Nobody likes a tease.

Whether it’s that girl at the frat party winking at you — even though she has a boyfriend — or a premature announcement of a baseball contract, there is nothing worse in life than getting teased. A tease offers false hope, which — along with falsely labeled road signs and false teeth — more often than not, results in a surprise of the worst kind.

In this case, we’re talking about baseball contracts, namely one involving Joseph Patrick Mauer. It was leaked Monday that Mauer and his team, the Minnesota Twins, had reached a preliminary framework for a new deal that could keep the 2009 AL MVP in the Twin Cities for the next decade.

Much to the dismay of thousands of teenage girls in Twins Territory (Joe is sooooo dreamy), the two sides apparently aren’t anywhere closer to a final deal yet. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Mauer is heading to Florida today, meaning a celebratory press conference isn’t in the near future.

When/if he signs affects the rest of the baseball world in a couple of ways: First, if for some reason Mauer doesn’t sign with his hometown team, he would become a free agent at the end of the upcoming season. In that case, a bidding war of epic proportions would ensue between everyone’s favorite east coast teams.

The thought of the Yankees and Red Sox fighting for Mauer’s services is frightening at best, and downright terrifying at its worst. Here we have Mauer, the only catcher to win three batting titles and probably the best player not named Albert Pujols, and he’ll only be 27 years old by season’s end.

I imagine the Yankees’ offer will be something along the lines of 10 years for over $200 million or so. Boston will top that in terms of cash, as well as offering the firstborn daughter of everybody in the greater New England area. You can see where things could go downhill from there.

The second way this impacts the rest of baseball will depend on if Mauer indeed resigns with Minnesota. Baseball guys like SI.com’s Jon Heyman think it will take at least $20 million per year for at least seven years — a 10-year contract of over $200 million isn’t out of the question.

Consider this also: when first baseman Justin Morneau signed a six-year, $80 million deal in 2008, it was the biggest contract — dollars and years — in Twins history. Mauer’s deal would make it look like Morneau was being paid in breath mints and spare change.

So if Mauer does stay with the team he grew up rooting for, he would become one of baseball’s highest-paid players — and on a team that was just 24th in the majors in payroll last year, nonetheless. Of course, with a gorgeous new ballpark opening this spring, it’s expected that Minnesota’s $65 million payroll could climb to $90 million for the upcoming season. Even if the Twins stay around the $90-100 million range in terms of payroll for the next few years, Mauer’s contract still eats up around and over 20 percent of that figure.

So the question is, can a small to mid-market team afford to lock up a superstar like that and stay competitive? After all, one player does not make a team.

Obviously baseball has no salary cap to worry about, but that also means its stars tend to get overpaid (Barry Zito anyone?). All you Brewer fans might want to take some interest in this because a certain cuddly, rotund first baseman is due to be a free agent in 2011 — along with Pujols and Ryan Howard. Teams are going to be spending some big bucks that offseason.

Judging by how smaller market teams have operated in the past, it’s easier to just make trades or let guys walk when money is about to become an issue. Remember Johan Santana and C.C. Sabathia?

From a purely business standpoint, it makes more sense to let the big egos go and hope enough no-name players blossom at the same time to make a playoff run. Teams like the Twins, Brewers and Rays have to be smart about issues like these. Devote too much money to a Mauer or a Fielder and you have to fill the rest of your lineup with guys like Nick Punto and Frank Catalanotto.

But if you let the Mauers and Fielders walk, you lose more than a player — you lose fan support. Regardless of reports that talks are going well between the Twins and their catcher, if you’re Minnesota GM Bill Smith, you don’t have a choice — you absolutely have to sign the guy. Twins fans are sick of hearing about how they can’t afford stars, and that discontent would reach a head if the hometown hero became a Bronx Bomber. Not even a new ballpark or all the beer in the world will fix that. The Brewers have Ryan Braun locked up, but it could be tricky to afford Braun, Fielder and a pitching staff that, well, actually pitches.

Truth be told, it’s always going to be a matter of individual situations for these teams. The Brewers can probably find another power hitting first baseman and get away with it. The Twins aren’t likely to find a batting champ, MVP-caliber catcher anywhere else. In this case, Minnesotans should pony up and pray for their lives that Mauer doesn’t get hurt. Milwaukee should wait and see what happens, making sure to part ways with its 270-pound bowling ball if it can’t afford him. It’s tough, but it’s business.

Such is the way of the small-market team.

Adam is a junior majoring in journalism. Is it worth it for small market teams to keep their superstars? E-mail him at aholt@badgerherald.com