While the rest is now history, I like to remember how incredible it felt when we first drafted Joe Mauer and how uplifting the first 5 years felt as he played for the Twins. He still had that gusto of being one of the greats because of his batting and catching prowess so no one really cared much about his lack of power at the time. He was just so damn good at commanding the plate with his bat. Any open area on the field was fair game and he would use all of it like a painter using all of the canvas. He had it.

From the years 2006-2009 reporters and analysts a-like were all on the small but hopeful boat of Mauer pulling off the golden bar of hitting over .400. I too was on that boat, sink or swim.

After all in 2009 which Mauer had 28 homeruns, 30 doubles, 96 RBIs, 1.21 walk/SO ratio, and a .365 AVG it looked as if we were getting to see the true potential we all dreamed of. Mauer was 25 and one of the best catchers in the league and was beginning to get the Hall of Fame talk. Why wouldn’t he? His future was astoundingly bright. No question that he had a legitimate shot at .400. Then that boat sprung a leak.

The next 4 years he had 33 homeruns. Not the next year of 2010. 2010-2013 he had a total of 33 homeruns. His “Mauer Power” completely disappeared. His average dropped to (a still impressive) .314 over those years (.050 drop from the 2009 campaign), but wasn’t what Twins fans were expecting. He didn’t improve much on his doubles or triples. He didn’t become the clutch hitter they wanted. He averaged an single RBI every 7.61 at bats in that time while hitting in a mix between the 2-4 spots in the line up. That’s pretty atrocious for a spot in the lineup that’s purpose is production. He was widely known within the circle of Twins fans as a fluff AVG hitter, only getting squeak singles and the occasional double. That boat of people thinking he could hit over .400 is at the bottom of the ocean next to the Titanic. I luckily found a small door frame to float to which I was later saved. Sorry Jack, I did let go.

However, amazingly he has quickly became a champion in a way: the Double Play Champion. And I know that might be a little much, and his average at the department isn’t dreadful, but when you drop off immensely at all your other positive categories that one sticks out a lot more.

The last two years hasn’t changed much and it’s time I said it loud and proud: Get rid of Joe Mauer.

I know many people love their hometown boy, but I feel like after he got his 8 year, 184 million dollar contract, his production has all but disappeared. It’s as if he almost settled down and gave up his on passion after he got his contract, which obviously happens to a lot athletes after they get paid. I really didn’t want it to happen to Mauer, but it obviously did. No more hard work equals no more production, folks. As of now, all he is just a hometown boy we are paying 23 million this year. So ask your self, till 2019 is he worth that much each year?

Pick me! Pick me! I know! I’ll answer the question, teach! No! Hell no! Unless he starts proving he is worth that much extremely soon, why waste the money for the next coming years on a player who is about to turn 33 and not showing any signs of his 2009 season? That’s what we paid for. Not $44,401 per at bat for a .265 AVG. Not $191,666 per game with 59.2 at bats per homerun. Not $5,750,000 per homerun like last season. Just read those numbers again. It’s painful. Last year that was 25.79% of the team’s payroll for 8.4% of the team’s on field performance.

I don’t know how the Twins are going to go about this, but he needs to be removed from the team, and fast. We could get a player who has decent potential or even the same stats as Mauer for a fraction of his price. Sano could play first as well as Park, Plouffe; anyone else really. I’m just sick of seeing 23 million stuck in a person who isn’t worth 5 million right now.

Do you have and ideas or thoughts on this subject? Let me know and we can have a civil discussion on why Joe Mauer is a disease for this team and why we haven’t used the cure to get rid of it completely is beyond me.