FanHouse Twins

Twins catcher Joe Mauer was a nearly unanimous selection for 2009 American League MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes to win the award in a landslide Monday.

He beat out Yankee teammates Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, who finished second and third, respectively, to win the award for the first time in his career. Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who finished fourth in the voting, was the only other player to receive a first-place vote.

Mauer hit .365 to win the batting title for the second straight season and third time in his career, matching the total number of batting titles won by all other catchers in major league history. Babe Phelps is the only backstop in major league history to qualify for a batting title and hit for a higher average, hitting .367 for the 1936 Brooklyn Dodgers.

But Mauer's triumph is complete. In addition to winning the batting title, he also led the American League in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS, a feat never accomplished by a catcher before.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

It's a winter of transition for the defending AL Central champion Minnesota Twins. The Twinkies are going back to their roots in every way. No longer will they be playing indoor baseball at the Metrodome as the team will open the new outdoor Target Field in 2010. The team also just unveiled their new old uniforms on Monday as well, as they revert back to their classic look from the early '60s.

Still, the field on which they play and the uniforms they wear won't be the only thing different about them. This winter they'll also be trying to make the moves necessary to ensure that they get back to the playoffs again in 2010. What moves they'll make remain to be seen, but given the club's history, it's somewhat safe to assume they'll be the right ones.

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The Minnesota Twins didn't wait very long after being knocked out of the 2009 playoffs to begin working on their 2010 team. They made a trade that not only alleviated the surplus of outfielders on their roster but also may have filled the shortstop position for years to come when they sent Carlos Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers for J.J. Hardy.

While that trade could turn out to be a key move for the Twins and their future, it's not the only task the team has on its plate as they prepare for life in a new stadium next season. At the top of the list of things general manager Bill Smith should be working on right now is signing catcher Joe Mauer to a contract extension, and depending on who you ask, Smith may have already started doing just that.

In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down offseason moves from a scouting perspective.

It hasn't taken long for the Hot Stove to get heated up as we roll past the World Series. Some key players have already been locked up and some high upside trades have already gone down. What do these moves mean for each club involved and how will the players dealt respond to their new homes? Just as significant, how important will the prospects dealt turn out to be?

From Mark Teahen headed to Chicago, to the Carlos Gomez for J.J. Hardy swap, to Bobby Abreu's new deal with the Angels, each move had a distinct impact. Perhaps the most interesting of these, however, was Jeremy Hermida being shipped to Boston. For the price of a pair of young lefties, the Red Sox took a gamble that may prove very worthy.

It was no secret J.J. Hardy was likely going to be traded this offseason, but most believed the Brewers would use him to acquire some desperately needed starting pitching help. Instead, they have opted to move him to Minnesota for a young center fielder -- Carlos Gomez.

Hardy, 27, fell out of favor with the Brewers this past season as he failed to meet his previously set offensive standards. He ended the season with an abysmal .659 OPS and the Brewers have uber-prospect Alcides Escobar waiting in the wings (he hit .304 in 38 big-league games last season). Thus, it made sense to move Hardy, who did hit 50 home runs in his previous two campaigns, for help elsewhere.

In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.

Rest easy Yankee fans. It appears that you finally have the real Alex Rodriguez at just the right time. Sure, it's easy to say it's early, A-Rod still has much to prove and has many demons to overcome, but this is not just about results. Looking at him simply from a mechanical and approach standpoint, Rodriguez looks absolutely locked in.

Many sluggers like Rodriguez can overcome a poor approach at times and get by on pure ability, and to an extent the same goes for him. But, when you are looking for the super-human results that Yankee fans expect, look no further than his comfort level with his mechanics at the plate.

With two series over, Major League Baseball has updated the schedule for the rest of the Division Series.

The Rockies and Phillies will play their Game 4 at 4 PM ET if the Yankees-Twins series is still going on. Should the Yankees finish off a sweep Sunday night, the NL Game would move to 6 PM ET.

Series-by-series times are after the jump (all times Eastern).

MINNEAPOLIS -- If Game 3 of the American League Division Series was to be played at Target Field, it would be about 40 degrees at game time. And falling.

But the grass would be fine, since 41 miles of coils containing glycol will keep the field itself at least 42 degrees so the grass never freezes.

The fans and players may have to suffer.

Target Field doesn't open until April, and the Twins -- and denizens of the upper Midwest -- are perfectly happy to be playing outside instead of at the Metrodome.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Phil Cuzzi, the umpire who missed a call down the left-field line that helped cost the Twins their game Friday night at Yankee Stadium, was fired as a minor league umpire in 1993.

According to a June 1999 story by The Associated Press, Cuzzi was working at a hotel bar in July 1999 when he approached National League president Len Coleman and asked for a chance to get back into umpiring.

Coleman allowed Cuzzi to work his way back from the low minors, and Cuzzi was one of 25 new umpires hired in 1999 as a response to mass resignations that were part of a failed labor ploy.

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MINNEAPOLIS -- People in New York must think we're talking about some other guy named Carl Pavano.

And maybe we are.

The Carl Pavano who will start for the Twins on Sunday in Game 3 of their American League Division Series against the Yankees doesn't sound like the one who spent four years on the Yankees. Or, more precisely, their disabled list.

He's married now, with one child and another on the way. He's 33 years old and pitching on a one-year contract that forces him to earn his next deal.