<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- AL batting champion Joe Mauer and the Twins agreed Sunday to a $33 million, four-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration and giving one of the team's young stars the security of a long-term deal.The 23-year-old catcher hit .347 with 84 RBIs last year to help the Twins rally from a 12 1/2 -game deficit to win the AL Central on the final day of the regular season. He played in his first All-Star game last summer."I'm real excited to be in Minnesota for the next four years and that I'll be playing at home with my family and friends being there," Mauer said. "I'm excited to be there for the opening of the new stadium."Selected with the first pick in the 2001 amateur draft out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Mauer was eligible for arbitration this winter for the first time. He became the first catcher to lead the majors in batting average and the first AL catcher to win the batting title."We're extremely happy, because there is not a player who belongs with the Twins more than Joe Mauer," his agent Ron Shapiro said on Sunday.Shapiro represented two Hall of Famers, Baltimore's Cal Ripken and Minnesota's Kirby Puckett, who spent their entire careers with the same team. The deal will keep Mauer with the Twins through at least 2010, the year the team is scheduled to begin playing in a new Minneapolis ballpark.That didn't mean Mauer gave Minnesota a hometown discount, however.He gets $3.75 million this year, $6.25 million in 2008, $10.5 million in 2009 and $12.5 million in 2010. Mauer has additional award bonuses and gets the right to designate three teams each year that he can't be traded to without his consent."This is a market deal," general manager Terry Ryan said. "Don't worry about that."Mauer would have been eligible for free agency after the 2009 season.</div>
No. He'll be in his prime then. We need a 6 year deal so he's fading and won't need so much money.We NEED to lock up Santana, Morneau, Cuddy and Nathen and then our team will win forever
Nathan*We'll lock all of those guys up over time. We have the money, we just don't use it unless we need too. And if we feel these guys are going to continue to play good, we'll do it.
