Cups of Joe

Let's take a break from the Madness cause clearly only women and morons have brackets looking pretty right now.  So I'm going to talk about the spring training news that is going around and it all seems to be around the Minnesota Twins with their new stadium opening up (no dome in Minnesota in April and September?), Joe Mauer getting to stay in his home town, basically, and gets a huge contract, and finally Joe Nathan goes under the knife for Tommy John like so many other great pitchers.

Joe Mauer agrees to a contract extension with the Minnesota Twins for 8 years and 184 million dollars.  Not bad for a guy who lives in a log cabin.  But I want to know how a small market team like the Twins have the ability to give that much money when they pride themselves on "using what they have" and seemingly try to trade away every big name guy that has ever come through their farm system.  I'm not saying the AL MVP doesn't deserve a big time contract like that, because he does, he's the best.  Plus, he's a product of the area and I'm sure the fans would have went wild if they didn't sign him because he's a local boy.  Joe Mauer has been one of the best players in the game over the past 3 years and he is a catcher, not a common find.  But I'm guessing with the new stadium the Twins will bring in enough revenue to support that contract and possibly they will turn around and become a contender and learn that spending money will actually result in moving past the 90 win mark and possibly past the ALDS.

As for Joe Nathan, what a loss for the Twins.  Statistically since 2004, no other closer has had better numbers than Joe lets be honest, he has unbelievable stuff.  Losing any solid pitcher in a bullpen will hurt any team as well all know with the Mets losing "K-Rod" (even though it wasn't injury just because he sucks now).  But a guy like Joe Nathan would be like the Yankees losing Mariano or the A's losing Andrew Bailey.  It's just going to hurt them.  Now the replacement?  I'm guessing Franciso Liriano could make the move into the bullpen because he hasn't been able to reproduce the effectiveness he once showed as a starter so why not move him into a 2 inning role guy because his stuff could be very effective in a short span for the Twins.

I still don't see how people or players will want to play outdoors in Minnesota in April or late September but then again they can pull it off in Detroit so I guess they can try and see if those crazy Gopher lovers can go out and see games in probably sub-40 degree temperature.  Either way Joe Mauer is the man regardless just because he didn't want to run away from a place where he grew up, basically he's a country pumpkin through and through.  As for Joe Nathan it's a terrible thing to see, but AL Central teams will be happier, but in about 12-18 months from now I bet he'll be back and sitting batters down again.