| 01 February 2010
According to a report out of Minnesota, reigning MVP and batting champion Joe Mauer has agreed to a 10-year keeping the local product in Twins pinstripes for the next decade.
While I am horribly sad that this means Mauer won't have any chance to become a Red Sox player, I am very happy for the fans of Minnesota who get to keep their superstar and maintain the core of their team. After losing stars like Torii Hunter and Johan Santana it is nice to see the Twins lock up the 26-year-old Mauer and fellow MVP Justin Morneau for the next several years.
With the team opening a new stadium this season and the death of Carl Pohlad last January the tides are turning in Minnesota. Pohlad was one of the wealthiest people in America but refused to use his wealth in terms of the product on the field. With his sons now in control of the team, it seems that the purse-strings are loosened. They may not be the Yankees, but then they haven't needed to be in order to get to the playoffs largely on the back of their own developed players.
Terms of the deal aren't known yet, my guess is somewhere in the area of $200-240 million at about $21M a season. Certainly excellent money but probably not close to what he might have made with a bidding war between the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and who knows who else.
I do hope this means Mauer plays his whole career with the Twinkies though, if only because I love the throwback helmet he wears when catching.
This news ought to, at least in small part, soften the pain from the Vikings loss...
[WCCO]
******UPDATE:
ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted that the news of Mauer and the Twins signing a deal is a bit premature and that the sides haven't come to an agreement as yet.
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