http://www.kare11.com/news/article/988779/391/Report-Twins-Joe-Mauer-placed-on-waiver-wire?odyssey=tab|topnews|bc|large

99% chance nothing happens, but interesting nonetheless.

I have two questions, one factual and one opinion...

1) If Mauer is claimed, and the Twins decide to let him go, can he veto it because of his no-trade clause? Is it a "trade" or is it "waivers?"
2) Can we see any way the Twins would have the balls to do that?

One more...
3) Should they do that?

I'll admit, I'm torn on 3.

Since Mauer was placed on "Revocable Trade Waivers" it is considered a trade and Mauer retains his veto rights.

MLBtraderumors is reporting that Boston's Pitcher Felix Doubront was claimed by an unknown team. Rosenthal is suggesting that Boston could be sending Doubront to the Twins as part of a trade for Mauer.

TR needs to have the balls to let him go. This is the easiest way to get the team in contention soon and may be the last time anyone is dumb enough to claim this albatross contact. Doumit/Butera at catcher and 23 mil towards starting pitching is way better than keeping a 23 mil sindles hitting DH. This may be the only chance they get for a do~over on Billys franchise strangling mistake.

I don't think Ryan has the guts to trade Mauer. I honestly don't.

I'm not entirely convinced it's a good idea, either.

And if he does go to the Red Sox, when did Billy Smith take over the GM position in Boston? Dealing Gonzalez and then picking up Mauer would be the type of move that'd make him proud.

Unless we can get a pitcher like King Felix or Verlander trading Mauer would be horrible. It would completely kill the casuel fan base.

I don't know why you wouldn't run every player through waivers just to gauge interest.

I don't expect anything to come of this but I have no problem with trading him. I also don't have a problem with not trading him. But maybe trading him would give this team a personality transplant.

Getting Mauer's salary off the books isn't going to help get a front line starter here. The money it takes to pay pitchers is only a fraction of the issue in dealing with aces. The Twins just aren't going to give an elite pitcher the years other clubs are willing to offer. In no way do I see Terry Ryan getting rid of the last seven years of Mauer's deal only to take on five additional years with Greinke. Ryan is terrified of pitchers, and frankly, five years of Greinke should be a little frightening, he's not the most stable of characters.

Almost zero chance Mauer is ever traded before the 2014 All-Star game at Target Field.

It hurts nothing to test the waters. I would deal him, but only for one legit MLB starting player in his prime years and at least one minor league big time prospect. But I would only do that if I planned to sign one elite free agent pitcher and another pitcher.

Trading Mauer for anything less then an Ace in their prime and an elite prospect would be unforgivable in my eyes.

You don't trade a hall of fame player in the prime of his career. Yes, he is owed a lot of money, but the Twins have the means to spend 100+mil from here on out.

I think TR needs to purge the team of all Bill Smith's mistakes. If that includes Joe's insane contract, so be it. By the same token, I think Joe knows he's got it made here with forgiving fans and rarely critical media. I can't imagine him signing off on a trade to a major market where fans whip Eveready 9-volts at you from the stands.

Separate out the PR aspect and trading Mauer is the logical baseball decision.

I have two questions, one factual and one opinion...

1) If Mauer is claimed, and the Twins decide to let him go, can he veto it because of his no-trade clause? Is it a "trade" or is it "waivers?"

Since Mauer has a no-trade clause he can veto any trade. Another option would be for the Twins to accept a deal where the claiming team agrees to assume the full contract and don't give up any players. In this way, it would not be a trade per se, but Mauer might have language in his contract to prevent this from happening. And the Twins would be idiots to do it.


2) Can we see any way the Twins would have the balls to do that?

I presume they would since they put him on waivers. They can always pull him back off of waivers. However, if they put him back on waivers again this season, because they've already pulled him back, they lose the option of pulling him back again. In other words, he would be on irrevocable waivers next time.


One more...
3) Should they do that?

I'll admit, I'm torn on 3.

Yes, they should do it, if they get value in return. However, the types of teams that would do this sort of a deal would likely be teams not in contention and can take on Mauer's contract and need a C/1B/DH and could give the Twins ML starting pitching. I can't think of any.

