St. Peter said the franchise is making plans to honor former third baseman Corey Koskie with an on-field ceremony prior to a game this spring.
He also said details aren’t finalized for the last baseball game ever played in the Metrodome on September 20, but the club plans a celebration with Twins alumni and possibly removing home plate.
Former state senator Dean Johnson, who was a legislative leader for the new Twins’ ball park, believes the Vikings may ultimately accept a renovated Metrodome as the answer to the franchise’s stadium dilemma. He also told Sports Headliners there might be a special session called later this year to address the stadium issue.
A Wild source who requested anonymity believes the franchise may yet sign Marian Gaborik to a short contract extension. He said team president Doug Risebrough wants Gaborik here. The source also said the relationship between Gaborik and coach Jacques Lemaire is okay. There are knowledgeable observers who don’t believe the 63-year-old coach will return but the source said that after each season Lemaire reviews his situation and this year will be no different.
The Wild, frantically trying to make the playoffs, plays its last home game tomorrow night against Nashville. A win and another victory on Saturday against Columbus would give the Wild its third straight 40 win-season. The Wild is 5-0-4 in its last nine home games.
Carlos Gomez saved 16 runs for the Twins last season, the most of any big league center fielder and 20 more than his predecessor, Torii Hunter. That’s according to last week’s baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated which included an in-depth article on contemporary defensive statistics.
Referring to a defensive metric by a man named John Dewan, the magazine reported that the 33-year-old Hunter, perhaps once the game’s best center fielder, is average and below average in various defensive aspects. Hunter, though, didn’t know about Dewan and others who scientifically crunch defensive numbers when interviewed for the article “Baseball’s Next Top Models” and when asked he wasn’t about to rate Gomez ahead of him.
“Dude is quick but he also goes from points A to B to C to D when he should be going A to B,” Hunter told the magazine. “And he’s too aggressive with his throwing. Just look at his errors. (Gomez had eight). I had none. Zero.”