Mauer agrees to do Home Run Derby? WTF

[ultrazero]

I hate this.

[MEK4178]

I think you guys are totally overreacting to this. You underestimate how good and how athletic this guys is. He has the best swing in baseball. Home run derby won't affect him.

[jake_twothousandfive]

I think you guys are totally overreacting to this. You underestimate how good and how athletic this guys is. He has the best swing in baseball. Home run derby won't affect him.

Even if he does ok, it was still a terrible idea. Catchers need as much rest as they can get. Especially ones who are used as heavily as Mauer.

[Grounded Polo]

I figured Mauer entered to throw off his power stroke that could hamper him from hitting .400 but who knows, maybe he'll reach that and hit 30 homers after all.

[Padres Fan]

if MLB asked Mauer to be in the HR derby they must be desperate.
anyone owning Joe Mauer in fantasy baseball should be selling right now, but i would have advised that anyway because i think he is due for a lesser 2nd half.

wtf dude he was still rated as one of the top 5 catchers at draft, of the top five only he and and Victor Martinez are still ranked in the top 100 according to Yahoo fantasy and Brian McCann and Soto are slowy creeping up...Mauer has been a consitent .300 hitter his career and scouts saw power in him (hmm maybe thats why the Twins picked him 1st overall in 2002), plus he is also startin g to get in his "prime years" where everyone expects career defining numbers. True he may not get 500 at bats consitently as long as he catches but he will put up good numbers, and how many catchers put up good numbers and 500+ atbats are in baseball anyway?

[Padres Fan]

On my ESPN Fantasy league we play 2 catchers and I play Mauer, Kurt Suzuki in my 2 spots, I even have Pablo Sandoval but he doesnt qualify on ESPN as catcher, but he is on both my Yahoo team

[Maris09]

I think you guys are totally overreacting to this. You underestimate how good and how athletic this guys is. He has the best swing in baseball. Home run derby won't affect him.

Lemme run it by you one more time.

Chronic back issues as recently as the 1st month of this season.
Swinging as hard as he can to hit homeruns for 5-10 minutes.
Sitting down for 15-30 minutes.
Getting back up and swinging as hard as he can to hit homeruns again.
Chronic back issues.

It's not about how athletic he is, or really if the HR derby will effect his swing (which is a little bit of a concern too I guess).
It's about a guy with an iffy back doing something as stupid as the HR Derby, instead of getting his body ready for the 2nd half of the season.
I still can't believe the Twins are allowing him to participate in the Derby.

[SpecialFNK]

if MLB asked Mauer to be in the HR derby they must be desperate.
anyone owning Joe Mauer in fantasy baseball should be selling right now, but i would have advised that anyway because i think he is due for a lesser 2nd half.

wtf dude he was still rated as one of the top 5 catchers at draft, of the top five only he and and Victor Martinez are still ranked in the top 100 according to Yahoo fantasy and Brian McCann and Soto are slowy creeping up...Mauer has been a consitent .300 hitter his career and scouts saw power in him (hmm maybe thats why the Twins picked him 1st overall in 2002), plus he is also startin g to get in his "prime years" where everyone expects career defining numbers. True he may not get 500 at bats consitently as long as he catches but he will put up good numbers, and how many catchers put up good numbers and 500+ atbats are in baseball anyway?

im not saying he is bad. he is still a good catcher and one of the better ones in baseball ..for AVG/R/RBI. the thing is because of his power outburst everyone was thinking he was going to become Mike Piazza and end up into the 30's for HR. if there are people out there thinking he is going to reach 30 HR from the catcher spot along with the AVG/R/RBI that he will get then they would be willing to offer more in a trade to get him.
i dont know of any stats off the top of my heard, but ive heard there have been multiple players that have been in the HR derby and then in the 2nd half their HR production fell off. most hitters when they are at bat during the season are not specifically swinging with a high upper cut swing trying to hit HR the way they would be doing so in the HR derby.

even if he wasnt in the HR derby there are people who look at his HR total right now of 15 and think they could simply double that for the 2nd half and put him down for 30, but i highly doubt that happens and wouldnt be surprised if he finishes with less than 20. if i was looking for help in AVG i would like Mauer, but if i was looking for help in HR id rather have Martinez/McCann or even someone like Inge.

[Padres Fan]

True Bobby Abreu hurt his swing after his winng HR Derby show, I don't think its wise for him to play, but I guess they need some start power cuz players like A-Roid and Pujols won't do it. Maybe MLB offered him some sort of bonus cash to play just to get fans interested.

[SpecialFNK]

i found a link with some stats.

Monday is the annual Major League Baseball all-star home run derby, and if I were a general manager, I'd ban my best hitter from competing.

Let him get mad. But I'd be saving him from the Home Run Derby Curse. I'd be saving him from the scrap heap.

Look at recent history. In 2003, Garret Anderson hit 22 home runs before the break, then just seven after. In 2005, Bobby Abreu ripped 18 homers before the contest and 6 after. David Wright in 2006 (20 and 6), Alex Rios in 2007 (17 and 7) and Josh Hamilton last year (21 and 11) suffered the same fate.

i guess one could argue that this wont really effect Mauer's HR total after the break because he likely wasnt going to get many anyway. i wouldnt be surprised if he has less than 5 the rest of the season, but as for this curse effecting him, maybe he will end up with 0.