Plus he’s a much bigger homerun threat. I wouldn’t shed a tear if both Cuddyer and Nathan are gone after this season. Both are a huge financial drain on this team for what they are producing. Get rid of them!
Gardy seems to love Cuddyer, and to a degree he has good reason to because nowadays regular players aren’t as willing to play third base, second, first and Right field like Cuddy…I cant agrue with you this year about Kubel> Cuddyer though only problem with keeping Kubel is that with him and Delmon in the corners the defense is pretty bad and Kubel is another left-handed bat to go along with Morneau and Mauer clogging the middle of our order with lefties…I think the twins should resign Kubel as a DH for a short-term contract and let Nathan and Cuddyer go, Twins can resign Capps and have him compete with Guiterrez for Closer and Hopefully Joe Benson can be ready to play RF next year and hes off to a great start so far
Turns out that signing a catcher, regardless of how good he is, to an 8 year contract is just a bad idea.
As for moving him … wow. Morneau, when healthy, is a better offensive player. A typical Mauer year is a 320 BA with about 80 walks and 10 HR’s. Basically you are getting John Olerud minus 10 HR’s. That’s fine but it’s nothing to get overly excited about. Especially when you are paying said player $20m+/year.
if its at catcher it is something to be excited about.
except that he’s never playing catcher anymore, always been injury prone… and had fluke power season hitting 28 homers just at the right time for that huge contract.
I paid $24 in my fantasy auction so I know how the Twins feel.
When is the right time to call Benji Molina and see if he is interested in a full time catching job on a team that “should” be a playoff contender?
I know a few Twins fans who were slightly surprised that he wasn’t signed to be a backup for the Twins which would have put Butera back in the minors. I’m not sure if Molina wanted to be a backup though. For some reason I’m remembering that he was against it.
Thank god they had Capps for that DEEP playoff run…
I’m really hoping that this is what I’ve been growing to suspect about the Twins, that they over protect their players. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but there has to be a point where you let the guys play even if they are a little banged up. We will see what happens with mauer. I think saying he is done at catcher is WAY too premature when we don’t even know what the issue is right now. For all we know his legs are out of shape or it’s part of his flu symptoms, and not a real injury.
hat they over protect their players. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but there has to be a point where you let the guys play even if they are a little banged up.
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Not when one is owed $180 mil. Too much of a waste to have Mauer constantly on the dl.
And that’s where the dilemma is. Make him play through bruises because of the contract, or let him rest and not get hurt further … Because of the contract. It’s kind of a catch 22.
maybe they can trade Delmon Young to the Nationals. you know: for one of their catchers
Ummmm…..first name Wilson?
I thought we were going for Pudge in that joke. My bad…
Drew Butera FTW I thought?
I’d go after Ryan Doumit.
Find a salary dump catcher. Pudge makes a lot of sense.
Their 4-9 start would be easier to take if we knew it would guarantee the firing of hitting coach Joe Vavra, third-base coach Steve Liddle and bench coach Scott Ullger.
People blame Target Field for playing too large – I guarantee that a team that swings the bats like they actually want to hit the ball, like the Toronto Blue Jays, would have no problem reaching the fences – as we saw last September when the Blue Jays repeatedly dented outfield seats during one series.
Of course, not all the blame can be shed on the coaches. This is the same organization that thwarted David Ortiz’ power before he left for the Red Sox. The blame sits on the punch-and-judy offensive strategy that was employed by Tom Kelly and now by his protege, Ron Gardenhire.
My dream headline….. “GARDENFIRED”
send us Delmon Young, we ll give you whatever you want…catching prospect Sebastian Valle is only 20years old, but is definitely turning heads with his offensive power numbers and caught-stealing percentage…he has a couple more years of seasoning before scouts think he’ll be ready to make a major-league impact, and it is conveniently those same 2 years that will likely, and should be, the last 2 years of Mauer behind the plate…we have a couple good OF and SP prospects that could be included as well…Delmon mashes lefties, he is easily the best (potentially) available hitter I can think of to have behind Ryan Howard right now…and he’s only 25!!! lets make it happen in July Twins if you are out of contention….