Behind-the-scenes deal helps Twins keep Radke

Here's the real story behind the Brad Radke signing:

As the arbitration deadline approached Tuesday night and the Twins still hadn't signed Radke, Twins general manager Terry Ryan and his staff were in the office furiously crunching numbers. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox had made a solid three-year offer, and Radke was prepared to accept it.

Radke, like everybody else waiting to see what would happen, picked up the phone and called Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson at his home.

"Hey Rad, what's going on?" Anderson said. "You sign yet?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"They're not giving me what I want."

"What are they offering?" Anderson asked.

"Eight-something."

"Well, what do you want? Nine?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Nine a year is a go?"

"Yeah."

"I'll call you back."

Anderson then telephoned Ryan and told him Radke would sign for two years at $9 million per year.

"OK, but tell him he has to get rid of all those incentives," Ryan said.

Anderson hung up and called Radke.

"Nine a year, but you've got to dump the incentives."

"I don't know... "

"Come on Rad, what the heck!"

"Awwww, all right."

Anderson called Ryan back, and the deal was done.

Just like that.

And to his credit, Radke later called Ryan and thanked him. That's class.

"That was kind of fun," said Anderson, the Twins' new secret weapon negotiator. "I think it's kind of cool. I'd never been involved in anything like that. I'm sure I didn't have a lot of tact."

Sometimes, if you can bypass the agents, and even the general managers, things get done a lot faster.

"You know, everyone has been talking about Santana, and rightfully so, but Radke has been the stabilizer on the staff for a lot of years," Anderson said. "I told him he owed me a nice Christmas present. He sort of laughed. I said, no, I'm serious."

I'm sure Radke will come up with a special fishing lure or something. Good middlemen are tough to come by during tough contract negotiations.

Perhaps there will be something under the tree from Johan Santana, too. In the old days, when a pitcher received a big honor he would acknowledge his pitching coach, usually by sending him a "beautiful, brand new, 21-inch color TV!" as they used to say.

But ever since Santana won the Cy Young Award, Anderson hasn't even been able to get a hold of him. He has tried several times to call him in Venezuela.

"I've left messages," he said. "I've talked to his family. 'No comprende.' ''

However, Anderson is just happy to have his one-two punch intact again for next season. He told Radke much earlier that the Twins would never be able to go checkbook to checkbook with teams like the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.

Radke's reply never varied. He would tell Anderson: "I don't care to break the bank. All I want is for it to be fair."

You might ask: What's the difference between $8 million and $9 million? It's so much money. And you're right, there isn't much difference — unless someone else is getting $10 million or $11 million for doing the same job. Then it's easy to feel unappreciated and unloved.

Anyway, Radke and Anderson agreed that the pitcher now could be one of the lucky few to spend his entire career with one team. It's almost unheard of these days. And Radke has said he wants to pitch two more years and then hang 'em up.

But wait! Anderson already is working on him about that.

"I told him he might pitch two more years and then feel like he wants to keep going. He said, 'Yeah, maybe.' ''

Maybe those two could work out contract terms for the 2007 and 2008 seasons right now and get it over with.