Joe Mauer signed an eight year deal with the Minnesota Twins for $184 million. It’s the fourth biggest contract in baseball behind two of Alex Rodriguez’s deals and Derek Jeter’s current contract. All in all it’s good for the Twins in that they didn’t have to go for a full ten year deal, but it’s still a lot of money and a big risk.
I think Minnesota did the right thing here, and signing Mauer was good for the team, good for the fans and good for the city. Everyone loves stories of a local kid making it in the big leagues and playing for the home town team. My impression is that the Twins may have overpaid slightly, but that was the compromise for getting an eight year deal versus a ten year deal. Hopefully for them, Mauer remains healthy.
I agree. I think it's a great deal for the Twins even though they are taking a risk. The Twins are moving into a new stadium and the team needed to set its flag in the ground to tell its fanbase the club is trying to win a championship.
ReplyDeleteMinnesota locked up Morneau a little while back, they just signed Nick Blackburn and Denard Span to multi-year deals, and now Mauer. Hard to argue he's not worth the money with three batting titles as a catcher at the age of 26. Mauer is younger than Teixeira when the Yankees signed him and getting that kind of production out of the catching position is a big lift.
Plus, think about what the Minnesota fan reaction would have been if the Twins let him walk in free agency or traded him away? No one in Minneapolis or St. Paul would have gone to another game in that new stadium.
I got beat to it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10328
I'm pretty much in agreement that it looks like a good contract for both Mauer and the Twins, and Mauer probably has a better chance than most catchers to produce enough at the plate to work at 1B or DH without destroying the team. I don't know what is left in the Twins coffers to bring in new talent, which is the real measure of this deal over the next five or six years.
But lets be clear, the winner of the Joe Mauer sweepstakes is still Joe Mauer.