"There's fear out there," said player agent Joe Bick, noting that one-third of this winter's free-agent class, including a handful of stars, remains unemployed. "You're seeing a lot of caution on the part of teams, just because nobody knows what to expect."

The reality of a recession that already is considered a crisis in Washington, and the specter of customers and sponsors cutting professional sports out of their budgets has Baseball on edge entering the 2009 season.

"I think we're all sort of crossing our fingers about the economy," said Rob Antony, the Twins' assistant general manager. "Not just Baseball, the entire country."

Yet the Twins find themselves in an oddly sanguine position as the season approaches, particularly in contrast to their chief competitors. Through a combination of fortuitous timing, a once-every-few-decades construction project and, yes, their own waste-no-penny conservative nature, Minnesota's Baseball team is particularly well positioned to ride out this economic emergency.

Consider the Twins' strategic advantages:

Their payroll, roughly $60 million at the moment, is among Baseball's 10 lowest.

Their talent level, measured by last year's 88-victory, just-short-of-the-playoffs record, is at least in Baseball's upper half, and projected to improve.

They spent far less than their stated 51-percent-of-revenue payroll target last season, banking as much as $20 million on a $57 million payroll.

Salary levels, and especially contract lengths, might be about to decline throughout the league, or at least the rate of increase is slowing, just before the bulk of Minnesota's young team becomes eligible for arbitration and its higher pay.

The economy of Minnesota is more stable, for the moment, than that of the Twins' American League Central rivals.

And most of all, the Twins anticipate larger crowds this season as fans say farewell to the Metrodome, and then greatly increased attendance, and revenue, next season when Target Field opens.

"We're in a lot better shape than a lot of people," Antony said. "We have resources, for the most part our contracts are appropriately (priced), and we have ownership that wants to win."

Everyone wants to win, of course, and the Twins occastionally have been criticized this winter for refusing to make bold, perhaps risky, moves to improve the team, choosing instead to trust their extended roster to fill holes.

Antony said the philosophy of owner Jim Pohlad, general manager Bill Smith and his staff is sometimes misunderstood. The franchise isn't reluctant to sign free agents, he insisted, but the price has to match the player's value. In other words, if the price of free agents keeps falling, the Twins are flexible enough to sign them, Antony said.

Antony said there are signs "that teams are acting more fiscally responsible, and it's having an impact" on the free-agent market, which except for the Yankees has been unusually slow.

"It's not just the dollars. A lot of times, it's the length of the deal that's (excessive). It seems like everyone we talk to is looking for a year longer than we're willing to go," he said. "But you're seeing teams starting to pull back (on long-term deals) and agents saying, 'Let's take one year and see what's out there next year.' "

That's because of the fear.

"It's going to be important to see how the economy affects attendance. I don't think the tale of how Baseball comes through this can be told until we see how fans react," said Bick, the agent. "The overriding direction of free agency hasn't been great, but who knows? Baseball could go out and set an all-time attendance record."

Maybe. Or Tiger fans, for instance, could stay away, given that the unemployment rate in the battered auto-industry capital is in double digits. Unemployment also is roughly half again as high in Cleveland and Chicago as the Twin Cities -- which could dry up fans' disposable income.

The Twins are worried about single-game sales, Antony said -- but are selling a record number of season tickets in the Metrodome as fans jockey for the best seats in Target Field.

The franchise's sponsors have stuck around, too. So if an AL Central team decides it has to slash its payroll by midseason, it won't be the Twins.

Meanwhile, the team is preparing for higher payrolls over the next few seasons. At least 10 Twins, including starting pitchers Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano, will be eligible for arbitration next winter. They will get raises from their minimum salaries, but perhaps not as large as they would in a strong economy, not if teams around the league cut payroll.

Then there's Joe Mauer, whose contract expires after the 2010 season. The Twins appear content to wait a year to negotiate a new deal, in light of the economy (and the inherent injury risk of a catcher). But Pohlad said that, unlike in the cases of Torii Hunter and Johan Santana, he might consider what he calls a "legacy contract" for Mauer, a deal that almost certainly would exceed the $80 million Justin Morneau received a year ago.

Like Kent Hrbek, Mauer is "a hometown person," Pohlad said. "You can put a value on those things, and sometime factor that stuff in." And the move to the new ballpark, and its increased revenue, should blunt any financial pain.

A recession is painful for everyone, and the Twins certainly aren't rooting for the downturn to continue. Still, might they benefit if their competition is hurt worse?

"I don't think we see it as something to capitalize on," Antony said. "We're just happy to be in the situation we're in."