Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Wednesday, November 25, 2015 Mauer in Twins' lineup? 'Right now, near the top,' Molitor says. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 StaTuesday: Twins prospects in the Arizona Fall League. FOX Sports (Lund) p. 2 The Importance of Rod Carew. Baseball Essential (Poho) p. 3 MLB Hall of Famer Rod Carew awaits transplant after suffering heart attack in September. YES Network (Herrmann) p. 3 Meet the Vavras: US father and sons baseball trio set their sights on ABL side Melbourne Aces. ABC Online (Kennedy) p. 4 Mauer in Twins' lineup? 'Right now, near the top,' Molitor says Phil Miller | Star Tribune | November 24, 2015 I’ve seen a handful of “projected lineups” for the Twins lately, from fans and media both, and most of them seem to have one notable thing in common: Joe Mauer isn’t near the top anymore. Most appraisals expect Mauer to bat sixth or seventh, ceding the spots above him mostly to power hitters, usually Trevor Plouffe or Brian Dozier. We’ll see what happens come spring training, but the actual decision-maker on this issue doesn’t sound nearly as eager to demote the three-time batting champion to the bottom. Paul Molitor talked about his lineup a couple of weeks ago at Torii Hunter’s press conference, and among other things, defended his inclination to bat Mauer second or third. “I know everyone likes to speculate [about], am I going to have the courage to put him down there at some point in his career? I don’t look at it that way,” Molitor said. “Look at how he fit into our lineup last year. I was fairly candid about my desire to at least look at options with him, but right now, it’s still near the top.” Mauer occupied the third spot in the Twins’ batting order in 133 games last season, and started 21 other games in the second spot, with either Plouffe, Hunter or Miguel Sano third. That’s been true of his entire career, of course; Mauer has been penciled in elsewhere in the starting lineup just 29 times in his career, and none since 2006. A vocal segment of fans insist that Mauer is hurting the team in that spot, citing his subpar 2015 statistics: A .265 batting average that was the worst of his career by 22 points; a .718 OPS that ranked seventh among Twins regulars; 112 strikeouts, roughly twice as many as a normal year when he was younger; a home-run drought that reached 324 plate appearances, longest of his career. But Molitor made it clear that he values a different statistic when filling out his lineup card: On-base percentage. And on a team that ranked 28th in the majors in reaching base — Minnesota’s AL-worst .305 OBP was ahead of only the putrid Phillies (.303) and Padres (.300) — he wants Mauer in the middle, even in a down year. Mauer may have lost more than 100 points of OBP from his peak, declining from .444 in 2009 to .338 last season, but it’s all Molitor has to work with. “We just don’t have people who can put together an at-bat, or [build a high] on-base percentage. Even with his average, the only guy with a higher on- base percentage was Sano,” Molitor explained. “People say ‘but he hit .265, how can you still hit him second or third?’ Well, no one else hit .265. No one else got on base that much. What was our leading average for our regular players? Sano (at .385), but he was only here half a season.” Molitor said he’s already given next year’s batting order some thought, but obviously there are too many variables to make any decisions before spring training. The development of Sano, the likely arrival and adjustment of Byung-ho Park, the offseason work Mauer intends to undertake — all will have an impact on where he’ll bat Mauer, who turns 33 in April and has three years remaining on his eight-year, $184 million contract. And maybe, Molitor joked, the numbers aren’t as bad as they appear. “The players keep telling me,” the manager deadpanned, “.260 is the new .290.” StaTuesday: Twins prospects in the Arizona Fall League Ryan Lund | FOX Sports | November 24, 2015 The Scottsdale Scorpions claimed the Arizona Fall League title on Saturday with a 6-4 win over the Surprise Saguaros, rounding out a nearly nine-month stretch of baseball for some of the league's top prospects. And while