Twins first baseman Justin Morneau has agreed to a one-year deal worth $7.4 million to avoid arbitration, but it doesn’t mean that the club won’t look into locking up their former MVP to a multi-year deal in the near future.

There have been indications during the offseason that the Twins would discuss long-term deals with Morneau and Michael Cuddyer once the Johan Santana situation was settled. Santana, as everyone is aware, is still being discussed in trades.

Joe and I have checked on Morneau’s situation throughout the offseason. We both were told that the Twins hadn’t approached Morneau’s camp about an extended contract yet. Mark Pieper, Morneau’s agent, wrote in an e-mail on Friday that he was, “not sure about the Twins plans on a multi-year deal yet.”

Morneau, 26, made $4.5 million last season.

Signing Morneau to a one-year deal doesn’t mean they can’t tear up the contract for a long-term deal. They did that exact thing a few years ago with Corey Koskie.

As of now, the Twins are headed to arbitration with Cuddyer, Matt Guerrier. They agreed to a $1.3 million deal with Jason Kubel on Thursday

[UPDATE]: The Twins have made it official on Kubel, Morneau…and Juan Rincon. The righthander has agreed to a one-year, $2.475 million deal to avoid arbitraton.

Rincon currently is closing for Lara during the winter league playoffs, and spent the early part of the offseason working out with Detroit masher Miguel Cabrera. He plans to work out with the same trainer right before heading to camp.

This may make you cringe but the Twins need Rincon. He should be motivated after posting a 5.13 ERA in 63 games last season. And they’ll need bullpen arms around in case Joe Nathan is dealt after Santana is dealt.

Yes, I think Santana will be dealt before camp opens. I have a trade thought involving the Mets that I’ll share with you over the weekend.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 11:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.