Joe Mauer used to offer tentative opinions in the Minnesota Twins' meetings with pitchers before every series, maybe because he is unfailingly polite or perhaps because he is naturally respectful. He'd recite the information on the scouting reports like a television news reader, speaking without conviction about what he was reading. But midway through last year, Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson nudged Mauer to become more assertive and to exercise the enormous respect that the team's pitcher ...

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