Article: Mauer Making a Statement?

One more question....let's say the Twins don't have Mauer, would they have spent that money? I'm not convinced and think their payroll could easily be around $75 million instead of $100. They had the opportunity and cash to pick up a couple $5-8 million this year and chose not to. They certainly wouldn't have been out to get anyone more expensive than that like Pujols or Reyes.

There were plenty of pitchers available in the offseason, and they signed marquis...and cut payroll. So, it isn't that they want to get guys and none were available, they chose not to sign them.

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Originally Posted by Seth Stohs

1.) We knew all along that from a strictly baseball standpoint, the contract would never make sense, but we also all know that the Twins had to sign him or moving into Target Field may have been a mess.

2.) The money is spent. They can't un-do it. They can't alter it. It is what it is at this point.

3.) If the Twins have a $95 Million payroll this year, and Joe Mauer is $23 million of it, there is still another $72 million to spend, and Terry Ryan has build playoff teams on less than that. The Mauer contract is just an excuse.

4.) The Twins have given long-term contracts to several players. Sometimes it has worked (Hunter, Santana, Radke, Nathan's first one), and some haven't (Blackburn's, Nathan's second one).

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I'm on board with all of this except I would't consider a four year deal long term. The quality of player who sings a four year deal is usually quite different from the type that sign seven year deals.

Mauer is worth every penny!