Fort Myers, Fla. – Minnesotans first became aware of Joe Mauer when he starred at Cretin-Derham High School. We've followed his career for about 15 years. One of these days, we might even get to know him.
What's rattling around in Mauer's large, bespectacled cranium?
I asked the two people in the organization closest to Mauer what's going through his head this spring, as he moves from catcher to first base and faces the possibility of a fourth consecutive losing season.
Jake Mauer, Joe's brother, and Glen Perkins, the Twins' closer, are the two Twins employees who spend the most time with Joe away from the ballpark. Asked separately what Joe's thinking, they produced the same answer.
"He talks about winning a championship in Minnesota," said Jake, the manager of the Twins' Class A affiliate in Cedar Rapids.
"When we're away from the park, what we talk about is how great it would be to win a World Series with this team, the team we grew up watching," Perkins said.
"That's it, really," Mauer said. "I liked catching, being in the middle of everything. But when it comes right down to it, I want to be on the field, I want to help us win."
The most often abused cliché in pro sports is "I just want to help the team win." It's a fallback answer for anyone trying to avoid offering an insightful or politically incorrect answer.