Comments on: Joe Mauer “not happy” Ron Gardenhire talked publicly about his knee injections

By: rapmusicmademedoit

rapmusicmademedoit — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:11:54 +0000

it is obvious the guy did not want it out there he has to use a lube, a man would never tell anyone he needed a lube job. come on gardy you shouldn’t have done that.

By: nicosamuelson2

nicosamuelson2 — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:29:08 +0000

Um, I am pretty sure the Twins are paying Mauer to be a catcher, not a “batter.” You don’t pay 180 million dollars for a 1B/DH with limited power.

By: jeffhamman

jeffhamman — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 08:19:21 +0000

As long as Joe Mauer hits like he can, he will be playing somewhere for a long time. Hopefully it will be with the twins. Even if he can’t play catcher anymore he’s one of the best hitters in the game.

By: buddygrant

buddygrant — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:11:30 +0000

Absolutely, playing catcher is a major part of his value and a big reason for his contract. The ‘move Mauer to a safer position’ conversation started about 5 or 6 years ago, and I’m happy the Twins have kept him at his natural spot.

By: nick5253

nick5253 — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:35:07 +0000

Obviously Mauer’s bat will play anywhere in the lineup. However, they need to keep him at C as long as possible because:

C \ 1B \ DH
Mauer \ Morneau \ Kubel

is FAR FAR FAR better than
Butera \ Morneau \ Mauer

Moving Mauer is not the problem, it is replacing his production from a normal HOLE in the line-up that is the catcher position.

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:46:06 +0000

man I wish I’d said all this instead…I totally, unequivocally agree.

By: samiratou

samiratou — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:24:42 +0000

I agree that the Twins are paying Mauer to be a batter and not a catcher and they need to find a way to maximize their value in that regard. I seem to recall reading a comparison of his 2009 to 2010 stats and why he was so much better in 2009 and one reason being reduced time behind the plate. It didn’t hurt that he missed the first month of the season, but when he gets more breaks from being a catcher he hits better. And could potentially have 700 at bats in a season instead of less than 600. Paying a guy that much to play in less than 140 games is ridiculous.

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:11:46 +0000

If Joe Mauer can’t handle DH or 1B I’ll help Calcaterra eat that hat he keeps threatening to consume. The way his knee could go (catastrophically, with 1 collision or bad lunge for the ball) you’d lose him for the season, if not forever, if he continues to catch. He is a GREAT bat (0.327 thru 2010 is great; really, really, REALLY great) and the team needs him hitting like he can hit (those numbers @ DH would be just what the Twins need to really make an offensive surge). He needs to be on 2 good legs. He aint no use to MLB in the orthopedic ward and I will miss his playstation commercials. Add to that, he’s a good dude and I don’t want to see him hurt and out of baseball. He can work on his sedate home run trot (because there’s no way he’s legging out a single) and throwing to 3rd from 1st; he should, above all, stop catching.

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:52:16 +0000

*Ideal*. Edit function, please.

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:51:37 +0000

He’s an idea bat, period.

By: buddygrant

buddygrant — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:16:40 +0000

Maybe he should retire from baseball now and live in a plastic bubble? Seriously, Mauer needs to be a catcher for as long as his knees can take it. He’s not an ideal bat for 1B/DH, and hopefully that transition does not have to take place for many years yet.

By: buddygrant

buddygrant — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:07:39 +0000

I think I understand. Since no one has ever seen Mauer and Morneau on the field at the same time you are suggesting that they might be the same person?

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:49:24 +0000

This is actually an astute point. Perfluoroalkylether (trade name Synvisc) or sodium hyaluranate (trade name Hyalgan) are the synthetic joint lubricants most often used. They are the bomb for pre-arthritic joints and just the fact that he’s getting it indicates the condition is there. Mauer should stop catching NOW. No amount of positive thinking or keeping it from the media will undo what is likely a knee heading for replacement. Check this link for details of joint lube;
http://proceedings.jbjs.org.uk/cgi/content/abstract/87-B/SUPP_III/222-b

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:20:56 +0000

Also, if Mauer is getting lube injected into his knees in spring training, he really needs to not be a full time catcher much longer.

By: Mr. Jason "El Bravo" Heyward

Mr. Jason "El Bravo" Heyward — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:14:40 +0000

My question is unclear and poorly worded, but I wasn’t being facetious. Mauer has played 836 games in his career and Morneau has 948. How many of these games were they actually on the field together and healthy? It just seems like one or the other is injured at any given time, but perhaps I’m merely basing that off recent memory.

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:14:27 +0000

Yeah, it might even be good enough to get Morneau a MVP award he doesn’t really deserve based on his RBI totals.

By: trevorb06

trevorb06 — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:56:45 +0000

Ummm, you’re kidding right?

By: trevorb06

trevorb06 — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:55:53 +0000

stole my joke

early bird gets the worm I guess.

By: Mr. Jason "El Bravo" Heyward

Mr. Jason "El Bravo" Heyward — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:48:36 +0000

Can someone tell me exactly how many games that Mauer and Morneau actually have been active at the same time during their careers vs. the number of games total that they each have played for the Twins? My guess is that they’ve played under 40% of their games together. That lineup would be really really good if both were healthy at the same time for an extended amount of time.

By: BC

BC — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:45:55 +0000

HIPAA violation waiting to happen.

By: sknut

sknut — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:36:36 +0000

I get it, but this really is a non story and I think that is Mauer’s point. In two weeks most people will have forgotten this ever happened. As long as he is good to go April 1 I am happy.

By: phukyouk

phukyouk — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:22:31 +0000

he was really unhappy about the fact that gardenhire was talking about him and lube in the same interview. i kind of understand his point.