Should the twins trade Mauer?

[HoustonGM]

i prefer to be competitive every year than for one or two.

And sometimes, when you have one of the best players in baseball and he's about to leave for free agency, you need to make the most of it and go for it while you still have the best shot at it, and then focus on rebuilding.

How many catchers would have been productive in the latter half of a 10 year contract signed at age 27?? Not Piazza, not Bench, maybe pudge barely but definetely not worth 20 mil per. And none of them at age 27 had back or knee injuries on their resume that I can recall. Sure, Mauer could be moved to 1st or DH'd after the demanding position takes more of a toll. Yeah, I want to chance 1/4th of my payroll that my beaten up catcher will be able to change positions of DH and still be "as" productive with the bat for the latter 3-5 years of his contract!?! No thanks.

Chances are Mauer WILL be moved to another position in a couple years, regardless of his contract status, unless he does prove to be durable behind the plate. And you keep bringing up this 1/4th of the payroll thing while completely ignoring what 200tang has repeatedly said about contract structure.

Oh, and, if Piazza signed a 10 year contract at age 27, you'd have gotten 10 seasons, at an average of 129 games per year, with a 140 OPS+. I'd take that.

[HoustonGM]

If the Twins were in a situation like, say, the Padres are in - no realistic hope of contending and a relatively weak farm system - I'd say that they should look to trade Mauer. However, they're not in that position. They're the favorites in their division according to most people whose job it is to project such things, in large part due to Mauer, and they have a very good farm system. My optimal course of action would be to sign him to a 5-7 year front-loaded contract.

If there was absolutely no way we'd reach an agreement, I'd focus on winning this year and then, come July, if I'm somehow definitely out of it, THEN explore the option of trading him, but if, as expected, I'm contending or far out in front, I'd look to improve the team for the stretch run and the playoffs and hopefully give my fans a great season. If I were a fan, I'd much rather see my team do well and let their superstar walk than have their superstar traded away when the team actually has a good shot with him, especially considering the Twins do have a strong farm system that will help them contend in the coming years without Mauer.

[Jeffy25]

1/4 of your payroll for an MVP? If the Mariners can field a competitive team with 40M being given to Ichiro & Felix next year, then the Twins can win with the same payroll.

You must not understand how team salaries are allocated. It's not uncommon that one player makes up a large majority of the payroll, especially on contenders. I guess it's understandable from a fan of the Red Sox, though.

It's scary to think how much Pujols and Holliday will lock up for the Cardinals by 2012-13

[Jeffy25]

It's not a bad thing to stand out from the crowd. You can stand out on principle, stand out because you love to argue/enjoy going against the grain, but sometimes you stand out because you're just plain wrong. Nothing wrong with being wrong, provided that in time you can come to realize it and learn from it...

Words to live by

[200tang]

the Padres are in - no realistic hope of contending and a relatively weak farm system -

Their farm system is pretty good. They even have some good players graduated last year - Latos/Blanks/E. Cabrera?

[Jeffy25]

I am interested to see if Cabrera will end up more like Bonifacio or more like Figgins.

[HoustonGM]

Their farm system is pretty good. They even have some good players graduated last year - Latos/Blanks/E. Cabrera?

Baseball America has their farm system ranked 20th (and the Twins 7th) which is what I looked at before saying that.

[HoustonGM]

I am interested to see if Cabrera will end up more like Bonifacio or more like Figgins.

Most likely, not as bad as Bonifacio or as good as Figgins.

[haveacigar]

Their farm system is pretty good. They even have some good players graduated last year - Latos/Blanks/E. Cabrera?

Everth Cabrera didn't graduate from the Padres system.

[dickay]

And sometimes, when you have one of the best players in baseball and he's about to leave for free agency, you need to make the most of it and go for it while you still have the best shot at it, and then focus on rebuilding.

rarely would i let one of the best 27 year olds in the game leave for nothing, when i could get substantial return for him in a trade. if they know they can't resign him...i don't care how much of a lead I had at the deadline i'd trade him. i wouldn't say i'd always handle it that way, but in this given situation absolutely.

[HoustonGM]

rarely would i let one of the best 27 year olds in the game leave for nothing, when i could get substantial return for him in a trade. if they know they can't resign him...i don't care how much of a lead I had at the deadline i'd trade him. i wouldn't say i'd always handle it that way, but in this given situation absolutely.

I don't think a playoff run is "nothing."

Never would I try away one of the best players in the game during a playoff race unless I was getting back a player equally as good or better.

Like HAC said, you might as well just forfeit the season. What's that telling your fans? "We've got a great shot at the playoffs right now, but, since this guy's going to free agency at the end of the year, we're going to trade him and downgrade from "the best in the game" to "gaping hole" behind the plate."

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

This is still going on? Seriously, I don't know why you even bother.

[OregonDuck1989]

Should the Capitals trade Ovechkin????

Actually, the Capitals are gonna have to trade some players cause of cap issues but it won't be Ovechkin.

[OregonDuck1989]

But seriously, I'm glad nwuhockey and dickay are on the same page.

[200tang]

dickay is NWU.