I covered the 1998 Winter Meetings, when the Dodgers signed Kevin Brown for $105 million. I’ll never forget that silly look on GM Kevin Malone’s face. Or the look of disbelief and disgust from everyone else at the hotel — except for Brown and Scott Boras.

Maybe it’s from covering the smaller-market Padres and then switching to Malone’s Dodgers, who went on to give Darren Dreifort $55 million. Maybe it’s from arriving in Baltimore for the tail end of the Scott Erickson deal (post-surgery). But I have a tendency to think conservatively when it comes to big, long contracts for pitchers.

Twins Nation is frustrated with Terry Ryan for shelling out $3.1 million for Ramon Ortiz. Disgusted mostly because he and Sidney Ponson ($1 million) have blocked the path of the Rochester Quartet. Before Sunday’s strong outing, Carlos Silva was 0-4 with a 6.17 ERA for May, making it harder to defend picking up his $4.3 million option.

But if the worst of these decisions was Ortiz, I ask you to compare the following five investments and tell me: Which is the best? And, which is the worst?

1) The Twins spending $3.1 million for Ramon Ortiz.

2) The Yankees spending $46 million (including the posting fee) for Kei Igawa.

3) The Yankees spending $39.95 million for Carl Pavano (circa 2004).

4) The Giants spending $126 million for Barry Zito.

5) The Brewers spending $42 million for Jeff Suppan.

You can argue that Suppan’s signing doesn’t look all bad right now, and maybe he was exactly what the 2007 Brewers pitching staff needed. You can argue that it’s way too early to evaluate Zito’s deal. You can argue that the Yankees spending tens of millions for Pavano and Igawa is the same drop in the bucket for them as the Ortiz signing was for the Twins.

But for those who think Ryan has made bad decisions, keep some perspective. If he had signed Suppan, and Suppan had turned into a Pavano-like injury bust, the Twins would be in a terrible financial hole. Not just this year, but for every year until 2010.

For six years, I covered the Dodgers and Orioles, listening to talk about how they couldn’t wait to get out from under “bad contracts.” Look at the Twins: There are almost no bad contracts. Besides losing David Ortiz, Ryan’s biggest all-time regret is the four-year, $20 million deal he gave Joe Mays after Mays won 17 games in 2001.

Right now, the Twins are second-guessing themselves for misjudging Jesse Crain’s durability, when they gave him the three-year, $3.25 million contract this spring. But that’s a far cry from how the Yankees misjudged Pavano’s durability.

This is a tough argument to make right now, but I still believe the one-year deals for Ortiz, Ponson and Silva have served a purpose. All it took was one week watching Twins relievers drop like flies to remind everyone why people always say, “You can never have enough pitching.” Some think Ryan should have bypassed all three of those veterans and gone into spring training with Johan, Boof, Garza, Slowey, Perkins and Baker.

Well, now Perkins is hurt. He is 24. He never had an arm injury. Now he does.

So Johan & The Rising 5 would be down to Johan & The Rising 4. That sounds pretty thin, especially when there are still 113 games left to play.

For those who don’t see our print edition, we have an occasional Page 2 feature on Saturdays called “On the beat.” You can also find it by clicking on The Rotation link off the main sports page on startribune.com. This week, I wrote a follow-up story to the in-depth profile on Torii Hunter we did back in February:

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - My cell phone rang in the eighth inning Wednesday, as I sat watching Torii Hunter make a running catch to stifle another Texas rally.

It was Hunter’s mother, Shirley. But this had nothing to do with the Twins game.

“I heard we were winning,” she said. “Listen, I need your help.”

She needed an address, phone number — something. She wanted to say thanks to the folks who donated 1,000 books to her elementary school.

In February, I wrote about Hunter’s difficult upbringing in Pine Bluff, Ark., with a sidebar on Shirley, who still teaches second grade in their poverty-stricken hometown.

Maureen Gustafson, a family friend from Mankato, read the piece and started brainstorming. Gustafson is public relations director for Coughlan Publishing, a local company that specializes in children’s books.

One day in April, a truck pulled up to Indiana Street Elementary, and a man started unloading boxes.

“It was a big, long truck,” Shirley said. “I asked him what was in the boxes, and he said books. He just kept bringing the boxes. I thought I must have made a mistake, maybe hit the wrong button on the computer or something.”

No, it was a gift from Minnesota.

Last week was Spirit Week at Indiana Street, just before classes let out for summer. Having visited there over two cold days in February, seeing the enthusiasm as those kids sang the school song over the PA system, I can only imagine Spirit Week.

On Tuesday, every student received two free books. “Very nice, colorful books,” Shirley said. “We can’t get over it.”