Boston seems to fit, but they would have to give the Twins one of their top two pitchers, so it seems unlikely they would do it. Seattle might deal King Felix but then they'd have Mauer's contract and they're well set at catcher.

I don't think Ryan has the guts to trade Mauer. I honestly don't.

I'm not entirely convinced it's a good idea, either.

And if he does go to the Red Sox, when did Billy Smith take over the GM position in Boston? Dealing Gonzalez and then picking up Mauer would be the type of move that'd make him proud.

This is all just hypothetical message board chatter for fun, right? Because I can't even start to entertain "trade possibilities" for Mauer. Seriously, until this guy holds a press conference wearing an Aaron Rodgers jersey with a grill, a Flavor Flav clock, and talking about how he doesn't really care for hotdish, there's no way this fanbase would ever let him go. And that's ridiculous, since we all know that Joe would never talk to the media on his own initiative.

My question as a front office "noob" is: Why do big name guys end up on the waiver wire every August when it looks like there's zero interest in trading them? I understand you can just pull them back anyway, but what's the point? Is there any transactional benefit to the Twins for "dangling him" in this way?

My question as a front office "noob" is: Why do big name guys end up on the waiver wire every August when it looks like there's zero interest in trading them? I understand you can just pull them back anyway, but what's the point? Is there any transactional benefit to the Twins for "dangling him" in this way?

Generally, there's not much of a point in doing it. But every once in awhile, you get something like the Dodgers/Sox deal that just went through the waiver process. It's hard to pull that off but since there's no risk to dangling a star player, there's little reason not to do it, either.

Trading Mauer for anything less then an Ace in their prime and an elite prospect would be unforgivable in my eyes.

You don't trade a hall of fame player in the prime of his career. Yes, he is owed a lot of money, but the Twins have the means to spend 100+mil from here on out.

This is more wish than analysis on your part

Case in point regarding "the means to spend" argument which the Twins are in the process of completely blowing up:

The Baltimore Orioles-

on a hot streak,
hottest team in August-playing 16-8 baseball, a .667 clip,
revived from the dead for years on end to competitive,
third best record in the AL,
the best record in one-run games in baseball,
only 3.5 games behind the best team in the league, the Yankees,
playing in one of the best parks in all of baseball- Camden Yards,
playing a first place team in the White Sox- with a Cy Young favorite on the mound, Chris Sale
perfect night for baseball in Baltimore



drew all of 12,841 fans last night.

[QUOTE]One more...
3) Should they do that?

I'll admit, I'm torn on 3.

Yes, they should do it, if they get value in return. However, the types of teams that would do this sort of a deal would likely be teams not in contention and can take on Mauer's contract and need a C/1B/DH and could give the Twins ML starting pitching. I can't think of any.

Boston seems to fit, but they would have to give the Twins one of their top two pitchers, so it seems unlikely they would do it. Seattle might deal King Felix but then they'd have Mauer's contract and they're well set at catcher.

Okay, I'll bite, but only to make this point. Why would a team like Boston, New York, etc. want to take on a guy like this? A guy who will be 30 years old next year, and can catch a maximum of 85 games for you, IF he stays healthy. A guy who is a great contact hitter and table setter, but has shown little else to suggest that he's a $20+ million/year player that you'd want to pick up for the downside of his prime.

I think that contract is untradeable. Even with Morneau, who only has ONE year left on that deal, it would've taken a team in a crazy situation like the Dodgers, who were basically looking to spend money for big name players in any way possible. And that still didn't happen. Mauer will never be traded from the Twins. You think they have attendance problems NOW?

Generally, there's not much of a point in doing it. But every once in awhile, you get something like the Dodgers/Sox deal that just went through the waiver process. It's hard to pull that off but since there's no risk to dangling a star player, there's little reason not to do it, either.

Thanks. I figured as much, but since the Twins broke virtually every responsible spending rule they lived by for decades to retain Mauer, I'm surprised they'd do something even as insignificant as this from a symbolic perspective.

