Good for the Twins (and, by extension, good for baseball) to have Mauer staying put.
"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." -- Orson Welles, The Third Man
At least Joe Mauer won't end up in the Bronx like many were expecting (or the Red Sox or any other higher payroll team).
Joe Mauer is better than A-Rod in terms of an overall baseball player and his hitting is more consistent which to me means he is worth more on the diamond than A-Rod.
The Twins probably made a wise decision because they should not let the best thing the club has go away.....now if the Twins could get some pitching, they might be an actual playoff threat instead of a Central division favorite.
Originally posted by The Game Joe Mauer is better than A-Rod in terms of an overall baseball player and his hitting is more consistent which to me means he is worth more on the diamond than A-Rod.
1. I have no idea what you mean when you say "in terms of an overall baseball player". Mauer had a monster hitting season in '09, but we have no idea if he can keep that up. I give A-Rod the edge in offensive production in previous years.
So taking offense out of the equation, I have no idea how you expect to compare the value a catcher brings defensively to what a 3rd baseman brings defensively. I'd say a good catcher is better than a good 3rd baseman, but numerically how good is A-Rod's defense, and how good is Mauer's? I don't think you can tell me, because I haven't found anyone anywhere who has been able to quantify a catcher's defensive ability.
2. I'm going to need to see some evidence before I take you on your word that Mauer was more consistent. I've just done some research myself which indicates that A-Rod's wOBA in any month over the last 7 years fluctuates by exactly what we would expect it to fluctuate due to small sample size (ie there is a lot of random chance involved in a sample of only 100 PA).
Or in other words, A-Rod's worst offensive month in the last 3 years was May of 2007 when he went went 24 for 102, for a batting average of .235. Mauer's worst month over that time period was June of 2007, when he hit .229. Neither is an indication that either player is somehow inconsistent.
This is not the most exciting baseball postseason in years. It is not even the most exciting postseason in the past one year. The ALCS was a sweep, the NLCS went seven but was a series full of boring blowouts.
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