What do Josh Beckett, Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer have in common? They all have expiring contracts either this year or the season after and all three are refusing to talk about their contract situations.
Mauer, the current American League MVP, is this year’s marquee free agent and after some preliminary talks with the Minnesota Twins about a contract extension, a deal has yet to be agreed. The catcher and three-time AL batting champion refuses to talk about his situation.
“I'm not going to get into that, It would just open up a can of worms.
"I'll sound like a broken record, but I'm just not going to talk about it. It's a lot easier that way,” Mauer said.
Likewise Josh Beckett doesn’t want to be drawn into speculation about his future, insisting negotiations will sort themselves out.
"We talked about talking, that stuff is going to work itself out. I'm really not too concerned with it and I don't really have anything to say about contract stuff today or probably any time during spring training.
"I definitely don't want to let that be the focus on what I'm trying to do,” Beckett said.
Albert Pujols?
"It's getting to the point that it's getting irritating to talk about my contract, let's wait until something happens, and then we're going to have all the answers and you can throw every question you want.
"As of right now, man, I don't want to talk about it because I'm so sick and tired of everybody talking about my contract or writing about my contract every time," Pujols told the press.
The likelihood is that the three will continue to be asked about their futures and the likelihood is all three will continue to deflect the questions by refusing to speculate, but one thing is for sure, all three will receive major pay bumps when they do eventually sign new contracts.
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