Twins, Mauer, agree on contract

[Migratory Redbird]

Posted at BOTB by Bird Brain.

Sources: Mauer, Twins Agree To 10-Year Contract

Details not available yet, but it will probably be a template for an extension with Pujols.

[Brak60]

Originally Posted by Migratory Redbird

Posted at BOTB by Bird Brain.

Sources: Mauer, Twins Agree To 10-Year Contract

Details not available yet, but it will probably be a template for an extension with Pujols.

Olney has the reports are a little premature.

[Detroit Louie]

Originally Posted by Migratory Redbird

Posted at BOTB by Bird Brain.

Sources: Mauer, Twins Agree To 10-Year Contract

Details not available yet, but it will probably be a template for an extension with Pujols.

Wishful thinking. Mauer is three years behind Pujols in age and MLB seasons, and as good as he is, he's well behind in stats. But then again, Mauer is a catcher. I'd love to see this contract, whatever it is, set the market for Pujols, but afraid it doesn't really begin to do so.

[Migratory Redbird]

Originally Posted by Detroit Louie

Wishful thinking. Mauer is three years behind Pujols in age and MLB seasons, and as good as he is, he's well behind in stats. But then again, Mauer is a catcher. I'd love to see this contract, whatever it is, set the market for Pujols, but afraid it doesn't really begin to do so.

It's certainly not an ideal comp. Mauer is behind Pujols in age, which means that he ought to have a better chance of being productive at the end of a particular contract period. He was arguably as good of a hitter as Pujols last season and in 2006, but not over the body of his career. Looking forward, one could predict they'll be fairly close to each other if injuries don't intervene.

However, there's a much larger market for a gold glove catcher who can lead his league in batting average 3 years out of 6 than there is for a gold glove 1st baseman who has led his league in OPS 3 times out of 9. The delta between Mauer and the average catcher is significantly larger than the delta between Pujols and the average 1st baseman and there are at least 5 1st basemen who -- though inferior to Pujols overall -- are at least reasonably close comps. A team isn't giving up that much if they have to settle for Teixeira, Youkilis, Howard, Fielder, or Adrian Gonzalez instead of Pujols, and that's ignoring Mauer's teammate who was AL MVP a couple years ago.

Objectively, Pujols may be worth as much as a hitter as Alex Rodriguez, but Albert is not a shortstop or a 3rd baseman. His 1st base comp is Teixeira, who got an 8 year, $180M contract from the Yankees 2 years ago. But Teixeira was 2 years younger at the time and he was the only premier 1st baseman on the market before the economy hit the skids.

Right now, Pujols has the 19th biggest contract in ML history, but you have to look at who's ahead of him. The top five contracts -- all of those over $160M -- were all given out to Yankees players. (Yes, A-Rod got the #2 contract, but the Rangers ended up choking on that deal and selling it to the Yankees at a discount.)

In a much better economy, only the Yankees were willing to give Mark Teixeira a $180M contract. Now, the Yankees have begun to pinch pennies and they have a 1st baseman; who else in the current economy is going to give out a Teixeira-level contract, with all the other 1st basemen who will be competing for big contracts in 2011-2012.

The Cardinals are also going to have to discount Pujols if they give him an extension now, 2 years away from free agency. Yes, his price will go up tremendously if he reaches free agency, but giving him an extension now means that the Cards will have assumed 2 years of risk and taken that risk away from Pujols.

Realistically, I can't see Pujols getting above $21M - $22M a year on a 7-year extension and even that will likely involve deferrals which would reduce the annual cost of the contract significantly, unless the Cards wait a year or two.

[Jmodene]

FWIW, Mauer's been around long enough to get some comps on baseball-reference.

His top four, through his current age (26) are Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Jason Kendall, and Mickey Cochrane. Not a bad comp list, although I can't figure out what Jason Kendall is doing on that list.

[jimmcg]

There are a number of intangibles that figure into negotiating a contract with Pujols that go beyonf his comparison with other first basemen. I can't think of another first baseman that plays the game with the aggressiveness of Albert Pujols. And he gets positive results from that aggressiveness.

But the greater intangibles that work to his advantage are the valid perceptions of his greatness as a player and individual by media and fans, and the negative impact on the Cardinals that will result overall if they don't sign him.

Ask anyone and almost all will say he is the best overall player in baseball right now.

[Migratory Redbird]

Originally Posted by jimmcg

... Ask anyone and almost all will say he is the best overall player in baseball right now.

Which isn't the issue. The issue is where he will rank from age 31-38 if he receives a 7-year contract extension. The majority of long term contracts turn out to be very poor bargains at the back end. (A few don't; Jeter is the one example which comes to my mind at the moment.)

[jimmcg]

Originally Posted by Migratory Redbird

Which isn't the issue. The issue is where he will rank from age 31-38 if he receives a 7-year contract extension. The majority of long term contracts turn out to be very poor bargains at the back end. (A few don't; Jeter is the one example which comes to my mind at the moment.)

I know that should be true, but we saw what happened with Holliday, who is the same age. Trying to please others may not be the issue, but I'm not convinced it isn't an issue.

[CardsFanInCanada]

As good as Pujols is (and no one is better), Mauer is better than the next group of catchers by a bigger margin than Pujols is better than the next group of firstbaseman.

Firstbaseman litter the top OPS players in the league (where there where 4 within 50 points of Pujols and 12 within 100 points).

Catchers:Mauer was 2nd, the next best is 47th. Mauer was 170 points ahead of #2 in catchers. The next was almost 200 points behind. Pujols had 20 within 180 points.

What that does to his value I'm not sure, but it's arguable that Mauer as a catcher has exceptional value. I doubt he can keep up last years hitting stats, for no reason other than the wear and tear on catchers.

But if he could, he would be the majors best player.

[Grey's Anatomy # 1 Fan]

ESPN and CBS Sports reporting finally singing 8 year contract


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5016230

Mauer gets full no-trade clause in dealEmail Print Comments 55Share160retweet6Associated Press



Mauer

MINNEAPOLIS -- AL MVP Joe Mauer has agreed to an eight-year, $184 million contract extension to stay with the Minnesota Twins.

The deal announced Sunday covers the 2011-2018 seasons and includes a full no-trade clause. It's the culmination of a monthslong negotiation between the Twins and their hometown star.

Mauer has won three AL batting titles and an MVP award. He is considered one of the best defensive catchers in the game. Last year he hit .365 with 28 home runs and 96 RBIs to help the Twins win the AL Central division.

The St. Paul native was the No. 1 overall pick by the Twins in 2001.


Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

[jimmcg]

That's a lot of moola, especially for a team with a payroll the size the Twins have been having.

[Dwain]

Now we know the kind of numbers it will take to sign Albert. 8 years at $23M seems to be about what I was hoping for.

[Jmodene]

If I got an 8 year contract for that kind of money, I'd be "singing" too.