Mauer Number?

[MontanaRabbit]

Re: Mauer Number?

Until there is a salary cap in baseball (and I think there should be) contracts like this are gonna be the norm for the superstars.

I am not a Twins fan, just a baseball fan in general. My concern with this contract for the Twins is tying up $23 million per year in ONE player. That is a large portion of a yearly budget for the Twins and I don't see them drastically changing the budget even with a new stadium. It's hard to pay quality players at every other position if you tie so much into one....at least for the smaller market teams. Unless the Twins keep developing their young players, which they have done, this could be a costly deal for them.

Case in point. What did Texas do with A-rod? Nothing....they sucked. Couldn't put anything around the guy. I hope the Twins can still put quality players around Mauer or I fear the same thing is gonna happen to them. As good as he is he can't do it all, especially playing the most pysically demanding position in baseball.

[mango4]

Re: Mauer Number?

Until there is a salary cap in baseball (and I think there should be) contracts like this are gonna be the norm for the superstars.

I am not a Twins fan, just a baseball fan in general. My concern with this contract for the Twins is tying up $23 million per year in ONE player. That is a large portion of a yearly budget for the Twins and I don't see them drastically changing the budget even with a new stadium. It's hard to pay quality players at every other position if you tie so much into one....at least for the smaller market teams. Unless the Twins keep developing their young players, which they have done, this could be a costly deal for them.

Case in point. What did Texas do with A-rod? Nothing....they sucked. Couldn't put anything around the guy. I hope the Twins can still put quality players around Mauer or I fear the same thing is gonna happen to them. As good as he is he can't do it all, especially playing the most pysically demanding position in baseball.

I get what you are saying about the Twins putting in a ton around one player because their payroll is so low but their payroll jumped from 70 million to over 100 million this season, which doesn't include Mauer's new contract which begins next year (I think). Also Morneau, Cuddyer and Nathan are still signed for a couple years. And Morneau has said as long as Joe was in Minnesota he would be in Minnesota. The Pohlad kids have proven they aren't like their father by ponying up money for free agents this year and the Mauer deal. I don't think the deal gets done if Carl is still in charge.

The reason why Texas sucked those years wasn't because of the A-Rod deal, it was because they over payed a lot of crappy, crappy pitchers, such as Chan-Ho Park (he might not have been on the team at the time but they were still eating his contract) and Kevin Millwood.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Mauer Number?

That is a large portion of a yearly budget for the Twins and I don't see them drastically changing the budget even with a new stadium.

Except they already have. Last year the the payroll was 67 million. This year it will be closer to 90-100 million.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Mauer Number?

Twins payroll is expected to exceed the Dodgers. I think they have moved beyond the small market classification considering their salary levels over the past several years.

But to NoVA's point, I do think people are thinking more about this. I remember when Calhoun got into it with a reporter about his salary not being cut when the state was doing basically an across the board cut for state employees. He defended his salary because of the money his program made above what it cost to run it. In other words his salary was justified because he ran a profitable program. But is the purpose of a state university to have a for-profit athletic subsidiary? I can't remember who wrote the column, but someone explored the idea of how it actually might have been more profitable for the state to buy an NBA team than continue to run an elite NCAA D1 program. With the subsidies that professional sports teams are demanding from local and state gov'ts, I think it is somewhat analagous. The best thing of all is that we live in a country where these things are debated and discussed (to the point of ad nausem in MN) and if the gov't does things the public doesn't like, we just elect a new set of bums to run things.

[NoVaJack]

Re: Mauer Number?

Twins payroll is expected to exceed the Dodgers. I think they have moved beyond the small market classification considering their salary levels over the past several years.

But to NoVA's point, I do think people are thinking more about this. I remember when Calhoun got into it with a reporter about his salary not being cut when the state was doing basically an across the board cut for state employees. He defended his salary because of the money his program made above what it cost to run it. In other words his salary was justified because he ran a profitable program. But is the purpose of a state university to have a for-profit athletic subsidiary? I can't remember who wrote the column, but someone explored the idea of how it actually might have been more profitable for the state to by an NBA team than continue to run an elite NCAA D1 program. With the subsidies that professional sports teams are demanding from local and state gov'ts, I think it is somewhat analagous. The best thing of all is that we live in a country where these things are debated and discussed (to the point of ad nausem in MN) and if the gov't does things the public doesn't like, we just elect a new set of bums to run things.

