Diminishing Returns

Let me take a quick break from the Trump nightmare to talk about the Minnesota Twins Baseball Club nightmare.  This offseason, the team has done NOTHING!  They have not signed any free agents worth mentioning, and even said goodbye to Kurt Suzuki and Trevor Plouffe, two players who might not have been great, but contributed with consistent play at their positions, and clutch hits in the few times the Twin's had run producing innings.

The team is a mess, and they still have yet to address their biggest problem, Joe Mauer and his unjustifiable contract.

Mauer has the 15th biggest contract in all of baseball.  He's scheduled to get paid $23 million in 2017 and again in 2018.  He has the 96th best batting average in baseball, he's 116th in hits, and ties with Kurt Suzuki for RBI's at 172nd.  He's 31st in On Base Percentage, which isn't bad, but when factored with his pathetically weak slugging percentage, his OPS (On base Plus Slugging) is at 102nd.  His home run total is 11, and ties him for 201st in MLB, behind Trevor Plouffe and three ahead of the aforementioned Suzuki.

And, undeniably, Mauer is the worst everyday starting 1st basemen in all of Major League Baseball.  He's not even ranked on ESPN or MLB's 1st basemen rankings.  In Fantasy Leagues, he ranks around 40th, and there are only 30 teams!   He's out of position, A LOT, and doesn't understand the nuances of 1st base.  He's a catcher.  I think he must've fallen in love with Brad Pitt's advice in Moneyball, when he said "it's easy to play 1st," not hearing the other character's response, "it's incredibly hard."  He can't play first!!! And this dog and pony show has ruined too many good players by shifting them away from their lifelong 1st base positioning, away from the spotlight glare the Twins are determined to bestow on Joe.

Here's the worst part.  Joe Mauer is a professional.  He knows he can't handle the position, but yet he's not doing what's best for the team and telling the coach to move him out.  Nope, he seems more concerned about his image than about winning.  Mauer playing first costs the team a few wins each year.

The Twin's have made him the face of the franchise, and that's worth some additional coin, but at this point, he's not Killebrew, Carew, Puckett, or even Morneau.  He had seven good seasons, but his last one was 2013, and he's plummeting in the rankings.  His player ranking the last two years has been #200 to #250, and when the 2017 rankings are released in the next few weeks, he'll probably be closer to #300.

For God's sake Twins, FIX THIS NOW!  I get it, you've tied the team to him, so, even though no other team wants him, getting rid of him really isn't an option.  There are three paths I see.

1) If he really is healthy, then offer to renegotiate his contract, tack on another 4 years (no one will offer him that), fix his salary at 12 million a year (he really is worth $8, but we're working with the horrible contract he currently does have, and he is a fan favorite).  Load the contract with performance bonuses, but make sure the contract is contingent on him moving to right field/DH.

2) If he's not healthy enough to play right field, if he's willing to renegotiate his contract, give him two more years, he moves to full time DH, and make his salary 13 million per year. Load the contract up with bonuses, but he needs to understand his days as the Twins regular first baseman are over.

3) Regardless of whether he's healthy or not, if he doesn't want to renegotiate and/or move to a different position, then have the guts to let the contract expire and let him go.  Sure you might end up with a Killebrew in Kansas City powder blue moment, but no one will offer him decent money.  He'll come back to the Twins, and you can sign him to a four year, 8 million a year contract so he finishes his career in Minnesota.

Until the Twins get out from underneath his horrendous contract, the team will stink, and I'll continue to be relegated to wondering what our roster would be if we hadn't discarded all of those players just to keep Joe Mauer happy, and paid.