Congrats to Joe Mauer

Congrats to Joe Mauer!!! You have made an entire state very happy and made other people very confused. You are a Minnesotan and you are going be there for life. The Twins are known for having players for life. Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Tony Oliva, just to name a few. Roy Smalley and Butch Wynegar were there for a bunch years before they became Yankees. The Twins have won the World Series twice in my lifetime so the opportunity to win there is possible. They have Justin Morneau and a rejuvenated Francisco Liriano. They have young talent in the outfield, and despite losing Joe Nathan for the season, I think their bullpen is solid. But come on Joe, you could have really broke the bank if he had become a free agent. He could have been the first 300 million baseball player. The Mets and Yankees would have broken the bank to pay him. The Red Sox and Angels would have as well. Plus he would have a greater chance of winning a championship with those teams than he will with the Twins. I know money isn't everything but winning is and the Twins have a lot of holes that need to be filled. Orlando Hudson is a great player but he is in his 30's and I wonder how healthy he can be for a season. Last year with the Dodgers he was great in the first half of the season but really struggled in the second half. They need him to just hold the fort because they have some minor league players ready to jump in. I applaud Joe Mauer for his loyalty but in this day and age of sports players need to understand that that they need to get paid because get voided or players get released. Plus there is a strike looming and players need to understand that the owners are not going to budge on their demands.
I saw the other day that Sports Illustrated was talking about the 100 million dollar baseball players in the history of the game. They had Mike Hampton, Kevin Brown, Carlos Beltran on the list. In fact most of the list consisted of Yankees or former Yankees, a few former Mets and for some strange reason, the Colorado Rockies have players on the list. The funny thing about the list is that had the Yankees not won the title last year, this list would have exposed that being a 100 million dollar type talent is not a guarantee for a title. Manny, Pujols, Jeter, may all have rings, but Giambi given a ton of money and won nothing with the "bombers". Griffey did not win when he could have broken the bank and gave the Reds a home town discount. Todd Helton may be the greatest Rockie to ever live but one world series appearance is not enough. Didn't the Angels sign Vlad for over 100 million too? He got one ring so I guess that was okay. In other words teams win titles. The Marlins won the series with tiny payrolls. So in conclusion, I root for you Joe Mauer because of your loyalty, but you are never going to bring a title to the Twin Cities. Justin Morneau will be a Met or Red Sox in the next two years and then where will the Twins be. It is a Yankees universe and you better spend more money if you want to be in that constellation...