Charley Walters in the Pioneer Press has an interesting idea about the Twins/Mauer negotiations:
Mauer is represented by Baltimore-based agent Ron Shapiro, who also represented late hall of famer Kirby Puckett of the Twins. Maybe Shapiro could insist on an out clause for Mauer should the Twins finish below .500 in a season.The Twins would be insane to agree to that. Not only would they risk losing Mauer in the event of one bad year- which would sort of defeat the purpose of the whole idea of "locking him up"- but imagine a scenario in which the team is around .500 in September. At that point, Mauer's goal of reaching free agency would be counter to the goal of the rest of the team (winning.) There's a reason no one ever does that. It's also unnecessary- the Twins have had a losing record exactly once in Mauer's career.
Then again, in the same column Walters argues that Jack Morris should make the Hall of Fame, in part, because he tied for the second-most Opening Day starts in history.
Posted by Stephen Silver at December 16, 2009 11:29 PM