ALL-STAR GAME : How Deep, the Roots? : Puckett Ponders a Future as a Free Agent

The Twins without Kirby Puckett?

It would be like Minneapolis without St. Paul, or those 10,000 Minnesota lakes without ice in the wintertime.

But what has been joined together for nearly eight happy seasons may soon be torn asunder by free agency. Puckett’s seventh All-Star appearance, tonight at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, might be his last for Minnesota. With free agency looming at the end of the season and talks with the Twins discontinued after owner Carl Pohlad turned down the idea of a five-year, $27.5-million contract, Puckett has had to contemplate the end of his love affair with Minnesota. It’s a breakup he faces reluctantly.

“I have to think about playing elsewhere for the first time in my career,” said Puckett, who is finishing a three-year, $9-million contract that made him the highest-paid player in baseball for about a week after he signed it. “The owner makes a decision, and that’s it. He flat-out said ‘no’ and never said why, but he doesn’t owe me an explanation. I look at it this way: I get my cake and can eat it, too, because I’m in a no-lose situation.

“I haven’t really been thinking about it much. I just come to play and let next year take care of itself. But maybe you (reporters) will be talking to me in another uniform next year. . . . I’d love to finish my career as a Minnesota Twin. You don’t have to be too smart to know that, but baseball is getting a high (financial) profile, and if I have to go somewhere else to play, I will.”

Losing Puckett would mean more to the Twins than the loss of a .334 hitter, whose league-leading average is 14 points above that of his career. It would mean more than losing a five-time Gold Glove winner in center field, a clubhouse and field leader who tops the major leagues with 120 hits; who shares the AL lead in runs, with 64; and who is third in the AL with 65 runs batted in.

Losing Puckett would mean a loss of identity and the souring of a unique relationship with their fans, who put aside complaints about overpaid athletes to stage a demonstration in downtown Minneapolis and demand that Pohlad pay whatever Puckett asked.

“He is the Minnesota Twins when it comes right down to it,” said second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, Puckett’s teammate in Minnesota and on the AL All-Star squad. “I can’t really picture what it would be like without him. But I still believe there is that chance that he’ll (leave the Twins), if they don’t come to an agreement. He’s already said he’s going to test the market. He’d be insane not to, from a player’s point of view.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but he’s been really good about keeping all that stuff off the field. Deep down, it probably bothers him a little bit, not having signed and not knowing what the future holds.”

Manager Tom Kelly can’t bear to think of a future without Puckett.

“If he leaves, he leaves,” Kelly said, “but I hope he just takes me with him. I’ve been hanging on to him for six years at this level.”

The question is whether Pohlad believes it’s worth more than $27.5 million to keep Puckett.

When the immediate answer was no, Puckett politely accepted the decision and went on an offensive tear. In May, he hit .364, with seven homers and 25 RBIs and followed that by hitting .336 with 24 RBIs in June.

“Everything pitchers threw up there, he was hitting,” Knoblauch said. “He was driving in runs, getting clutch hits, running the bases well, everything. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. Not that he ever does, but this was really something . The kind of streak every player wants to have, that’s what he had.”

The timing of his spree wasn’t calculated. Puckett said money wasn’t and isn’t his motivation because “I get motivation every time I step onto the field.” He will feel just as excited tonight as the AL’s starting left fielder, a new position.

“I told (Ken) Griffey I’ve got the line and he’s got everything else. There shouldn’t be any problem with that,” Puckett said, smiling. “It obviously feels good to be on this team--if you’re voted in or added to the team. As long as you’re able to get here and be on the team, that’s what it’s all about. It’s like the Super Bowl: one game for the bragging rights.”

The contract negotiations, begun in spring training, stalled when Pohlad refused to guarantee the fifth year of the deal. “We just decided--both sides--’Let’s just put this aside,’ ” Puckett said. “No dates (to resume talks) have been set at all. It’s one of those situations where we said, ‘Let’s just wait until the end of the season.’ ”

If Pohlad should relent and agree to a five-year contract, “I don’t know what I would say,” Puckett said. But while he hasn’t ruled out any possibility of moving, even to an NL expansion team, he plans to talk to the Twins again before deciding his course.

“I think I owe them that much,” he said. “You know, my wife and I have a little daughter, and I have to look out for them. If I have to move on, I have to move on. I’ll always make Minnesota my home. I’d just be living somewhere for six months and come back. It’s not like I’d be taking my roots out of the ground. I’d just be leaving for a little while.”

Leaving the fans would hurt most. By taking his side over Pohlad’s despite a shaky economy, they are making Puckett’s decision that much more painful.

“These days all we hear as players is money--’You make this kind of money so how can you ask for more?’ ” Puckett said. “What can I say? I just work here. It’s great. I think the Minnesota Twin fans have been the greatest in the world. I can honestly say I could make five errors in a game and they wouldn’t boo me. It shows they appreciate how hard you work.

“Hopefully, I won’t have to leave. It’s been great for me. I’m not going to part on bad terms. If Carl Pohlad wants me on the team, fine. He has to do what’s best for the team. . . .

“I wish I knew what’s going to happen. All I can say is we have to wait and see. I’m still a Minnesota Twin, and I have to concentrate on keeping us in first place and doing everything I can to help the Minnesota Twins.”