Joe Mauer isn’t going anywhere. The Minnesota Twins showed incredible financial fortitude as well as some club loyalty to their hometown, homegrown all-star by inking an eight-year, $184 million contract extension. The Twins now have Mauer locked up through 2018. The deal includes a no-trade clause and averages $23 million per year. The deal is the fourth-largest in MLB history in both total and average salary. The Twins will make the deal official to the media on Monday.

A lot is going to be riding on Mauer’s success, and not just because of the amount of money he will be paid. Closer Joe Nathan officially called it a season over the weekend and will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair an elbow injury. But there’s nothing to indicate that Mauer can’t take the team on his expensive shoulders and carry them to the postseason. He’s been an All-Star, Silver Slugger, and AL Batting Champion three times each, and twice a Gold Glover, not to mention the AL MVP in 2009.

The 26-year-old lefty batter had a career year in 2009. He hit an incredible .365 with a .444 on-base percentage. He scored 94 runs and drove in 96. He also hit 28 home runs which were more than double his previous career high of 13 set in 2006. He had 191 hits, 59 of which were extra-base knocks. His OPS was a whopping 1.031 in 138 games played. Mauer was key in Minnesota’s squeezing by Detroit to get into the playoffs before being swept by the Yankees in the divisional round.

Mauer, despite incredible success in the big leagues since 2004, has not shown he’s worth the $184 million he’s been offered. No player has. When a deal this large is made, it becomes up to the player to set a new standard for worth. Sometimes a guy gets the big deal and then performs worse than a bunch of others making half of what he is. But this is Mauer’s opportunity. If he finds a way to out-perform his contract, it might not be long before deals of this magnitude become commonplace.