Minnesota Sports Forum

So I been thinking, there saying that it's just a knee bruise but hypothetically if it's worse. My question for you guys is can you play Mauer behind the plate?

You can tell the team is not better with Mauer behind the plate instead of Freyer or Hermann. You would able to put Vargas in the line up or have Sano play third and Plouffe play first and Tori DHs. I jus think Mauer handcuffs our lineups because he has to play 1b or DH.

Tbh I think if Joe is going to go back to catching it will happen next year because he's going to want to be more valuable going into his last year of his contract (thank God) just think after 18 the twins will have Nolasco and Mauer off the books. All that money can go to locking up the young guys for 8 years.

Catchers don't lose their catching instincts! I wish he would return to that position because his bat is much, much more valuable there than at 1B, but I seriously doubt the Twins ask him to go back.

There's absolutely no question that the Twins are a much better team with Joe catching. He's a bottom quartile offensive first baseman, and a top quartile offensive catcher. But there's also zero chance that he ever catches again. His doctors at Mayo have told him that one more concussion would be a dire thing for him. Too bad...even though he's hitting a little better recently, he's taking up valuable space at 1st and DH.

My brother wonders if Mauer even walks away from the game before his contract is out. Mauer has started hitting lately which has helped.

Sounds like Suzuki feels fine. Idk how he does it. He has also been hitting so it would have been bad if he would have been out for any time based on how bad Fryer and Herrmann have been with the bat.

Speaking of catchers and concussions does anyone think Pinto will end up catching in the majors? He wasn't a good defensive catcher and now he has had 2 concussions just this season. We have so many guys that are DH options and Mauer at 1st doesn't help.

We are going to have to move someone at some point or Mauer is going to be watching. We have Max Kepler ready to come up as soon as next year.

Jonah Keri seems to think the Twins will never bench Mauer because it would upset the fans if they benched the hometown guy.

Hey Twins: No issues here. Go win a championship.

Mauer will never be benched. Heck, managers won't even move him out of his birthright 3rd (or sometimes) 2nd spot in the lineup. He hasn't homered in weeks. With all the fastballs he is seeing now with the big kid hitting behind him, he should be driving the ball better than he has been. While I'd rather have someone hitting 3rd who could really benefit from all those fastballs (Dozier comes to mind), at least Mauer is still driving in runs by hitting his singles with RISP...and his defense is very good. So he's not killing us. Still...

I like how the end of season is setting up for us. Lots of home games where we have an excellent winning percentage. Three coming up with Detroit and they haven't even named their pitchers for Tuesday and Wednesday (something called Lobstein goes tonight). Houston and Texas are not far ahead of us, and they are going to beat up on each other for 7 games in the next two weeks. The Yankees are only 4 games ahead of us for the 1st wild card spot, and they are in disarray. The team I am most concerned about is the Angels, who are close on our heels and playing very well, but we get them for 4 at home this weekend...big series. Our starting pitching is peaking at the right time, our vets are finally starting to contribute, and Mollie has solved the SS problem with Escobar. The wild card is ours for the taking.

Front row seats right behind the Twins dugout tonight and 75 degrees at first pitch...gonna be a good night!

Mauer edit: pretty extraordinary that he has now reached base in 33 consecutive games. All singles and walks though...ideal for a #2 hitter. Come on, Mollie...there's no reason not to swap Joe and Dozier in the lineup. Mauer would be a much better #2 hitter than Brian, and Doz has been struggling against all the breaking balls he has seen since the all-star break, and would really like all the fastballs he would see with Sano protecting him.