Mauer's Big Deal

The Twins made it official last night, signing their catcher Joe Mauer to the richest contract in franchise history at their spring training headquarters in Fort Myers, Florida.  The mega-deal will pay Mauer $184 million over eight years and will be tacked on to the end of his previous contract, which expires at the end of the 2010 season. In other words, Mauer, who began his storied career as the first overall pick in the draft of the Minnesota Twins back in 2001, will undoubtedly end his career as a Twin as well. Whether he will end it as a catcher remains to be seen. If the Twins want to get the most bang for their buck they will have to at least consider the idea of moving the versatile Mauer out from behind the dish at some point down the line, as catcher is by far the most physically demanding position in the game. Not too many catchers play well into their mid-30s, and the hometown hero will be 35 in the final season of his new deal.


Mauer's contract is the fourth-largest in Major League history, behind the two Alex Rodriguez deals and Derek Jeter's current contract and just ahead of the deals signed by Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia in recent seasons. Notice any patterns there? A lot of Yankees both ahead and behind Mauer. The Yankees would have been front and center in the bidding war for Mauer's services had he made it to free agency after the season. Yes, the Twins are in uncharted territory after signing the reigning AL MVP.  But at least they didn't let him get to free agency...where they almost certainly would have lost him to the Yankees or Red Sox in a bidding war that could have climbed between $25 and $30 million annually.

The deal that Mauer signed includes a full no-trade clause and, from what I have gleaned, says nothing about deferred money or an opt-out clause, which is good news for Twins fans. Mauer said during his contract signing press conference that the prospect of free agency made him "curious" but he quickly assured everyone that his desire all along was to stay in Minnesota and play with the team for which he grew up rooting.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact Mauer's signing has on the next wave of big baseball contracts. Victor Martinez of the Red Sox now stands to be the best catcher on the free agency market next offseason, unless of course the Red Sox lock him up to a long term deal between now and then. Even though Martinez is generally considered the second best hitting catcher (and therefore the second best fantasy catcher) in the big leagues, he should not set his sights on getting a deal in the neighborhood of the one Mauer just inked. For one thing, Martinez is not the overall player that Joe is...not even close. Mauer's batting average dwarfs Martinez's as do his gold glove defensive skills. Moreover, Martinez is nearly five years older than Mauer and he is transitioning to first base, where he played 70 games last year.

The more intriguing case may be that of NL MVP Albert Pujols, who is due to become a free agent following the 2011 season. The Cardinals will undoubtedly pick up the $16 million option on Pujols' deal for '11, but can they afford to re-sign him after that? Picturing Pujols in a uniform other than that of the Cardinals is nearly as gross as picturing Mauer in something other than a Twins jersey. But it could happen and that's why you've been hearing the trade rumors recently from those who are connecting the dots on the future of baseball's biggest bat. Pujols will be 32 years old when he becomes a free agent, so a six or eight-year contract is not out of the question...and you can bet that he will be looking for more money per season than any player ever has. Does Pujols deserve to be the highest paid player in the game? You won't get any argument (aside from Mauer's staunchest supporters) but does that mean Sir Albert is worth $30 million per season? Maybe even (gulp) $40 million per?  If that's what the market dictates, then probably. However, the Cardinals can't afford to pay him that kind of dough. They have never had a payroll over $100 million and that kind of money would leave them scarce few resources for the rest of their roster that already includes Matt Holliday's $17 million per year through 2016. That leaves the usual big-spending suspects such as the Yankees (who already have a big money first baseman in Teixeira), Mets (who desperately need a first baseman), and the Red Sox (who may no longer have Martinez and may want to keep Kevin Youkilis at third base by 2011). Can you imagine Pujols hitting in Fenway Park?  Ugh!

Cot's Baseball Contracts has already updated their listing of the richest contracts in baseball history to reflect the Mauer deal.

ESPN.com's Jayson Stark had the best column on the Mauer signing that I have come across.

Aaron Gleeman also had a great analysis of the signing, particularly the risks involved in signing any player to a contract of more than $100 million. You can find his take at AaronGleeman.com.   

The Minneapolis Star Tribune did a nice job of detailing what kind of impact the Mauer signing will have on the Twins payroll, which just 11 years ago was $19 million and is now inching closer to $100 million.

Check out Strib columnist Joe Christensen's analysis of the Twins sky-rocketing payroll.