Author: David Shama

Call me giddy because of possible 50 degree temps later in the week, but there is a dugout full of reasons to be optimistic about the Twins’ season that opens on Friday in Toronto.  Let’s not suggest the Twins will—gulp—beat the Yankees or Red Sox in the playoffs but this team can win 90 games or more and wear another Central Division crown.

Here’s why:

This is a not too young, not too old team.  Key players are mostly between 25 and 30, guys with experience but years away from retiring.

The mix of talents looks promising with at least okay pitching, strong defense and outstanding run production.

The Twins are built for success in their home run unfriendly ballpark.  A perhaps mediocre pitching staff benefits from the dead air and deep fences of Target Field.  Speedsters Denard Span, Alexi Casilla and Tsuyoshi Nishioka can steal hits from opponents when not swiping bases themselves.  Joe Mauer and other Twins hitters can hit the ball into the outfield gaps, if not over the fence at Target Field where Minnesota had the best home record in the American League last year.

Nishioka’s bat control is a nice addition to the No. 2 spot in the batting order.  His nifty bunting will advance runners for Mauer and Justin Morneau.

Unlike last spring when fans were in a panic over Joe Nathan’s impending Tommy John surgery, the ballclub got through spring training with no major injuries.

Count pitchers Francisco Liriano and Brian Duensing and outfielders Delmon Young and Span among Twins who could have career years, boosting the team’s chances for success.

The Twins will have seven off days during September to stay fresh late in the season.

Carl Pavano, who will pitch opening day in Toronto on Friday, was the team’s No. 3 starter at the beginning of last year.  Pavano, 17-11 last season, pitched seven complete games, a major league total exceeded only by Roy Halladay’s nine.

The Twins don’t play a game in April against the White Sox and Tigers, their major rivals for the division title.

Former Twins pitcher Juan Berenguer’s son, Chris, is the Division III Player of the Year in hockey.  The Hamline senior defenseman is a three-time All-American.

Former Chaska High School pitcher Brad Hand, drafted by the Marlins in 2008, pitched in two spring training games for Florida, compiling a 9:00 ERA in five innings.

Successful basketball programs don’t have five important players transfer within about 12 months but that’s reality for the Gophers.  The departed now include Colton Iverson, the junior center who for whatever reasons didn’t improve during his career at Minnesota.  Earlier this year guard Devoe Joseph transferred, while last off season forwards Paul Carter and Royce White, and guard Justin Cobbs, also left the program.  Minnesota was 6-12 in the Big Ten last season.

What if Iverson joined White at Iowa State playing for former Timberwolves executive Fred Hoiberg who in his first year coaching in Ames has made national news with several transfers joining his program?

Former pro wrestler Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell, who played football for Gophers coach Murray Warmath, gave new Minnesota coach Jerry Kill a poster with Warmath’s game maxims.  Included is one called oske wow wow that means “interception, find a different colored jersey and make a block.”

The Gophers, 3-9 last season, will have spring practices tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday.  “We may take a step back, before we take a step forward,” Kill said last week before spring practice started.

The Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will have its annual awards dinner on April 17 at the University of St. Thomas.  Kill will be the keynote speaker and Isaac Odim from the University of Minnesota Duluth will be among those honored.  Odim is the first recipient of the Bob Stein College Scholar-Athlete Award.  To purchase tickets to the event or become a member of the chapter, visit www.nffmn.org.

New coach Jerry Kill and his staff open spring practice tomorrow, but don’t expect to be dazzled by the Gophers personnel at the April 23 spring game or during the 12 game schedule starting in September.

Multiple football sources have told Sports Headliners the Gophers team that lost to Kill’s Northern Illinois group last September had inferior talent to the Huskies.  Former Gophers’ head coach Tim Brewster hyped his recruiting classes but reality is he didn’t leave Kill with the type of talent Minnesota will need against many opponents including Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, USC and Wisconsin.

Northern Illinois, a non-BCS school from the Mid-American Conference, beat the Gophers, 34-23, last September at TCF Bank Stadium.  The low profile Huskies ended their season 11-3, including a bowl win.  The Gophers pulled off two late season surprise wins against Illinois and Iowa (programs with superior players) and finished the season at 3-9.

The Gophers will have most of their starters back on defense and about half on offense.  Northern Illinois is expected to have similar numbers of returnees on offense and defense, but a major difference is not just better overall talent.  The Huskies have an outstanding returning senior quarterback in Chandler Harnish, while the Gophers are trying to figure out how to replace four-year starter Adam Weber.

Minnesota won’t have to contend with Kill’s former team but the schedule includes more bullies than softies.  Minnesota opens at national power USC, then plays three winnable nonconference games at home against New Mexico State, Miami (Ohio) and North Dakota State.  Big Ten road games follow at Michigan and Purdue before playing at home against Nebraska and Iowa.  The remaining league schedule is at Michigan State, home against Wisconsin, away for Northwestern, and then a final game in Minneapolis versus Illinois.

Expectations for fans should include improving last season’s 3-9 record while watching a more fundamentally superior team than anything seen here in awhile.  Kill and staff will need time not only to instill their systems and work ethic, but also to attract talent.