Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer... $$

[Willy]

Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Santana. All will play in the new stadium in 2010. Don't worry about it. They are our "homegrown" players. The Twins have shown great loyalty to player that have come up through their system and thrived in the major leauges. That core group of guys will take us a long way.

We will spend our big money on those guys and fill in the rest of the way with minor leaugers, FA's, or trades in the coming years.

[bassNspear]

Hope your right.

[knoppers]

twins history is anyone that does great here, usaully stays here. players that do so-so, like david ortiz, we let leave. ortiz became a great player after the twins let him go, but playing next to manny, could make many players better. I belive we will sign mauer and cuddyer to long term contracts, santana will stay, and with liriano coming back next year. the twins will be a strong force to be dealt with. I am not sure about morneau, but I hope we can sign him long term also.

[bassNspear]

i think ur right, they will stay here. I talked to a very reliable source tonight, and he stated they are going no where.

[PierBridge]

I just don't see us signing Mauer, Morneau, and Santana to long term contracts and I'm not talking this arbritration non-sense that Nofish clarified for you guys.

Yes, I would say it's less then 5 percent that the Twins will resign Santana to the Biggest "pitching" Contract in MLB history which is what Santana and his agent will expect to receive...

Hope I'm wrong.

[bassNspear]

We have to have hope!!!!!!!!!!!

[xedge2002]

Maybe if everybody on the FM site pools our money together we can buy the Twins from Pohlad then we can keep all of these guys!!

(Hope a couple of you guys have a lot of money because I am just a poor college kid!!!)

[bassNspear]

I would love to help, that is if you want to collect change..

[Willy]

Quote:

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Yes, I would say it's less then 5 percent that the Twins will resign Santana to the Biggest "pitching" Contract in MLB history which is what Santana and his agent will expect to receive...

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I would not expect Santana to be money grubbing. He will get a fair contract though. Whether it is from us or someone else, I don't disagree there. I would however give the Twins a better than 5 percent chance. 5 percent? Seriously? He has meant too much to the Twins for them not to try almost everything possible to keep him. You have to remember, by the time his contract comes due, we are less than 2 years away from a new stadium. If TR and Pohlad can't forward a little money to keep the best pitcher in the last 20 years, then they better have a rotation in place that is more than a bunch of retreads and rookies.

[bassNspear]

We need them all

[xedge2002]

The other thing with Santana is when he pitches it puts people in the stands. Even if it is the dome when he pitches against a decent team there are a lot of fans in the stands to watch him. So that will bring in some extra $$ between now and then and even more so when the new stadium is built.

[10,000 Casts]

Cuddyer isn't worth the money and I think that he should be the first one to go.

I would like to see everybody else get fair contracts or we don't have a team. You can't depend on picks and farm talent anymore to get a team to the World Series.

If we don't keep Santana and give Mauer and Morneau their money then will never watch a game again. The Twins have the best thing in Baseball going.... why let it stop?

The last thing that I want to see is Santana in a Yankees uniform!!!!

John

[10,000 Casts]

one more thing,

Ramon Ortiz?????? 3.1 Mil for a pitcher that went 11 and 16?

[bassNspear]

Quote:

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one more thing,

Ramon Ortiz?????? 3.1 Mil for a pitcher that went 11 and 16?

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First off, i would hat eto see Santa go to the yanks. I would let him go anywhere else, but them. I agree with you on the 11-16. Just dont seem right. The guy has talent, but arm is old.

[nofishfisherman]

All pitchers are getting inflated contract this year. I think for us to have a really good shot at resigning Santana is either he has to give us a hometown discount or the market for free agent pitchers has to readjust and go back to being reasonable again. But with the way the Yankees are willing to spend I don't see that happening.

I actually think what the Yankees and Red Sox are doing is really bad for baseball. Sure the players can make more money but it will bankrupt smaller market teams like the Twins. It makes top tier free agents unsignable by the vast majority of teams.

[xedge2002]

Quote:

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All pitchers are getting inflated contract this year. I think for us to have a really good shot at resigning Santana is either he has to give us a hometown discount or the market for free agent pitchers has to readjust and go back to being reasonable again. But with the way the Yankees are willing to spend I don't see that happening.

I actually think what the Yankees and Red Sox are doing is really bad for baseball. Sure the players can make more money but it will bankrupt smaller market teams like the Twins. It makes top tier free agents unsignable by the vast majority of teams.

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I agree with everything you said nofish. MLB really needs to establish a hard salary cap like the NFL to keep all teams competetive. It not only leads to more money for the big teams but helps the smaller teams remain competitive and not just basically developmental teams for the big market teams (like the Marlins and Devil Rays).

[knoppers]

I can't understand how the owner of the yankees could be proud of winning anything. he is basically trying to bye the crown. he who has the most money wins, most times, but not all. thats what makes baseball so special in minnesota, we have kids kicking there (Contact Us Please). I love this game.

[The Yeti]

I think it's going to be tough to keep Santana, because every year, theres one team that gives a pitcher an insane amount of money and the bar gets set higher each year. The way things are going, the Twins won't be able to afford Santana. That's the sad state of baseball lately, unfortunately.

[Bobby Bass]

I think MN will sign all of them but you will seem them heavily loaded with incentives, the contracts. This way they will be rewarded for what they have done but not yet paid for something they have not done. I would hope they try and keep them together and continue to grow through the farm clubs and some smart signings. Twins have done well this way in the past. I can only hope for another season as enjoyable as this past one.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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I think MN will sign all of them but you will seem them heavily loaded with incentives, the contracts.

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That's the way it should be.

But that has no chance in this day in age the incentives are so bogus $50,000 for making the All Star Game is so worthless when talking $5,000,000/$20,000,000 yearly contracts.

99 percent of all money these guys sign for will be guaranteed.

[bassNspear]

I totaly agree with all of this. They need to get the job done and get them signed before its to late.

[nofishfisherman]

Here is the latest as far as I can find. Looks like the Twins want to get all these guys signed to long term deals in the very near future. I like the way Santana is talking as well, sounds like he really wants to be here. Its encouraging at least.

Santana, Nathan moving to top of Twins' to-do list

Officials said that, once arbitration matters are wrapped, they want to get contractextensions in place for the pair.

By La Velle E. Neal III, Star Tribune

Last update: January 27, 2007 – 10:17 PM

The Dome has been packed this weekend for TwinsFest. Single-game ticket sales are more than brisk. Season-ticket sales might top 10,000. The 2007 season attendance might reach 2.4 million.

Oh, and there's the new ballpark scheduled to open in 2010.

It all allows the Twins to think big this year. Ace Johan Santana big. Closer Joe Nathan big.

Twins officials confirmed Saturday that, after the club signs its six arbitration-eligible players, it will approach Santana and Nathan about contract extensions to ensure they are in Twins uniforms when the new park opens.

"We have a lot of things going as far as the arbitration-eligibles, as most clubs do," Twins General Manager Terry Ryan said. "You kind of let the calendar dictate our procedure. I'd like to take care of first things first, then see where things take us.

"If you want to do something, you approach the people you are responsible to and see if there's anything to be talked about."

Ryan acknowledged that he had preliminary talks with agents for both players during the winter meetings. Right now, Ryan is trying to figure out how much it will cost to pay his six arbitration-eligible players -- Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Nick Punto, Juan Rincon and Lew Ford.

Arbitration hearings begin Thursday and run through Feb. 20 in Arizona. After that, the Twins likely will sit down with agents for Santana and Nathan (Nathan's likely will be first) and start talks that could go into the regular season.

The pitchers like the idea of starting and closing in the new park.

"I know I have two more years here," Santana said. "I'm willing to work something out to stay with this team and in this city, wearing this uniform because I love this team."This is a great organization," Nathan said. "This a great city. My family loves it here. We are comfortable here. So we'd love to talk about it and see where we are at and see if we are on the same page with Terry."

The spike in the free-agent market is playing a role here. Santana will make $12 million this year and $13.25 million in 2008 before he's a free agent. But lefthander Barry Zito signed with San Francisco for an average of $18 million a season -- and Zito, age 30, hasn't won two Cy Young Awards over the past three seasons, which Santana, 27, has.

"I'm in no hurry," Santana said. "At the same time, I think the sooner the better -- and the cheaper it will be."

Nathan, with 123 saves over the past three seasons, will make $5.25 million this season and the Twins hold a $6 million option for 2008. Already a bargain, Nathan will be out-earned this season by relievers the likes of righthander Danys Baez, who signed a three-year, $19 million deal with Baltimore just for a setup role.

As for negotiations with the six arbitration-eligible players, the big three of Mauer, Cuddyer and Morneau all said talks are ongoing, but they didn't indicate that any deals were close.

"At least I know I'll be here this year," Mauer said.

"The way I look at it is that I'm getting a raise," said Cuddyer, who made $1.3 million last season and is asking for $4.25 million this year; the Twins have offered $3 million.

Morneau's arbitration hearing is scheduled for Feb. 9, Mauer's Feb. 13 and Cuddyer's Feb. 15.

The Twins' skills at the negotiating table will be as important as their on-field play this year as they try to lock up a competitive team. Twins President Dave St. Peter, who was encouraged by ticket sales this weekend, said the club would be unable to even dream about holding contract talks of this magnitude without a new ballpark on the horizon.

"There's certainly going to be limits to what we can do," St. Peter said. "But what we have always said is, what the ballpark gives us is a much better opportunity to keep the guys that we bring into this organization in the Twins organization for the long term. That remains our goal today."

[BLACKJACK]

Baseball needs to get rid of arbitration, it just escalates the salaries to the point where the small market teams can't compete. In arbitration, a player can go from a $400,000 salary to either $3.1 million (the clubs offer) or $4 million (the players offer). The player wins either way. Or they need to come up with a team salary cap like the NFL.

What it boils down to for the Twins is that their window is very short, they need to win a World Series in the next two or three years while they have these players under contract. If they keep winning, they'll keep signing their important, core players, and fill in with rookies/cheaper players, but the minute they're out of the race at the trading deadline, the expensive players are gone, traded for good, but cheap, prospects. Tori Hunter would be a prime example. If they do the foldo this year, he could be traded.

Terry Ryan has done an excellent job, he'll do whats best for the Twins.

[Willy]

Yah, but at least during their arbitration years, those players are the property of the Twins(or whomever we are talking about). Two people have ruined baseball for small market teams in recent years. George Steinbrenner and that greedy SOB agent Scott Boras.

I am all for a salary cap. Something definitely has to be done to get a handle on these salaries. 18 million a year for a guy that only plays once every 5 or 6 days is ridiculous.

What it comes down to is the number of people that live in the area where your team is located. Of course NY, Chicago, Boston, etc. are going to be able to pay more for their players and always have competitive, or at least teams with good players on them. That is where it is not fair in that teams such as the Yankees can have the worst front office in baseball(they do), yet get away with it by buying their teams and making good players on other teams unaffordable to the same teams that put all their time and money into developing them.

In my opinion, that is 100% wrong. Limit the Yankees to the kind of money that the Twins or other teams are able to spend and they wouldn't even win 70 games. It is no fun being a farm team for a bunch of arrogant rich East coasters.