Patrick Reusse: As with pitches, Twins ace Santana has an answer for every occasion

FORT MYERS, FLA. - There has not been a big-league star more consistent in his praise of the World Baseball Classic than Johan Santana. From March through October, anyone attempting to cast doubt on the wisdom of that spring training competition would run into a roadblock with Johan.

Again Thursday, Bud Selig's WBC was mentioned to Santana, and he threw out the adjective "great" several times in describing the international tournament.

Santana and pitching coach Rick Anderson are a cohesive duo on most baseball subjects, but not the WBC. Anderson and his boss, manager Ron Gardenhire, loathed the concept a year ago and continue to have doubts. On March 7, 2006, Santana was starting for Venezuela in an emotional WBC opener against the Dominican Republic. A year and a day later, Santana was working three innings in a routine exhibition game against Boston. Anderson was asked if the need to be ready in early March for highly competitive baseball made for an extra-long 2006 season for Santana.

"I don't know if that tournament was the reason, but Johan was absolutely beat up in September," Anderson said. "He had a lot of aches and pains, and nobody knew about it. He was absolutely hurting in September." The iron will that Santana brings to the mound is exemplified in his numbers for that month: He was 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA in five starts despite those aches.

On Thursday, there was a less dramatic snapshot of Santana's competitiveness. He had mediocre command and required 54 pitches to get through three innings - and still Boston did not score.

Santana's final act to maintain the Twins' 1-0 lead was to spear Jason Varitek's one-hop shot back to the mound. There were two on and two outs when he did that.

Santana won his second Cy Young Award last season. It was suggested Thursday that it's time for the American League's managers and coaches to wake up and vote him a Gold Glove.

"I've worked hard on my fielding," he said. "I don't vote, though. It's up to the voters to decide. Kenny Rogers has been very good for a long time."

Santana made his first spring appearance Sunday against Boston and walked three of the first four batters. He allowed two walks and one hit with three strikeouts Thursday.

Not long ago, established starters would open the exhibition schedule with a couple of weeks of throwing fastballs. The changed approach was apparent Thursday in Santana and Boston's Curt Schilling. They threw more breaking pitches and changeups than fastballs.

Asked about this early-spring mix of pitches, Santana said: "I got to be ready. The season starts April 2. If I want to win, I need all my pitches. I work on them all the time. I take spring training very serious."

There seemed to be a trend in 2006 that more teams were bringing a game plan to attack Santana. This was particularly true with AL Central opponents - teams that faced Johan in 20 of his 34 starts.

The White Sox and Tigers would seem to be hacking at the first fastball they faced Santana one night, then sitting in unison on changeups when they saw him a few days later.

"It's a challenge when you face a team twice in a row," Santana said. "But I'm the one who has the ball. I can see what the hitters are doing and adjust to them."

Eventually, Santana was asked about what ESPN - the world dictator in sports - has chosen to make Topic A with the Twins this spring: the status of negotiations between the team and the star pitcher.

Santana is signed through 2008. He told the Star Tribune during TwinsFest that the longer the team waited to negotiate, the more expensive it would be for a contract extension.

Santana said Thursday that he had not heard anything from his agent, Peter Greenberg, who is dealing with clients in Arizona until March 19. He repeated his desire to stay in Minnesota and see this team stay together, then said:

"We know the way this organization has been for years, if a player becomes too expensive, he goes. They have been very successful doing what they do."

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. * preusse@startribune.com