What’s a major league discount?
$184 million.
Joe Mauer, the flawless star just re-signed at that price with the Minnesota Twins to the consternation of East Coasters, including whiny analysts like Buster Olney.
It’s better than great for baseball.
Mid-market teams like Minnesota deserve stars like their hometown hero. They drafted him, they developed him and they deserve to reap the rewards from his prime to his retirement press conference.
And praise be to Mauer for having the wisdom to appreciate all of it and foregoing the potential $50 million extra he could have made in New York or Boston.
While I get the sense of entitlement from those fan bases, I’ve never understood the elevated sense of pride begotten from their bloated payrolls.
While obnoxious East Coast fans can deploy their full verbal arsenal based on the idea that they can outspend the poor, the look on their faces when they realize they’ve launched boomerangs, now incoming in the form of guys like Mauer, is priceless.
The more potential free agents who follow Mauer’s lead the better, but don’t expect those dark-siders to develop a sense of shame anytime soon.
