AmateurGm.com

All-Star catcher and first baseman Joe Mauer was placed on waivers Tuesday by the Minnesota Twins, multiple sources have reported. The Twins are in an interesting place with Mauer. At age 29, he remains one of the best catchers in the majors, and although injuries the past 2-1/2 years have taken their toll on him, he is obviously someone the Twins can rebuild around. And with first baseman Justin Morneau’s impending free agency this offseason, a move of Mauer to first base full-time would make sense if Morneau leaves. In addition to filling the hole left by Morneau, it would save a lot of wear-and-tear on Mauer’s body. Mauer’s current contract locks him up through the 2018 season, giving Minnesota [...]

• 1 Comment
• Category: Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, Rumors
• Tagged as Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins, Terry Ryan, waivers

It looks as though Cliff Lee may be on the move again this season. With the Seattle Mariners underperforming according to expectations, Jack Zduriencik, may be in the market for fresh young talent. Lee is possibly the most coveted arm that is available this season.

• 1 Comment
• Category: Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Rumors, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays
• Tagged as Aaron Hicks, B.J. Upton, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Ted Lilly, Wilson Ramos, Yonder Alonso

Baseball is like no other sport in terms of its fans embracing their favorite teams young talent making an impact in the big leagues. Already in this brief season, Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves and Ike Davis of the New York Mets have sent their teams fans into a frenzy over their successful debuts. Later this year, we should see even more highly anticipated debuts as such names as Stephen Strasburg, Aroldis Chapman, Justin Smoak, and Starlin Castro are expected to make the jump to the big leagues. I am just like most baseball fans and love to see young talent succeed in the big leagues and with that I decided to compile a list of the top 25 [...]

• 3 Comments
• Category: Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals
• Tagged as Adam Jones, Alcides Escobar, Andrew McCutchen, Aroldis Chapman, Asdrubal Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Billy Butler, Cameron Maybin, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Coghlan, Chris Davis, Colby Rasmus, Cristian Guzman, Curtis Granderson, Delmon Young, Dexter Fowler, Elvis Andrus, Evan Longoria, Everth Cabrera, Gordon Beckham, Ian Desmond, Ike Davis, Jason Heyward, Jay Bruce, Julio Borbon, Justin Smoak, Justin Upton, Kyle Blanks, Matt Wieters, Pablo Sandoval, Reid Brignac, Sean Rodriguez, Starlin Castro, Stephen Strasburg, Tyler Colvin

There was a collective sigh of relief from the Minnesota Twins and their fan base as they signed MVP and All-Star catcher Joe Mauer to an 8 year $184 million dollar contract with a full no-trade clause. The deal covers the 2011-18 seasons and is the fourth largest — both in total value and average salary — in major league history. Mauer has won three AL batting titles, two Gold Gloves, and an MVP award. Mauer was going into the final year of his current contract. He will make $12.5 million this year in the final season of a $33 million, four-year deal and will earn $23 million in each of the following eight seasons under the extension. The only [...]

• 2 Comments
• Category: Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Teams
• Tagged as Alex Rodriguez, Joe Mauer, Roger Clemens, Victor Martinez

After a brief hiatus, it is time to take a look at the next part of our fantasy preview series and focus on some potential sleepers for the upcoming season. Every year fantasy owners are on the lookout for players that have the element of surprise and often times those players are found in the late rounds of your draft. This year there is no shortage of players from each league that have the potential to surprise and reward fantasy owners for drafting them. Here is a look at some sleeper candidates in the American League for 2010. Brandon Wood (3B) Los Angeles Angels – The former first round pick of the Angels in 2003, is finally ready to receive [...]

• 0 Comments
• Category: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams, Texas Rangers
• Tagged as Austin Jackson, Brandon Wood, Brian Matusz, Chone Figgins, Clay Buchholz, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Curtis Granderson, David Price, Francisco Liriano, Johnny Damon, Julio Borbon, Kendry Morales, Rajai Davis

Tim Marchman of Sports Illustrated recently ranks all 30 Major League General Managers. So we must ask ourselves how do you measure a GM’s success? Is it dollars spent per win? Playoff appearances? Do you take into account the minor league system and player development? The Twins may not be a power house but they have been a very successful team. Ultimately the goal of every team is to win the World Series. However, I am not convinced that this is a sign of a good GM. Guys like Theo Epstein of the Boston Red Sox and Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees, who get a bunch of blank checks every season seem to have an advantage over the [...]

