With all this talk about Joe Mauer signing a long term deal with the Twins, it got me to thinking....

First of all, it will be a great day for baseball when the Minnesota Twins, a small market team, is able to re-sign a player of such status. I know he's from the Minnesota area but still, it's a great job by Mauer showing the loyalty to stay (I'm 100% certain that he could get more on the open market as a free agent) and a great job by the Twins of opening up their wallet to the extent that they can to keep him there.

Here is where I have a problem; Joe Mauer can no longer be the Twins catcher. It has nothing to do with his defense; his defense wearing the tools of ignorance is fine. You simply can't have a player on your roster that is so crucial to the offensive production of the team and will be such a large percentage of the team's payroll that by default, because of his defensive position, is at the greatest risk of injury of any position on the field and even when not injured, misses 25-30 games a year because of fatigue.

Compare Joe Mauer the 2009 AL MVP to Albert Pujols the 2009 NL MVP. Pujols played in 160 games and had 700 plate appearances last year. Joe Mauer only played in 85% of the games (138) accumulating 606 plate appearances. Both played full seasons yet Joe Mauer, contributed in 22 less games having 94 less plate appearances. The Twins played 24 games (that's 15% of their games) where the best player on their team had no effect on the outcome!

At the pace Mauer produced last year, an extra 94 plate appearances would have provided Mauer and the Twins with 32 more hits, 13 more walks, 16 more runs scored, 5 more HR's, and 16 more RBI.

That's 32 runs produced! How many more wins would the Twins have had if they scored 32 more runs last year? 10? 12? Certainly there would have been no play-in game against the Tigers.

Joe Mauer will be 27 years old this April and in the prime of his career. He's already played five (plus) full seasons behind the plate. When a hitter is this dynamic he can't remain behind the plate, it just doesn't maximize the player's potential or the teams.

Think of what kind of career Mike Piazza would have ended up with if when he came to the Mets they moved him to first or third right then, right in his prime. He'd probably still be playing... literally! Sure when they tried to move him to first base towards the very end he wasn't any good at the position, but a few years of experience including spring training would have changed that; he would have been serviceable.

Joe Mauer is the face of the Twins and truly one of the very best hitters in the game. While his stats wouldn't be quite as spectacular at another position, a move to a less taxing position would only improve his stats as the daily toll of catching would not weigh upon his body.

By moving Mauer now you would not only increase his productivity and the positive results it would have for the team this year, you would do so for many years to come.- Paul Leume

Paul is a MLB columnist from Montreal, Canada. Paul, a one-time beat writer covering the Montreal Expos for the Montreal Gazette is a proud grandfather of 3 girls and now spends his time offering his thoughts and prospective on Major League Baseball on a variety of blogs and websites throughout Al Gore's internet.

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