The Jeff Cirillo era has begun...

CityPages can't go on record telling you to go out and buy season tickets for the Twins; but, I'm telling you now, when the schedule is printed, and the rotation more or less set, go out and buy single game tickets for every Johan Santana home start, because it's going to be the last season that you see Santana, Mauer, and Morneau, together, and in Twins' uniforms.

With the offseason mayhem of free agent signings, the world has lost its mind and Barry Zito is suddenly worth $18 million per year.

Johan has won 2 of the past 3 Cy Youngs (and he should have won the other one). I'm not a member of the Twins' front office, and, I'm not a beat reporter for the Strib or the Pioneer Press. However, if you open a sports page in this town, and they report Santana's STARTING price as anything other than $20 million a year, it's a terrible lie, and you will know right then and there that no one in the cabal in this town has any respect for you as a baseball fan. Make no mistake about another thing: if Santana has just a "normal" season for him, he will be one of the finalists for the Cy Young next year, if not the actual winner, and he will have no choice but to hold out through spring training for more "realistic" money given the market that has been created by the bat-shit crazy owners of the big market teams.

It's not like the Twins were going to sign him anyway. But, Zito's signing has made a terrible situation worse. When the most dominant pitcher in the American League for the past 3 years is suddenly worth 6 to 7 million dollars a year less than a .500 pitcher with a 3.50 ERA, agents get greedy, and the Players' Union gets "equitable." E pluribus unuum translates to "pay me right fucking now (and then hang up)."

And to make things worse, Joe Mauer is worth Jeter money, right now. That's right, $18 mill a year at least. So, one of you legitimate sports writers should stop beating around the bush, call Terry Ryan, and ask him flat-out whether the Twins are prepared to pay Santana and Mauer roughly $40 million a season, combined, for five or six seasons beyond 2007. His answer is either yes or no, and, you will know the Twins' fate based on it. These aren't made up numbers, the market is set, and it's time for him to come clean. Otherwise, just call up Steinbrenner's tailor and tell him, "the number is 57."