Comments on: The Greatness Of Joe Mauer

By: DavidCEisen

DavidCEisen — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:31:19 +0000

You sure got me. Why should anyone expect the best player in the AL to actually perform the best? What an excellent point. Longoria has been in the league now two seasons. Last year he player 122 games and was 5.3 WAR, which is, obviously, amazing. He was, however, 8th in the league. This year Longoria is in a three way tie for first, though as Dave mentioned Mauer is disadvantaged as the catcher position’s WAR does not include defensive information. (which is interesting because if you assume that Mauer is 10 runs better than average at the position he would have been the best player in the AL last year and the second best in 06).

There still remains no reason to believe that Longoria is the best player in the AL. It is similar to putting forth the argument that Elijah Dukes is the best player on the Nationals.

As far a Pujols, when a player has been in the top two WAR 4 times from 2002-2008, they get a little more leeway.

By: R M

R M — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:38:45 +0000

A more pertinent stat would be his HR/FB %, which is 2.6 times his career average. Unless he got really angry and turned into The Incredible Barry Bonds, that is bound to come down a good bit, even if he has improved his underlying power.

By: R M

R M — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:35:17 +0000

*second longest.

By: R M

R M — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:30:56 +0000

Michael Cuddyer has the longest average homerun in the AL in 2009. That hit tracker homerun rating thing seems kind of stupid.

By: drivlikejehu

drivlikejehu — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:39:36 +0000

If Mauer hits the free agent market, you would definitely be correct. But he will be extended with a year left on his current contract; that additional security takes a bit off the top in terms of what it will take. Add in a slight home-town discount and it’s definitely doable.

There is no question it will require a higher payroll for the Twins, which they always claimed would come in the event of a new stadium. After all, Minnesota is not really a small market- it’s at least average, if not above, based on demographics, media, etc.

The Twins would probably have preferred to keep that on the DL, but in their desperation for a new stadium they had to admit that the Metrodome was the only reason for their marginal revenues. A $100+ million payroll is no problem financially, though of course it would mean a bit less profit for the Pohlad family.

By: Jacob Jackson

Jacob Jackson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:43:31 +0000

The Yankees have to give their money to someone. The way they are constructed, they will basically clear $40M-plus in veteran payroll every year. And their new stadium allows them to sustain $200M payrolls into perpetuity.

If you study the free agent market two years out, there isn’t much elite offensive talent to speak of in Mauer’s FA class. Given J.J. Hardy’s curious season, I’d argue Mauer is the only 4+ win player in that FA class.

The Yanks will bid on him, in the same way they successfully bid on all three of the best players in this past year’s FA class.

The Yankees are perhaps the only team who could shoulder the risk of 8/200M for Mauer. Hell, the AAV is less than 1/8 of their annual payroll. For the Twins, 25M per would probably be more than a third of theirs. Hard to justify, even for a great player.

Mauer would probably have to agree to leave $70M or more on the table if he agrees to remain a Twin. Sure, he might do it…but not many players would.

By: Dane

Dane — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:50:53 +0000

I love Baby Jesus! (Nickname that MN has basically given him)

By: drivlikejehu

drivlikejehu — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:50:24 +0000

The Twins will re-sign Mauer this off-season. Not because they want to pay him, but because they have to. The loss of attendance and good will with the new stadium opening, in the midst of financial crisis and huge government deficits, would outweigh the costs of retaining him (when you also consider the monetary value of his production).

He wouldn’t get $200 million from anyone- catchers involve too much risk, especially over the long term. His extension will probably involve something like a $10-15 million signing bonus, 5-6 years, and an average value just south of $20 million a year.

By: q

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:41:25 +0000

There’s nothing ridiculous about calling Longoria the “best player” in the AL six weeks ago (or even today) and Mauer “the most valuable player [right now.]” Longoria’s assessment was clearly based on his historical performance up to that date while Mauer’s assessment is based only his performance this year up to today, prorated to a full year without injury. It would hardly be ridiculous to say Mauer has been more valuable than Pujols this year, but that Pujols is the better player.

It’s sad how some of you have nothing better to do than play “gotcha” with Cameron’s statements. Pathetic, really.

By: Jacob Jackson

Jacob Jackson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:02:05 +0000

Mauer is going to get a $200M, eight year offer to play for either the Yankees or the Red Sox after next year. And he may get that offer from both.

And intelligent articles like this one hopefully will show people that, despite his injury risk, it isn’t ridiculous for those two teams to offer him that much.

Varitek will will certainly be done after 2010, and Posada will probably be ready to DH the majority of the time in the final year of his deal in 2011.