As expected Joe Mauer has signed for the Minnesota Twins. He will be paid $23 million a year for the next 8 years. His $184 contract is the 4th largest in baseball history. While everyone is pleased that Mauer is now under contract the deal will eventually be questioned if the Twins don't surround him with an adequate supporting cast. The hope is that his contract doesn't keep the team from pursuing top shelf players. Only time will tell on that one. Short of 1987 and 1991 has there ever been a better time to be a Minnesota Twins fan? Fans have a new stadium, the team has finally gone out and signed players to fill spots who are not leftovers from the free agency market and Joe Mauer is under contract until he is 35. The only rain cloud is Joe Nathan's injury and that is a sizeable rain cloud, but let's not dwell on the negative. By signing with the Twins, Mauer has put himself forever in the top tier of Minnesota sports legends. You now have Killebrew, Puckett and Mauer occupying a very small space atop the Minnesota sports mountain. It's difficult to name any sports individual who has played in this town that would bump any of those three down a notch. Fran Tarkenton, Kent Hrbek, Alan Page, Kevin Garnett, Neal Broten and even George Miken can't do it. The Minnesota Twins have their own Mount Rushmore and Joe Mauer is the newest addition.
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