Red Sox "already salivating" over Mauer

by thewild_viking_twins on Dec 29, 2008 11:23 PM EST Comment 20 comments

As the Mark Teixeira free-agent negotiations go, so might go the market for Joe Mauer, who can become a free agent after the 2010 season.

Teixeira, 28, is seeking a deal in excess of $20 million a season. Mauer, 25, the Twins' two-time batting champion and Gold Glove catcher, next season will be the Twins' third-highest paid player at $10.5 million. He'll make $12.5 million in 2010.

People in the know say the Boston Red Sox already are salivating over Mauer, who would be only 27 as a free agent. There have been no talks this winter about extending the St. Paul native's contract, in part because Mauer's value after last season is at a premium, and it's uncertain whether the seismic downturn in the nation's economy will affect baseball salaries a year from now.

Don't you just hate being the farm system for these huge payroll teams? However, I have the utmost confidence that Mauer will remain a Twin, regardless of how much he makes.

Poll

What do you think Twins fans? Will we still have our local boy come 2011?

Yes! He loves playing for his hometown team too much!

94 votes

No. He'll sell out and go for the big bucks, like everyone else.

17 votes

111 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Coupl'a points

I don’t view the Twins as a farm system for big payroll teams, and while not every player takes the top offer, I can’t blame any player who does.

As for Mauer, he’s done well in Fenway, and Boston is a real sports town. What’s not to like?

by Johnny Safron on Dec 29, 2008 11:48 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Mauer

I would not forgive Mauer if he signed with the red sox. I would boo him everytime he came up.

He’s gotta stay a twin. he’s the face of the franchise at this point.

by ianmader on Dec 30, 2008 4:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

If he’s the face of the franchise, then the franchise should pay him what the market determines. He did not choose to be the face of the franchise, so I don’t see how he owes the twins or St Paul anything. His parents decided to have him in St Paul, put him in St Paul schools. The Twins decided to take him with the first pick in the draft, controlling him for about 8 years of his career. Once all of those contractual obligations are met, he will finally get to decide where he wants to play.

That said, I really hope he is willing to take a hometown discount. In order to do that, the Twins need to offer him the contract after this year, while they still control him for another year.

by snolls on Dec 30, 2008 10:38 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Typical Twins' fan

Boo Knoblauch. Boo A.J. Boo Jack Morris. Boo Mauer.

Twins’ fans have such inferiority complexes.

by Johnny Safron on Dec 30, 2008 6:53 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

It's not an inferiortiy complex perse

It’s more as a fan of a small market team I’m tired of seeing the Yankees, Mets, Angels, and Red Sox throw money around.

There is a reason for a salary cap in baseball.

by Phenom507 on Dec 30, 2008 9:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I meant to say this is the reason baseball needs a salary cap, sorry, it’s early.

by Phenom507 on Dec 30, 2008 9:30 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

What about Torii?

“Typical Twins fan”? That’s a blanket statement. AJ and Knobs were well-documented dicks. I have a hard time believing that Mauer whould hear a lot of boos, should he leave – which I also don’t think will happen.

ps I still boo AJ, and it’s got nothing to do with his time with the Twins – I simply hate that guy more than anyone in baseball.

by Chuck Tweedy on Dec 30, 2008 11:34 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well-documented dicks...

…now there’s a blanket statement. I doubt you ever met either, and even if they were dicks, you weren’t booing them when they were here. Or weren’t they dicks then?

Twins’ fans take it so personally when a player leaves, and that’s why you boo these guys. Both of those deals were so beneficial to the Twins that fans should have bowed to AJ and Knobs, rather than booed.

by Johnny Safron on Dec 30, 2008 3:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well Documented

I don’t really like it when we boo AJ (I don’t like him at all either, but when he was here we laughed his douchy-ness off and most people are booing him suimply because I doesn’t play for us anymore, I feel), but AJ and Knoblach are actually well documented dicks. AJ’s level of douchbaggery is well known league wide and Knobloch obviously had a very public falling out with Minnesota, along with his (now ex) wife being a regular visitor to the hospital because he beat her up.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on Dec 31, 2008 3:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Boy

You’d have to do a lot better than that to make any of this hold up in court:

>>>AJ’s level of douchbaggery is well known league wide and Knobloch obviously had a very public falling out with Minnesota, along with his (now ex) wife being a regular visitor to the hospital because he beat her up.<<<

Now, we do all hear stories about AJ (the Knoblauch stuff is libelous without documented proof that your allegation regarding his wife happened once, let alone "regularly") but that is what we “hear.” I have two personal AJ stories, and he was just a low-profile, unassuming guy. Just because we hear about AJ’s “competitiveness” hardly makes him unique among pro athletes, and of course reputation falls under the category of “perception is everything.”

It’s an entertaining contradiction that the majority of folks here discount what journalists write on a routine basis, yet embrace the same sources to the proportions of caricature when it suits them.

by Johnny Safron on Dec 31, 2008 7:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Who the hell is making this a court-case?

by rroan28 on Jan 5, 2009 8:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Noboby booed AJ until

he took a bad route to the bag at first base and tried to break Morneau’s ankle in 06 I think.

by TMW on Dec 30, 2008 11:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Nonsense

by Johnny Safron on Dec 30, 2008 3:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

People booed AJ ...

…as soon as he returned to the American League. This had been building since before he left. First there was the SI article in which both Torii and Jacque said he was a “knuckle head” and they were glad he as on their team ‘cause they couldn’t stand him otherwise. Then he gets traded and talks trash about how nobody respected him in the Twins Cities, least of all the manager. In that interview he confirmed that he was one of the “sour seven” in Edmonton, who complained about TK’s handling of young players (Mientkievicz, Walker, and Chad Allen were three of the others). Then he acts like a complete ass in San Fran, like that’s the way Twins players act. And he seemed to revel in pushing buttons against the Twins.

Twins fans aren’t stupid. When guys do things simply to agitate Twins players or their fans, they notice. That’s when the booing started in earnest. And the Morneau incident only confirmed to everyone that, as good a player as he is, he’s a complete dick head.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Dec 31, 2008 12:41 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I hate this thread

Can’t we talk about 2009. Not that it’s all that exciting, but at least it isn’t depressing.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Dec 30, 2008 12:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Seriously

There should be a disclaimer at the top of this blog that says “If you’re going to post a Shooter "rumor”, don’t bother."

So the Red Sox are “already salivating”? No duh. I’m sure every team in baseball (except, perhaps, the Braves, the Cubs, and the Orioles) would love a chance to sign Joe Mauer when/if he’s a free agent. Doesn’t mean anything at this point. The Red Sox themselves are probably still trying to pry Salty or Teagarden from the Rangers before this season, which would give them a long term option at catcher that would be cost-controlled. So who knows if the Red Sox will even be in the market for a catcher in 2010/11.

Really, this isn’t even worth worrying about till next offseason at the earliest.

by DK on Dec 30, 2008 2:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs