10:00am: The Red Sox won't claim Mauer, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter).
7:17am: The Twins placed Joe Mauer on revocable waivers, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. The Red Sox, who recently freed themselves of more than $260MM in future salary obligations, have long-standing interest in the catcher, Rosenthal reports. Mauer has full no-trade protection and approximately $142MM remaining on his contract through 2018.
Teams routinely place their players on waivers, so this isn’t an indication the Twins are looking to move Mauer. They recently placed Justin Morneau on waivers but declined to let him go when he was claimed. If Mauer goes unclaimed, the Twins will be able to complete a trade just as easily as they could have before the current waiver period began at the beginning of August.
If a team claims Mauer, the Twins will have three choices. They can let him (and his contract) go to the claiming team, they can complete a trade with the claiming team, or they can pull him back off of waivers. American League teams will have claiming priority on Mauer, whose waivers expire at 12pm CDT today.
Mauer's record-setting eight-year, $184MM extension assures him of a $23MM annual salary through 2018. The 29-year-old has a .309/.403/.425 batting line with as many walks as strikeouts (70) in 522 plate appearances this year.
The three teams American League teams with waiver priority over the Red Sox have young catching of their own and payrolls that rank among the lowest in the sport. It would be a surprise if the Blue Jays (J.P. Arencibia, Travis d'Arnaud), Royals (Salvador Perez) or Indians (Carlos Santana) submitted a claim on Mauer.
The Red Sox would be absolutely foolish to claim him. He’s good, but he’s getting older and is quickly becoming not worth that contract.
Dodgers, since Magic thinks owning a team is like being a contestant on Supermarket Sweep.
I’m sure Magic isn’t calling the shots in terms of fund allocation. That being said, the fans of the team probably aren’t complaining and if it results in playoff runs and championships then no one in LA will care. Besides, their new TV contract will make $260 mil look like peanuts. It ain’t “trickin” if you got it.
I know, it was just easier/sounded better to say than Guggenheim Partners.
Those young money millionaires should bring home some hardware with the money they’re spending/going to spend.
Possibly, but as it stands, the Giants still have the better team at the moment, in my opinion. The offseason could obviously change that, but as of right now, the Dodgers are short on top end starters (Kershaw obviously being the exception). And until players like Crawford, Ethier, Hanley, etc., can play up to their reputations on offense, I think this looks like an 85-88 win team at best.
I wish Charles Johnson, the richest owner in baseball, would open his purse strings a little for the Giants.
I think that will be one of the dominoes that will begin to fall in the next couple years as a direct result of this new Dodgers ownership’s willingness to spend. Two straight seasons of sellouts sure help.
Though nothing is likely to happen, he is one of the more interesting players to be put on waivers since he’s such a franchise player and icon there.
He’s turning into a punch and judy hitter, they might want to think about getting a new face of the franchise.
he’s never had much power, but he hits for average and walks a ton. from the catcher’s position, that’s very valuable
he’s overpaid and a serious injury risk, but the fact that he’s a great player is inarguable
He hasn’t been a great player for a while. He had one season where he flashed power, then the health issues set in. He has the reputation of a great player, but his offensive prowess is not what it once was. I’d think he will require a position chance at some point if, for no other reason, to keep him healthy, and his bat my not play anywhere else.
5 WAR pace this season, 132 wRC+ perfectly matches career average. great player
If you look past his lack of power and focus in on his .322 lifetime bat avg and lifetime OBP of .403 and then realize it’s coming from the C position and you would appreciate him much more. Now if you move him from C to 1B then while his numbers are still good, it’s not $23 mil per year kind of good.
He will go down as the BEST HITTING CATCHER of all-time!!! He ALREADY has the most batting titles from that position. You do not know what you are talking about. Did Johnny Bench have power???
Settle down. Seeing as he has only played the catcher position 60 times thus far this year, the only thing he may go down as is the best-hitting part-time catcher of all time. Also, yes, Johnny Bench absolutely had power. The only player to hit more home runs between 1970-1980 was Reggie Jackson. It was a depressed offensive era and Bench was still able to produce a .476 career slugging %. And if you think anyone other than Mike Piazza is going down as the best hitting catcher in history, then you, my friend, are the one who doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Looks like Jason F beat me to it. Bench hit almost 400 career HR and hit 20+ HR in all but five of his seasons (three of which were his three final years in the league). He averaged 24HR and 86 RBI per season. And like Jason F said, Piazza is hands down the best hitting catcher of all time, Mauer isn’t even in the same neighborhood, let alone the same ballpark in that regard (308/.377.545, 427 HR, 1335 RBI).
Piazza was JUICED UP. Yes, his numbers are great but what if Bench and Mauer were juiced also?? What kind of numbers would they put up?? We all saw what the juice could do for brady anderson!!
And you know this how? He’s never been mentioned in connection with steroids. Also, one could easily argue Mauer juiced in his one big power season. Tell me that isn’t suspicious – he never shows any power (averages about 10HR/yr), then suddenly hits 28 HR and his body starts breaking down. Then, what do you know – back to hitting about 10HR per season again. Take that season away and Mauer is a good hitter with no power.
Joe Mauer will not go down as the best hitting catcher of all time, he’s probably not even top five. Right off the top of my head I would say Piazza, Bench, Berra, Gary Carter, Ivan Rodriguez, and Roy Campanella all rank well ahead of him. You could also make an argument for including Carlton Fisk and Jorge Posada in that elite group.
It’s highly unlikely Mauer will remotely approach the numbers any of those guys posted with the possible exception of Campanella, and that’s not a fair comparison because his career was cut short by a car accident that paralyzed him.
Haha. your whole argument is based on how many homeruns these guys have hit!! Mauer’s career BA is 60 points higher than Gary Carter!!! 37 points higher than Berra, and 26 points higher than Pudge. Oh yeah, and Pudge WAS linked to steroids!! So in your argument against Mauer you say that he used steroids for 1 year, right??? Well, Piazza probably used them for a dozen years. You must be naive to think that since he was never caught….he must be innocent, right?? It sucks that Piazza played in the steroid era because most of those guys are guilty until proven innocent. Especially power hitters breaking records at their positions
Plouffe.
For Dubront? Ummm……………………..
I’d do Dubront for Morneau, Mauer and Plouffe (Twins get salary relief)
lol
He’s always been a “punch and judy” hitter. That’s not what makes him elite though. Since 1900 he has the highest Bat avg of any C, 3rd best OBP and despite a lot of HR power he has the 3rd highest OPS of any C ahead of Dickey, Campenella, Bench, Berra and others. Problem is, you move him to 1B and while his numbers are still great, he wouldn’t rank inside the top 10 in most categories. He would still be top 20-25 but his lack of power would turn him into an overpaid version of John Olerud.
It’s not as easy to say that after we just saw what the Dodgers did. Granted, not all teams have that willingness or ability to go all in, but don’t rule it out.
As good a player as Mauer is, he is not worth that contract.
How many players with $100m+ contracts end up being worth it over the entire life of the contract?
Sabbathia is the only one that comes to mind. Had he not opted out you know he would have lived up to it. Even with this new deal he probably can.
Miguel Cabrera, Jeter, Pujols and A-rods first deals
Manny, Jeter, A-Rod’s (first) contract. Most likely Sabathia’s.
Would Manny and A-Rod have been worth it if they weren’t on the sauce?
CC worth $25m when he’s 35? Certainly you jest.
Players who have/have had $100m contracts (not mentioned above) that won’t/haven’t lived up to value: Wells, Santana, Teixeria, Maurer, Fielder, Carlos and Cliff Lee, Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez (currently isn’t worth it), Howard, Soriano, Zito, Bay, Hampton, Kevin Brown, Jayson Werth, Pujols (current deal), Joey Votto, Reyes.
How old is Halladay? The idea that Sabathia can deliver ace like production at 35 isn’t absurd because he’s not the overpowering thrower anymore but instead spots his 93-95 FB well and uses his slider and change up to induce weak contact. Just have to hope he stays healthy which I think is likely but we have to see.
it wasn’t quite $100 mil but Mike Mussina’s 6/$89 mil deal was such a good value.
2001-2006
2nd in WAR among AL pitchers behind Halladay
7th in FIP in the AL
5th in IP in the AL
He had a lot of baggage but Manny Ramirez did produce over the course of his 8 yr / $160m deal. But you’re right, he’s one of the few exceptions.
strange as it sounds, that’s not exactly what matters with those contracts. you sign those deals with the understanding that it’s not likely the player himself will be worth quite what you pay. but, since they are still great players, you hope that having them around for those years will result in winnings teams and maybe even a championship
in other words, it’s ok to lose money on a contract if the team itself wins because of the player’s presence
having said that, we’re talking about the twins here. so nevermind
Well said. You really have to view a players worth in the agrregate rather than expecting the level of play in each year to be equal to what the corresponding salary for that year might be. You sign a “Sabathia” hoping that the majority of those years are going to be “ace” caliber performance and the latter 2 years or so, at least #3 caliber performance. You just hope they don’t fall off a cliff mid-way thru the deal or become seriously injured.
This is so true. If we judged every player on their personal performance alone, few would be “worth” their post-arbitration contracts. Ultimately how the team performs is what matters and if it takes a $100mil contract or two to be competitive and maybe win a championship, then start cutting the checks.
Ahhh, but his hair is! :{p
From a public relations standpoint, the Twins were really handcuffed. How does ownership say, “Hey Minnesota taxpayers, thanks so much for the publicly-funded new stadium!! Oh by the way we can’t afford the hometown kid coming off an MVP season, so we’re going to have to let him hit the open market. Sorry about that.”
Twins fans would’ve burned the stadium to the ground.
People don’t understand how much Mauer means to the Minnesota fan base!! On the field, he is not worth $23 million. But his popularity in Minnesota is worth that much!!
His contract is one of the main reasons the twins are in this mess. If I were the Twins I would pay 1/4 of his contract to get some quality prospects back from the potential claiming team. We won’t get anything back if we don’t pay part of it.
Fat chance of this happening, but he could be a great fit for Boston. Lord knows they have money to spend now. Good clubhouse guy, can play 1b as well as DH there to avoid injury at catcher. Lavarnway is a good backup/DH to have, even when Mauer catches. Even if Boston has to take on Justin Morneau’s contract as well, it’s worth it. Morneau could hit much better in Fenway than Target Field with the short porch in RF. If Boston lets Big Papi walk after this season, they could afford both Mauer and Morneau and still focus on pitching through free agency. Pitchers are too difficult to acquire via trade anyway
It would have made sense had they not signed Crawford and Lackey and had this extra money to add to an already good team. They have a handful of core guys and Cherigton said he wants to go back to their old ways. He will spend, but it has to be wisely. How is it wise to put all your eggs in one basket and essentially take back most of what you just let go?
Very good point man. However, I just think it’s time for them to move on from Ortiz though as well. He is not getting any younger and they can use the excuse of “we are trying to get younger and start fresh. Not create a media frenzy”. But without Ortiz, they have no middle of the order bat besides Middlebrooks, who could always have the proverbial sophomore slump next season. As Lefties, both Morneau and Mauer could see a huge uptick in their power production if they moved to Fenway’s short porch. Mauer could even essentially replace A-Gonz and his contract with less power, but similar batting average, and Morneau would essentially replace Ortiz and his contract. There’s still plenty of money for them to spend though, basically all of Crawford and Beckett’s contracts, plus Daisuke is off the books. Plenty of money there to get an impact starter or trade for one and extend him, which would likely need to occur if they agree to part with prospects.
And another thing, all this FA class is, is a bunch of John Lackeys at most.
And for the low, low price of a ridiculously high price, you could have the original in trade in the offseason!
He will only be making $10M AAV for the next 3 seasons (that is if/when his 3rd year option at league minimum goes into affect). While it is unlikely that he will pitch like he did with the Angels, if he pitches like he did in his first year with the Red Sox (which was better than the ERA indicates) he could have pretty decent value compared to how much money he would be making the rest of his contract.
He could benefit from hitting in another stadium, his numbers have declined since the new stadium
So.. I never heard anything about trade clauses in the Red Sox-Dodgers trade. Do players still have the right to refuse trades during the Waiver Trade period? Or was it simply the Red Sox players didn’t have no-trade clauses? Or was it simply Boston is a sess-pool of a town so they ‘waived’ their trade clauses?
Beckett (10/5 player) gave approval for the deal.
Crawford has a limited no-trade, but also have his approval.
A-Gon did not have a no-trade clause.Nobody asked Nick Punto for his approval.
Depending upon how much they would be willing to eat of Mauer’s salary or if they would include Morneau might determine how serious they are about moving him?
Or if they would take Lackey in return, in addition to established players and prospects–perhaps Salty or Lavarnway, Pedroia, Webster or Doubrount and Aceves or Bailey
I’m not sure how Mauer would be worth the investment for the Red Sox. On the plus side, great clubhouse guy and absolutely a guy you’d be comfortable with as one of the public faces of your team. On the negative side…. he ain’t catching for much longer, if at all. So you’re probably getting six years of Mauer at 1B, not at C. Which means that at best, you’ve swapped Adrian Gonzales for a player who’d basically be John Olerud without the line drive HRs (and without Olerud’s A+ level defense). The Red Sox need power, not a high-average low-power corner infielder — and spending $100M+ on the latter just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I don’t think Mauer is going anywhere, but for what it’s worth he’d lead the AL in doubles and probably hit 25+ HR in Fenway. The only reason he doesn’t hit homers in MIN anymore is because his power is all to left-center, and the ball doesn’t carry that well that way. There are only about 5-6 left-handed batters who have gone opposite field at Target Field total.
Mauer would be a monster in Fenway. Again, not going anywhere so it doesn’t matter.
I also don’t think he’s going anywhere, so we’re in agreement on that….
I don’t think he’d be hitting 25 dongs at Fenway, though. Left-center power is actually terrible for Fenway: the Green Monster rapidly gets deeper as it moves out, so your left-center power alley is about 355-365′ from the plate, with a 32′ wall. That’s actually part of the reason why AGon didn’t put up the kind of power numbers people thought he would — long, arcing drives to left-center (which he was very good at producing) wound up bouncing off the wall, whereas they’d have been out of virtually any other park.
The best lefties for Fenway are dead-pull hitters, like Ortiz. Mauer can certainly turn on a ball from time to time, and he’d definitely hit well at Fenway, but I don’t think it would be reasonable to expect more than, say, 15 homers from him.
Would I like him on the team, though? Hell yes.
Even if the Twins took “Only” Dubront and the Sox merely took on Mauer’s contract, I say “No Thanks”. The mileage on Mauers’ legs, recent injury history, and WAY overblown contract equals a “No Thanks”. We just unloaded a ton of money, for what? To take on more dead wood? (money wise, I realize Mauer is an above-average player) AKA Lets not take on OTHER teams’ bad contracts.
If this rumor has any basis at all, they may look at Mauer as the 1B of the future, and as a backup C to Lavarnway. I like Mauer, but am still hoping the Sox are not involved in his contract.
Jays should, but they won’t.
The Jays make acutally, pperfect sense. He can Play 1st base, Cather, and obviously DH. Minny would have interest in JP, Alverez, Prospect or two and hopfully (for the Blue Jays Sake) Adam Lind
if you take on the contract you don’t have to give up any of that.
Tell that to the Dodgers lol
The Red Sox were just given the mother of all clean slates… $250 million in salary GONE over the next 7 years. Why on Earth would they even THINK about taking on Mauer? He’s a good catcher, but his arms and legs will have fallen off inside 2 years. He’s worth $28 mil/year as your everyday starting catcher, but as a 1B/DH/backup catcher, which is what he’ll likely be by the end of this contract? No shot.
If the Boston FO is seriously considering moves like this after the unprecedented mulligan they were just given then they deserve whatever they have coming. I’d rather be saddled with Beckett and Crawford but get to keep A-Gon than lose all three and then be stuck with Mauer, unless the Twins are taking on at least 75% of the salary he’s owed, and at that point they (the Twins) might as well just keep him.
And on top of all of that, isn’t Lavarnway supposed to be one of the best catching prospects out there right now? This move would make absolutely no sense, especially when they could be spending that money on reliable players at positions of need.
I’m not a Twins fan, but I would hate to see him in a different uniform playing for another team.
every outlet is reporting this and there’s not a single mention of Joe’s full no-trade clause . . .
Well there was one and on that site it also added this commentary:
The Twins have the worst record in the American League, and he could be concerned the team will struggle for the near future.
The Twins might struggle in the win/loss column, but will they struggle financially?
Mauer does have a pretty big contract. The other thing is why would the Twins place him on waivers, when they know full well there is a no-trade clause. I don’t know the answer to that. My question is how good is he at 1st base defensively?
Pittsburgh should claim Mauer in my opinion. He gives them another major star to pair with Mccutch, makes the team more competitive, and should greatly increase fan interest both in gate receipts and television ratings.
That contract could be an albatross for a payroll that size
Not that it really matters in baseball, but the Pirates TV ratings have been fantastic this season. Attendance also, going to top 2 million in a stadium that only seats 38,000. In this market, there just isn’t much higher to go, and even if they sold out every home game it wouldn’t offset the cost of that contract. Unfortunately, not every team can afford a $184m injury prone catcher. Just not a good investment for a small market team.
The Dodgers don’t take Mauer unless they can have Morneau, Casilla and one of the bridges between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
The Dodgers do need a catcher.
The SF Giants should make a trade for 1st Baseman Joe Mauer, as he would add a nice lefthanded stick in the middle of the line-up.
I was torn on this I was hoping my Red Sox would get a great player like Mauer but at the same time I dont want to see them make the same mistakes that we just the Dodgers to save us from … We could always work out a deal in the off season maybe trade Jacoby to Minnesota with Felix for Joe and have Minnesota pay 85% of his contract
Minny pays 85% of the contract and gets 1 year of Jacoby and Felix? I see no reason why the Twins would do that one.
Mauer would be great with Texas..
Joe Mauer would be a nice addition for The SF Giants as he has power, RBI strength and can hit for a high batting average. Brian Sabean make this trade..