The subjects included history, science and inspiration. That last subject seemed especially fitting.

“It’s so nice to see a woman like Shirley who is so dedicated to teaching, she does it even when she doesn’t have to,” Gustafson said.

Inspirational, indeed.

Mike Redmond’s wife, Michele, and their two sons visited during the last Twins homestand, giving them a chance to celebrate his 36th birthday and Mother’s Day together. Their son Ryan is 6, and Michael is 4. (Photo, right, is from twinsbaseball.com)

The boys love coming into the clubhouse after games, but Redmond has a strict rule: Only if the Twins win.

Well, the Twins went 3-6 on that homestand. At one point, they dropped five of six, and Red’s boys weren’t happy.

“Believe me, I heard about it,” he said. “I’d get in the car after the game, and they’d talk about it the whole way home.

(Redmond, continues here, imitating son Ryan’s voice.) “Dad, you guys have lost four in a row. One … two … three … four. You talk about pressure? That’s pressure. ”

Pretty soon, Redmond’s family will fly back from their home in Spokane, Wash., joining him for the rest of the season. Then, the pressure really will mount.

The Twins are 12-11 on the road, but just 10-13 at home. They haven’t won a home series since they swept three from Baltimore to start the season. They are 0-5-2 in their past seven series at the Metrodome.

What gives? Will this change during this next homestand against the Blue Jays and White Sox?

Last year, the Twins were 54-27 at the Metrodome. Redmond’s boys frolicked. No doubt they followed the latest road trip, as the Twins righted themselves somewhat by taking 2 of 3 at Milwaukee and Texas. Ryan probably already has told Redmond by telephone, “Get it going at home, now, Dad.”

Stuck at DFW this morning after a certain airline canceled my flight. I’m frustrated … and sad. One of our favorite web sites, http://www.bat-girl.com/, closed the curtain last night. Literally felt tears welling up this morning when I read her last post. Seeing those little Lego men waving goodbye, and then that picture of the brilliant author, Anne Ursu, and her son, Baby Dash … well, it was just too much.

“Less stats, more sass,” was Batgirl’s motto. As beat writers, we spend a lot of time absorbing stats, filtering them and spewing them back at you, our mass audience. No one could ever replace Batgirl, but here’s one blogger’s commitment to bring you better anecdotes … and more sass.

I could start by detailing my experience this morning with a certain airline. Ever heard of a flight canceled — not delayed, canceled — because of weather? They rebooked me on a flight five hours later. Said they checked with other airlines but those flights were booked heading into a holiday weekend.

This cost me a chance for a 30-minute rendezvous with my wife at the MSP airport, who is headed away from MSP on business this morning. Thirty minutes in the airport might not sound like much, but those who travel frequently can understand.

This certain airline didn’t notify me of the cancellation. I think they tried calling me last night but didn’t leave a message. So I showed up at DFW at 6:45 a.m., and I’ll be leaving here at 12:50 p.m. I had some animated conversations with this certain airline’s customer service reps, who basically told me, “tough luck.” Let’s put it this way, losing Batgirl and the chance to see my wife this morning has left me rather blue. There’s always tomorrow. But there won’t be another BOD.

After writing that long diatribe last night about how the Twins need to keep Johan Santana pitching on regular (four day’s) rest, I had almost talked myself out of it by the the time I got to the ballpark this morning. Believe me, this is not an endorsement to keep Ramon Ortiz in the rotation. I say, if Ortiz gets roughed up by Toronto on Saturday, he should be moved into a long-relief role, opening the door for either Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza.

The proper time to skip Ortiz would be the next time through the rotation, when his fifth day actually falls on the open date between the White Sox and Oakland series. The Twins are optimistic he can revert to his April form based on the mechanical adjustments he made in Tuesday’s bullpen session. Fine. Give him one more chance to prove it when it counts.

This way, Johan makes his next start Monday against the White Sox, meaning Ozzie Guillen will come to the Metrodome on Memorial Day, saying all kinds of funny things about how his team basically has no chance. And, for what it’s worth, Johan’s numbers are actually better this year when he gets a fifth day of rest. You can look it up at baseball-reference.com.

2007

Rest     GS     W     L     ERA     IP      K

4 days    4      1     2     4.00     27     36

5 days    5      3     2     1.69     32     38

6+days   1      1     0     6.00     6       6

Career 

Rest      GS      W     L     ERA     IP         K

4 days   88      46     18   3.00     606     679

5 days   49     26      12   2.94     351.2  350

6+days  10      6        2    5.09     104.1   94

Note: I like looking at Santana’s statistical splits in all varieties. I usually come to the same highly scientific conclusion: He’s just good.