Case in point regarding "the means to spend" argument which the Twins are in the process of completely blowing up:

The Baltimore Orioles-

on a hot streak,
hottest team in August-playing 16-8 baseball, a .667 clip,
revived from the dead for years on end to competitive,
third best record in the AL,
the best record in one-run games in baseball,
only 3.5 games behind the best team in the league, the Yankees,
playing in one of the best parks in all of baseball- Camden Yards,
playing a first place team in the White Sox- with a Cy Young favorite on the mound, Chris Sale
perfect night for baseball in Baltimore



drew all of 12,841 fans last night.


And yet, the Orioles still have an $80 million payroll, which is actually 3rd in the AL East, higher than Toronto by 5 million and TB by 15 million. And they haven't been "competitive" since the mid-90's.

But their highest-paid player is Nick Markakis, who at around $12.3 million, is making roughly within the ballpark of what guys like Cuddy, Nathan and Torii have been let go for by the Twins in recent years.

I think this is a better baseball market than Baltimore. I fully expect attendance to continue to decline, but if they can routinely pull around 25,000 a night in the DOME, I really don't think attendance in this town will get that bad with the facility as good as it is, even if the team is bad for a few more years.

A team like Boston has has the potential to be a pennant contender and go to the World Series, which getting a ring seems to be every player's dream. They unloaded a couple of mistakes and will also rid themselves of the Ortiz overpaying at season's end, so they do have a lot of money to play with, and because they are a storied franchise can attract free agents, which the Twins can't becaase what do they really offer a player. Boston is also in the enviable position of actually being a loser this year and can claim players like Mauer. Before any corresponding competitive can. Does Joe take one for the team and move on, we all thanking him for his wonderful time. Or does he stay and his salary becomes an albatross as attendance continues to shrink and the ownership family doesn't see that you pay Joe outside of the annual team 50% salary cap because...he is Joe. Joe signed with the Twins because he wants to win...but it probably ain't going to happen as long as he is playing for the Twins. For $23 million a year, the Twins could get a nice first baseman and catcher and designated hitter.

Thanks. I figured as much, but since the Twins broke virtually every responsible spending rule they lived by for decades to retain Mauer, I'm surprised they'd do something even as insignificant as this from a symbolic perspective.

It does give them another opportunity to say that they are listening to the fans, though. They can point to Twitter responses, etc. that ask how they could even think about doing this.

If you can't do anything meaningful, do something useless and claim that you listened to the fans.

(Sorry my cynicism level about this team is so d*mn high. I hope that they were honestly testing the market.)

[QUOTE]One more...
3) Should they do that?

I'll admit, I'm torn on 3.

Yes, they should do it, if they get value in return. However, the types of teams that would do this sort of a deal would likely be teams not in contention and can take on Mauer's contract and need a C/1B/DH and could give the Twins ML starting pitching. I can't think of any.

Boston seems to fit, but they would have to give the Twins one of their top two pitchers, so it seems unlikely they would do it. Seattle might deal King Felix but then they'd have Mauer's contract and they're well set at catcher.

Okay, I'll bite, but only to make this point. Why would a team like Boston, New York, etc. want to take on a guy like this? A guy who will be 30 years old next year, and can catch a maximum of 85 games for you, IF he stays healthy. A guy who is a great contact hitter and table setter, but has shown little else to suggest that he's a $20+ million/year player that you'd want to pick up for the downside of his prime.

I think that contract is untradeable. Even with Morneau, who only has ONE year left on that deal, it would've taken a team in a crazy situation like the Dodgers, who were basically looking to spend money for big name players in any way possible. And that still didn't happen. Mauer will never be traded from the Twins. You think they have attendance problems NOW?

From Boston's point of view, this makes total sense. Joe Mauer could be the return of Wade Boggs.

Case in point regarding "the means to spend" argument which the Twins are in the process of completely blowing up:

The Baltimore Orioles-

on a hot streak,
hottest team in August-playing 16-8 baseball, a .667 clip,
revived from the dead for years on end to competitive,
third best record in the AL,
the best record in one-run games in baseball,
only 3.5 games behind the best team in the league, the Yankees,
playing in one of the best parks in all of baseball- Camden Yards,
playing a first place team in the White Sox- with a Cy Young favorite on the mound, Chris Sale
perfect night for baseball in Baltimore



drew all of 12,841 fans last night.


