Minnesota Sports Forum

No mention of 1B? lol.
When Mauer played 1B last year, his OPS was .810. If he had played all of the A/B's at 1st for the Twins last year, they would have been fifth in 1B OPS. I'm so glad we locked him up at $23m per AND gave him a No Trade Clause.

I got Plouffe at 3rd. He's clearly the best they have right now, iron glove and all. I just hope he can stay healthy.

As far as the OF, I have an unpopular opinion: Willingham in Left, Ramirez in Center, Arcia in Left. The best thing for the Twins is for Willingham to stay healthy and do something close to '12 (.909) so they can move him at the deadline. I think Arcia is going to be a star if he listens to Molitor and ignores Brunansky. Ramirez bat is just too good (relatively speaking), and when Buxton is ready, they'll have a trade asset if he plays well.

All the talk about Mauer's contract is dumb at this point, really. Everyone would have been pissed had the Twins let him go to NY/BOS after his MVP season, so Minnesota paid him. An MVP catcher with GG defense? $23M per sounds about right, and don't forget that he supposedly took a hometown discount, meaning he likely could have received more from another team.

But now that he's still here and had some "down" years, some fans are complaining about Mauer's contract. Give it a break.

You realize that Doumit's gone right? They can slide Willingham into the DH role. Makes a thousand times more sense in doing that and keeping him healthy than it does having him play defense. Healthy player = better results = better trade value = better return in the trade. No way would I have him play LF unless it's once a week or something minimal like that.

Ramirez in center? The hell? His bat's too good? When did Wilkin Ramirez become Manny Ramirez as a center fielder? Makes zero sense to let Ramirez have the CF spot.

Yeah, sorry about the Mauer talk, but I'm warning you now, they'll probably be more. And if he put up these numbers with his new team, I would have found a way to forgive the Twins. And "a few down years"? So you see that 1.031 OPS coming back soon?

Willingham's DH OPS wasn't that great (nobody on the Twins was). Now I'm not saying I would want the Twins DH's to lead the AL (It's tough when a former Twin puts up a .950), but over .750 would be nice. Gotta say, I'm at a loss as to why it is such a tough adjustment for some of these guys to just sit there, but evidently it is.

Yes, I said "Bat's too good". And then right after that, I said "relatively speaking". And who knows? Maybe he just had one of those Mauer "down years" and he'll explode this year. And what is your plan for CF? Hicks? Mastrioni? Willie Norwood? With all due respect, I'd prefer Kirby over any of those three.

Late to the party but love the trade, as always more arms the better. I believe this now means were getting john Buck as we now don't have a back up now.

I'm actually a colabello fan Jason and would like to keep him his opposite field power intrigues me, plus right now his value isn't very high.

What would be be nice is if a Santana or Florimon will take the next step and become a solid short stop.

Jester: He frustrates me because he seems like the prototypical DH, as he can't really field a position, but he doesn't do well OPS-wise the games he DH's.

I agree he and parmlee are the biggest teases ever. This goes to my third point it would be nice to see one off those prospects take the next step like Dozier did last year and be a surprise.

JasonIsDaMan wrote:Jester: He frustrates me because he seems like the prototypical DH, as he can't really field a position, but he doesn't do well OPS-wise the games he DH's.

I always felt that Cindy Margolis was the biggest tease ever lol.

You wouldn't think that DH'ing would be that big of an adjustment mentally for these guys, but it seems to be.

I got an idea: Since Mauer has a better OPS when he DH's versus when he "1B's" and he's just-so-darn fragile, why not just move him there, then play Parmalee at 1B. It's a make or break year for Parmalee, so why not give him every opportunity.

I understand what your saying, but there already getting to much flak for the Mauer move and let's face the baby Jesus wants to play the field.

Well DHing is an art form Jason, it's not easy to just sit around and get 4 ab's. Just personally my senior of high school I only DH and I batted like .388 my senior year compare to .450 my junior year when I played 3rd base all the time. Sometimes it's hard for kids to concentrate and that plate discipline that's why Mauer ops is probably high for a DH is because of the type of laid back hitter he's.

Btw ik you threw out his first base ops number but how many games did Mauer play at first last year?

BSPN has him 74 games at C, 8 games at 1B, and 29 at DH (and 2 games he PH and did not field a position). Not a huge sample size, but his C and DH OPS are significantly better than his 1B OPS.

I really want a decision on Parmalee. Either way, they'll then have an idea as to what to do with Kepler.

Is Mauer laid back, or does he maybe not care?

JasonIsDaMan wrote:BSPN has him 74 games at C, 8 games at 1B, and 29 at DH (and 2 games he PH and did not field a position). Not a huge sample size, but his C and DH OPS are significantly better than his 1B OPS.

I really want a decision on Parmalee. Either way, they'll then have an idea as to what to do with Kepler.

Is Mauer laid back, or does he maybe not care?

Small sample size, Jason. 8 games at 1B is enough to make you want Mauer as the DH? Lol I can't agree with that.

Agreed that I want to know what we have in Parmalee. That's why I'd have him playing RF. As for Kepler, he's a nice trade piece to me. I like Buxton, Arcia, Hicks, Walker and possibly Sano in the OF better than I do Kepler. That could be just me, though.

I think Mauer's approach at the plate is the same no matter the position he players. He's going to wait for the pitch he wants and hit it where he wants. He rarely does too much at the dish and that's why he's a great hitter. C/1B/DH/RF I don't care where he plays lol. His bat is amongst the best regardless.