Feb 15, 2005 3 min read

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins agreed Monday to a $40 million, four-year contract. The 25-year-old left-hander, who had been scheduled for a salary arbitration hearing Tuesday, must past a physical before the deal can be finalized.

He the league with a 2.61 ERA and 265 strikeouts last season. He also become the first Venezuelan to win the Cy Young Award and the first unanimous winner in the AL since Pedro Martinez in 2000.

“Definitely, it’s something that we were looking for,” Santana said from Fort Myers, Fla., where he owns a home near the team’s spring training complex. “It’s good to know that I’ll be in a Twins uniform for four more years.”

Though the Twins have a relatively low payroll in recent year, budget, general manager Terry Ryan’s stance has long been to pay the players who produce.

“We talked about options and we talked about years and we talked about a lot of things, and ultimately it came down to four years,” Ryan said. “They worked hard on this thing and long on it. This hasn’t just been a week or two. I’ve got to compliment those two guys to stay with it, because it’s certainly a tedious process.”

Santana set a Twins record by winning 13 consecutive games and didn’t lose in 15 starts after the All-Star break, going 13-0 with a 1.21 ERA to help Minnesota win its third straight AL Central division title.

Santana, who would have been eligible for free agency after the 2006 season, had asked for a raise from $1.6 million to $6.8 million and had been offered $5 million by the Twins.

His stellar second half and the Cy Young Award thrust the easygoing Santana into the spotlight, both in the United States and in his native Venezuela. He’s prepared, upon reporting to camp on Sunday, for that to happen again as he begins just his second season as a full-time starter.

“I guess its going to be like that, but for me it’s just going to be like another year,” Santana said. “I’m not going to bring that up in my head. For me, I’ve just got to do my job and as long as you stay healthy it’s fine.”

Santana has had some injury concerns – surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow before last season and leg cramps that have limited him from time to time.

“You take everything into consideration,” Ryan said. “He’s a very professional young man. He’s very humble. Obviously, he’s going to get a lot more attention … I just think this is one of those spots where Johan is ready to take on some of that responsibility.”