Joe Mauer is still the face of the Minnesota Twins, and one of the faces of baseball in general, but he’s been under siege ever since he signed his 10-year extension and the Twins moved to Target Field. He’s not playing up to his contract, he no longer hits for power, he’s no longer a perennial MVP candidate, merely an All-Star (and even that might be stretching it- Matt Wieters and Cleveland’s Carlos Santana have better Wins Above Replacement on the Baseball Gauge).
He’s probably not worth the $23 million a year he’s getting, I understand that. I also think that the deal had to be done. Not for on-the-field reasons, but for off-the-field reasons. Psychological reasons. Go below the jump to see why.
The Baseball Continuum 