Mauer Pauer

First off, if you haven't seen the replay of Joe Mauer's 9th inning play yesterday, do yourself a favor and go check it out. It's currently the primary video at minnesotatwins.com I'm pretty sure that Mauer is the only catcher who could have done that and it will go down as one of his best defensive plays.

Anyways about this Mauer guy. 6 home runs already?! He is already 2/3 of the way to his total last year (9) despite only having 56 at-bats, and is on pace to hit 56 home runs and 148 RBI for the season. Will he keep it up? Not likely. But I don't think he will regress to be just a 10-15 HR guy. I think he is evolving into a player that hits home runs somewhere in the 20's and 30's. It's tough to say at this point of course. But adding power to his game certainly isn't out of the question. Oh, did I mention that he is hitting .429, with an on-base percentage of .529 and slugging .804! Ridiculous! The guy would be leading the league in virtually every offensive category if he only had enough at-bats.

The Twins must lock this guy up. Everyone knows that his contract goes through 2010. I can't even imagine the market for him if he ever becomes a free-agent. It doesn't help that the Yankees and Red Sox catchers are old and beat up. He'd be able to sign one of, if not the biggest contracts ever. I'm sure the Twins will lock him up before then, and Mauer will want to stay in his hometown state. But I'd sign him to a 7 or 8 year deal asap. His price is already skyrocketing.