And yet, the Orioles still have an $80 million payroll, which is actually 3rd in the AL East, higher than Toronto by 5 million and TB by 15 million. And they haven't been "competitive" since the mid-90's.

But their highest-paid player is Nick Markakis, who at around $12.3 million, is making roughly within the ballpark of what guys like Cuddy, Nathan and Torii have been let go for by the Twins in recent years.

I think this is a better baseball market than Baltimore. I fully expect attendance to continue to decline, but if they can routinely pull around 25,000 a night in the DOME, I really don't think attendance in this town will get that bad with the facility as good as it is, even if the team is bad for a few more years.

Baltimore is a great baseball town (home of Babe Ruth and a run of extended success for 30 years with a string of HOF players). It took a few years for attendance to collapse, but collapse it has.

You forget that in the 90s in the Dome, the Twins had season tickets available for $81 for 81 games to goose up attendance. This is a front-running professional sports team market, not a better baseball market than Baltimore.

So, since the Orioles are spending what they're spending, my proposal that Pohlad might be happy with an $80M Twins payroll is on the table, then, right?

Im not a Mauer basher....never have been. Im not for trading him because of the contract, but because the team has come to the conlusion that he cannot be an everyday catcher anymore. His catcher defense right now is one of MLBs worst (era/baserunning). If he can be fulltime, Gardy is completely against it.
Guess it comes down to me that Im willing to deal Mauer because I dont believe Gardy knows how to use him properly. Gardy MUST have a 3rd C that doesnt play, in case the baseball appocolytpse happens I guess, for a situation that hasnt come up in 5 yrs.
Gardy also refuses to believe that Mauers lack of power make him the best #2 hitter in baseball but keeps him hitting 3rd. Its not the lack of HRs but overall lack of doubles/triples also that makes his run producing far below average for a #3 hitter.

A team like Boston has has the potential to be a pennant contender and go to the World Series, which getting a ring seems to be every player's dream. They unloaded a couple of mistakes and will also rid themselves of the Ortiz overpaying at season's end, so they do have a lot of money to play with, and because they are a storied franchise can attract free agents, which the Twins can't becaase what do they really offer a player. Boston is also in the enviable position of actually being a loser this year and can claim players like Mauer. Before any corresponding competitive can. Does Joe take one for the team and move on, we all thanking him for his wonderful time. Or does he stay and his salary becomes an albatross as attendance continues to shrink and the ownership family doesn't see that you pay Joe outside of the annual team 50% salary cap because...he is Joe. Joe signed with the Twins because he wants to win...but it probably ain't going to happen as long as he is playing for the Twins. For $23 million a year, the Twins could get a nice first baseman and catcher and designated hitter.

This.... and it has been "this" ever since Billy and Ron Shapiro inked the deal.

Im not a Mauer basher....never have been. Im not for trading him because of the contract, but because the team has come to the conlusion that he cannot be an everyday catcher anymore. His catcher defense right now is one of MLBs worst (era/baserunning). If he can be fulltime, Gardy is completely against it.
Guess it comes down to me that Im willing to deal Mauer because I dont believe Gardy knows how to use him properly. Gardy MUST have a 3rd C that doesnt play, in case the baseball appocolytpse happens I guess, for a situation that hasnt come up in 5 yrs.
Gardy also refuses to believe that Mauers lack of power make him the best #2 hitter in baseball but keeps him hitting 3rd. Its not the lack of HRs but overall lack of doubles/triples also that makes his run producing far below average for a #3 hitter.

That's why batting in #2 spot, playing some 3B and C and becoming a doubles-producing machine off the Green Monster makes such perfect sense for the Sox.

Okay, I'll bite, but only to make this point. Why would a team like Boston, New York, etc. want to take on a guy like this? A guy who will be 30 years old next year, and can catch a maximum of 85 games for you, IF he stays healthy. A guy who is a great contact hitter and table setter, but has shown little else to suggest that he's a $20+ million/year player that you'd want to pick up for the downside of his prime.


Mauer would bang line drives off the green monster in LF in Fenway with regularity. The Red Sox need help at catcher and DH. I believe they are going to dump Ortiz, a free agent after this season. Since the trade with the Dodgers, James Loney is their regular first baseman. Mauer could spell Loney at 1B as well. Or the Red Sox could try Mauer at 3B.

