Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins, Joe Mauer Agree to 8-Year, $184 Extension
Monday, March 22nd, 2010 | Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments
Joe Mauer will be in a Minnesota Twins uniform for a very long time. The Twins and Mauer agreed upon an 8-year extension that will keep the best hitter in baseball in Minnesota through the 2018 MLB schedule. The extension kicks in in 2011 and is worth $184 million. It contains a no trade clause as well.
The average annual salary comes out to $23 million. Only 2 other players – Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million) and CC Sabathia ($23 million) of the New York Yankees – have greater annual salaries. It is also the largest contract ever signed by a catcher, crushing the 7-year, $91 million deal that Mike Piazza signed with the New York Mets in 1999.
Mauer is a stud that has delivered for the Twins at the major league level each and every season. He is a career .327 hitter with a career .408 on-base percentage. 2009 was clearly his best year – .365 batting average, .444 on-base percentage, 28 HR’s, 96 RBI’s and only 63 strike outs in 523 at-bats. WOW!
At the ripe young age of 26, Mauer deserved the deal and the Twins are lucky to have him as their back-stop for the foreseeable future.
Minnesota Twins Joe Nathan – Arm Injury Could End Season
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 | Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments
Closer Joe Nathan of the Minnesota Twins has a torn ligament in his right throwing elbow. The tear could end his season, and potentially the hopes of the Twins repeating as AL Central division champs. Nathan had bone chips and spurs removed from the elbow in October, but he and the club thought he would be ready to go this season. After experiencing soreness in the elbow after an appearance this weekend, the Twins opted to have Nathan examined. The MRI revealed the injury and Nathan will spend the next few weeks resting the arm. If he cannot resume throwing within the next 2-3 weeks, he will undergo Tommy John surgery. That would mean that Nathan would be done for this season and possibly parts or all of 2010 – the rehab for Tommy John surgery typically takes between 12-18 months. Nathan had this to say about his plan: “If I’m able to go out there and throw, then I’ll definitely give it a shot. The only reason that I would get a surgery is if I’m just unable to go out there.”
This is not good news for a Twins ball club that is opening a new stadium in April 2010 and who has played in “Game 163′s” 2 years in a row to determine the winner of the AL Central division race. Fans of the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are salivating right now. Nathan has 246 saves over the last 6 MLB schedules – losing an “automatic” closer like that is almost irreplacable. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything concrete about what Nathan ends up doing…
MLB Most Valuable Players: Albert Pujols & Joe Mauer
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | General, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports, St. Louis Cardinals | No Comments
Albert Pujols is your National League Most Valuable Player MVP and Joe Mauer is your American League Most Valuable Player MVP for the 2009 MLB schedule.
Albert Pujols was the unanimous MVP for the National League. Pujols received all 32 1st place votes and totaled an amazing 448 points. Pujols was a back-to-back MVP Award winner and it was his 3rd overall (he also won the award back in 2005). Pujols became the 1st player to win back-to-back seasons since Barry Bonds did so in 2002-3.
His numbers made it pretty easy – 47 HR’s; 124 runs; .658 slugging percentage and 44 intentional walks – all tops in the major leagues. Pujols led the National League with a .443 on-base percentage; he was 2nd with 45 doubles and he was 3rd with a .327 batting average and 135 RBI’s. WOW! He also set a major league record for 1st baseman with 185 assists.
Career-wise, Pujols became the 4th player to win 3 NL MVP’s – Bonds, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt are the other 3 players to do so. He is also the 2nd player to rack up at least 100 RBI’s in each of his 1st nine MLB seasons – Hall of Famer Al Simmons was the 1st to do it and he made it 11 in a row. No reason to think Pujols won’t break that record barring an injury.
Pujols received a $200,000 bonus for winning the award. He is under contract with the Cardinals for $16 million in 2010 and the Cardinals hold a club option over Pujols for $16 million for the 2011 MLB season.
Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins received 27 of 28 1st place votes and racked up 387 total points. Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers picked up the other 1st place vote.
Mauer’s .365 batting average was a major league record for catchers. It also helped him win his 3rd batting title and 2nd in a row – the 1st repeat batting champion since Nomar Garciaparra did so back in 1999-2000. He also led the American League with a .444 on-base percentage and a .587 slugging percentage. His 28 HR’s and 96 RBI’s were career highs and he racked up 76 walks with only 75 K’s. The numbers are even more impressive given the fact that he missed the entire month of April with a back injury and that the Twins were without Mauer’s next-best hitter in the lineup – Justin Mourneau – from September 12th on. Mauer had this to say about winning: “I love catching. I love the demands that are put on me and the responsibilities that I have, although it might beat you up a little bit physically and mentally. I like being back there making those decisions, you know, for my team.”
Mauer received a $100,000 bonus for winning the AL MVP Award.
Damn – wish my team had one of these guys on it…
Sweep Central – 3 ALDS Teams Advance with Weekend Sweeps
Monday, October 12th, 2009 | Boston Red Sox, General, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, MLB, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Sports, St. Louis Cardinals | No Comments
It was an anti-climatic 1st round of the playoffs – with 3 teams advancing with sweeps over the weekend. Although there were some good games in each series, each team advanced with a Game 3 win on the losing team’s home turf over the weekend.
On Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers took out the St. Louis Cardinals with a 5-1 win in St. Louis. It was the 2nd year in a row that the Dodgers swept the NL Central division winner out of the playoffs in the NLDS (Chicago Cubs in 2008). The Dodgers will either play the Phillies in a rematch of the 2008 NLCS or the Colorado Rockies. Key game – the Dodgers rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 2 to defeat closer Ryan Franklin after Matt Holliday’s botched flyball error kept the game alive.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim stunned the Red Sox faithful with a 3-run rally off Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in the top of the 9th inning. The Angels trailed 5-1 heading into the 8th inning, but scored 2 runs in the 8th and 3 runs in the 9th inning to complete the sweep. The Angels will face the New York Yankees in the ALCS in the Bronx on Friday night. Key stat – Papelbon had never allowed a single run in 27 career post-season innings.
And on Sunday evening, the Yankees completed the 3-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome with a 4-1 win. Some long-time Yankees were instrumental in the Game 3 win – Andy Pettite picked up the win, Mariano Rivera recorded the save, and Jorge Posada clubbed a solo home run in the 7th inning to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Key Game – in Game 2, Alex Rodriguez crushed a 2-run HR to deep right center field off of Twins’ closer Joe Nathan in the 9th inning to tie the game at 3. Mark Teixeira went on to win the game for the game for the Yankees with his line drive walk-off HR to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning.
Stay tuned for some more great MLB playoff action…
Twins Top Tigers 6-5 in 12 Innings – Does it Get Any Better?
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Detroit Tigers, General, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments
You couldn’t ask more from 2 teams in a 1-game tie-breaker – the Twins and Tigers battled in an epic game to determine the AL Central division winner. The Twins ultimately prevailed at home with a thrilling 6-5 12-inning win over the Tigers in the final regular season MLB baseball game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Tigers Twins Set for 1-Game Playoff on Tuesday Night
Monday, October 5th, 2009 | Detroit Tigers, Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Justin Verlander, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments
The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins finished atop the AL Central with the identical 86-76 record. That means a 1-game playoff to determine who will make it to 2009 post-season play as the AL Central division winner. Rick Porcello will pitch for the Tigers against Scott Baker for the Twins in Minnesota on Tuesday night. The 2 teams could not play in Minnesota today because of the regularly scheduled Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packer and the Vikings. There is a tone of hype surrounding the game because it will be the 1st time that Vikings Quarterback Brett Favre will take on his former team in an NFL game. If Favre and the Vikings win, it will be the 1st time in NFL history that a quarterback has recorded a victory against every other team in the league.
But back to baseball – the Tigers almost blew it over the weekend – dropping 2 of 3 to the White Sox at home. The Tigers called upon Justin Verlander on Sunday to get them the much-needed win and he delivered a great outing – giving up just 3 ER in 7 2/3 innings with 5 K’s. Fernando Rodney recorded the game’s final 4 outs to pick up his 37th save of the season and guarantee the Tigers at least a tie for the division lead.
Then the Tigers had to wait and see as the Twins looked to complete the 3-game weekend series sweep over the Kansas City Royals. The Twins took care of business early and often jumping out to a 7-0 lead after just 3 innings of play. Carl Pavano picked up the win and Jason Kubel and Delmon Young each hit 2 home runs to power the Twins offense.
The winner of Tuesday night’s Twins-Tigers game will head to New York to play the Yankees – MLB’s best team during the 2009 MLB schedule. It’s a little ironic because the Twins were involved in a 1-game tie-breaker in 2008 to determine the winner of the AL Central – the Twins lost to the White Sox 1-0 in Chicago despite having won the season series with the White Sox (home field advantage was determined with a coin flip). This year, MLB changed the rules so that home field advantage was determined by the series record during the course of the season and the Twins beat the Tigers more times. We’ll keep you posted how it all plays out…
Back & Forth We Go; Tigers Still Lead Twins by 2 Games in AL West
Thursday, October 1st, 2009 | Detroit Tigers, General, Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Justin Verlander, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments
It has been an exciting 4 game series in 3 days in Detroit, as the Tigers still hold a 2-game lead over the Twins for 1st place in the AL Central. After Monday’s game was rained out, the 2 teams battled in a day-night double-header on Tuesday night.
The Twins took the opener in a pitcher’s duel in 10 innings. Orlando Cabrera drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single. Delmon Young’s sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 2-1 lead proved the difference as Twins’ closer Joe Nathan served up a solo shot to Curtis Granderson in the bottom of the inning that cut the Twins lead to 3-2.
Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander proved why he is so valuable to his team, pushing the Tigers’ lead back up to 2 games with a 6-5 win. Verlander pitched 8 solid innings, giving up 4 ER on 8 hits and no walks. He struck out 8 and notched his 18th win of the season. If it becomes necessary, Manager Jim Leyland will likely give Verlander the rock on Sunday if the AL Central race is still up in the air.
The Tigers took Game 3 of the series as Eddie Bonine cruised to an easy 7-2 victory, giving up just 2 runs in 5 innings of work. Magglio Ordonez had 2 hits and 3 RBI’s, while Brandon Inge had 2 hits and 2 RBI’s for the Tigers in the win.
In Thursday afternoon’s finale, the Twins came up big in a must-win game. Scott Baker outdueled Nate Robertson as the Twins put the game away with a 4-run 8th inning. Delmon Young had 3 hits, while Joe Mauer, Orlando Cabrera and Michael Cuddyer each had 2 hits.
You gotta think that the Tigers are in the driver’s seat with a 2-game lead with 3 games to play. The Tigers are at home for 3 games against the Chicago White Sox. The Twins are also at home against the Kansas City Royals. If the 2 teams end up tied at the end of play on Sunday, the Twins would host a tie-breaker game on Tuesday at the Metrodome (the Vikings play the Packers on Monday Night Football). Stay tuned – it should be a fun weekend ride for both cities…
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