Joe Mauer signs 8 year extension with the Twins

[missionhockey21]

Wow. Mauer will be a Twin until he is 35. Looks like the two sides found the middle ground between the 20 mil offered and the 25 mil demanded.

Per John Perotto:

#Twins catcher Joe Mauer agrees to eight-year, $184-million extension that takes effect next season. Official signing coming at 7 p.m.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Congrats to the Twins for actually spending money for once. And that is a LOT of money. Wow...

At least he won't be with the Red Sox haha

[Kingdom]

Barring unexpected future trade, he will not be in the hands of either of the Evil entities.. until he's on the wrong side of 30. Now if only Longoria and Braun would get locked up till they were 40..

[redsrbetter]

This is huge! I always love seeing young studs being locked up by smaller market teams. Mauer is Minnesota these days and could be as popular as Kirby when it is all said and done. I know that is saying a lot right now, but he is that good.

The Twins may have locked up what could be the greatest catcher of all time as well. Now I did it, I just said a mouth full. I am just very excited about this move. Well done Twinks!

[henks]

Tears of joy.

He will be bigger than Kirby, in due time.

[missionhockey21]

It really is a great day for mid-market teams when a move like this happens. The Twins are locking up their talent to build around and hopefully moves like this work out for them.

How many years of the deal would you expect Mauer to remain at catcher (competently)?

[Providence A's]

Barring unexpected future trade, he will not be in the hands of either of the Evil entities.. until he's on the wrong side of 30. Now if only Longoria and Braun would get locked up till they were 40..

The deal includes a full no-trade clause.

[redsrbetter]

I expect Mauer to stay at catcher the entire term barring injury problems. I know catching takes its toll, but this guy is said to be extremely good behind the plate. His intangibles can be compared to Jason Varitek as far as leadership goes. He is as close as you can get to being the perfect catcher.

And the full no trade clause can be interesting. If he continues to stay healthy, I have no doubt he will be top tier talent. So the fans will likely want him to stay around. If the Twins feel like they simply can't afford him anymore, they will have a very hard time getting rid of him.

Looks like he is with the Twins for the entire 8 year contract and I really don't think it is too long a deal. He will likely have more years than that in the big leagues even if he plays catcher for this 8 years.

[brewersfan19]

Wow! That is a lot of $$$$.

[henks]

4th biggest contract in MLB history.

[cjkalt]

you guys say its a great move and all, where does this leave morneau?

Look at mid-market teams in the past that have had lots of money tied up in one guy

Colorado- Helton- made a magic WS run one year but haven't done much since

Texas- A-Rod- done much better since he left

Toronto-Vernon Wells- Did absolutely nothing...

Giants-Barry Zito- struggle to spend for the big bat cause hes there, still no long term success


While its a great day that they spent the money, to say its great for the twins given precedent is very optimistic at best when comparing to the Marlins

[henks]

Morneau signed a six year deal back in 2008. M&M will have a few years for sure together.

[realmofotalk]

To say this is not a club friendly contract would be an understatement. Still, Mauer would be the franchise player for just about any other team. Moreover, the Twins organization is a factory for producing cost-effective pitchers (pitchers whose best skill is a low walk rate are cheaper than those whose best skill is a sexy strikeout rate), so they're not concerned about having to buy a #1 starter.

BTW, Colorado made the WS in spite of Helton being a shell of his former self. They might have been able to keep their MVP Matt Holliday if it wasn't for Helton's contract, too.

[GiantsFanatic]

you guys say its a great move and all, where does this leave morneau?

Look at mid-market teams in the past that have had lots of money tied up in one guy

Colorado- Helton- made a magic WS run one year but haven't done much since

Texas- A-Rod- done much better since he left

Toronto-Vernon Wells- Did absolutely nothing...

Giants-Barry Zito- struggle to spend for the big bat cause hes there, still no long term success


While its a great day that they spent the money, to say its great for the twins given precedent is very optimistic at best when comparing to the Marlins

Colorado made it to the playoffs last year.
Texas- Regardless of what they do after A-rod means nothing, Texas did sign key players/had key players around when A-rod was there, Palmero, Pudge, they also signed Chan Ho at that time, but his injury problems got to him.

Toronto- 3 things, Wells himself has sucked, also it doesn't help when you play in a division that included NYY, BOS and TB.

Giants- Just because they gave Zito that contract doesn't mean that prevents the Giants from signing FA. Also Giants have been in contention for either the WC or the division for the past couple of years, if you weren't following west coast baseball.

[catman]

I'm very pleased with this deal. It keeps the face of the franchise in a Twins' uniform for a long time.