Hometown boy does good!!! Twins re-sign Joe Mauer

Mauer gets $33M, four-year extension (Star Tribune)
Last year, Mauer made $400,000. But with three years of major league service time, he qualified for arbitration. That sometimes acrimonious process starts with each side submitting a one-year salary figure.

$400,000 to $8.25 million, that's a nice little raise. He did have a great season last year, batting champion and all. The thing that bugs me about professional sports salaries is that they project outward from one good season; but that's never a guarantee of future success. I can see them being rewarded for a good season; but if they're going to stink the place up for the next four years, why pay them in advance.

I know that's the nature of the beast; doesn't mean we all have to like it. The other thing that bugs me about professional sports: unions vs personal agents. If you're going to have a union, let them negotiate contracts for all players based on set criteria. If you're going to have personal agents, and it's a dog-eat-dog attitude and screw your teammates, I'm getting what I can get; then, get rid of the union and you're on your own for all other benefits. I don't see why teams should pay your salary, plus the salary of an agent, he doesn't play the game.

Segue: I think the ad agency that comes up with Twins radio bits do a fantastic job. I just heard a new one this morning. It's all about Twins Territory, and how they're going to change the name of the state to "Mauersota." They listed off numerous MN towns in this vein--- Mauertonka, Mauerkato, Mauervideo. It was pretty good.