Twins take a big step forward.

Publication: South Florida Sun-Sentinel (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)

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COPYRIGHT 2001 South Florida Sun-Sentinal

Byline: Mike Berardino

FORT LAUDERDALE _ Maybe it's the drumbeats of contraction Bud Selig is pounding out in the Arizona desert. Maybe it's the final stages of a never-ending push for a real stadium to replace the gawdawful Metrodome.

Maybe it's some sort of Kirby Puckett-to-Cooperstown inspired euphoria. Or maybe they just got tired of being the punch line for a mountain of lame jokes made by a nation of baseball writers. Who knows the reason?

But if you didn't know any better, you might think the Minnesota Twins are building some momentum this spring.

Yes, the Twins, the same bunch that hasn't finished higher than fourth since 1992, that has gone a combined 171 games under .500 in that span and finished a combined 199 games out of first place. The Twins, poster children for the evils of revenue sharing.

When they signed third baseman Corey Koskie to a three-year, $6.2 million deal this week, it marked the latest in a series of multiyear deals doled out by a long-shiftless franchise.

Others locked up in recent weeks and months include closer LaTroy Hawkins (two years, $4 million), left-hander Eric Milton (four years, $21 million), shortstop Cristian Guzman (four years, $9 million), relievers Eddie Guardado (two years, $5 million) and Bob Wells (two years, $1.8 million) and infielder Denny Hocking (two years, $2.05 million).

Including the four-year, $36 million deal staff ace Brad Radke signed last July, the Twins have doled out more than $85 million in multiyear deals. In 2004, they're on the hook for a combined $19 million for Radke and Milton, more than their entire payroll last year.

This year's payroll, while still the lowest in the majors by at least $10 million, will rise by 50 percent, from $16.5 million to better than $25 million in 2001. And there's flexibility to go a bit higher as the season unfolds.

Clearly the Marlins aren't the only...

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