Earlier thsi spring, I wrote about Glen Perkins' transformation from problematic probable first-round bust to Everybody's Favorite Twin. Then, yesterday, he signed a contract extension for far less than his market value to remain with the Twins through 2017 or 2018.

What I love most about the story is that Perkins approached the Twins with the bargain. So many athletes are insulted if they aren't paid what their comparable peers are paid. Perkins begged to be underpaid.

I've been around him since the start of his career and these two things are true:

-I've never seen a local athlete so completely transform his personality and career path.

-Perkins is genuine. He lives in Lakeville year round. He wants to play for the Twins his entire career. He recognizes that he's lucky to be playing a game making tens of millions of dollars. He recognizes that if he isn't stupid with the money he and his family will always have more than they need.

Perkins is good with his teammates. He's good with Twins employees. He's good with writers. He kills time in the offseason hanging out with his old coaches at the University of Minnesota, and by dropping by Target Field to hang out with the media relations department.

He's also the latest prominent Twin to defy the beach-body ethic of modern sports. Perkins has a gut. So did Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek. Perkins is in pretty good company in all kinds of ways.

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I'll be doing Sunday Sports Talk on 1500ESPN from 10-noon from Fort Myers while Scott Korzenowski hosts from the Twin Cities.

I'm also on WJON in St. Cloud at 7:15 every weekday morning, and on 1500ESPN (1500 AM) in the Twin Cities at about 12:15 every weekday. You can follow me on Twitter at @Souhanstrib.