DETROIT — How much do the Detroit Tigers like Dmitri Young, their new first baseman? To the tune of $44million, if everything goes well the next six years.

        Young, acquired in December from the Reds, hasn't yet swung a bat or put on a glove as a Tiger, but on Thursday, he agreed Thursday to a four-year contract worth $28.5million. The guaranteed portion is followed by two option years that would increase the amount of the contract to $44million if exercised.

        “This is a major signing for us and a super day for the organization,” general manager Randy Smith said. “It's a great way to begin spring training. The atmosphere is going to be totally different.”

        For Young, who has hit .300 or better the past four seasons, a long-term contract represented one thing above all: “Stability,” he said. “I've never had stability my entire life. My dad was a military man, so we moved around.

        “The thought of settling in one place and putting down some roots was very attractive to me.”

        The Tigers helped to make it attractive. They welcomed Young with open arms when he visited Comerica Park last month and didn't let up on pursuing an agreement.

        “They had plans for me,” Young said. “That's called appreciation — and appreciation plays big with me. I want to be part of the building process here. With the Reds, I was part of I don't know what.”

        Young came to Detroit from the Reds in a trade for outfielder Juan Encarnacion and reliever Luis Pineda.

        The Reds shed Young as part of a cost-cutting effort.

        YANKEES:

        Outfielder Ruben Rivera signed a $1million, one-year contract with a club option for 2003.

        Rivera, 29, hit .255 with 10 homers and 34 RBI in 117 games with Cincinnati last season. He originally was signed by the Yankees as a free agent in 1990, and spent six years in the organization.

        RED SOX:

        Pedro Martinez was a strange sight in the Boston clubhouse — more muscular and, for a change, an early arrival at spring training.

        Then he threw and looked like the same old Pedro. He threw smoothly and showed no sign of the worst injury of his brilliant career.

        “I haven't gassed it up yet, but I've been feeling really good,” said Martinez, who's coming off a shoulder injury that limited him to 18 games and seven wins last season.

        Credit an offseason program in his native Dominican Republic in which he lifted weights regularly for the first time. He said he took just seven days off and spent so much time in the gym that he sometimes didn't get to his boat, where he listened to music, until 10 p.m.

        Attribute it to the empty feeling he felt when a shoulder injury limited him to career lows of 18 games and seven wins last season, none in the last four months.

        Whatever the reason, the three-time Cy Young Award winner is serious about resuming his status as baseball's best pitcher.

        “He's done everything he could in the offseason to set himself up for a good season, to set himself up for 32, 33 starts,” manager Joe Kerrigan said. “He looks a lot stronger than at any point that I've seen him in the last 10 years.”

        TWINS:

        St. Paul's plan for a new ballpark sailed through its first legislative committee Thursday during a hearing that demonstrated a warming stadium climate. On a voice vote with little audible dissent, the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee approved a bill that would allow Minnesota's capital city to impose new taxes to help pay for a ballpark.

        In recent years, the stadium environment in the Legislature has been nothing short of toxic. Committee chairman Jim Vickerman is among the legislators with a new perspective this year.

        “My constituents have changed from the idea of "To heck with the Twins,' to 'Save the Twins,”' said Vickerman, who represents the southwestern Minnesota town of Tracy. “Instead of saying don't vote for that, they are saying you better not let those Twins leave the state.”

Bowden optimistic - as long as things go right Tigers give Dmitri Young 4-year, $28.5 M deal

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