March 7

Terry Ryan is tired of being told what he has to do.

"I'm tired of hearing how I have to trade Brad Radke," says the Twins general manager, who is kind enough not to lampoon some of the idiotic trade suggestions from media quarters such as those who cover the Mets and Orioles. "I'm sick of losing, and with the development of some of our young players this spring, the only way we're going to start winning and stay focused on winning is to keep him here."

	Brad Radke Pitcher Minnesota  Twins Profile
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS GS W L IP K ERA 33 12 14 218.2 121 3.75

But what about the Feb. 20 deadline by agent Ron Simon? "We all know such deadlines are flexible when it's about money," Ryan said. "I want to get something done. Unless we were offered something that blew us away in terms of pitching, trading him makes no sense if we want to start these young players in the winning direction."

Ryan's model for dealing with Radke is what Oakland's Billy Beane did with Kenny Rogers last season. "Billy kept Rogers and he helped them get off to a good start," Ryan says. "Then he dealt with the issue at the trading deadline. By then, they believed they could win."

The A's finished with the fifth-best record in the American League.

"If I were in Terry's shoes, I'd be doing the same thing," Beane said. "You have to try to give your fans hope, and if they have Radke going out there every fifth day, the players and the fans have some hope."

Ryan is extremely pleased with the development of young players like shortstop Cristian Guzman, third baseman Corey Koskie, first baseman David Ortiz, outfielder Jacque Jones and pitcher Joe Mays. He's got four good-looking young catchers. Eric Milton is already winning and LaTroy Hawkins still has the arm, athleticism and willingness to learn.

So, unless someone sweeps in, Ryan will wait until June to start looking to make a deal -- if he hasn't already gotten Radke signed to something in the 3-year, $27 million range.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay, which might be able to part with youngster Dan Wheeler and potential closer Esteban Yan in a package, has been extremely persistent. So has Colorado. The Yankees remain interested, but would likely have to part with Eddie Yarnall and Jake Westbrook. Boston is hovering around, but cannot give up Korean phenom Sun Woo Kim, per his contract. The Mets, Reds, Astros and others have all been on the list but don't appear to have matchups for a deal.

The AL Central is developing some interesting young teams to eventually challenge Cleveland, and the Twins believe they are one of them. They are lured by Bud Selig's siren song of revenue-sharing and buy into the promise that internet revenues will challenge network TV revenues in the next five years and can be spread equally among all teams.

But, most of all, Ryan and manager Tom Kelly have been through seven straight losing seasons, and they're tired of it. "When someone says we have to get rid of Radke because we're the Twins," Ryan said, "it just seems demeaning to all of us."

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