UPDATE: Buster Olney tweets that the Twins are calling the WCCO report “not accurate” and that while they remain optimistic that a deal will be done, it’s not done yet. Not that I’m going to delete the analysis of the deal I started drafting or anything. 4:16 P.M.:: WCCO TV is reporting that Mauer and the Twins have reached a preliminary argeement on a ten-year deal. No terms disclosed yet, but it will likely be the richest deal in baseball history. 3:49 P.M.: Last week some rumors began swirling around the Twin Cities that the Twins were close to signing Joe Mauer, with a few sources suggesting that an announcement could come at the weekend’s annual TwinsFest. That speculation was quickly shot down by everyone involved, but Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the two sides may indeed be close to working something out:
Mauer and the Twins have been amazingly quiet about contract talks, and Christensen is a good reporter with good sources who tends not to delve into rumor-mongering. In other words, the fact that some info is finally beginning to leak out now and Christensen is the person running it seemingly signals that a long-term extension is truly close.
Everybody I spoke with during TwinsFest believes the team soon will have Joe Mauer signed to a contract extension. Two people, who have their own information pipelines, claimed that the deal’s basic framework--the number of years and guaranteed money--is already set, with the sides negotiating things such as deferred payments, etc.
Our best sources on this subject, however, insisted there wouldn’t be news of an extension all weekend, and they were right. Mauer said Friday he doesn’t want his contract to become a distraction for the team. But there is hardly widespread panic that the Twins are going to lose him to free agency. I’m confident an extension is coming. It’s a matter of when, not if.