See, in Minnesota, Mauer is like Jesus. If he were to have signed elsewhere come next spring, there may have been a riot. On my end of things, if he came back in pinstripes or in a Sox jersey, I probably would have cried. In that, I dont think I would be alone. He is the hometown boy, and could turn out to be the best catcher in MLB history, so why not throw money at him like we were the Yankees?

A lot of people are questioning the money spent on him as a limitation from signing other players in the future. To that I ask about whether or not we are watching the same team. I mean, I dont think I have ever seen the Twins sign a guy that wasnt on the downside of the downslope of their career, and many of the pieces of their team nucleus are signed long term. Although it will be tougher to afford to resign guys like Morneau in 2013, I would think that the new stadium should help to make the Twins into a larger market team.

Regardless of how the deal looks, I believe Mauer is worth every penny, and funny enough, so do all the people who have driven up his card prices. I own close to 40 different Mauer autographs, including some incredibly rare ones, and I couldnt be happier that his 2002 Chrome auto is selling at close to 300 raw. I bought mine for about a hundred bucks, and its pretty crazy to think that it has almost tripled in true value. Even his weird, common autos are selling through the roof, and that is nuts! If he has a good year this year, again, who knows where the peak will be. Considering I also have a signed game model bat authenticated by MLB, I may be sitting on a gold mine – that is – if I were ever going to dump his stuff.

Realistically, Mauer probably wont play at the level of A-Rod or Pujols, despite his contract reflecting that level of talent. However, I do think this is good for small-market baseball, and definitely good for Minnesota. Hell, if Mauer did end up as a fucking Yankee, I may have had to put my eternal hatred of them on hold for awhile. That would be bad.