Earlier this week, Michael Rand wrote about what could happen if the Red Sox -- having purged themselves of $275 million in salary and their perceived clubhouse problems in their massive weekend trade with the Dodgers, made a run at Twins stars Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.
An unscientific reader poll that accompanied the story asked whether fans would trade them to Boston. More than 3,000 people responded and 53 percent said yes.
Late Tuesday night, FOX Sports baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal wrote that the Twins placed Mauer on trade waivers Tuesday, "according to a major league source."
Let's start with perspective: Teams place players on waivers all the time and pull them off when they see the results. In addition, Mauer has a full no-trade clause in his eight-year contract, which has six more years to run, although Rosenthal reports that "Mauer sought an opt-out clause when he negotiated his long-term deal, just in case the team fell into a losing rut."
Again, that's attributed to an unnamed source.
Rosenthal's point in writing the piece is not to stoke trade fires as much as it is to ask whether the Red Sox have the discipline not to get involved in such discussions after trading Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett (and Nick Punto) to Los Angeles.
Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington contended that the deal marked the beginning of a new era of salary discipline.
Rosenthal lays down this challenge in his report: "The Red Sox not only have long-standing interest in Mauer, but also purged more than $275 million in contract obligations last week in their mega-deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. If the Sox truly intend to be more disciplined ... let's see where they will draw the line."
