and the issue isn't which contract is bad, but will these contracts continue to be offered by other teams, meaning the Twins will almost always opt NOT to sign big time free agents "because these contracts never work out". Well, true, it is unlikely a 13 year deal will work all 13 years. The question you have to ask yourself is, am I willing to roll the dice that the contract will be good more often than it will be bad? So far, the Twins have been unwilling to do that, and that's one reason they suck for two years in a row (though the main reason is bad drafting and bad trading).