Mauer, Twins avoid arbitration with four-year deal

Associated Press

 

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Twins catcher and AL batting champ Joe Mauer has agreed to a four-year contract with the team, avoiding salary arbitration, the Twins announced Sunday.

 

Mauer, 23, batted .347 with 84 RBIs in 2006 to help the Twins rally from a 12?-game deficit in the division race to win the AL Central on the final day of the regular season.

 

Mauer, the first pick in the 2001 draft out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, was eligible for arbitration this winter for the first time.

 

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

 

The deal will keep Mauer with the Twins through at least 2010, the year the team is slated to begin playing in a new ballpark.

 

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

I never, ever, thought I'd envy the Twins...

obviously a great signing, good for them.

4 years, $33 million guaranteed, plus incentives for awards, ie: MVP

 

http://www.startribune.com/509/story/995261.html

Meanwhile, the Marlins try to squeeze every penny out of their young stars in arbitration.

I hate Loria

C'mon Ryan.....get Minnesota some damn starting pitching!!

im jealous

 

 

:confused

I never, ever, thought I'd envy the Twins...

 

Funny that you say that... I totally agree :lol

how the hell are we not able to do this? this ownership should be jailed

very smart move.

 

 

while one of the biggest cheapskates in all of the MLB makes a move like this, which may cost him more now, but saves him tons long term, we nickel and dime everything, ultimately costing us 10 times what it would cost.

 

 

Hooray.

I never, ever, thought I'd envy the Twins...

I, for one, envy their new stadium.

I never, ever, thought I'd envy the Twins...

I, for one, envy their new stadium.

I understand that getting a new stadium is important, and even that it's the most important issue that faces the team right now. Getting a new stadium, however, and maintaining smart business practices are not mutually exclusive. Both can be done at the same time.

I'd argue that signing Cabrera or Willis long term aren't smart business practices without some assurance that the team can afford those contracts in a few years.

 

Just as well, in any such deal, a trade clause will have to be negotiated to allow the team the flexibility needed for their contingency plans. That will place an unnecessary burden on the contract negotiations, and the relationship between the player and team, that may have equal or greater impact than the salaries commanded.

There should be a full understanding that once the stadium agreement is reached Willis and Cabs will be fully taken care of instead of just leaving the matter up in the air

I'd argue that signing Cabrera or Willis long term aren't smart business practices without some assurance that the team can afford those contracts in a few years.

 

Just as well, in any such deal, a trade clause will have to be negotiated to allow the team the flexibility needed for their contingency plans. That will place an unnecessary burden on the contract negotiations, and the relationship between the player and team, that may have equal or greater impact than the salaries commanded.

 

And I'd argue that the stadium will never come to fruition unless there are "signs" of good faith from this ownership group. And while I realize you'll be quick to point out Lowell and Delgado, I'd be quick to remind you that the ink wasn't yet dry on their contracts before there were rumblings about the true duration of their stay in Miami.

 

Regardless of that, sports business is unlike any other business. You can spend nothing and make scads of money and you can spend plenty and make scads of money. It truly is its own animal given 30 mutually exclusive markets for one similar good, and if the Marlins market has shown anything it's that the only good business practice is building and maintaining a winner, or did the progress of 2003-2005 get lost on so many?

Yet we've come closest to a stadium deal when the club was pursuing a stadium more than Delgados. So perhaps showing effort on the field is not required, but showing willingness to compromise in negotiations.

I wish we could have Mauer..*daydreams*. I'm so damn jealous of the twins. they need a couple more pieces to be a fantastic ballclub. It's a good time to be a twin fan: mauer, morneau, liriano, santana, and oh yeah, the new stadium on the way. damn I'm really jealous now.

Yet we've come closest to a stadium deal when the club was pursuing a stadium more than Delgados. So perhaps showing effort on the field is not required, but showing willingness to compromise in negotiations.

 

Oh now that's a half truth at best and you know it. The reason we're as close is not because of some rapid position shift on the part of the Marlins but the new involvement from Major League Baseball, and even then it still is no closer than Henry's plan to use tourism tax to finance the ballpark, this hinges on the state pledging money, and that's something that's been steadfastly opposed. The biggest X factor in this is the new Governor Crist, but we're not going to credit the Marlins for that too are we?

 

I'd argue that if MLB can bring the franchise this close while it is constantly the butt of jokes, it'd have been a slam dunk if there hadn't been a firesale one season previous.

 

Just because Delgado, Lowell, Beckett et al are not here and progress is made does not mean that their presence impeded progress or that their absence aided it.

It is a half truth. Progress started only after we won. And continued on a slow pace while the team made an effort to continue winning. Before even we broke that promise, the city broke theirs and the stadium deal faltered. Since then it has been in the hands of those who believe in the issue.

 

To me, this proves my point. Delgados don't build stadiums. Nor do Loftons or or Shannon Stewarts or paying Cabrera $7.4M. The only thing that matters is showing the city, county and state that's a deal worthwhile on its own. The team's commitment to improve on the field is an afterthought.