Anderson, Cordova in Different Situations

Easy for you to say.

That had to be what Garret Anderson was thinking when apprised of Marty Cordova’s response to a question about the peace of mind provided by the four-year contract he signed last winter.

“To tell you the truth, even if we hadn’t made a deal, it wouldn’t be on my mind at all,” the Twins’ left fielder said. “I just go out and play. I don’t worry about that stuff.”

Cordova and Anderson each got 13 first-place votes in the balloting for rookie of the year last November, with Cordova winning the closest vote in 16 years by six points on the merit of 13 second-place votes to Anderson’s 10.

Three months later, Cordova was the really big winner. Minnesota signed him to a $6.3-million contract that could be worth almost $10 million if the club exercises its option on a fifth year and Cordova achieves a number of included incentives.

Anderson has been the subject of rampant trade rumors while teammates Jim Edmonds, J.T. Snow, Gary DiSarcina and Troy Percival agreed to multiyear extensions. And progress on reaching his own long-term deal with the Angels has gone from very slow to completely stalled.

The Angels brought up the idea of a five-year deal during spring training and the sides exchanged figures, but the gap seems to be widening rather than narrowing.

Anderson, who is making $250,000 this season, has been reticent about it. But on occasion, he has admitted the contract issue has been a distraction at times and he smiled broadly when informed of Cordova’s comments.

“But I know what he’s saying,” Anderson said. “If you like what you’re doing, believe you can play, have pride and confidence in your abilities and are fortunate enough to stay healthy, you’re going to be all right.

“And, heck, even if you’re only making the minimum, the paychecks aren’t too bad.”

Cordova, who hit 24 homers and drove in 84 runs last season, doesn’t think Anderson--who hit .321 with 16 homers and 69 runs batted in only 106 games in 1995--will be worrying about his financial situation for long.

“I don’t know Garret’s situation,” Cordova said, “but he certainly deserved a long-term contract if that’s what he wanted. But, really, that should be the least of his worries.

“Garret Anderson will make plenty of money in this game before he’s done. There’s absolutely no question about that. He’s a great hitter.”

Cordova, who played high school ball in Las Vegas and attended Nevada Las Vegas before transferring to Orange Coast College, has done a better job of proving his rookie season wasn’t a fluke than Anderson . . . and maybe disproving his no-one-should-worry-about-money theory in the process.

He’s certainly not fretting about making the payments on his new Henderson, Nev., home and is hitting .314 with nine homers and 74 RBIs. The contract-hassled Anderson hasn’t hit a home run since June 24, but he has 20 hits in his last 54 at-bats to boost his average to .298 and has nine homers and 44 RBIs.

Cordova was 0-for-three and Anderson 0-for-four during the Angels’ 4-0 loss to the Twins Wednesday night.

If Cordova, 27, continues to improve at his current pace, he might end up costing himself a lot of money by signing on for a possible five years but believes it was only fair that he should give something in return for the security of the guaranteed salary and the commitment the Twins made to his future.

And Cordova, who was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round of the June 1989 free-agent draft, hopes to follow in the cleat prints of Minnesota legend Kirby Puckett, but he’s not, uh, banking on it.

“I would love to stay with the Twins my whole career,” he said. “That would be so great. But it just doesn’t happen too often these days.”

Clearly, Anderson will agree with that.