The Perfect Season for a Break

It may have been fortuitous that I hit the blogging wall around this time last year. Writing about the 2011 Twins might have been enough to put a permanent end to my interest in writing about my favorite team. I didn’t have very high hopes for the Twins entering the season, but did not envision the train wreck that was the 2011 season. As a postscript on the 2011 season I will say only this: Joe Mauer is the third most valuable player in all of baseball over the last five years. Even with his terrible 2011 season. The only position players who have produced more for their teams since 2007 are Albert Pujols and Chase Utley. It has become painfully fashionable to place the bulk of the blame for 2011 on Mauer’s shoulders, and perhaps some of it is fair given that he is the highest profile player with the largest contract on the team. Still, it seems that it has been all too easy to overlook the three seasons of MVP-level play Mauer produced from 2007-2010. Maybe I am an opt...