• 13 Comments
• Category: Boston Red Sox, Free Agents, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams
• Tagged as Alex Anthopolous, Andrew Friedman, Andy MacPhail, Bill Smith, Billy Beane, Brian Cashman, Brian Sabean, Dan O'Dowd, Dave Dombrowski, Dayton Moore, Doug Melvin, Ed Wade, Frank Wren, General Manager, gm, Jack Zduriencik, Jed Hoyer, Jim Hendry, John Mozeliak, Jon Daniels, Josh Byrnes, kenny williams, Larry Beinfest, Mark Shapiro, Mike Rizzo, Neal Huntington, Ned Colletti, Omar Minaya, Ruben Amaro Jr, Theo Epstein, Tony Reagins, Walt Jocketty

The American League Central Division has always been an enigma. There never seems to be a dominant team that can run away with the division title. The Twins put together a consistent product but they aren’t guaranteed to win every year like the Yankees. The Royals are trying to keep their heads above water and the Indians are going through a swoon after being highly competitive for a number of years. So who among these teams has the best rotation for the asking price? Minnesota Twins: The Twinkees are always competitive. They have a very regimented process to move their minor leaguers up to the majors, requiring them to complete specific tasks and to do them consistently. Their owner, James [...]

• 2 Comments
• Category: Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Teams
• Tagged as Aaron Laffey, Armando Galarraga, Brian Bannister, Brian Duensing, Carl Pavano, Carlos Carrasco, Daniel Hudson, David Huff, Dontrelle Willis, Fausto Carmona, Francisco Liriano, Freddy Garcia, Gavin Floyd, Gil Meche, Jake Peavy, Jake Westbrook, James Pohlad, Jeremy Bonderman, Jeremy Sowers, John Danks, Justin Masterson, Justin Verlander, kenny williams, Kevin Slowey, Kyle Davies, Luke Hochevar, Manny Acta, Mark Buehrle, Max Scherzer, Nate Robertson, Nick Blackburn, Rick Porcello, Robinson Tejeda, Ron Gardenhire, Scott Baker, Zack Greinke

It’s draft day and you find yourself without the first pick. What do you do? If you can’t have Albert Pujols then what is the point of even playing right? Well maybe so, but there are other options and life isn’t over. How do you determine which first basemen to take? Well I put the question to three of our crack (or maybe crackpot) analysts here at AmateurGm.com. If given the choice between Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder or Justin Morneau who do you take as your starting first baseman? Jeff Walter – In fantasy baseball you need power numbers out of your first base position, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better power hitter in baseball today than Ryan [...]

• 1 Comment
• Category: Fantasy, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals
• Tagged as Albert Pujols, Justin Morneau, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard

“Well to all teams that didn’t make the playoffs, the Yankees have set the precedent on how to bounce back and win the World Series… Spend $500 million on the best Free Agents available…. Wait.. Your team cant do that???  Sorry, thanks for playing.” I found this post the other day as I was browsing through the 2009 World Series stories at MLB.com.  It instantly got me thinking, do MLB general managers really buy teams or is this some ticked off Pirates fan?  Could this possibly be a disgruntled New York Mets fan that isn’t happy because his team didn’t buy the “right” players?  Can teams and championships simply be bought by just shelling out enough money, with a nice [...]

• 6 Comments
• Category: Free Agents, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams
• Tagged as Bud Selig

Orlando Hudson signed with the Minnesota Twins at 1 year $5 million. Hudson is a four time Gold Glove winner and hit .283 with 9 homers, 8 stolen bases and 35 doubles last year for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hudson will be taking over for Nick Punto allow him to move over and share time with Brendan Harris at 3rd base. Hudson is slotted to bat second in what is looking to be a very potent offense for the Twinkies this season. He will be a great table setter for Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Jim Thome and company. Hudson seems to be an anomaly the past few years. He has always put up good numbers while playing good [...]

• 0 Comments
• Category: Free Agents, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, Teams
• Tagged as Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, Joe Torre, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Orlando Hudson, Ronnie Belliard