Mauer agrees to one-year deal

[Lynch]

Last update: March 05, 2006 8:06 AM

Mauer agrees to one-year deal

The Twins could be headed to an arbitration showdown with Joe Mauer next winter after agreeing to another one-year deal Saturday.

With two years of major league service time, Mauer will be eligible for arbitration -- and a hefty pay raise -- after this year.

In some cases, teams have worked to prevent arbitration battles by signing top young players to multiyear contracts.

Cleveland, for example, renewed the contract for catcher Victor Martinez at $372,000 last March and then gave him a five-year, $15.5 million deal in April.

Mauer's situation is different because he missed much of 2004 because of a knee injury and had relatively modest production last year, batting .294 with nine homers and 55 RBI. But it is telling that Mauer and the Twins didn't even discuss a multiyear deal. Terms weren't disclosed, but Mauer likely received a slight bump over last year's $325,000 salary.

"We can revisit those [contract discussions] any time they want," Twins General Manager Terry Ryan said.

With a deadline of next Sunday to renew all players on their 40-man roster, the Twins completed their list, also reaching agreement with Justin Morneau, Lew Ford, Scott Baker, Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier and Francisco Liriano.

[Lynch]

I'm not quite sure why they only did a 1-year deal. I don't know a lot about baseball contracts (compared to NFL or NBA), but a 1 year deal just doesn't sit terribly well with me. I would have gone for at least 2. Especially since they wasted him in the first 2 years of his contract in the minors.

[General]

It wasn't something both sides agreed in. Just a regular, almost a minor league, deal. He couldn't have gotten over 400,000.

[DirtyKash]

Read the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Lynch. It's explained in there, as in the Uniform Player's Contract.

[Lynch]

Sorry, I don't have the CBA handy.

[Saber]

Dude, his agent sucks. Now he'll be a free agent next year!

[Retro16]

Dude, his agent sucks. Now he'll be a free agent next year!

Dude, he have intentions to stay in Minnesota after this year. Duh, hometown hero.

[Saber]

Is that what he have?

[General]

I guess you didn't sense the sarcasm in Saber's typing.