Twins ink deals with Morneau, Cuddyer

Former American League MVP Justin Morneau received the most lucrative contract in Minnesota Twins history, an $80 million, six-year deal announced yesterday along with a $24 million, three-year agreement for right fielder Michael Cuddyer. General manager Bill Smith said the deals do not affect any other players. The Twins have explored trading two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana. The Twins, with a core of Morneau, Cuddyer, and catcher Joe Mauer to carry them into their new ballpark in 2010, have reached agreement with all of their arbitration-eligible players. Morneau agreed to a $7.4 million, one-year contract last week, but both sides wanted to go longer. "It's my first three years of free agency, but there's nowhere I'd rather play than Minnesota," Morneau said . . . A man who pleaded guilty to murder in the 2003 slaying of Cincinnati Reds prospect Dernell Stenson was sentenced to life in prison, but a judge in Phoenix decided Reginald Riddle, 23, will be eligible for parole after 25 years. Stenson had previously been in the Red Sox system . . . Nationals catcher Paul Lo Duca injured his left knee during a workout this week and will travel to Washington to be examined.

Jim Calhoun suspended starting guard Jerome Dyson and backup guard Doug Wiggins indefinitely for violating team rules, the University of Connecticut coach said from Bloomington, Ind. UConn did not release the nature of the allegations or which rules were broken. The suspensions came as the Huskies prepared to take on No. 7 Indiana this afternoon. Dyson and Wiggins, both sophomores, did not travel to Indiana. "This particular suspension is mine, no one else's. I took the action based upon what I felt was in the best interest of our basketball team and the university," Calhoun said . . . Southern California freshman star O.J. Mayo violated an NCAA rule by accepting free tickets from Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony to an NBA game, but he won't miss any games. The NCAA said Mayo must contribute $460 - the total value of the tickets - to charity, which his family has done . . . Joseph Gallagher, who won 870 games in 46 seasons as boys' basketball coach at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., was named the winner of the Morgan Wootten Award, presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

Colby West of Canterbury, N.H., won the bronze medal in the men's ski superpipe event at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.; Sarah Burke won the women's ski superpipe; Gretchen Bleiler won the women's superpipe; and Jon Olsson won skiing big air . . . Carolina Kostner took the lead at the European Figure Skating Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, after a short program that opened with a huge triple flip-triple toe loop combination. The Italian defending champion has a total of 59.31 points, with Finland's Kiira Korpi (58.60) and Laura Lepisto (56.96) following.

Former Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford will testify that he yelled at Todd Bertuzzi to get off the ice before the attack on Colorado Avalanche player Steve Moore March 8, 2004, an Ontario court heard. The statement by lawyer Alan D'Silva, who represents the Canucks and their owners, shocked a pretrial hearing in Moore's multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Bertuzzi and Orca Bay Hockey. "That's the first time I heard that," said Master Ronald Dash, the judicial officer who presided over the hearing in Toronto . . . Acton's Bobby Abare was elected captain of the Yale football team. The junior linebacker had a team-high 86 tackles for the 9-1 Bulldogs last season . . . The 49th Fitchburg Longsjo Classic for cyclists will be held July 3-6.