Twins Tie Up Mauer And See Payroll Bulge

On Monday, the Minnesota Twins took an eight year gamble as they announced they tied up their hometown boy Joe Mauer with a $184 million contract extension keeping him in Minnesota until he is 35 years old. Mauer was due to become a free agent at the end of the 2010 season which, in the absence of a deal with the Twins, would have started a bidding frenzy involving both the Yankees and Red Sox who could both use a long term catcher. Although the contract is the fourth biggest in major league history both in terms of annual salary and total value, Mauer allowed Minnesota a hometown discount as it is markedly less than analysts expected the current AL MVP to get on the open market.


The Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is a sabermetric measure giving a ballpark adjusted number which represents how many more wins a player can earn his team over an average MLB player; the WAR can then be monetised at $4.5 million per win in order to assess the worth of a contract. Mauer had a WAR dollar value of $36.6 million last year and predictions for 2010 are close to $33 million inferring that the Twins are getting value on the contract even without considering his above average defence.

As well as tying up their prize asset, and arguably the best player in the American League, it also signals a change in direction for Minnesota who in the recent past have transformed 9 time Golden Glove Award winner Torii Hunter and 2 time Cy Young winner Johan Santana into All Stars only to see them leave in their free agent years. The Twins' 2009 payroll started out at $65 million which will rise to $95 million this season and then in 2011, when the Mauer $23.5 million a year deal kicks in, they will be in a position where they will have over $70 million of payroll across 8 players. For a small market team, that's a big commitment and a big expectation that the revenue from the Twin's new home at Target Field will be enough to cover the bulging payroll.


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