First off, I'm glad the Twins signed Joe Mauer to an eight-year contract and I'm not particularly concerned that the Pohlads are spending $23 million per year on the catcher-who-will-eventually-become-something else. The Twins organization knows that their combo platter of a new ballpark and the need to fill it is a spend money-to-make money thing. The trick is to spend wisely.
You don't build a mansion and fill it with thrift shop bric-a-brac. Letting Mauer escape would have been similar folly.
Earlier this week, there was a bit of a training camp dust-up when Mauer sounded unhappy that Gardy talked to reporters about the injections that Mauer has gotten in his knee. La Velle's reporting put it in perspective, pointing out others who've had the same treatment, among other things.
"I kind of wish it wasn't out there," Mauer told reporters.
At $23 million, every little thing Mauer does (or doesn't do) will be out there -- held under that much more powerful of a microscope than in the past. What is the over/under on the number of times he'll be referred to as "the $23 million man" in comments sections on the web?
His situation is much, much different from someone like Luke Ridnour of the Timberwolves, who has missed more games that he's played recently because of "personal issues" that have not been discussed in any detail. I don't feel like I need to know what's up with Ridnour, and I simply hope that whatever is up turns out OK.
Mauer would not have that privacy.
As the face of the franchise, not to mention MLB'11 The Show, Mauer will live in a transparent bubble with spotlights focused and cameras clicking and microphones-in-waiting at every turn. Kind of like an Anglo Tsuyoshi. As the Twins travel, Mauer will be their rock star. Twins fans will care about every little thing in a way they simply won't about the other 24 guys on the roster.