The Ticket Chest

Minnesota Twins, Joe Mauer Agree to 8-Year, $184 Extension

Monday, March 22nd, 2010 | Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments

Joe Mauer will be in a Minnesota Twins uniform for a very long time.  The Twins and Mauer agreed upon an 8-year extension that will keep the best hitter in baseball in Minnesota through the 2018 MLB schedule.  The extension kicks in in 2011 and is worth $184 million.  It contains a no trade clause as well.

The average annual salary comes out to $23 million.  Only 2 other players – Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million) and CC Sabathia ($23 million) of the New York Yankees – have greater annual salaries.  It is also the largest contract ever signed by a catcher, crushing the 7-year, $91 million deal that Mike Piazza signed with the New York Mets in 1999.

Mauer is a stud that has delivered for the Twins at the major league level each and every season.  He is a career .327 hitter with a career .408 on-base percentage.  2009 was clearly his best year – .365 batting average, .444 on-base percentage, 28 HR’s, 96 RBI’s and only 63 strike outs in 523 at-bats.  WOW!

At the ripe young age of 26, Mauer deserved the deal and the Twins are lucky to have him as their back-stop for the foreseeable future.

Tags: Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Joe Mauer

MLB Most Valuable Players: Albert Pujols & Joe Mauer

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | General, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports, St. Louis Cardinals | No Comments

Albert Pujols is your National League Most Valuable Player MVP and Joe Mauer is your American League Most Valuable Player MVP for the 2009 MLB schedule.

Albert Pujols was the unanimous MVP for the National League.  Pujols received all 32 1st place votes and totaled an amazing 448 points.  Pujols was a back-to-back MVP Award winner and it was his 3rd overall (he also won the award back in 2005).  Pujols became the 1st player to win back-to-back seasons since Barry Bonds did so in 2002-3.

His numbers made it pretty easy – 47 HR’s; 124 runs; .658 slugging percentage and 44 intentional walks – all tops in the major leagues.  Pujols led the National League with a .443 on-base percentage; he was 2nd with 45 doubles and he was 3rd with a .327 batting average and 135 RBI’s.  WOW!  He also set a major league record for 1st baseman with 185 assists.

Career-wise, Pujols became the 4th player to win 3 NL MVP’s – Bonds, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt are the other 3 players to do so.  He is also the 2nd player to rack up at least 100 RBI’s in each of his 1st nine MLB seasons – Hall of Famer Al Simmons was the 1st to do it and he made it 11 in a row.  No reason to think Pujols won’t break that record barring an injury.

Pujols received a $200,000 bonus for winning the award.  He is under contract with the Cardinals for $16 million in 2010 and the Cardinals hold a club option over Pujols for $16 million for the 2011 MLB season.

Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins received 27 of 28 1st place votes and racked up 387 total points.  Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers picked up the other 1st place vote.

Mauer’s .365 batting average was a major league record for catchers.  It also helped him win his 3rd batting title and 2nd in a row – the 1st repeat batting champion since Nomar Garciaparra did so back in 1999-2000.  He also led the American League with a .444 on-base percentage and a .587 slugging percentage.  His 28 HR’s and 96 RBI’s were career highs and he racked up 76 walks with only 75 K’s.  The numbers are even more impressive given the fact that he missed the entire month of April with a back injury and that the Twins were without Mauer’s next-best hitter in the lineup – Justin Mourneau – from September 12th on.  Mauer had this to say about winning: “I love catching. I love the demands that are put on me and the responsibilities that I have, although it might beat you up a little bit physically and mentally.  I like being back there making those decisions, you know, for my team.”

Mauer received a $100,000 bonus for winning the AL MVP Award.

Damn – wish my team had one of these guys on it…

Tags: Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Joe Mauer, Mike Schmitt, Stan Musial