Author: David Shama

Johan Santana has the best ERA (0.46) in the National League and Jason Bartlett is hitting .373, eighth highest in the American League.  The season is less than three weeks old but the performance of these two former Twins makes a point about major moves by the local team in 2007, 2008 and 2009: Minnesota is looking for a better return than seen last year and this year.

After the 2007 season the Twins made two of their more significant trades in memory.  Cy Young award winner Santana went to the Mets in the winter of 2008 for center fielder Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Delois Guerra.  Santana was 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA last year and almost helped the Mets to the National League pennant.  Gomez is the only ex-Met to contribute to the Twins so far and his exciting but erratic play is what you might expect from a 23 year old.

Tampa Bay became a pennant winner last season in the American League, partially because of former Twins Bartlett and Matt Garza.  Some opinion is that Bartlett’s defense from his shortstop position (only 16 errors in 125 games) and hitting (.286 with 20 stolen bases) made him Tampa Bay’s MVP.  Garza won 11 games last season, the most in his big league pitching career and this year is 1-1, striking out almost as many batters as innings pitched.  Garza is a power pitcher, something the Twins don’t have and is 25 years old.  Last season he struck out 128 batters in 184.2 innings and those numbers figure to improve with experience.

Bartlett and Garza went to Tampa Bay in November of 2007 in a trade that brought outfielder Delmon Young and utility infielder Brendan Harris to the Twins.  The Twins have tried various players at shortstop since Bartlett went to Tampa Bay after being a regular here.  Among those players has been Harris who has played shortstop, second and third.  In limited play this season, Harris is hitting .355.

Young, with a reputation before coming here as one of baseball’s best young prospects, was considered the prize of the deals involving the Mets and Rays.  He’s yet to be dominant at bat or in the field, and sometimes far less than that.  While he hit .290 last season, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Young had only 10 home runs.  This season, unable so far to win an everyday spot in the lineup, he’s hitting .229 with one home run and looking awkward in left field.

Earlier this year the Twins acquired third baseman Joe Crede who so has sort of claimed the position starting more games there than anyone else.  During his career Crede has had three seasons where he’s hit 20 or more home runs.  Although he certainly may improve his numbers, so far he has hit one with a .167 batting average.

The Twins are 7-9 this season.  Their success hasn’t been produced by their major moves of the last 17 months.  And if the Twins needed any reminder of that, they’re playing in Boston this week where the Red Sox reportedly had such a strong interest in acquiring Santana they might have given up center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury as part of a deal.  Ellsbury hit .280 in his first full season last year and stole 50  bases.

For now, the Twins will wait to judge their big moves and hope for better results.

Tony Spadafora of Eden Prairie, who has been passionately following stadium developments for years in Minnesota and before that in Ohio, wrote an opinion piece about the Vikings for last Sunday’s Duluth News Tribune stating “we are coming dangerously close to losing them.”  Spadafora’s article describes Vikings executives as “uncharacteristically skipping stadium commission and legislative committee meetings.”

With the state dealing with a huge budget deficit, Spadafora predicts a special legislative session will be needed to deal with the franchise’s request for a new retractable roof stadium on the Metrodome site.  With the Vikings lease at the Metrodome expiring after the 2011 season, Spadafora foresees three outcomes: no deal on a new stadium, a “sweetheart” arrangement benefiting the franchise, or a “deal that’s good for the Vikings and good for Minnesota.”

Roy Terwilliger, chair of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, told Sports Headliners his group and the Vikings are sensitive to the political and economic climate the state faces with a budget deficit of about $5 billion.  Taking a quiet approach now hasn’t lessened Terwilliger’s belief that a facility will “come together” providing the Vikings with both an economically viable stadium and the community assurance of retaining the team, plus having a multipurpose covered venue that can serve the public in the varied ways for which the Metrodome has been used.

Terwilliger said the commission hasn’t received, nor is it pushing for, results of a study authorized awhile ago from HKS Architects and Mortenson Construction to determine what can be used from the Metrodome’s existing infrastructure for a new stadium on the site.  Attention to that study now would stir up the stadium issue at a time when the commission prefers to be low key.

Terwilliger wouldn’t predict if or when a special session might be called to deal with the stadium issue.

Tubby Smith’sGophers will play Miami in Coral Gables, Florida on Wednesday, December 2 as part of the 11th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge.  Michigan State with a 5-4 record is the only Big Ten team with a winning record in the challenge.  Minnesota and Wisconsin, 4-6, are next best among Big Ten teams while ACC power Duke is 10-0.

This isn’t exactly playoff country.  In the last five years the Twins, Vikings and Wild have made the playoffs twice, the Wolves once.

The record isn’t much better historically, according to Forbes.com.  The Web site recently rated Minneapolis-St. Paul No. 9 among America’s 10 “most miserable sports cities.”  The Forbes criteria: “Our purpose is to identify those cities that have historically led the sports world in the close-but-no-cigar category–good enough to tease their fans with lots of playoff appearances, including Super Bowls, World Series, NBA finals or NHL finals, only to let them down in the end.”  More at  https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/13/americas-most-miserable-sports-cities-business-sports_slide_12.html?thisSpeed=15000.

Harmon Killebrew will host the 6^th Annual Kwik Trip Harmon Killebrew Classic on May 31 and June 1 to benefit the Twins Community Fund and the Miracle League of Minnesota, a charitable organization providing children with mental and/or physical challenges an opportunity to play baseball on a team in an organized league.  More information on dinner, auction and golf at www.harmonkillebrewfoundation.org, or call 612-414-4506.

The Vikings have the 22nd overall pick in the first round of Saturday’s NFL Draft and have six total selections this weekend, including three in the top 86. The first and second rounds will be held on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. Minneapolis time and ending around 9 p.m. The Vikings are expected to make their first round pick about 6:30 p.m.

The draft concludes Sunday with rounds three through seven and begins at 9 a.m. The time allocated for each selection in the first round will be 10 minutes while the second round will be seven minutes. Teams will have five minutes for each selection in the remaining rounds.  The Vikings have no picks in the fourth and sixth rounds, with two choices in the seventh.

Former Gophers Keith Ballard, Kyle Okposo and Thomas Vanek have been selected to participate in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships in Switzerland April 24-May 10. Ballard, a 26-year-old defenseman with Florida in the NHL, is the most experienced international player on the United States roster, making his fourth appearance in the world championships, including his third straight.  Okposo, 21, has been selected to the U.S. squad for the first time.  He finished second on the New York Islanders in scoring with 18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points, despite missing 17 games due to a mid-season injury.  Vanek, 25, will play for the Austrian team for the third time in his career and first since 2005.  Playing for Buffalo, he led the NHL with 20 power play goals last season and ranked fifth overall with 40 goals scored, despite missing nine games due to injury.

Congratulations to Gustavus men’s tennis coach Steve Wilkinson.  He’s retiring at the end of this school year after 923 wins, a men’s college tennis record.  He coached at Gustavus for 39 years and was also one of the best tennis players to ever play in Minnesota.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced that two students from Concordia University – St. Paul have earned special academic-athletic recognition.   Kirk Ingram is the Dr. William Britton Scholar-Athlete Award winner and Mary Slinger is the Willis R. Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award recipient. The Britton Scholar-Athlete Award for Academic Excellence, in its 25th year, recognizes the NSIC’s top male student-athlete, while the Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award, in its 24th year, is presented to the NSIC’s top female student-athlete.