Mauer Locked Up

It took awhile, but the Twins came to an agreement with Joe Mauer today on a 4-year, $33 million deal. I don't know yet how the deal is structured, but you can bet that there is a significant escalation in contract value throughout the years. The Twins can now rest easy knowing that they will never have to go through salary arbitration with Mauer, and will have him through at least through the 2010 season. By that point, Mauer is likely to cost even more per season - barring injury, most people expect him to have firmly established himself as the best catcher in the big leagues, easily, by that time.

Terry Ryan deserves a lot of credit for getting this deal done. Locking up Mauer was incredibly important for the future of the franchise. Now, if only the Twins could figure out an extension for Santana . . .

Incidentally, this signing leaves Michael Cuddyer as the last remaining arbitration eligible player on the team. As I've said before, I expect either a mid-point deal or an actual hearing in Cuddyer's case. His hearing is set for Thursday, so if the Twins are going to get out of the gauntlet of arbitration without having a single hearing, they'll need to act fairly quickly. Even if a hearing is required, however, it's hard to argue with how the Twins have handled their 6 arbitration hearings this off-season.