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Will Joe Mauer hit .400?


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QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 18, 2009 -> 12:53 PM)
No. When teams realize that they should pitch around him and take their chance with the rest of the lineup, his numbers will drop. Bonus tidbit...a girl who was a waitress out at Regions Park back in 2006 was originally from Minnesota. Her sister had dated Mauer, and she said that he was a complete jerk.

 

Pick your poison. Would you rather pitch to Mauer with nobody onbase, or to Morneau with Mauer onbase?

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I might get some resistance for saying this, but I think Morneau is really overrated, and his name has become bigger than he is. The guy is very good, definitely All-Star caliber, but not MVP caliber, probably not even great. Aside from the fact that they bat together in the lineup, I have no idea why he is mentioned in the same breath as Mauer, and as an MVP candidate all the time. He put up an offseason pretty comparable to Dye last year... Dye wasn't in MVP talks for some reason, yet Morneau was the runner-up, WTF? People were talking about how Morneau carried the Twins last year, but he faded in September. Dye did the exact same thing except his team actually made the playoffs. I really didn't see what he did last year to get all that credit.

 

I guess he benefits from being one of the two only real threats in the Twins lineup, and people always saying "Mauer and Morneau" when they talk about the Twins. But they aren't in the same stratosphere IMO.

Edited by lostfan
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QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 18, 2009 -> 01:47 PM)
I might get some resistance for saying this, but I think Morneau is really overrated, and his name has become bigger than he is. The guy is very good, definitely All-Star caliber, but not MVP caliber, probably not even great. Aside from the fact that they bat together in the lineup, I have no idea why he is mentioned in the same breath as Mauer, and as an MVP candidate all the time. He put up an offseason pretty comparable to Dye last year... Dye wasn't in MVP talks for some reason, yet Morneau was the runner-up, WTF? People were talking about how Morneau carried the Twins last year, but he faded in September. Dye did the exact same thing except his team actually made the playoffs. I really didn't see what he did last year to get all that credit.

 

I guess he benefits from being one of the two only real threats in the Twins lineup, and people always saying "Mauer and Morneau" when they talk about the Twins. But they aren't in the same stratosphere IMO.

 

I've been thinking the same thing about Morneau. I would've been extremely angered had he gotten a second MVP. I didn't think he deserved the 2006 MVP. I thought Jeter deserved the MVP in 2006 and I think he's somewhat overrated.

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If I can hit well over .400 in softball than so could Mauer. In all seriousness I think Mauer has a shot. But its such an amazingly difficult feat. He is the best hitter in the majors since Gwynn though, imo and I won't be shocked when Mauer makes at least a run at it a couple different times in his career (much like TGwynn did).

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QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 18, 2009 -> 01:47 PM)
I might get some resistance for saying this, but I think Morneau is really overrated, and his name has become bigger than he is. The guy is very good, definitely All-Star caliber, but not MVP caliber, probably not even great. Aside from the fact that they bat together in the lineup, I have no idea why he is mentioned in the same breath as Mauer, and as an MVP candidate all the time. He put up an offseason pretty comparable to Dye last year... Dye wasn't in MVP talks for some reason, yet Morneau was the runner-up, WTF? People were talking about how Morneau carried the Twins last year, but he faded in September. Dye did the exact same thing except his team actually made the playoffs. I really didn't see what he did last year to get all that credit.

 

I guess he benefits from being one of the two only real threats in the Twins lineup, and people always saying "Mauer and Morneau" when they talk about the Twins. But they aren't in the same stratosphere IMO.

I used to think the same thing about Morneau, but after looking at his stats and from having to watch him kill us the past 3-4 years, I'd say he's easily in the top 5 of the AL and probably all of baseball. Just look at him: A .300+ hitter who K's less then 100 times, his walk rates are doing nothing but increasing, he's good for at least 30 homers and 110 rbi. Aside from maybe his 07 season, I'd say he's easily been one of the best offensive threats in baseball.

 

Obviously Pujols is number 1, and Mauer is likely no. 2. However, for the rest of the top 10, you can make a legit arguement for any of the following:

 

Justin Morneau

David Wright

Adrian Gonzalez

Mark Teixera

Prince Fielder

Evan Longoria

Chase Utley

Ryan Braun

Miguel Cabrera

Ichiro Suzuki

Hanley Ramirez

 

Personally, I've become a big Prince Fielder fan.

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QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jun 20, 2009 -> 09:41 PM)
Does anyone think KW would seriously pursue him after next year? Or will the Twins lock him up to a long term extension sometime next year?

 

There is no way he will be leaving the Twins anytime soon.

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QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jun 20, 2009 -> 08:41 PM)
Does anyone think KW would seriously pursue him after next year? Or will the Twins lock him up to a long term extension sometime next year?

If they want to keep target field full after its opening season, i couldn't imagine them letting a hometown phenomn hit free agency.

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Who says Mauer does not want to explore his options elsewhere? Maybe Mauer will want to see more of a committment from the organization before he signs on the dotted line. Outside of Morneau and Mauer the last few years it has been a revolving door of players in and out of the Metrodome, Im sure Mauer would like to see some of the players stick around and make a run at a title.

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QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Jun 21, 2009 -> 09:56 AM)
Who says Mauer does not want to explore his options elsewhere? Maybe Mauer will want to see more of a committment from the organization before he signs on the dotted line. Outside of Morneau and Mauer the last few years it has been a revolving door of players in and out of the Metrodome, Im sure Mauer would like to see some of the players stick around and make a run at a title.

 

I'm not sure if Mauer is willing to move positions, but if he's not there could be a team that gives him 15-20 million per year and gurentees he plays catcher. I think he'll be a Twin but I'm guessing he'll see what the Red Sox, Yankees, or other teams will give him.

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QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Jun 21, 2009 -> 11:25 AM)
I'm not sure if Mauer is willing to move positions, but if he's not there could be a team that gives him 15-20 million per year and gurentees he plays catcher. I think he'll be a Twin but I'm guessing he'll see what the Red Sox, Yankees, or other teams will give him.

 

And thats the thing with Mauer at this point: does he want to move to a different position to preserve his knees? And that position is almost gauranteed to be first base, where the Twins have Morneau for the foreseeable future, so are the Twins going to tie up most of the payroll in Mauer and Morneau so that they can switch back and forth from DH to 1B?

 

The Twins have some tough financial decisions coming up here, and now it involves the hometown hero(who could be an MVP) and a perennial MVP candidate.

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If Mauer wants to maximize his offensive output and stay healthy for longer, he'll move to 3B (with his athleticism and natural ability, he could become at least decent there, IMO) or to one of the corner OF spots.

 

However, if he wants to stay at catcher because he loves playing catcher, I got no beef with that.

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