Twins Extend Joe Mauer, 8 years $184 million

[Swifty]

MLB could also throw them a bone schedule wise and give them a light home-slate in April (if weather proves to be a consistent issue for attendance / PPDs).

[Party]

I think that is likely, though their stadium is, to me, a question mark.

It is, by all means, a game changer.

But let's see how the April and September attendance is before we get ahead of ourselves.

Attendance isn't going to matter in April if you have 20,000 season ticket holders. Ticket sales in MLB are not a big a factor in determining payroll as hockey.

[Flum]

Not bad for someone who has only played 80% of his team's games in the last 5 years.

[Bobbob1313]

He should be a two time MVP award winner.

<- became less and less of a fan of Pedroia winning the MVP as time went on.

[nny]

Not bad for someone who has only played 80% of his team's games in the last 5 years.

Same thing I was thinking. He's average ~130 games a year. Hanley, Pujols, and Utley (Those four rounding out the top 4 of most valuable players) play in 155+.

The counter point is certainly that catcher is more valuable, and that if he played in those 155 games, his value would be greatly over the other three.

[Bobbob1313]

Also, one of those seasons he only played 110 games or so.

He's been right around 140 for the other 4 seasons, and when you consider that most C don't even play that much, he's extremely valuable.

[kylekash]

I know he was hurt last season, but what is the reason for him only playing 130g a year? He's a catcher... but can't he DH instead of completely taking a day off? You'd have to think they would want his bat in the line-up as much as possible.

[FishFF]

Samson with his usual take on large contracts

Jim Duquette of Sirius XM’s MLB Home Plate posed that question to Marlins President David Samson Tuesday during a live broadcast of the “Power Alley” show from Roger Dean Stadium. It’s certainly not a front burner issue for the club since Ramirez is signed through the 2014 season, but when the time comes the Marlins will have to make a big decision. Mauer signed for eight years and $184 million.

Ramirez can qualify for free agency going into his age 31 season. Assuming he remains one of the game’s top offensive players and can remain at shortstop over the next five years, that’s plenty young to cash in on another huge contract. A starting point might be five years at $20 million a season, and that’s a conservative estimate. Even if the Marlins go the Twins route and have a $100 million payroll at some point — can you imagine? — Samson cautioned against investing such a high percentage of the total outlay on one player. Here is his exchange with Duquette:

Duquette: “When I saw the Joe Mauer signing the other day one of the places my mind went was right here because of your shortstop. At some point you’re going to be faced with that difficult decision. Were you surprised at Minnesota’s ability to go that far?”

David Samson: “It’s funny. When I saw the signing the first thing I did was call [Marlins president of baseball operations] Larry [Beinfest] and started doing the math and talking about Hanley because Hanley’s the type of guy we’d like to have retire as a Marlin and be the first Hall of Famer who spends his entire career with the Marlins. He’s obviously got a long way to go but that’s where I think he’s headed. Having said that, when you’re paying one player that much money it’s tough. That’s such a high percentage. Even if at a $100 million payroll, you’re paying one guy 23 percent, that’s not always a great formula for success. But, of course, the Twins have been so good they know what they’re doing. It’s something, obviously, we’re going to have to worry about but thank god not until 2015.”

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports...ontent=Twitter

[Flum]

Same thing I was thinking. He's average ~130 games a year. Hanley, Pujols, and Utley (Those four rounding out the top 4 of most valuable players) play in 155+.

The counter point is certainly that catcher is more valuable, and that if he played in those 155 games, his value would be greatly over the other three.

Given the same dollar-per-game ratio that Mauer is getting, someone who plays 155 games per season should make 26.5 million per year or an extra 28 million over the course of the contract. That would make the total value of his contract at 8 years/$212 million dollars. Compare that to Utley's 7 years/$80 million and Hanley's 6 years/$70 million. Obviously this isn't apples to apples, because Utley and Hanley had more years of arbitration factored in. Even on the open market, though, I can't honestly envision either one making $26.5 million per year and certainly not as part of a buyout.

This contract takes the already overvalued concept of positional scarcity and turns it into an absurdity. Catchers are valuable, but not that valuable.

[Swifty]

If you made Hanley a free agent this offseason, he'd get $26.5 mil / season easily. (Not sure if that's what you were getting at).

[Flum]

The most Teixera was able to get was $22 million, with the the next-best offer at $21 million as I recall. I'm just not certain that teams would pony up $4.5 million extra for Hanley.

As an aside, what really shapes the outcome more than anything is what the next-highest bidder is willing to throw down, because the Yankees would just one-up the competition.

[PitchingWinsGames]

The most Teixera was able to get was $22 million, with the the next-best offer at $21 million as I recall. I'm just not certain that teams would pony up $4.5 million extra for Hanley.

As an aside, what really shapes the outcome more than anything is what the next-highest bidder is willing to throw down, because the Yankees would just one-up the competition.

As cool as Texeira is, Hanley really is more valuable than he is, so yeah, I think a few teams would pony up that extra 5 million or so to get him, especially given the what... 5 year age gap between the two?

[nny]

Why do you think position scarcity (or more correct, defense ability) is overvalued?

Numerically speaking, the difference between 1B and C in the course of a full season is 25 runs (2.5 wins). Even with his low games played, Mauer has still averaged 6 wins per year in his career.

[Swifty]

The most Teixera was able to get was $22 million, with the the next-best offer at $21 million as I recall. I'm just not certain that teams would pony up $4.5 million extra for Hanley.

As an aside, what really shapes the outcome more than anything is what the next-highest bidder is willing to throw down, because the Yankees would just one-up the competition.

The Yankees need a Jeter replacement, the Red Sox need a SS period.

Plus you figure someone Tom Hicks the bidding for a super duper dynamic player.

As awesome as Teix is (and don't get me wrong, I think he's top-8) the words dynamic and 5-tool don't jump to mind describing him, plus, he is a 1B.

To look at it another way, the hypothetical dollars thrown around for Mauer settled somewhere around $30 mil a season. Hanley's in the same stratosphere, so $26.5 isn't a stretch, heck, $30 mil a season as a FA right now wouldn't be a stretch.