So why hasn't Joe Mauer signed that big deal with the Twins yet?

I make no secret of the fact that I openly covet Joe Mauer, and want him to be a Yankee next year. In fact, I fully expect that he will be wearing the pinstripes next year - I wrote several columns about this last winter.

Anyhow, I got all sorts of grief from readers - and Twins bloggers - telling me about Joe's a small-town guy, he wants to stay in Minnesota, and he will stay in his home state, blah blah blah. And there was all sorts of talk this winter about how the Twins would lock him up with a long-term deal.

Yet here it is, mid-March, and Mauer still hasn't agreed to that big contract with the Twins. So Minnesota Star-Tribune columnist Jim Souhan (hat tip to Sliding Into Home) is now wondering if "Mauer's hesitancy to accept a record-setting contract offer from his hometown team has made his signing less than a sure thing and raised this previously unthinkable question: 'Won't the Twins have to trade him if he refuses their best offer?'"

Souhan also writes:

If he's spurning amounts the Twins feel are exorbitant, the team could discern that Mauer is intent on playing in New York or Boston. Those might be the only two baseball cities where a team other than the Twins would be willing to pay more than $20 million a year for a catcher with a history of leg and back injuries.

 Ahem. As I wrote last winter:

Besides, the thing is about being a Yankee is that it puts you in a whole other level of superstardom. Joe Mauer has arguably been the best all-around player in the league for years, but he will only get the attention he deserves if he puts on the pinstripes. Will Mauer get the ads Derek Jeter does if he stays in Minnesota? No. Will Mauer host SNL or get to introduce artists at the American Music Awards as a Twin? Doubtful.

One of our readers suggested that Mauer would stay in Minnesota, because he spent time this winter in his deer stand. Myjah wrote:

Yeah--up in his DEER STAND, probably by his log cabin in the middle of nowhere where he does things like mow his own lawn.

Do you really think Joe is aching to live/play in New York City so he can make even more millions of dollars?

Well, Mauer still hasn't signed that big deal everybody (except me!) expected him to, before the season started.(And none of this has anything to do with Joe Nathan potentially needing Tommy John surgery; the Twins had all winter to get this Mauer deal executed.)

So I'm sticking with my prediction of Mauer "catching CC Sabathia's first pitch in 2011." Forget about Jorge Posada - he'll be 40 next year, in the last year of his contract, and he will be the Yankees DH. Forget Jesus Montero and Austin Romine, the catching prospects of the future. (Austin Jackson was supposed to be the Yankees center fielder of the future, and Ian Kennedy was supposed to be the Yankee rotation fixture of the future. How did that work out?)

Of course, I could be wrong, and Mauer could indeed sign that big deal Minnesotaland is hoping for. But you have to wonder what's going on. Souhan writes:

At some point, the Twins' attitude will change from eagerness to sign Mauer, to indignation that he won't accept a franchise-record offer.

If Mauer doesn't have that big deal from the Twins by Opening Day, start spreading the news. He will be a Yankee in 2011!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Derek Jeter enters the Twilight Zone

It was bad enough seeing the Yankees dispose of the Twins on TBS, but at least I wasn't listening on ESPN radio. Squawker Lisa tells me that she heard, via Fire Joe Morgan's KenTremendous, that Jon Miller said Derek Jeter must have had a "third eye" to spot Nick Punto failing to stop at third when Jeter fired the ball to Jorge Posada, who then threw Punto out at third.

So Jeter is not simply a future Hall of Famer - now he is a superior entity straight out of the "Twilight Zone." (Spoiler alert: Clip reveals the ending of my favorite Twilight Zone episode - "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up.")

Sure, Jeter made a good play. But Jeter could be the smartest player in the history of baseball and there's no play to make if Punto even had ONE EYE on his third-base coach, frantically trying to hold him up.

By the time Jeter got the ball, batter Denard Span was almost at first base. Did Jeter need a fourth eye to notice that?

Once Jeter saw that he couldn't throw out Span, his options shifted to the other runner, Punto. Jeter simply did what he was supposed to do.

As someone who watched way too much of the 2009 Mets, I certainly do not take smart infield play for granted. A 2009 Met middle infielder might well have hurried a throw to first - past Daniel Murphy and into the dugout. Punto could have been the hero instead of the goat.

But Punto was not the only goat. Ex-Met Carlos Gomez showed he really was trained in the Met farm system when he made his own baserunning gaffe in Game 2. And then there is Joe Nathan, who blew Game 2 and put Game 3 out of reach.

Seeing Nathan take dirt from the Metrodome mound after the Twins were eliminated that was irritating. Nathan was responsible as anyone for the Twins' quick demise, and here he is taking a memento after giving up two hits to turn a 2-1 deficit into 4-1. What's next - asking A-Rod for an autographed baseball:
To Joe: Shoulda pitched around me! [signed] Alex Rodriguez :)

It reminded me of when the Mets blew the playoffs in 2008, then put on the tribute to Shea Stadium. It came off a lot better than I thought it would. There was a lot of history to celebrate, just as is the case with the Twins. But I am glad I did not notice Scott Schoeneweis or Luis Ayala, who gave up eighth-inning homers that day to seal the Mets' fate, taking dirt from the mound.

Instead, it is the Twins that are covered in dirt, while the Yankees roll on. I look forward to an entertaining and competitive series featuring Mark Teixeira and Bobby Abreu facing their old teams. I don't see anyone stopping the Yankees, but at least it can be close.

Unfortunately, I also don't see anyone stopping Squawker Lisa's crowing. It is shaping up to be a long winter.