Comments on: Must-click link: What happened to Joe Mauer’s defense?

By: schrutebeetfarms

schrutebeetfarms — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 14:09:03 +0000

Hard to throw out runners when you’ve become a light hitting first baseman.

By: b453841l

b453841l — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:38:40 +0000

I’d venture to say that one of the major reasons is that he no longer has Nick Punto scrapping it up as an everyday player on his team. His headfirst slides in his failed attempts to “steal” first are the sort of thing that make opponents think twice about running.

But seriously, might it be that none of the Twins starters from the beginning of the year are starters anymore? More than likely the young inexperienced pitchers are just worse at holding runners. I’d imagine it also more mentally taxing calling/catching an inexperienced staff with an ever-rotating cast; you just aren’t as familiar with the various pitchers and their abilities.

Ultimately, it might just be that the team is so bad overall, he just doesn’t care as much. Not as though he’s consciously given up, but sort of subconsciously not engaging in the game on the level where he would if those around him were excelling.

By: hansob

hansob — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:39:04 +0000

How do we not have some sort of Glove-to-Glove stat yet for catchers trying to throw out runners? We’ve got stats we don’t need, but we still don’t have a stat that tells us the average time it takes from the ball hitting the catcher’s glove for him to get it to the SS/2B glove. Throw in some accuracy measurement, and you have a metric. I know this means actually looking at film, but there aren’t THAT many steal attempts per day (maybe 3-5 per game, 50-75 per day?)

Or is there something like that out there?

By: missthemexpos

missthemexpos — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:00:09 +0000

Speaking of hitting well enough, I think Derek Jeter has another Gold Glove sewn up.

By: ajcardsfan

ajcardsfan — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 17:36:12 +0000

No because he took on Troy Polamalu in a hair modeling contest

By: Charles Gates

Charles Gates — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 17:15:12 +0000

He’s still hitting well enough to still win the Gold Glove though.

By: heyblueyoustink

heyblueyoustink — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:57:51 +0000

Did anyone check the wood chipper?

By: b7p19

b7p19 — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:40:25 +0000

Oh, cause he was in that commercial….

By: icanspeel

icanspeel — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:29:25 +0000

Spent too much time on his hair.