Six Reasons To Head To Target Field This Season

Sep 27, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Minnesota Twins first baseman Joe Mauer (7) receives congratulations from short stop Danny Santana (39) after scoring in the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Mauer Power

This topic usually gets me in trouble. Not trouble exactly, but there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of Joe Mauer haters out there. Like Taylor Swift says the haters gonna hate, hate, hate and the players gonna play, play, play and that’s what Joe Mauer is going to do: he is going to play.

His first year over at first base was an odd one. For Joe Mauer standards it was really off par. Incredibly off par. Much like my theory on Ricky Nolasco, my theory on Mauer is that he can’t be that bad again. My stance is stronger on Mauer because Mauer is a Hall of Famer and Nolasco is a guy who might park cars at the Hall of Fame someday. I kid, but Ricky does like nice cars.

Mauer is not the typical power first baseman, but he’s a great baseball still. He’ll hit for magnificent average, move the runner over, hit some guys in, play some solid defense at first and will look good doing it. Sometimes I feel like the public expects Mauer to play all nine positions, ala Will Ferrell, but he simply can’t. He doesn’t have a helicopter and he doesn’t have to.

Appreciate the presence of Joe Mauer. We don’t get to see Hall of Famers on our fields all of the time.

Next: Spiderman!