Baseball Can Only Hope for the Best
by Brooklynsoul on Feb 1, 2010 8:35 PM EST
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2010 will be an exciting year in free agency. King James is going to have to make the decision of whether to stay in a city where no professional team has won a championship since the 1964, or to go the bright lights of the big apple. Dwayne Wade will most likely leave Miami for greener pastures and Chris Bosh will also have to decide his fate. But the most important signing of them all is none other than Mr. Minnesota, Joe Mauer. Joe Mauer can validate that title for the rest of his life if he signs a long-term deal to the low budget, yet highly competitive Minnesota Twins.
The reason I bring this up now is because sources have told WCCO-TV's Mark Rosen that the Twinkies and Joe Mauer have come to a preliminary agreement with the Minnesota Twins for a 10-year contract. Don't rejoice yet Twins fans because ESPN's Buster Olney has tweeted saying that while talks "are optimistic" the report is "not accurate."
We all know baseball is in a rut right now. The steriod era is not over yet and will not be for a long time. The latest big baseball news once again was a former player admitting to his alleged steriod use and completely fabricating the truth. It may take the league another five years to take major steps away from the whole scandal. But the bigger problem in the sport is money. I guarantee you will never hear people arguing about payrolls in any other major sport. The big thing in the NBA is that with one great player a team can at least be competitive. Even with Cleveland's unimpressive supporting cast, Lebron is leading the Cavs to the number one seed in Eastern Conference. Even with a terrible (and I repeat terrible supporting cast) Wade is in position to make the playoffs. But in baseball, it is quintessential not to bank on one player. Take Alex Rodriguez for example. Between 2001 to 2003 Alex Rodriguez was no doubt the best hitter in the American League. He averaged 52 bombers per year, hit around .300 every year, and won two gold gloves. And every year in that span Texas finished in last because of their mediocre pitching staff.
That's what makes payrolls so important in baseball. There are so many holes needed to be filled on a baseball team and teams with money have such an advantage to do so. Not only that, when players on low budget teams gain superstar status, the teams can't sign them back because they don't want so much money committed to one person. But for the sake of baseball Joe Mauer needs to stay with the Twins. This is the ultimate test for major league baseball. Ownership of the Twins needs to make a statement for major league baseball that a low-budget team can keep their franchise players. As a Yankee fan even I would be completely distraught if he were to sign with the Yankees. Who working for the MLB would want to see a team with six of the highest paid players in the game. I want to see the low-budget teams keep their high profile players. And while it might terrible for some to see Lebron, Wade, or Bosh go to the Empire State and play for the Knickerbockers, Mr. Minnesota leaving the only place he has known as home for greener pastures would be the most detrimental of them all.
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Ah, the duality.
I’d love to see him in pinstripes, too. But I do think it’s good for the game overall to have him stay with the Twins. Actually, I wrote a fanpost about it back in December… here’s a link. :-)
here here
okay i have cereal palsy arhrtis and chronic fatiue as well i have a grea life loveing folks some days are better that other days i got a make a wish in 2001 saw my favorive team the broncos was the trip of the lifetime i wish everyone couild gotten to enjoy that with me i know some of u hate the broncos and that ok but i bleed organ and bule reseident broncos fan for ap lol denver will rise again resident broncos fan for every blog resident broncos fan for stanpleid bule
wraithpk
okay i have cereal palsy arhrtis and chronic fatiue as well i have a grea life loveing folks some days are better that other days i got a make a wish in 2001 saw my favorive team the broncos was the trip of the lifetime i wish everyone couild gotten to enjoy that with me i know some of u hate the broncos and that ok but i bleed organ and bule reseident broncos fan for ap lol denver will rise again resident broncos fan for every blog resident broncos fan for stanpleid bule
If Mauer ever hit FA
and our brass decided that he would make the Yankees better, then I would expect them to fully pursue him.
If the Twinkies want to keep him (which I think that they will), they’re either going to have to convince him to take less than his market value, or else pony up 200+MM.
If they don’t do that, the idea that Joe Mauer leaving Minnesota would hurt his image as a “hometown kid” shouldn’t slow us up for one second.
American sports are about winning and capitalism, not storybook endings and good feelings.
