Using Wall Street stock trading terms, I asked Patrick Reusse to label several of the local teams with either “buy, hold, or sell.” Here’s what the Star Tribune columnist and KSTP Radio host had to say during an interview early last week.
No surprise that the 10-1 Vikings receive a “buy.” Reusse said vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman was “supposed to be the guy who ruined the franchise with his personnel decisions” in Miami but “he’s done well” with the Vikings. Reusse described the team’s drafts as “okay” but found particular praise for the team’s free agent signings. “Their personnel decisions have been exquisite,” he said.
While some may fret about the future beyond this season because of quarterback Brett Favre’s age (40), Reusse has optimism about the franchise’s future because of all-world running back Adrian Peterson (24). He said as long as Peterson stays healthy the Vikings have a “winning formula.”
The Twins rate a “buy” also, and for more than on-field performance. In 2010 Reusse predicts a second consecutive Central Division championship and a new contract retaining all-world catcher Joe Mauer. He believes the pitching staff will be okay and the Twins will win easier than last season when they struggled all the way to a division playoff with Detroit. The new ballpark is also an obvious asset.
He looks at the franchise’s marketing and evaluates it as a “wonderful job.” Several years ago the Twins brand was suffering and talk included contracting the franchise. Reusse said Twins home crowds now are filled with fans wearing team apparel in percentages that rival the Vikings fandom.
Reusse is intrigued with new Timberwolves basketball boss David Kahn who has shuffled players in and out of town like he owns an airline. So far the results, 2-16, are the stuff of bottom feeders.
“I kind of like Kahn,” Reusse said. “Anyone that arrogant is almost priceless. He’s so sure of his intelligence it’s almost comical. But wow! It’s just horrible (on court results). I don’t know how far removed they are from being a factor in town. It’s a sell obviously.”
The Wild didn’t make the playoffs after last season and might not qualify for Stanley Cup participation in 2010 either. The Wild reloaded last spring with the departure of the two leaders since the franchise started in 2000, general manager Doug Risebrough and coach Jacques Lemaire.
Opinion by many is that Risebrough and Lemaire didn’t leave behind a roster brimming with talent. How to label the Wild made Reusse pause before settling on “maybe a hold.” Then he said: “I don’t know. I think Jacques fooled us for a lot of years thinking they had decent manpower over there just because he was able to win half his games or a little more with pretty mediocre talent.”
Reusse went to the past when asked about Gophers hockey. He said he was the first in town to “start making fun” of coach Don Lucia after the famous Holy Cross loss. That was a signature defeat for the Gophers who had been ranked No. 1 in the country during the 2005-2006 season. In the NCAA playoffs the Gophers lost to the No. 15 seeded Crusaders in overtime.
This season’s Gophers haven’t impressed much either, dropping from the national rankings and compiling a 5-8-1 overall record, 3-6-1 in the WCHA. The record includes five losses at Mariucci Arena. “That place over there has got 3,000 empty seats every game,” Reusse said. “They’re happy when they split with Bemidji State on their home ice. That’s a sell.”
The Gophers have a football palace in TCF Bank Stadium. But Gophers football coach Tim Brewster has been a Reusse target for three years. “I think it’s pretty clear where I stand on coach Brewster, so that’s a sell,” Reusse said. “I just want to hear one sincere sentence from the guy and I’d have a better attitude about him. It looks like he’s brought in some athletes, but… scattering a few athletes here and there is not the answer. Changing your coaching staff every 10 minutes isn’t the answer either. I don’t see a big turn around that would cause me to say buy, but boy, they get the right guy in here it’s a buy because that stadium…(puts the program on a higher level. You should be able to hire a big time coach, I think. …There’s no excuses any more.”