Minnesota wrapped up a remarkable turnaround that ended in September just short of a playoff berth, Twins prospects had a major impact on the AFL this season. Outfielder Max Gerber, outfielder Adam Brett Walker and catcher Stuart Turner gave the Twins a presence in Scottsdale in the field, while pitching prospects Nick Burdi, Trevor Hildenberger, Jake Reed and Taylor Rogers represented Minnesota on the mound. The Scorpions finished the fall season 18-12, backed by a shut-down bullpen led by Burdi, Reed and Hildenberger. Meanwhile, Rogers functioned as one of the Scorpions' workhorses on the mound, finishing second on the team in innings pitched with 25, and was among Scottsdale's most effective starters with a 2.88 ERA and 21 strikeouts. Rogers continued his winning ways in the AFL title game, picking up the start and logging three scoreless innings to preserve a 3-0 Scottsdale lead. Hildenberger and Reed each logged an inning in relief of Rogers, holding the Saguaros off the board, before Burdi earned his first save of the season. A strong candidate for the Twins' bullpen next season, Burdi racked up 11 strikeouts, while allowing just two hits and one walk, in eight innings pitched for the Scorpions. Twins pitchers in Scottsdale Player W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WHIP Jake Reed 1 0 0 10 0 3 10.2 6 2 0 0 0 4 10 0.94 Nick Burdi 0 0 0 8 0 0 8 2 0 0 0 0 1 11 0.38 Trevor Hildenberger 0 0 2.13 8 0 0 12.2 13 3 3 1 0 0 12 1.03 Taylor Rogers 2 2 2.88 6 6 0 25 17 9 8 2 1 11 21 1.12 Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB OBP SLG AVG OPS Mike Gerber 20 75 14 21 5 2 1 14 11 23 4 0.371 0.44 0.28 0.811 Adam Brett Walker 20 75 11 18 2 1 5 18 8 35 1 0.326 0.493 0.24 0.819 Stuart Turner 12 41 6 7 2 0 0 4 8 14 0 0.306 0.22 0.171 0.526 2 The Importance of Rod Carew Seth Poho | Baseball Essential | November 24, 2015 With the announcement of Rod Carew’s dire need of a heart transplant, it’s troubling to see one of the game best hitters in a tough situation. Beyond his great skill on the diamond, notably in the batter’s box, Carew embodies many qualities that many fans would be hard pressed to find in a star player. This is a reminder to fans of how truly great Carew was during his playing career. Born and raised in Panama until he moved to the United States at 15, Rodney Cline Carew (named after the doctor who delivered him – Rodney Cline) grew up listening to baseball games on the Armed Forces Network. Possessing a strong desire to be a baseball player, with a great vision for the strike zone and a strong hitting discipline he was signed by the Minnesota Twins. Carew made the Twins as a rookie in 1967, two years removed from an AL pennant and still featuring a who’s who of quality players. Playing along side future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, MVP winner Zolio Versalles and stars Bob Allison and Tony Oliva, Carew proved he belonged in the show. With 150 hits, a .292 batting average and a .341 on base percentage, Carew took all but one first place vote for the Rookie of the Year. From that season on there was no stopping him. For twelve seasons as a Twin, Carew was easily the best hitter in the league. During that time in the Twin Cities, he lead the AL in batting seven times, only hit below .300 twice and was an All-Star every season. As it was noted then and even now, Carew did all of this to little fan fare. Even as he won the 1977 AL MVP, many felt Carew should have been earning more money than what he was paid by Minnesota. With the front office constantly moving most of its young talent — Graig Nettles, Bert Blyleven, Lyman Bostock, Carew demanded a trade. Traded to the then California Angels, Carew still proved to be a valued hitter in his thirties. Though he never won another batting title in his last seven seasons with the Angels, he still hit above .300 in five of them and never sunk below .280. All the while he was a set-up man for many star sluggers of the time. Rod Carew finished with 3,053 hits, a .328 AVG, .393 OBP and 353 stolen bases. Of those stolen bases, he stole home 17 times. It came as no surprise in his first year of eligibility, Carew amassed 401 of the 433 votes (90.1%) to get into the Hall of Fame.