Thanks. I figured as much, but since the Twins broke virtually every responsible spending rule they lived by for decades to retain Mauer, I'm surprised they'd do something even as insignificant as this from a symbolic perspective.

It does give them another opportunity to say that they are listening to the fans, though. They can point to Twitter responses, etc. that ask how they could even think about doing this.

If you can't do anything meaningful, do something useless and claim that you listened to the fans.

(Sorry my cynicism level about this team is so d*mn high. I hope that they were honestly testing the market.)

See, and I viewed it as "listening to the fans" when they overpaid him to begin with, and that the fans would still tell them to keep him no matter how bad the team is. While people like you and I are surrounded by fans and bloggers on message boards who play armchair GM and talk about how smart it is to move guys like Morneau and Mauer...we're in the extreme minority of people who pay for tickets.

I conducted a very unscientific experiment last year...I happened to be at a Caribou Coffee in Wayzata and the staff (which were virtually all girls aged about 16-25) were asked to name their favorite Twins player on a sign. Of the 8 responses, about 4 of them named Mauer, while 2 of them named "T.C. Bear" and 2 of them said something like "Don't Care" or couldn't name any. Take Mauer off the team, and I bet 2-4 more of those responses are either "don't care" or they name the stupid mascot.

This is a big chunk of your fanbase. It's the families that show up with "Circle Me Bert" signs, or the middle-aged guy who listens to KFAN on the way home from work, but thinks that a "waiver" is something the fans do in their seats during a rally. They're the ones that get the free Joe Mauer sideburns, and actually wear them during the game.

Good or bad, you lose those fans without guys like Mauer and Morneau, or even if you replaced them with Latin American guys with similar numbers. There's enough "baseball" fans that would show up anyway, but baseball is a business, and winning isn't the only reason people pay into it.

It may be the organization's way of signaling to players that they aren't playing favorites, and everyone's job isn't safe, even (cough) Mauer's.

I wonder how this all would have played out had the Twins moved Mauer to 3b years ago as they should have.

Separate out the PR aspect and trading Mauer is the logical baseball decision.

Sort of like saying a surgery will go well if you separate out the part about keeping the heart beating during the procedure.

A general manager has to synthesize all the aspects of the team, including PR. I think it's true that more businesses go under due to cash flow than due to debt per se. The Pohlads are in a position to buffer the cash flow if they want, but still the business principle will be applied. If a trade makes sense for 2016 but stands to kill attendance and cash flow for the coming three years, the GM and his staff may not be around to reap the benefits.

I wonder how this all would have played out had the Twins moved Mauer to 3b years ago as they should have.

D**M Straight!

Okay, I'll bite, but only to make this point. Why would a team like Boston, New York, etc. want to take on a guy like this? A guy who will be 30 years old next year, and can catch a maximum of 85 games for you, IF he stays healthy. A guy who is a great contact hitter and table setter, but has shown little else to suggest that he's a $20+ million/year player that you'd want to pick up for the downside of his prime.


Mauer would bang line drives off the green monster in LF in Fenway with regularity. The Red Sox need help at catcher and DH. I believe they are going to dump Ortiz, a free agent after this season. Since the trade with the Dodgers, James Loney is their regular first baseman. Mauer could spell Loney at 1B as well. Or the Red Sox could try Mauer at 3B.
Loney is a free agent next year 2013. Mauer not going to agree to a trade to the Hated RED SOX

First off, I am very surprised the team went this route. The only real risk a team has for putting a "superstar" on revocable waivers is that it could alienate the player. This leads me too one of two conclusions:

a) The team is seriously considering moving him
b) Mauer requested to be put on waivers to test the market

I don't believe moving Mauer is a good idea on many fronts, the major one being that players like Joe do not come around very often. He is very much HOF caliber, you almost always overpay for these types of guys. Keep him as a Twins lifer and move on.

That being said, if Joe is moved, it signifies to me that this team will be bad not for 1-3 years, but 4-6 years or more (think 1990's). It would tell me the front office has thrown in the towel and will revert back to the days of $15-25 mil payrolls and play only young guys. It would be devastatingly bad across the board.

