Youth Movement

It doesn’t technically qualify as a day care center, but it doesn’t take long for a guy to feel old around the Minnesota Twins’ clubhouse.

There was a time when outfielder Marty Cordova was a mere pup. Just four years ago, he was trailing after Kirby Puckett with a hungry, teach-me look in his eyes. The future seemed bright then.

He was named the AL rookie of the year in 1995, edging the Angels’ Garret Anderson in one of the closest votes ever. He had an even better sophomore season.

Cordova has aged more than the four years that have since passed; injuries have accelerated the process.

Still, it’s not so much that he’s getting older, it’s that the Twins keep getting younger--and less expensive. A down-sizing program has given entry-level jobs to 11 rookies and left the few remaining veterans looking for gray hairs.

When Cordova broke in, his teammates included Puckett, Chuck Knoblauch, Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson. He looks around today and sees LaTroy Hawkins, Cleatus Davidson, Torii Hunter and Doug Mientkiewicz--names that seem more fitting for a nonroster, spring-training list.

“On a lot of teams, I would still be considered a rookie,” said Cordova, who was a 10th-round draft pick from Orange Coast College in 1989.

“I’ve only been here four years. I just have a little more experience than a lot of these guys. They are still good players. It’s not like they are all 18 years old and right out of high school. They are going to get better.”

Whether Cordova is around to see it is the question.

The Twins sent relief pitcher Rick Aguilera and his $3.2-million salary to the Chicago Cubs last week, reducing their payroll to around $16 million. It is still about $4 million more than owner Carl Pohlad would like.

The trade left Cordova, at $3 million this year, as the team’s highest paid player, making him the Twins’ version of Mo Vaughn--which says a lot about the state of the Twins.

With Pohlad’s cut-and-slash decree, Cordova could be the next to go, and it’s not as if the Twins haven’t tried.

He has been on the market since the off-season and the asking price hasn’t been extraordinary. Just asking might be enough. Maybe toss in a couple of plastic bags to patch up holes in the Metrodome’s outfield fence.

So far, there hasn’t been an offer and Cordova remains, for now. The Twins might have to opt for Plan B. They almost certainly will not exercise their $4-million option on him after the season.

“While I’m here, I’m going to play,” Cordova said. “I can’t be bothered by it. I’m just doing what I can to stay in this game a few more years.”

A few more years of major league service? There seemed little need to worry about tenure after the 1995 season.

People began to notice in May that year. Cordova homered in five consecutive games, tying a major league rookie record. It was all fast-track stuff from there.

“You couldn’t ask for a better rookie player than Marty,” said Angel catcher Matt Walbeck, who was with the Twins in 1995. “He was humble and just hung around Kirby. It was like the two of them were glued together.”

Anderson, called up in June, terrorized pitchers in July, then tailed off in September. Cordova’s consistency won out. He hit .277 with 24 home runs and 84 runs batted in.

Cordova edged Anderson by six points in the rookie of the year voting. Just try to find a general manager--or sportswriter--who would take Cordova over Anderson these days.

Things didn’t collapse in a heap for Cordova. It was gradual. He received a four-year, $6.3-million contract before his second season, then hit .309 with 111 RBIs.

The last two seasons, though, have not been kind to Cordova, who will turn 30 in July. In 1997, he suffered a torn ligament in his left foot--the same injury that slowed the Angels’ Tim Salmon last season. He battled that and a neck injury last season.

His numbers declined significantly: 15 home runs and 51 RBIs in 1997 and 10 home runs and 69 RBIs last season.

“Yeah, it was hard to play with the injuries,” Cordova said. “But you can’t use them as excuses.”

Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly will.

“I was never more than a .180 hitter, but I do know you have to have your feet under you to hit,” Kelly said.

What Kelly has seen in the last week has been encouraging and, if it continues, might even make Cordova more marketable. He is 15 for 32 with seven RBIs in the eight games before Tuesday.

“What I’ve seen reminds me of how he hit a few years ago,” Kelly said. “I talked to him a couple weeks ago. He has changed his stance and his approach since.

“It just looked like his body was telling him to do one thing and he was trying to do something else. You could see it. I told him to stop arguing with his body.”

Cordova seemed to rehash that debate Monday. He had two bases-loaded opportunities and had one RBI to show for it. He struck out looking with the bases loaded in the fifth and managed a sacrifice fly in the seventh, which tied the score, 2-2.

Cordova is reluctant to talk about himself. It’s not that he is media-shy--he once said of the Metrodome, “Use it for monster truck pulls and then blow it up for New Year’s. You could get a lot of people to come out and watch that.”

He prefers to talk about the team rather than himself. That means a lot of kid talk these days.

Davidson was the Twins’ leadoff hitter and shortstop Monday. Two days earlier, he was playing for double-A New Britain (Conn.).

Cordova has even surrendered his position to a youngster. Chad Allen, who played at New Britain last season, is the Twins’ left fielder, while Cordova is used mostly as a designated hitter.

Not that Cordova minds. He has become the mentor in the clubhouse, in a quiet sort of way.

“I don’t do a lot of talking,” Cordova said. “The only thing that concerns me is that sometimes guys get used to losing. Last week, we won four in a row and it was the greatest feeling.”