Twins agree to four-year, $40M deal with Santana

[DJRamFan]

Feb. 14, 2005
By Scott Miller
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Scott your opinion!


The Minnesota Twins not only avoided an arbitration hearing with Cy Young winner Johan Santana, they locked him into their rotation long-term by agreeing to a four-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $40 million, sources told SportsLine.com on Monday.

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The agreement, contingent on Santana passing a physical examination, further solidifies a Minnesota pitching staff that led the American League in ERA last season. Santana, who emerged as the staff ace, went 20-6 with a 2.61 ERA. By signing Brad Radke to a two-year deal earlier this winter, the Twins now will have their top two starters, Santana and Radke, together for at least two more seasons.

While Radke pitched as well in 2004 as he had in any of his previous seasons, manager Ron Gardenhire said, the veteran right-hander still pitched in Santana's shadow. That was difficult to avoid: Santana went 13-0 with a 1.21 ERA in 15 post-All-Star break starts. During one point in the run, Santana strung together 36 1/3 scoreless innings.


Johan Santana went 13-0 after the All-Star break last year. (Getty Images)
Consequently, Santana collected a unanimous 28 first-place votes in the Cy Young balloting.

All this and Santana, 26, will enter only his second full season in a major-league rotation. If there is any downside to his game, it is that he has a tendency at times to nibble around the strike zone. He averaged about 6 2/3 innings per start in 2004 and threw only one complete game. Gardenhire would like to seem him pitch deeper in games in '05.

"One thing I want to prove is that this is not just something that happened, this isn't lucky," Santana said in November on a conference call with reporters after becoming the first native Venezuelan to win a Cy Young award. "I have to be consistent from now on. We have to prove why we won the award.

"Next season, we have to make sure to keep the Minnesota Twins winning the division title, and going to the World Series. In order for that to happen, we have to perform better than we did this year."

Santana, who would have been eligible for free agency after the 2006 season, had asked for a raise from $1.6 million to $6.8 million and had been offered $5 million by the Twins.

In agreeing to terms, Santana and the Twins avoided a salary arbitration hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday.

[txramsfan]

Can the Twins hit?

[DJRamFan]

Yes they can. power homeruns might not be there as much as other teams, but they are very talented hitters and are very young in the infield. I've seen their infield in Rochester and they're all very talented. Morneau is a stud too.