What is it going to cost to sign Joe Mauer

I think it is pretty obvious that the Twins need to do everything in their power to sign Joe Mauer to a long term contract. The question is how much and for how many years. I don't think its clearcut I would not give him a 7 or 8 year contract because honestly we need to face the facts that he has been hurt 3 times if you count this kidney thing. He has 2 years and 23 million left on his contract he signed 2 years ago. Another problem is do you want to set a precident with Justin Mourneau because Mauer is going to want more money than the Twins gave Justin Mourneau. The Twins are going to have to decide if it will cause friction between the two if Mauer makes more than Mourneau even though Mourneau hits more homeruns and drives in more runs. I think the Twins will decide that yes because Joe Mauer does so much for the team. He is probably one of best pure hitters in baseball and defensively he doesn't have a rival. I think the right course of action would be to give Mauer a 4 year extension on top of the 2 years he already is signed for. It would be 6 years and 83 million total which is not much more than the total value of Mourneau's contract. Here is how I would do it.

• 2009: 10.5 mil
• 2010: 12.5 mil
• 2011: 15.0 mil
• 2012: 15.0 mil
• 2013: 15.0 mil
• 2014: 15.0 mil
• 2015: 20.0 mil team option