D. Hocking

Newborn twins are also a different ball of wax. They were almost six weeks early, they are under five pounds, and I read in one article his wife was still in the hospital. None of this is unusual for twins, but it is still different than have a typical 7 to 9 pound baby. I could see why he wanted to stick around for a couple more days. And as mentioned above, it is kind of a lost season.

None of the players mentioned would be bad choices. I would probably lean towards Harmon. He was basically one of the founding fathers and was a great senior statesman and was involved with the organization for decades (obviously that factor was out of Kirby's control, and he is definitely right up there). Mauer will hopefully have a good 6 to ten years left to add to his resume which could/should involve another chance at the play-offs. I suspect he will also actively involved with the Twins post-retirement even as his grandkids are dominating the sports at Cretin. (I also have some sentimentality towards Kent on this issue.)

I am not saying Mauer could not be more vocal in the club house, but the team leader arguments always seem a little speculative to me. No one really knows what goes on behind closed doors. I could see someone who has all the right quotes for the reporters being different when it is just the team, and someone who seems reserved to the public might be different in private. That being said, I suspect Mauer does not take on the persona of Orlando Hudson in more private situations. For better or worse, Mauer is probably always going to be a lead by example type.

Figures Barriero would have had someone who said Mauer was not respected nationally. While Souhan's columns seemed to be more calculated to sell papers (after he wrote the article linked above he toned down his anti-Mauer stance a bit), Dan B. seems to have some real personal grudge and dislike against Mauer. Although I have not listened to him for a good year, so maybe that has changed. Whenever I have heard Mauer discussed by the national media they almost come across as fanboys. I think he is very respected nationally. I think the most interesting articles about Mauer I have read have been by national writers. The local reporters are kind of lazy and tend to ask him predictable questions which he has pre-canned Mauer type answers ready. When a non-local reporter asks him something different, his answers aren't quite as generic. I give Mauer credit for acting like he was not savaged in 2011 when he deals with the press now. Mauer probably should have handled the PR a bit differently in 2011 (the Twins definitely should have), and I understand some of the criticism, but I always felt that the fact that he might actually be dealing with a messed up knee was practically dismissed - and I think that viral infection really had some long lasting effects. When they were grousing about him not playing when he had pnemonia, I wanted to say -- look at him - he looks like death warmed over and can't even talk without coughing up a lung. I almost feel that the Twins did not simply say he tried to come back too soon and too quick after his knee surgery because it would be one more thing that could reflect badly on the medical/training staff.