I wonder how this all would have played out had the Twins moved Mauer to 3b years ago as they should have.

Never saw this comment coming....

Separate out the PR aspect and trading Mauer is the logical baseball decision.

Sort of like saying a surgery will go well if you separate out the part about keeping the heart beating during the procedure.

A general manager has to synthesize all the aspects of the team, including PR. I think it's true that more businesses go under due to cash flow than due to debt per se. The Pohlads are in a position to buffer the cash flow if they want, but still the business principle will be applied. If a trade makes sense for 2016 but stands to kill attendance and cash flow for the coming three years, the GM and his staff may not be around to reap the benefits.

I guess my point is that if Mauer wasn't from MN, if he was Dominican or Venezuelan or Texan, there wouldn't be nearly as much controversy should the Twins look to trade him. It's the shortest of all shortcuts to rebuild the team.

First off, I am very surprised the team went this route. The only real risk a team has for putting a "superstar" on revocable waivers is that it could alienate the player. This leads me too one of two conclusions:

a) The team is seriously considering moving him
b) Mauer requested to be put on waivers to test the market

I don't believe moving Mauer is a good idea on many fronts, the major one being that players like Joe do not come around very often. He is very much HOF caliber, you almost always overpay for these types of guys. Keep him as a Twins lifer and move on.

That being said, if Joe is moved, it signifies to me that this team will be bad not for 1-3 years, but 4-6 years or more (think 1990's). It would tell me the front office has thrown in the towel and will revert back to the days of $15-25 mil payrolls and play only young guys. It would be devastatingly bad across the board.

I agree with everything you say except the last paragraph. Long periods of mediocrity comes from thinking your a move or so away. The Twins have to get serious about the pitching. If blowing up the offense is the cost. It must be paid. Not fixing the pitching will lead to a long period of mediocrity. Trying to right the ship with vets like Carroll or Stephen Drew will lead to the long dark period.

With that said... I'd like to see Joe stay a Twin for life. Move other offensive players.

On your A and B... I agree... Something is up. Twins Daily readers and leaders... Do your digging.... I'll be checking back for info.

b) Mauer requested to be put on waivers to test the market


I've never heard of this happening in the past. I suppose it is possible, but why would the Twins entertain Mauer's request since it's possible the result would be favorable negotiating points for Mauer and his agent? I think the likely scenario is that the Twins wanted to test Mauer's value and then decide whether or not they want to take action or decide to share that info with him.

This is standard procedure. Mauer is going down on the right hand of Kirby Pucket as the best Twin of all time. No way, unless a team blows up their farm system and gives good major leaguers up for Joe. The 20+ million a year is at least doubled with shirt, ticket, and food prices this guy brings in. It would be suicide to do it before the ASG of 2014. I see 99% chance they pull him back.

This has to be the dumbest statement I have ever read


TR needs to have the balls to let him go. This is the easiest way to get the team in contention soon and may be the last time anyone is dumb enough to claim this albatross contact. Doumit/Butera at catcher and 23 mil towards starting pitching is way better than keeping a 23 mil sindles hitting DH. This may be the only chance they get for a do~over on Billys franchise strangling mistake.

:confused: Do the Twins know something about Joe that we don't? <<<conspiracy theory>>>

I wonder how this all would have played out had the Twins moved Mauer to 3b years ago as they should have.

Never saw this comment coming....
What you didnt see coming were the multiple issues caused by leaving Mauer at catcher. Some of us did.

This is going to come off rude, don't mean it that way, but it is a real question. Do any of you follow baseball outside of the Twins? After reading most of these posts it makes me question if you do. My guess is you all do but very few of you understand the waiver dead-line. If you did you would understand why Mauer is on waivers. First rule of waivers: don't talk about waivers.....err...that's fight club. First rule of waivers: EVERYONE GOES ON WAIVERS! There is NO downside of just putting people up there. The team can pull back the player at any time for any reason.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
The site above is not a Twins blog site but a site for, as its name says, baseball trade rumors. If you click through the older posts a bit you will see a ton of guys who are just as "unmoveable" who were put on waivers. The Yankees are currently in 1st place and they put CC, Tex, Cano, and Jeter, just to name a few, on waivers. EVERYONE GOES ON WAIVERS for that just in case crazy trade like the Agon one. If someone is going to throw their future away and blow you away why not?

