I broke a smile earlier this week when news broke that Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins had agreed to a 10 year contract. I am not a fan of the Twins by any means; however, I have spent the better part of 20 years cheering on the Kansas City Royals, another small market team, and I was glad to finally read that possibly the greatest player to ever put on a Twins uniform was going to remain in Minneapolis for the long haul. Those reports were quickly refuted and by the end of the day no deal had been agreed upon and that is where things stand right now, just two weeks before pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. If a contract is not agreed upon soon, Mauer will enter Spring Training without a contract past the 2010 season.
Look, I know the Twins are a small market team, and usually small market teams are not able to agree to long term deals that normally the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and Angels can only pull off. However, Joe Mauer is a Minnesota native, spending his high school days in St. Paul, where he was a three sport star, earning a football scholarship to play quarterback at Florida State (where Bobby Bowden I believe still had that offer upon prior to his retirement). Mauer chose to pass up football and agree to terms with the Twins who took him as the overall #1 pick in 2001. Mauer quickly reached the majors and has excelled in his roll, averaging .327 since breaking into the majors in 2004.
With the Twins set to open a new ballpark, Target Field, Mauer is a must sign. There are talks that some of the money that Mauer will be set to earn could be deferred, with the possibility that Mauer could end up being in the Twins ownership group when his time as a ballplayer is done. Whatever the case, the Twins and Mauer have to figure out a way to come to terms on a deal. This must be done for Mauer, the Twins, and overall the game of baseball. I mean, could all the Yankee and Red Sox haters out there stand the thought of Mauer entering free agency in the winter of 2010 knowing that they would both be gunning for Mauer’s services? I know for one I could not, and I’d much rather have Mauer in Minnesota, playing him 18 times a year as a Royals fan, than watching him play in front of those arrogant, awful, no good greedy Yankees or Red Sox fans.
The signing of Mauer, even to a deferred contract, provides an opportunity for the Twins to build their team around him for the next decade. Baseball fans already know that the Twins have a great scouting department and are very good at developing talent. In the past, when it was time for that talent to move on for bigger paydays, they often made trades for younger players that also turned out to perform very well. Money should not be too much on an issue for Mauer, he already has more than enough. His parents are retired because of him and Mauer even has a cabin in the woods in Minnesota which also has a studio where he records rap demos (I’d love to hear some of those).
So, I doubt anyone from the Twins organization and/or Joe Mauer reads this, but please, do me and all of small market baseball a favor, and get this deal done.
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