Minniman

Tarasenko was locked for eight seasons instead of given a bridge contract. The Blue paid more up front to keep Tarasenko in the fold during his prime. If he plays as expected, they will pay less on the back end. By "value" I mean not overpaying. It is obvious we disagree. I stated Mauer's the contract was a bad one the day it was signed. I said the Parise/Suter contracts would haunt the team for years, and I stated the Herschel Walker trade was the worst trade in NFL history as soon as it was announced. In each case, the Minnesota press was raving how good each team had done in bringing in major talent. I guess that is hindsight because I did not express how poorly designed each contract was before the information was released to the public. I am not psychic, but I do my best. We can move on.

That is not correct on both points. Value means making good deals with good players. St. Louis signed Vladimir Tarasenko to an eight season contract at $7.5 million each season instead of doing a bridge contract and risk losing him. That was a large contract at about the same cap as Parise/Suter, but Tarasenko may end up one of the top five forwards in the NHL, and he is going into his prime (23 years old), so locking him up for eight years makes sense. Parise and Suter were signed for 13 seasons after they were already 28 and 27 years old respectively. While the contracts are for essentially 10 seasons, the cap hit will be for 13 unless there is a buyout and the Wild take one on the chin by having to pay 2/3 the contract for no player and up to 20 years of dead money. I suspect a buyout will be part of one or both contracts down the road. St. Louis also signed defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to a four year $17 million contract ($4.25 million cap hit) one year after the Suter contract. Shattenkirk was good value and has outplayed Suter both during the season and during the playoffs. St. Louis is not immune to overpayment though. Paul Stastny signed a 4 year / $28,000,000 contract with the St Louis Blues, with a cap hit of $7,000,000 last season. Stastny underproduced and did not get value for the first season of the contract, but the Blues are only on the hook for four seasons if he continues to underproduce contract wise. Stastny will still be a productive veteran on the team, so a little overpayment in the short term is not as risky. I do not believe Tarasenko is a dumpster dive. Neither was Shattenkirk. The Blue overpaid a little for Stastny, but the contract was short term and had upside with a team that has other talent. If the Wild had signed Parise and Suter to eight year contract rather than 13 for the same average salary, it would have been better value. The Twins paid Mauer coming off an MVP season in which he suddenly hit for power. They paid him open market rates one season early to lock him up. It was a bold move by the Twins; it was a risky move by the Twins, and they did not get value. The contract for Nolasco was a head shaker. He never was anything better than a middle road third starting pitcher. The Twins overpaid the day the contract was signed because the team would not get value even if Nolasco pitched his averages for the entire contract, and it turned out even worse. I disagree. Timing and scouting can make a huge difference, and teams have to find that value. If an ace is worth his contract, that is still value. Some of it is luck, but if a third starter is paid like a second starter and ends up a fourth starter or worse, that is not value, and it likely was not ever going to be.

Paying for talent, I agree with. The Mauer contract, I did not agree with. Nolasco was overpaid from day one, and Kurt Suzuki never was a good hitter. In hockey, the Wild overpaid. They did not get value.

Twins pay big for mediocre arms. At least Toronto is beating up on New York.

Mauer should be working out with football trainers in the offseason to get his legs back in shape. Adding a little arm strength would help his power too.

The Parise/Suter contracts are the fourth largest total contracts in the NHL and 15th highest by season average. Are either Parise or Suter the fourth best player in the NHL? Suter wasn't even the fourth best defenseman on the team this last season. Mauer has the 11th largest total contract and the 20th per season. Is he close to being the 11th best player? How about the 20th? Is he even the 11th best first baseman? He is paid like the fourth best. Colabello is no all star, but he is outplaying Joe Mauer this season. Which player will be next?

The cap hit is the same for all 13 seasons unless they buyout at the end and take a beating. That is over $15 million in cap space for 13 seasons. http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/55235266.jpg

I disagree. The Twins jumped the gun and locked in Mauer a year early. Then they paid the high free agent market price for him. It was a mistake, and that contract should not have been offered. The Wild picked up Parise and Suter right before the contracts they signed would no longer be allowed in the NHL. The maximum now is eight years. They did this while having another anchor contract, from Koivu, on the books already.

I agree, a price must be paid, but in both cases the local team overpaid for local players that would rather have played at home. Instead of the hometown discount, both teams overpaid big time.

The Parise and Suter deals are both basically ten year deals. The last three spread out the salary cap hit. Both of them will receive $9 million for the next five seasons. Mauer does have a bigger hit, but there is no cap, and he is one player. The NHL has a hard cap. The Twins salaries are pretty cheap right now, so Mauer's looks worse than it should with the average payroll around $100 million in MLB. That does not mean the Mauer contract is not a pit of darkness; I stated it was the day it was signed. It just means the Wild did not learn from that, and the team will be hitting the wall next season when the team will need to sign its restricted and unrestricted free agents. The Wild are less than $2 million from the cap. The Twins are $25 million from the league median payroll.

13 years and $98,000,000 each for Parise and Suter in a league with a salary cap is nothing like the 8 year and $184,000,000 contract for Mauer in a league with no cap and 2.5 times the revenue per club? You are right, those Suter and Parise contracts are worse.

Don't feel bad, over in the Wild Extra we will be having this conversation for two players who are currently three years into 13 year contracts. The Wild should have learned from the Twins.

Yeah, the Twins would rather had him bunt than swing away.

I said "those teams" meaning the playoff teams over those years. Wasn't Ortiz still productive in 2008?

Imagine if they had kept Johan Santana in 2008, and what could those teams have been with David Ortiz in the lineup. Those two moves killed the Twins World Series chances.

How is Duensing even on the team still?

Andy MacPhail was hired by the Phillies to turn them around. I wonder if he would have come back to Minnesota.

That is how Eddie Guardado pitched as a mid-reliever; he allowed inherited runners to score before settling down. I did not believe that could be taught, but he is the bullpen coach.

Hunter is a good, but not great, player. He is no Kirby Pucket or Harmon Killebrew. Being away for seven seasons also puts a stale taste in my mouth.

Pfffft! http://photos.gograph.com/thumbs/CSP/CSP862/k21447375.jpg

How about Wilson Ramos? Oh, ... never mind.

Perkins will blow a save in the NFC ALCS to lose the series. All Minnesota fans will remember is that one blown save.

After attempting to say as little about Dozier and the Minnesota Twins as possible, Joe Buck responds to the home run by interjecting, "That is a disgusting act by Brian Dozier, and it's unfortunate that we had to air it live."

The Twins showed how bad their pitching coaching had become with Worley. He has played well everywhere BUT here. The front office gave him away for nothing. Having another starter with an ERA under 3.50 would sure be nice.

Ricky Henderson or Tim Raines these guys are not. The Twins need to be coached better on how to take a lead, what pitch to watch for, and how to just stay put even when the light is green. I wonder how many of these steals are failed hit and run attempts ... run and hit misses.