This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.
i understand that, but i think it would hurt the sport.
we are very fortunate to be yankee fans have such a great management that is willing to spend large sums of money to keep and acquire players. But we already have the top five highest paid players in the game, so why should we upset that Minnesota will have him. I’m all about the yanks winning no doubt about it, but im also about having competitive balance.
where have you gone Joe dimaggio our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you?
http://checkthatchriseverett.blogspot.com/
I'm not upset that Minnesota has Mauer
and I’m not upset that Pujols is on the Cardinals or Lincecum is on the Giants etc. and I don’t think that the Yankees have a right to all of the best players.
I think that the management of every team must do everything that it can to help their team win. If Joe Mauer is a free agent, and signing him would help the Yankees win, then I would expect management to pursue him as much as possible. Period. With no regard to how it might negatively effect other teams.
This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.
If Joe Mauer extends with the Twins
Brian Cashman, Hank & Hal, Randy Levine, Gene Monahan, and all stadium parking lot attendants are going to feel my wrath when I e-mail them (via iPhone) explaining my reasons for not purchasing 2011 Yankees season tickets.
Forget Mauer
1. The Yankess do not have a god-given right to a fantasy team of free agents.
2. If the team has a $200m budget this year, and roughly the same budget next year, how do they afford him? Someone else with a big salary would have to go. ARod, Jeter, Teixeira, Posada, Sabathia, Burnett, and Rivera take up a majority of the budget all by themselves. There are relatively few players in the middle- Cano, Swisher, and Granderson, maybe Marte. The rest of the team is very young and makes near the minimum.
3. With catachers coming up through the minors, Mauer does not seem like the best bang for the free agent buck. Another starter, perhaps, if Hughes and Chamberlain can’t get it together, or an outfielder on the way up with a bat, neither of which are in the farm system right now would be better investments.
by designatedquitter on Feb 2, 2010 10:45 AM EST reply actions
They would have been able to afford him
that isn’t the question. I’m glad he stayed in Minnesota though. Thats where he belongs.
As far as the payroll, it will be lower next year. It’s around 200 million this year. But next year, Rivera and Jeter both will be resigned to lesser deals. Johnson will be gone. Vasquez will be gone. A-Rod’s salary goes down from the raise he had this year (he’s making more this year than any other years in his career). Thats around 20-25 million that will be off the books next year. That would have been enough to get Mauer next year and keep the payroll the same as this year. But they’ll probably spend that money to get Crawford or Lee/Beckett/Webb. Or both. Who knows.
i don't get
the mentality that Mauer staying in MN is the best thing for baseball. It’s the best thing for MN and the Twins and their fans and that’s about it. I’m not saying I do or don’t want him to be a Yankee, but it has to be the best thing for Mauer too.
I wonder, though, if the Player’s Union will have anything to say about a deal that places Mauer too far below his market value, like they did with A-Rod, preventing him from going to the Red Sox for less money than the Yankees were offering.
I don't know how the player's union has a basis to say anything.
At the end of the day, if the Twins and Mauer agree to a relatively low signing price and both parties are happy with the deal, what the heck right does the player’s union (or anyone else for that matter) have to complain? This is still America, land of the free… and if both parties to the contact cook up a sweetheart deal, the heck with anybody else. More importantly, what legal basis would the player’s union have to do ANYTHING!?! A third party jumping into a contract and insisting that both parties must do as THEY say, not as both parties with… THAT would be crazy.
Mauer staying in MIN gives fans of other small market teams a sense of parity as well as hope that their favorite team is capable of retaining their own young stars.
by Scooby Snacks on Feb 2, 2010 10:15 PM EST up reply actions
The union only had a say in the failed A-Rod to BOS deal b/c it would reduce the value of his already signed contract.
by Scooby Snacks on Feb 2, 2010 10:21 PM EST up reply actions
The payroll can't be lower and still take on a superstar
At best, it could stay the same. I slao don’t see Jeter or Rivera taking major pay cuts. I see them extending for pretty much the same money. They’re hall of famers and will paid accordingly. If Nick Johnson is not re- signed, it will be because they spent more, not less to replace him. Same with Vasquez..
by designatedquitter on Feb 4, 2010 10:57 AM EST reply actions
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