words_Nick Engvall
This week, Twins fans around the world took a simultaneous sigh of relief at the news that Minnesota agreed to terms with superstar catcher Joe Mauer. Last year’s American League MVP signed on the dotted line for upwards of $184 Million, a season before he was scheduled to become a free agent, which could have taken him elsewhere.
As a fan of baseball, this deal is much bigger than just a resigning. For the Twins and their fans, this is a big accomplishment. Considering the trend of superstar players hitting free agency and skipping town for high dollars and big market fame, Mauer choosing to stay in his native state of Minnesota could be the start of a new trend. It’s hard to think that $23 Million a year for eight years is anything less than what Mauer could have reached on the free agency market, but it is undoubtedly true.
For the Twins, this also means they should remain a competitive team. In addition, Mauer’s no-trade clause will give them an opportunity to use their new facility, Target Field, to the fullest extent with the AL’s reigning MVP returning to fill the new forty thousand plus seats for the next 8 seasons.
For the rest of the medium market teams, the Mauer signing is a ray of hope that it might be possible to still expect that players play for the love of the game, and not only for the love of money. Despite the trend of players flocking to the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers, teams like the Twins, A’s and Nationals still have hope of keeping some of the superstars they’ve groomed within their respective farm systems.
For Major League Baseball, and we the fans, this is good on all levels (unless your team is another AL Central team of course) because the separation between the high dollar teams and the lower budgeted smaller market teams has been rupturing rapidly in recent years. Considering that at least one of the major market teams (Angels, Dodgers, Mets, Yankees or Red Sox) has been a part of the post-season for the last 15 years, a player with Mauer’s resume not making the move to one of those teams is a big step towards the betterment of Major League Baseball as a whole.
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photo via yahoo
Great news to have him re-sign, it shows he has great character, and hopefully, like you said many more will follow.
Being a lifetime Twins fan, this was the best news possible the other day. Joe Mauer will go down like the Ernie Banks of the Twins, being known as “Mr. Twin”. I’m happy to see a guy stand up and resign with the small market team, it means a lot to the franchise and also the fans. Hopefully he keeps producing like he has so far!