Due to how waivers limit teams, if a player is claimed, to just one team to negotiate with they almost never amount to anything outside of the smaller trades. I promise you this isn't the first year Mauer has been put on waivers, or claimed for that matter, and it wont be his last. I can promise almost every player, if not every player, on the Twins roster is currently on waivers or were on waivers at sometime.

That statement has been made multiple times throughout this thread. And yes, you did come off rude.

a) The team is seriously considering moving him
b) Mauer requested to be put on waivers to test the market

c) Gives Ryan a sense of where the opinion shapers and fanbase really would be if such a trade were pursued in earnest later on.

I guess my point is that if Mauer wasn't from MN, if he was Dominican or Venezuelan or Texan, there wouldn't be nearly as much controversy should the Twins look to trade him. It's the shortest of all shortcuts to rebuild the team.

Yes, but he is, so the shortcut is full of brambles and maybe a pitfall.

You can't make a personnel decision like this without considering all the relevant aspects. It would be like deciding not to offer $21M/3 to Josh Willingham based on just his low career batting average.

I don't really disagree with your what-if, but it's kind of like (my hazy recollection of) an old Saturday Night Live skit: "What if Eleanor Roosevelt... had been born a horse?"

a) The team is seriously considering moving him
b) Mauer requested to be put on waivers to test the market

c) Gives Ryan a sense of where the opinion shapers and fanbase really would be if such a trade were pursued in earnest later on.

So the self-confident, seasoned veteran and prime exponent of the "Twins Way" has resorted to manage via trial balloon? Not much of a master plan.

I honestly fail to see the point in trading Mauer. It might free up payroll space but the alternative is dropping 60+M on two 30+ yr old non-ace starters instead of one (they can afford to get one pitcher this offseason) with that money. While that would improve the rotation I don't see it actually making the team better, short-term or long-term. The Twin's problem isn't that they don't have cash available to spend but rather that there aren't many good options to spend it on.

FWIW, Rosenthal is reporting that Mauer cleared waivers. If true, it appears nobody was willing to take a chance on getting that contract.

I think Mauer is done being a full time catcher. There is apart of me that wonders what would happen with a competent training and medical staff.

Mauer cleared waivers... I am completely lost... Can someone explain this August Waiver thing to me?

I do not understand the point of running him through waivers at all. I don't understand how Ivan Dejesus Jr. Or Jerry Sands can clear waivers with little money attached to them.

I don't understand August at all. It's not for lack of trying and I swear to god.. I'm not as dumb as I seem.

Can someone explain the August waiver process and I believe you will need to use small words and parables.

Mauer cleared waivers... I am completely lost... Can someone explain this August Waiver thing to me?

I do not understand the point of running him through waivers at all. I don't understand how Ivan Dejesus Jr. Or Jerry Sands can clear waivers with little money attached to them.

I don't understand August at all. It's not for lack of trying and I swear to god.. I'm not as dumb as I seem.

Can someone explain the August waiver process and I believe you will need to use small words and parables.

By clearing waivers Mauer could be traded to any team in baseball at any time.

If a team claims him on the first time a player is sent through waivers you either work out a trade with the team that claimed him, let the team that claim him have the player for no compensation, or the team that put him on waivers can pull him back.

Mauer cleared waivers... I am completely lost... Can someone explain this August Waiver thing to me?

I do not understand the point of running him through waivers at all. I don't understand how Ivan Dejesus Jr. Or Jerry Sands can clear waivers with little money attached to them.

I don't understand August at all. It's not for lack of trying and I swear to god.. I'm not as dumb as I seem.

Can someone explain the August waiver process and I believe you will need to use small words and parables.

By clearing waivers Mauer could be traded to any team in baseball at any time.

If a team claims him on the first time a player is sent through waivers you either work out a trade with the team that claimed him, let the team that claim him have the player for no compensation, or the team that put him on waivers can pull him back.

