I was passed a link to this article this evening. The author, a guy by the name of Jim Souhan, claims all-world Twins catcher Joe Mauer needs to start DEMANDING to be placed in the lineup on his days off instead of resting. Let me get this straight for a minute. The star player of the franchise, who is a catcher who just got off the disabled list, should ask to be put in the lineup MORE because the offense is struggling? Justin Morneau hasn’t played a game in nearly three weeks, and you’re just now realizing that the offense is the issue?
Let me outline why putting Mauer at first base right now wouldn’t be the best thing to do. He came off the DL a week and a half ago, and has started seven of the nine Twins games since. He’s pinch hit in the other two games. Since coming off of the DL, Mauer is struggling. He’s 4/31 with one walk and one extra base hit. What’s the harm in giving him a day off to clear his mind and stop trying to worry about carrying the offense on his back? If you’re going to point at a player like Luke Hughes getting playing time because of Joe Mauer needing a day off and Justin Morneau being hurt, why aren’t you focusing on the rest of the dire, disgusting, awful offense? Inserting an All-Star in the middle of an awful lineup doesn’t immediately turn it into a six run per game juggernaut. It just means that when Mauer gets hits, he won’t drive anyone in, and he will be left stranded on base.
The writer made a funny point in the article, talking about how Michael Cuddyer HAD TO bat third with Mauer out, and then listed off the pile of scrubs with awful offensive numbers hitting behind Cuddyer. Yeah, well the two players hitting in front of Cuddyer (Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla) have OBPs of .300 and .318 respectively. It’s not as if Cuddyer has men on base in front of him every time he was coming to the plate.
Another cute note from the article: “Mauer hasn’t even practiced at first base this year”. Now, who’s fault is that? Is it really Mauer’s fault that he didn’t say “gee skip, I think Justin is going to get hurt again this year…I should probably take some grounders at first”? Of course not. Pinning a managerial decision like that on Mauer is irresponsible. And comparing him to Alex Avila of the rival Tigers, who’s taking ground balls at third base? Well, Jim Leyland is a good manager. He probably brought the idea up to Avila to see what his young catcher thought of the idea. Plus, the Tigers are paying oodles of money to Victor Martinez to catch. The only other position Martinez can play is first base (not including DH of course). It’s much easier to get a younger player to learn a new position than it is for a veteran who has proven to be a defensive liability in the past.
Anyway, back to the Twins. Minnesota didn’t build their team around offense. They know what milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they built their team around pitching and defense. And so far, results have not been good. Journeying into the confusing world of defensive statistics has the Twins around the middle of the pack in UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), and in the bottom third of the league in DRS (Defensive Runs Saved). The pitching staff has a 4.21 ERA that is among the five worst in the league. This is not a team that will score a ton of runs, with at most, four above average hitters in the lineup (Cuddyer, Mauer, Morneau, and the aging corpse of Jim Thome. I don’t count Delmon Young, because he still doesn’t know how to take a pitch and has no power).
Twins GM Bill Smith built the team around pitching and defense, and those have faltered. It’s easy to look for a scapegoat (as Souhan himself mentioned in this article), but going after the team’s star player because he’s been hurt isn’t the most genius move on the planet. Twins fans should be pissed off because the pitchers suck, and that the fielders have no range. They shouldn’t be pissed that Joe Mauer needed a day off because Ron Gardenhire wants him to be able to catch 100 games a year when he’s in his thirties.
