Author: David Shama

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners that Justin Morneau is “scheduled to start hitting” this week as he continues rehabilitation from the concussion that forced him to miss half of the 2010 season.

St. Peter said the Twins’ home run leader and first baseman has made “tremendous” progress in his rehabilitation.  Morneau’s recovery has been slow so the likelihood of hitting baseballs this week is a major step, but decisions regarding what activities and how much time he spends doing them will be made with caution leading up to spring training next month and continuing during the weeks while the Twins are in camp.  St. Peter said Morneau is a “critical part of our club” and the goal is to have him ready for the season opener on April 1.

Morneau is expected to wear a state-of-the-art protective helmet not only while batting, but also playing first base and as a base runner.  Twins fans will hold their collective breaths the first few times he’s involved in impact plays.

“Yeah, I think those are going to be the key moments,” St. Peter said.  “The first time he needs to dive back into a base. The first time he has a play at first base, or needs to dive for a baseball, or…let alone hitting.  Those are things Justin hasn’t experienced yet.”

Morneau expressed concern last year about Target Field being a difficult ballpark to hit home runs.  St. Peter said manager Ron Gardenhire and general manager Bill Smith had “lots of input” in determining the original dimensions of the playing field, and during the last offseason there was discussion about modifying the distances from home plate to the fences.

But the decision was to not change those distances and the Twins again hope to win more home games in their park than any other team in the American League.  That total was 58 wins and St. Peter referenced the victories when asked about why there won’t be any changes to make the ballpark more home run friendly.

“It was one factor,” he said. “We certainly liked the way our ballpark played.  We think it was advantageous for our pitching staff.  Make no mistake, it’s a difficult park from a home run perspective, but it’s also a park we can use to our advantage in terms of doubles, triples.

“I think it was one of the reasons you saw Gardy really push for us (during the offseason) to be a little more athletic, and the two spots I think we’re particularly focused on right there are up the middle, shortstop and second base.  It’s our hope that the Alexi Casillas and the Tsuyoshi Nishiokas (both middle infielders) and Denard Spans of the world are going to be on the base and running around when those big hitters come up.”

Tracy Claeys looked comfortable when he started speaking to about 100 members of the C.O.R.E.S group earlier this month.  The Gophers’ new defensive coordinator is 42, has wanted to be a football coach since middle school and was talking to an audience that included many former high school coaches, plus ex-officials, reporters, educators and other sports fans.

Claeys declined a microphone, preferring to move away from the podium and closer to the audience.  He’s a big man.  Husky they call a person like Claeys who looks like a former college football lineman but didn’t play at his alma mater Kansas State and began his coaching career as a student assistant at Kansas.

He enjoys being close to the audience when he speaks and explained his move toward the C.O.R.E.S crowd with humor: “It’s about the only exercise I get,” he said.

Claeys and most of head coach Jerry Kill’s staff from Northern Illinois are settling in now to begin work on transforming Gophers football into something better than its current status as a Big Ten Conference bottom feeder.  Claeys said it’s been a “dream” for him to have a Big Ten opportunity.

“We will do everything we can to get this on the right path,” he told his audience.  Later in his talk he said: “I don’t know how long it will take us to win.  We just gotta get better every day.”

How will it all happen?  Claeys said vital elements are discipline, hard work and recruiting.

He didn’t say it in a mean or threatening way, but predicted players are in for “hell” the next couple months.  The process of acclimating to the new culture began earlier this month with a coaches-players meeting where copies of the personal handbook were reviewed.  The 100 or so page document describes what’s expected of the players.

The message from the coaches in the handbook and in the days ahead is this: “You’re going to become one of us.  We’re not becoming one of you.”

Claeys said “problems won’t be swept under the rug” and there can’t be any doubt about a player’s commitment to the program.  The coaches expect to see commitment week after week, starting right now, leading up to spring practice and throughout the 2011 season.  Kill, Claeys said, will tell recruits to make sure they want to play for the Gophers before signing on to come here.

Presumably the Gophers will improve a lot in the seasons ahead but only if better players come to Dinkytown.  Claeys said recruiting is all about “relationships” including with high school coaches.  Kill surrounds himself with assistants who have been with him for many years and that means those coaches have ongoing successful relationships with prep coaches.  Those relationships are in various states, but Claeys emphasized recruiting will start in Minnesota where six assistants will be assigned to finding homegrown product.

If prep coaches like a college coach, Claeys stated, they will send you good players.  “You can’t make chicken out of chicken salad,” he said.

Kill and his staff have a reputation as exceptional teachers.  Maybe one day Gophers fans will make this comment about the staff:  “They could beat the other team not only with their players, but take the other team and beat the Gophers.”

Part of smart coaching is not asking players to do what they’re not capable of, Claeys said.  That could apply to the X’s and O’s of football or fundamentals.  Claeys quoted coach Bill Parcells:  “If they don’t tackle as puppies, they’re not going to tackle.”

At Northern Illinois the Huskies could play defense.  Last year Northern Illinois, a team with an 11-3 record, ranked 14^th in the country in scoring defense, giving up about 19 points per game.

The stat makes Claeys feel good but so too does a strength and conditioning program that at Northern Illinois seemed to keep players mostly on the field, not on the sidelines recovering from injuries.  The goal is to not only make players bigger, stronger and faster, but also healthier.  Kill’s strength and conditioning head coach, Eric Klein, has been with him for 17 years prior to coming to Minneapolis.