A wise man once said that money can't buy you happiness. That poor, dead, man is probably having second thoughts as his cheaply built coffin (or spacious cardboard box, if you will) disintegrates around him.
The Minnesota Twins seem quite content to pay Joe Mauer a whopping $23 million a year to play for them. And unless Mr. Mauer is a little slow (the sideburns beg questions), he's going to take that money.
And they're both quite happy about the arrangement.
As for the Toronto Blue Jays, they just watched Major League Baseball up the ante. And if you know anything about poker, that means it's time to go fish.
One of the most notoriously cheap teams just shelled out some serious coin. The Twins were one of the last bastions of frivolity. They made the playoffs last season with a payroll of $68 million.
By comparison, their first-round opponents, some team from New York, had a $207 million payroll. And if not for misers like the Florida Marlins off in the National League, the Twins would look cheaper.
Yet, a team has never made affordability so successful, so consistently. Although their presence in the cannibalistic AL Central benefits them, Minnesota has always remained competitive.
Cyclically, of course, but still competitive; they made the playoffs five times the previous decade without topping $75 million in payroll.
Now they've decided to change the way they do business in the Twin Cities. This is the team that let Johan Santana go for a song. The team that stole the lucky penny out of Luis Castillo's shoe. The team that made Torii Hunter pawn his Gold Gloves for a flight to California.
They had no sentimentality, and now they're hedging their bets on Joe Mauer.
Granted, Mauer is in fact, all that. To state that he's great is an insult. Call him good and people spit on you. Hyperbole buys you only a brief respite from the glory of Mauer.
The whole situation just feels very unlike Minnesota. The Blue Jays have to be wondering if the winds of change are upon the league.
Toronto is a team that is trying to become cost-effective in a game that has become bloated. They're fighting against a current of big contracts and overspending. Now the poster-boy for thrift has changed its colours.
Toronto has built itself a nice little future. If they can continue to add to their stable of prospects, and if these prospects meet expectations, the Jays are on their way. Until those prospects are due for a payday. Then it's time to decide whether to break out the check book or say goodbye.
There is no guarantee that another Joe Mauer is playing in Toronto's minor league system. Yet, the day is still coming when Toronto will have to decide between paying a player like Adam Lind or moving on.
Another factor that will blur any future contract Toronto gives is the Vernon Wells deal. The Jays owe Wells upwards of $20 million yearly come 2011. When will anyone in Toronto be ready to dole out that kind of money again?
The team will need a special kind of player to remove the bitterness that now accompanies the Wells signing. Unfortunately, the price of doing business is clearly on the rise.
A team like the Tampa Bay Rays seems to be an anomaly. Somehow, the Rays remain relevant without holding a famous celebrity ransom.
How much longer does a team like Tampa have, though? Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, two cornerstones of the team, are primed for departure at the end of the season. The Pat Burrell experiment has definitely gone awry, and BJ Upton is only signed on for 2010.
Tampa will have to make a choice, much like the Twins did. Either they'll recede back into the Rays of old, or they'll pay up. Evan Longoria can't win by himself.
The Jays also continue to play in the AL East. A contract like Mauer's in the division would just be a drop in the bucket. Either you need to be very rich, or very lucky, to succeed in the East. Right now, Toronto is neither.
That Minnesota is admitting that they need to spend to survive in the AL Central doesn't bode well for the Jays. If the Twins' model is broke, what hope does anyone else have? Toronto's front office will spend money if necessary, but being a cheapskate is no longer fashionable.
Baseball seems to be moving one way, Toronto in another. The real question is who blinks first.
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