Mauer Money

While I was in Arizona, I heard about the Joe Mauer deal. He gets an extension of eight years, worth $184 million, making him the third highest-paid player in baseball behind Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia. Minnesota fans gave him a standing ovation in a spring training game yesterday - clearly they're thrilled, especially now that he will stay a Twin and not defect to the Yankees or Red Sox like many other superstars.

So is this the going rate for a three-time batting champion and reigning MVP? What a scary thought. No catcher has ever been paid this much money. Imagine what Albert Pujols is going to get when he is eligible for free agency. Mauer's new contract speaks to what I believe is a greater issue in baseball: inflated player salaries. Do professional baseball players really deserve to be making upwards of $20 million a year? $10 million? $5 million? I think not. They go out, and they play baseball 162 days out of the year, more if they're lucky. They do nothing that benefits society directly, unless you want to count entertainment value. And then they just throw their money away when they're done. Yes, MLB players are paid far too much money to do what they do. Mauer is just another instance of this.

Don't get me wrong - Joe Mauer is a great talent, and is probably the best catcher in the game today. But can you really put a price tag that high on one individual? It's baffling to me how teams are willing to sign contracts like these. We're in a national economic crisis. We've got people living on the street, a shortage of jobs, home values going down the toilet, and GM's are throwing millions at guys without breaking a sweat. Does anyone else think there is something wrong with this picture?

Major League Baseball somehow needs to get this situation under control. A salary cap might do it, although I'm sure that would be difficult to implement. What I would like to see, in the event that player salaries remain this astronomical, is a requirement that mandates players to contribute a percentage of their earnings to charity, say 10%. Joe Mauer doesn't need $23 million dollars a year until 2018. That's more money than he knows what to do with. Make him give some of it to a noble cause, and now his athletic talent does indeed benefit society. I would say this should go for all athletes, but also high-paid executives, business owners, celebrities, and others who are so rich they sneeze dollar bills. As long as the system remains intact, and professional baseball players continue to earn Mauer money, those dollars will be going to waste.