Stop trying to kill Joe Mauer

No ballplayer in Twins’ franchise history inspires more hot sports takes than Joseph Patrick Mauer. So far, Mauer has played the role of wunderkind, of veteran stalwart, and now of struggling former star. Some fans and columnists call him washed up, overpaid, soft, and gutless. Others point out that, when healthy, he’s still a special hitter who can post a .390 on-base percentage in his sleep, that he was significantly underpaid for most of his career, and urge patience as he struggles to come back from injuries and adjust to slightly reduced bat speed, a more fragile body, and a new position. He has become an incredibly divisive figure.

That’s pretty sad, given how excellent Mauer has been throughout his career, how responsible he was for the club’s success in the 2000s, and how much of his body he has sacrificed for the game and his team over the years. Mauer took a series of foul balls off of his mask last year and suffered what seemed like a minor concussion at first that left him unbalanced, with headaches, light sensitivity, and prone to mood swings. He was told by his doctors that another concussion like the one he suffered could irreparably alter his life both on and off the baseball field. Mauer told reporters over a conference call, “[The doctors] told me if I were to receive another blow or concussion, the recovery time would be as long or even longer....All it takes is one foul tip in pitcher’s batting practice and I’ll be out two or three months, or even more.” It sounds potentially devastating.

Which is why this “article” is so abhorrent. Pioneer Press columnist and perpetual radio speaker Bob Sansevere wants to move Joe Mauer back to catcher.

”The reason he was told to pack away his catcher’s mitt was because he kept getting hurt and there was a belief sticking him at first and having him DH would mean fewer injuries and more games played.

Well ...

Mauer played in 113 games and had 445 at bats while still a catcher in 2013. This season, no longer catching, he played in 120 games and had 455 at bats. Yep, a difference of seven games and 10 at bats....Face it, the guy is brittle wherever you play him.”

Sure, I can understand the frustration with Mauer’s inability to stay healthy. Even his supporters feel it to some extent. But there’s an important distinction between feeling that frustration and advocating a player return to a position that could do him grievous bodily harm. But wait, it gets better:

“News flash: You can suffer a concussion anywhere on the field, including while playing first base. Justin Morneau suffered a concussion on a collision at second base, then had a setback diving for a ball while playing first. It. Can. Happen. Anywhere....The only way to truly cut down on the possibility of Mauer suffering more on-field concussions is for him to retire. And that’s not going to happen.”

This, to be frank, is complete and utter bullshit. Yes, concussions can happen to anyone anywhere at any time. I could walk out of my building today and get hit on the head by a loose brick, or a car, or by someone who hates me and isn’t interested in Joe Mauer’s well-being. You’re far more likely to get a concussion catching, though.

Using Baseball Heat Maps’s injury database from 2011 (when the concussion DL was introduced) and through the end of 2013, I’ve found that the seven-day concussion list has been used 47 times by MLB clubs for 42 different players. Of those players, more than a third of them (17 in all) were catchers. Again, out of nine positions on the diamond (and designated hitter), over a third of the players who received concussions between 2011 and 2013 were catchers. Two of those players (Paul Konerko and the aforementioned Justin Morneau) were first basemen. So no, Bob, by moving Joe Mauer out from behind the plate the Twins have dramatically cut down on the possibility of him suffering another devastating head injury. Given what we now know about the affects of repeated head injuries (including repeated injuries that don’t even rise to the level of concussion), good for them for doing so.

And then there’s Sansevere’s language. He writes that Mauer is in “sulk mode” because he’s out from behind the place, suggesting he’s not motivated to play his best, and he urges the Twins’ next manager to “stop the Mauer coddling,” as though the Twins are trying to make their star’s life easier, instead of trying to win baseball games by keeping him on the field. In this way, Sansevere equates protecting Mauer’s long-term health, his ability to remain physically and mentally sound for the rest of his life beyond baseball as a function of a moral failing on the part of the Twins and one of the best player’s in the club’s 54-season history. That, to me, is unconscionable.

Sansevere prominently touts himself in his Twitter bio as being the “proud father of five and husband of one.” Yet, here he is suggesting that player he hasn’t bothered to speak to about the issue put his ability to interact with his family in jeopardy because this idiot columnist can’t be bothered to do even an iota of research into the issue. It is the worst kind of self-aggrandizing, awful sports writing that isn’t even at the level of the stereotypical “blogger” that Sansevere and some of his ilk mock so richly. How dare he call himself a professional and turn a turd like this in to be published by one of the two major newspapers in the Twin Cities? How dare he go on the radio and defend his idiocy? How dare he criticize a man for not wanting to wind up like Ryan Freel, who killed himself in 2012 after years of suffering from dementia, mood swings, depression, substance abuse, and violent behavior brought on by multiple concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy? How dare he cast himself as a family man and write this idiotic, inaccurate, and irresponsible drivel?

Shame on Bob Sansevere for writing this, shame on the Pioneer Press for printing it, and shame on Sansevere again for using his suggestion that another man should put his health at risk as fodder for his radio show:

Never mind. Bob Sansevere doesn’t know what shame is.