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You mean, how long have they been talking about it? If MN doesn't trade him next year, they are out of their damn minds. Posada is a good hitter (below average defensive catcher), but I'd sell him out for Mauer tomorrow.

TM

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What have you got to offer? It would take more than a couple *top* prospects to pry him loose.

The problem for the Twins is that if they trade Joe, they need to trade Morneau, too, as they've both made it reasonably clear that if they aren't both staying, they're both going.

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The Twins tend to want to keep the "hometown hero" players, even when it would make more objective sense to trade them.

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I assume Mauer will want a deal worked out before signing him, so MN needs to maximize what they can get for him with less than a season left on his contract. If no one is able to offer him what we're able to offer him, why wouldn't he just say, "You can trade for me for the rest of 2010, but I'll be a free agent after the season?" If that's the case, it's okay with us!

I'd give up Hughes or Chamberlain and a top minor leaguer for that guy. That said, our lineup really wouldn't be very fair if we had him.

TM

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i believe thrugreed if saying he'll be a free agent and you guys may have trouble meeting what the yankees offer him


so our best hitter got bombed Friday night, before what had become a must win game Saturday. I don't know if I buy into the "sober player plays better" meme (hi Ty!) but the guy did stink up the weekend. I suppose he could argue he took White Sox players, that is more than one, out with him, so overall it helped?

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What's happening here? Is everyone giving up on the Yankees in the playoffs and starting to think about the post-season?

Well OK then.

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I think TM said that whoever wins tomorrow, they'll get mowed down by the hated** Yanks.

Maybe someone should point out the recent news on Chuck Knoblauch to Joe Mauer. You leave Minnesota where the fans love you no matter what, then go to New York and turn into a wife beater.

**Obviously my own editorialization.

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I said no such thing, but the confusion is my fault. I said I think the Twins beat Detroit. The Twins are my second (distant) favorite team. Besides, I try not to talk any shit at all during the baseball season (unless a Boston fan starts some shit). If we win it all, I have the whole offseason. If we don't, the bragging I did before pisses even me off.

Besides, it's not like other sports. Baseball shit-talking is really kind of stupid. It's fun with friends, but it's not like basketball* or football. "Hey! Our team is filled with more skilled players than your team! Our pitchers have a lower era and our hitters have way more total bases! In yo' face!" Game-to-game shit talking in the playoffs is a different story, but even then I try not to jinx us.

TM

*And for obvious reasons, I'm not talking shit about the Knicks until we land Lebron or Wade.

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Don't know, but I certainly hear it enough from Yankee fans now.

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I do not think they will trade him. In fact, I think there is almost zero chance they will trade him. The question is whether they will offer him enough money to keep him, which really means would he prefer $20 mil/per from the Twins or $25 mil/per from the Red Sox/Yankees. We shall see, but I hold out hope that he'd prefer the former.


This is so obvious as to be not worth saying.

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And I believe that Fugee is saying, as all Twins fans are, that Kirby signed the richest contract in baseball when it was his turn to go (although it was quickly supeceded) although it probably wasn't the most he could have gotten, and they hope they do something similar with Joe.

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I still think they'd be crazy not to trade him. I know the fans will be furious if they did, but they better start sending out feelers as to how much he expects. What is the most MN has ever paid a player per year?

This is so obvious as to be not worth saying.

Not necessarily. I think Posada is about a year away from falling off a cliff. But he hit well this season, is a switch-hitting catcher who hits for power from both sides and is a great team guy and one of the Yankees favorites. We tend to hold on to these guys and lots of fans will be upset at first if we relegate him to back up or let him go outright. Mind you, no one would be upset too long.

I think Mauer is probably salivating at hitting regularly in Yankee Stadium, which seems built for him.

TM

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We didn't want Puckett.

TM

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They allegedly offered Santana $20 million a year for four years.

Right. Which is why it would be obvious to try to replace him with a younger and better (all around) catcher.

If you get him, it will only be about money. He's a kid from St. Paul. If you were too you would know what that means.

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It is not unprecedented for a Minnesota player to take less $$ to stay in Minnesota. But Hrbek was a little lazy, would have hated New York, and the Yanks probably didn't want him as much as they want Mauer.**

If Mauer leaves, I'd really hate him to go to the Yankees. I have a longstanding hatred of the Yankees that is more of a George Steinbrenner hatred but it has spread to the whole organization.

**I don't recall which team offered Hrbek more, but it probably wasn't the Yanks.