From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.While they have a pretty solid franchise in place and several other stars (including former MVP Justin Morneau), Joe Mauer is the Minnesota Twins. He was born in St. Paul, Minn. His senior year, he was selected by USA Today as the National Player of the Year in both baseball and football for Cretin-Derham Hall High School (St. Paul), in addition to being an All-State basketball player. Then, in the 2001 MLB draft, Mauer was picked first overall by his hometown Twins over more ballyhooed prospects Mark Prior and Mark Teixeira.
It didn't take long for Mauer to reach the majors. He hit .308 in 2004 as a 21-year-old rookie. Since then, he's made three All-Star appearances and won two Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers all while racking up a .327 career batting average and .408 on-base percentage. He can run, handle the pitching staff and has added power to his repertoire. In 2009, he won his first AL MVP. And he's still only 26.
Simply put, Minnesota's favorite son is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career. What a shame it would be if he played part of it away from the Twin Cities, a possibility with free agency on the horizon. He's only under contract through 2010 and if the Twins can't lock him up long term before he hits the open market, they'll likely be buried in the bidding process by the Yankees or another large-market team.
Apparently the MLBPA really got through to the 
The figures are in. The haggling has begun. And you can rest assured 
Just days after agreeing to raise payroll, the 
The 
INDIANAPOLIS -- This was one of the busiest divisions in baseball before the Winter Meetings, with the additions of 
INDIANAPOLIS -- Wednesday afternoon at the annual Winter Meetings, the eight managers who had not yet given an interview session took the podium to field questions for a half-hour from in-house media. Eighteen others had already been there on the previous two days -- we posted about these sessions for both Monday and Tuesday -- and Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Ron Gardenhire and Charlie Manuel were not present.
The 
Jorge Cantu is likely to stay in a 