Ok... So I've understood it all along... Now can someone tell me... why the ridiculous excersize of running Joe through waivers if he is going to go unclaimed. What is accomplished by that? Certainly any trade value he has could be discussed in July or January for that matter. No need for the gauging of the market in my opinion. At least there shouldn't be.

And how can the young Dodgers clear waivers and make it to the Red Sox. Cheap... And teams have holes in the OF and IF. Why wouldn't the Twins claim DeJesus Jr. Is it a gentlemen thing... Call the teams in front and ask nicely to let the players through.

Your definition is exactly what I've understood... I'm gonna need the parables on the gamesmanship of it.

The young dodgers didn't clear waivers, they are officially submitted as players to be named later and will be later on. Another confusing part of trades. But everyone knows who they are.

The basic fact of the matter is that if the Twins want an extra $23 million to spend on other things, they need to just spend it. There's no excuse for trading away their best player for nothing (and believe me, if they found a taker willing to absorb his entire contract, they'd get nothing in return) because they're unwilling to push payroll to $120M to get the players they feel they need to contend.

The young dodgers didn't clear waivers, they are officially submitted as players to be named later and will be later on. Another confusing part of trades. But everyone knows who they are.

DeJesus Jr. cleared. At least I think he did.

OK... Why this Mauer trip thru the waivers?

How is ANYONE taking this seriously? This is a standard thing (that he cleared is what is "newsworthy") and it would be a barbarically dumb decision for the Twins.

This is standard procedure. Mauer is going down on the right hand of Kirby Pucket as the best Twin of all time. No way, unless a team blows up their farm system and gives good major leaguers up for Joe. The 20+ million a year is at least doubled with shirt, ticket, and food prices this guy brings in. It would be suicide to do it before the ASG of 2014. I see 99% chance they pull him back.

It's 100% and it is LAUGHABLE to see people taking this seriously. Good god. This non-story is akin to a Fox News political story in value.

How is ANYONE taking this seriously? This is a standard thing (that he cleared is what is "newsworthy") and it would be a barbarically dumb decision for the Twins.

This "standard thing" has been forever altered by a team from Los Angeles that has introduced Major League Baseball to a Brave New World. What they have wrought with the Boston Red Sox acquisitions may well turn out to be the most barbarically dumb decision ever if it invokes some kind of insane "arms (and bats) race".

This is standard procedure. Mauer is going down on the right hand of Kirby Pucket as the best Twin of all time. No way, unless a team blows up their farm system and gives good major leaguers up for Joe. The 20+ million a year is at least doubled with shirt, ticket, and food prices this guy brings in. It would be suicide to do it before the ASG of 2014. I see 99% chance they pull him back.

It's 100% and it is LAUGHABLE to see people taking this seriously. Good god. This non-story is akin to a Fox News political story in value.

You would have convinced me if you had invoked MSNBC, instead.

In before the lock!

This is standard procedure. Mauer is going down on the right hand of Kirby Pucket as the best Twin of all time. No way, unless a team blows up their farm system and gives good major leaguers up for Joe. The 20+ million a year is at least doubled with shirt, ticket, and food prices this guy brings in. It would be suicide to do it before the ASG of 2014. I see 99% chance they pull him back.

It's 100% and it is LAUGHABLE to see people taking this seriously. Good god. This non-story is akin to a Fox News political story in value.

I disagree. This could be a bigger story then anybody wants to admit. Lets look at a couple things:

- Nobody knows the complete list of who is put on waivers, as it is supposed to be "secret". Big names sneak out because they are big names. Were Pujols, Howard, or Fielder put on waivers? The proverbial "everybody is put on waivers" is a huge ASSUMPTION that everybody makes. Truth is, we don't know for sure.

- If the Twins put Mauer on waivers without at least discussing with Mauer first, they are fools. You run the risk of alienating your best player at the start of a long term contract with a no-trade clause. If Mauer wasn't on board with the move, they could have a player and PR disaster on their hands.

- The fact that Joe did not get moved leads me to believe this was a trolling expedition by both the team and Mauer to see if there was anybody close to making a move for him. It looks to me like they may both be laying the groundwork for a potential move, possibly as early as this offseason.

That being said, I do not believe Joe will be moved. Too many local variables to keep him here.