Not sure who did that column but I remember it. Look, I don't begrudge the guy. My point was as a society, our priorities deserve examination.We're pricing a lot of fans out of the game experience, period. A lot of families I know can't afford to spend $200 to go to a Major League baseball game or $75 for an authentic jersey. But all the new stadiums have these great skyboxes where people go to watch the games in air conditioned comfort, underwriting Mauer's salaries, etc. Here in DC, the skyboxes are constantly being used by politicians for fund raisersl; I doubt much baseball gets watched there.
I know a beer vendor in Baltimore - he's been doing it for 30-plus years - and the year before they opened the new stadium I asked him if he was excited. His answer was interesting: He said he would definitely be making more money with the bigger crowds, but he though it was going to destroy baseball in that baseball town because:
a. the new stadium's skyboxes would segregate fans. The great thing about Memorial Stadium wasthat, without skyboxes, the guy that worked in the Blatz Brewery was seated next to the owner of Blatz Brewery. That's what made the old Memorial Stadium crowds so great.
b. with the new stadium would come bigger and bigger pressure to spend bigger and bigger for the product, the Orioles would have to match the Yankees and the Red Sox in bidding wars, and they would abandon their old ways of drafting and developing young talent for the Oriole Way. That is EXACTLY what has happened. Watch what happens with the Twins.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Mauer Number?

I agree completely on the pricing out of people. I used to make it to a couple of Twins series every year. Now I get the schedule out and look who is coming to town on weekends that will work, and if it is compelling I will go. Just not worth the cost. I really wanted to see Liriano during his great year, but couldn't make it work so we didn't go at all. I really want to go to the new park this year, so we will see.

[sfjacksfan99]

Re: Mauer Number?

Tickets went on sale last Saturday (14th). Good luck getting one on the Twins site right now. I would guess 75% of them were gone by Sunday morning.

So that's 42,000 nearly already sold out seats. The cheapest seats are $13 and there aren't that many of those. They put premium prices on premium games. This all adds up to $$$ in the Pohlad's pockets.

Yes, Target Field is a new fad this year and this is a significant reason for the tickets "flying off the shelves". If the Pohlad's want those tickets flying off the shelves next year, Mauer was needed in the equation. If he left due to money, the outrage would have been like after the baseball strike. It would have taken years to repair, especially if they started a downward trend in the standings whether it was Mauer related or not. Torii and Johan, yes it was sad to see them go and frustrating that it was mostly money reasons. This is the hometown hero who is 27 years old and one of the top 5 players in baseball. This guy is bigger than Kirby was. Remember the "outrageous" dollars Kirby got (which was also a hometown discount)? Worth every buck.

Yes, he'll get ridiculed if he leaves too many guys on base and doesn't produce in the playoffs, etc, etc. Do you sit and think about how much George Clooney is making when you pop in his latest dud movie? No, because his salary isn't public. And he makes a mint too.

It's sports. We love it. So we all have an opinion about it. There's mine.

[NoVaJack]

Re: Mauer Number?

Tickets went on sale last Saturday (14th). Good luck getting one on the Twins site right now. I would guess 75% of them were gone by Sunday morning.

So that's 42,000 nearly already sold out seats. The cheapest seats are $13 and there aren't that many of those. They put premium prices on premium games. This all adds up to $$$ in the Pohlad's pockets.

Yes, Target Field is a new fad this year and this is a significant reason for the tickets "flying off the shelves". If the Pohlad's want those tickets flying off the shelves next year, Mauer was needed in the equation. If he left due to money, the outrage would have been like after the baseball strike. It would have taken years to repair, especially if they started a downward trend in the standings whether it was Mauer related or not. Torii and Johan, yes it was sad to see them go and frustrating that it was mostly money reasons. This is the hometown hero who is 27 years old and one of the top 5 players in baseball. This guy is bigger than Kirby was. Remember the "outrageous" dollars Kirby got (which was also a hometown discount)? Worth every buck.

Yes, he'll get ridiculed if he leaves too many guys on base and doesn't produce in the playoffs, etc, etc. Do you sit and think about how much George Clooney is making when you pop in his latest dud movie? No, because his salary isn't public. And he makes a mint too.

It's sports. We love it. So we all have an opinion about it. There's mine.

Actually, George Clooney's salaries have been publicly reported:
Ocean's Thirteen (2007) $15,000,000
Syriana (2005) $350,000
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) $1
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) $15,000,000
Ocean's Eleven (2001) $20,000,000
The Perfect Storm (2000) $8,000,000
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) $1,000,000
Three Kings (1999) $5,000,000
Out of Sight (1998) $10,000,000
The Peacemaker (1997) $3,000,000
Batman & Robin (1997) $10,000,000
One Fine Day (1996) $3,000,000
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) $250,000

[jackmd]

Re: Mauer Number?

Actually, George Clooney's salaries have been publicly reported:
Ocean's Thirteen (2007) $15,000,000
Syriana (2005) $350,000
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) $1
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) $15,000,000
Ocean's Eleven (2001) $20,000,000
The Perfect Storm (2000) $8,000,000
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) $1,000,000
Three Kings (1999) $5,000,000
Out of Sight (1998) $10,000,000
The Peacemaker (1997) $3,000,000
Batman & Robin (1997) $10,000,000
One Fine Day (1996) $3,000,000
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) $250,000

From Dusk Till Dawn, classic movie. If you haven't seen it you need to.

[NoVaJack]

Re: Mauer Number?

From Dusk Till Dawn, classic movie. If you haven't seen it you need to.

I could watch it all day.

[JackJD]

Re: Mauer Number?

The matter of the Twins salaries and the new Target Field required investigation. [filbert: is this covered by the moderator's expense account?]

April 3, 2010: Twins 8, Cardinals 3 -- the stadium lives up to the hype. Nice place. Huge crowd. Witnessed Joe Mauer's first home run at Target Field. A few kinks have to be ironed out: some people working the concessions had no clue (ever hear of waiting 20 minutes for a grilled chicken sandwich? I hadn't either, so I didn't -- had the same overpriced hot dog I've 'enjoyed' for years, washed down with a $7 beer). I was sitting between Home and Third, in row 23. Here's the view looking easterly.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Mauer Number?

The matter of the Twins salaries and the new Target Field required investigation. [filbert: is this covered by the moderator's expense account?]

April 3, 2010: Twins 8, Cardinals 3 -- the stadium lives up to the hype. Nice place. Huge crowd. Witnessed Joe Mauer's first home run at Target Field. A few kinks have to be ironed out: some people working the concessions had no clue (ever hear of waiting 20 minutes for a grilled chicken sandwich? I hadn't either, so I didn't -- had the same overpriced hot dog I've 'enjoyed' for years, washed down with a $7 beer). I was sitting between Home and Third, in row 23. Here's the view looking easterly.

Actually the hot dog was one you hadn't enjoyed since the last time they played outdoors. They switched vendors back to the provider at old Met stadium and they went back to the recipe they used at that time. I wish I could remember the vendors name.

Man do I really want to get up there this year. The place looks really sweet!

[JackJD]

Re: Mauer Number?

I had the Schweigert Big Dog. Still tastes like a hot dog.

Pricing issues aside, the stadium is very well done, just like the Gopher football stadium.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Mauer Number?

I believe Mortenson Construction did both.

[jackmd]

Re: Mauer Number?

I had the Schweigert Big Dog. Still tastes like a hot dog.

Pricing issues aside, the stadium is very well done, just like the Gopher football stadium.

General questions for anyone who wants to answer. We went to plenty of games at the dome but never made it a "vacation destination". With the new stadium I am very interested in taking the family for a 3 game series and making a mini-vacation out of it. We've done that in K.C. the last couple of years and had a blast.

Any advice regarding parking, traffic? Do they allow/have tailgate options? Any recommendation regarding lodging? What are the best places in the twin cities to eat?