Joe will get 3.75 Million this year, 6.25 Million in 2008, 10.5  Million in 2009 and 12.5 Million in 2010. 

During the offseason the Twins had several goals.  Their biggest goal was to sign Morneau, Mauer and Cuddyer to long term contracts.  Morneau earlier this month signed a 1-year deal worth 4.25 Million dollars.  This move was done primarily to avoid arbitration.  The Twins will next attempt to sign Michael Cuddyer to a contract.

Joe’s signing should signal several things to Twins fans everywhere.

• The Twins believe that Mauer is an integral part of their future.  Everyone knows that he’s a hometown hero but the Twins believe that he can be a fixture in a lineup that with a few additional pieces can be World Series bound. 
• Nothing in Baseball is more scary than a long term contract.  4-year contracts like Joe’s a not that common and to have Pohlad back up the money truck for a 23-year old hitter who is 2 years removed from season ending knee surgury is something that we certainly would not have done 5 years ago.  The recent success of the Twins has Carl thinking that the Twins might have a shot during his lifetime. 
• The Twins have always been on the financially responsible end of things.  Their signing Joe to a long term deal and Morneau to a 1-year deal will save several million over what the arbitrator would have ruled their salaries to be.  Remember Kyle Lohse???  He won his arbitration case twice against the Twins.  The last year on the team he took the Twins for 4.5 Million.

The Twins will now focus their sites towards Michael Cuddyer.  He had a great season last year batting clean-up.  While we do know that he benefitted greatly from having Morneau behind him, he did show that in the right situations he can be a very solid player.  My guess is that the Twins will offer Cuddy a 1-year deal similar to Morneau.  While both Morneau and Cuddy’s  numbers were gaudy, they will likely “test the waters” to see if they can produce like they did last year.  Assuming that he continues to crush the ball next year, look for the Twins to sign him (and Morneau) to a longer deal midway through next season. 

With these moves the Twins have a promising core of young, talented players.  It’s a good time to be a Twins fan.  Now if we can just get Mr. Cy Young an extension we’ll be ready for 2010.