Twins Spending Like Drunken Sailors

I only intermittently follow baseball, having become a non-fan after the last baseball strike and never really gotten back to following (or enjoying) the sport. But I know there are rabid Twins fans out there, and perhaps one (or more) of them can explain to me the two huge deals the Twins are apparently going to announce. La Velle E. Neal III is reporting in the Strib that the Twins will sign Justin Morneau to a 6 year, $80 million deal, and Michael Cuddyer to a 3 year, $23 million deal.

This after Morneau and the Twins agreed to a one year, $7.4 million deal, and after the Twins offered $4.7 million to Cuddyer (who was looking for $6.2 million in arbitration after making $3.5 million in 2007).

Here's what I don't understand: Morneau is signed for $7.4 million for 2008, and then you give him a deal that is worth $13.33 million per season for 6 years? And Cuddyer is asking for a 77% increase in his salary year over year (from $3.5 million to $6.2 million), so you give him a deal that averages $7.7 million per season for 3 years?

You've now tied up an average of $21 million per season for the next three years on 2 guys? Neither of whom is named Santana? Obviously I don't have enough of an understanding of baseball economics, because the comments on La Velle's blog are mostly positive about the deals.

So I'll just end by saying congratulations to the two new multimillionaires (not that they weren't fabulously rich already), and hopefully this will lead to postseason success for the Twinkies.