Great Bridge grad Cuddyer now free to test his worth

Michael Cuddyer today walks on uncharted ground - for him, that is, and for the area's big-league ballplayers of recent vintage.

Cuddyer is shopping himself in major-league baseball's free-agent bazaar that began at 12:01 a.m. for the first time in an 11-year career, all with the Minnesota Twins.

Prominent locals such as the Upton brothers, David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman, Mark Reynolds, Daniel Hudson and Scott Sizemore may play out contracts and entertain bidders in offseasons to come. Wright and B.J. Upton, for instance, are eligible after next season.

But for now, it's Cuddyer's turn in the proverbial, and lucrative, catbird's seat. It's his chance to find out who's most interested in what he brings to the diamond, and who's most willing to string zeroes and commas together to prove it.

Could that be Minnesota after all? Absolutely.

The Twins used their first draft pick, and the ninth overall, on Cuddyer in 1997 out of Great Bridge High, and they retained him with a contract extension a few years ago that paid him more than $10 million last season.

However, whether they now will commit $30 to $40 million for three or four years to keep their homegrown leader who turns 33 in March - and whether Cuddyer will look elsewhere regardless - is an intriguing subplot to this Prince/Albert dominated market. Big hitters Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols, that is.

Although Minnesota didn't want to do it over the summer, when it offered Cuddyer two years but at a pay cut, the reflexive answer is the Twins need to cough up.

For what it's worth, which may be little, Cuddyer is one of those guys it's nearly impossible to picture in another uniform, maybe more than the St. Louis Cardinals' Pujols.

He's practically Minnesota's mascot. And though his '08 season was cut in half by injuries, when healthy the right-handed Cuddyer can generally be counted on for some 600 trips to the plate, 20 home runs, 80 RBIs, a batting average in the .270s, multiple appearances at multiple defensive positions and more goodwill than you can shake a walleye at.

This week, in fact, Cuddyer, a first-time all-star last season, was chosen for three awards given by the Twin Cities chapter of baseball writers.

They named him MVP. For the second straight year, they named him the top Twin in getting along with the media. (Sorry, but Cuddyer did not respond to a request for an interview for this column.)

And for the third year in a row, according to a report on mlb.com, Cuddyer will receive the Twins' Bob Allison Award "given to the player who exemplifies determination, hustle, tenacity, competitive spirit and leadership both on and off the field."

Say this; all that's going to make the awards banquet Jan. 26 in Minneapolis awwwkwaaaard if Cuddyer's bound for somewhere else at that point.

But he well could be Gonesville. Never forget: it's business. Remember this is the last huge contract Cuddyer is likely to sign. And don't undersell the chance to win consistently.

Now, the Twins have given Cuddyer the latter. They were as bad as they've been in 30 years last season. But since Cuddyer's first big-league appearance in 2001, Minnesota has won the American League Central six times, albeit without reaching the World Series. It seems more likely than not they'll recover.

There are nits, naturally; Cuddyer's age and his fielding - versatile, but mediocre. And as a designated Type A free agent, he'll cost someone a couple of draft choices.

Overall, though, wouldn't Cuddyer's solid self look pretty good in right field in, say, Atlanta, San Francisco or Boston? Or at first base in Philly, another place where money flows, while Ryan Howard mends from an Achilles tendon surgery?

Then again, maybe he just flirts and winds up with who brought him in the first place. Soon enough, someone will pay, and we'll all get to see.

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com