Twins – Page 129 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Not too Late for Grant Bobblehead

Posted on June 1, 2017June 1, 2017 by David Shama

A Thursday notes column leading off with—you never expected this—Bud Grant Bobblehead news, plus Gophers basketball, the Twins, and fishing.

Grant sold Bobbleheads at his annual garage sale last month but those who missed out can still obtain the plastic statue through Joe Florenzano and Triple Crown Sports Collectibles. The former Vikings coach is depicted to reflect his football career and passion for the outdoors. The figurine shows him wearing a Vikings cap and jacket, holding a duck, and accompanied by his hunting dog Boom. The Bobblehead is a first for the 90-year-old Minnesota sports legend, and probably the last.

Mail orders are being accepted while limited supplies last, with the cost $55 for an unsigned Bobblehead and $90 for a signed. More information is available at Vikingstwinsman@gmail.com.

Grant will sign autographs at Florenzano’s collectibles show from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 30 at Southtown Shopping Center. Fees are charged for autographs and photos.

Sportingnews.com has the Gophers No. 10 in its top 25 national basketball rankings for 2017-2018. The rankings, posted online yesterday, listed Michigan State No. 2, with the Spartans the only Big Ten team ahead of Minnesota. The Gophers were a surprise last season finishing 11-7 in Big Ten regular season games, and they are losing only one key player. Ryan Fagan wrote the “Gophers will push for the Big Ten championship.”

The other ranked Big Ten teams are No. 23 Purdue and No. 24 Northwestern. Arizona is No. 1.

There is some speculation that when the ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups are announced the Gophers will host Duke at Williams Arena. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 3 by Sportingsnews.com, and the Gophers have never played them in the Challenge. Minnesota is 1-2 historically (all neutral court games) against the famed program, with the last game coming in a 2013 Duke win in the Bahamas.

The Gophers are “drowning” in Challenge games against Florida State, having played the Seminoles three times in the last five years.

Christine Clifford (photo credit: Ephraim Moore)

Christine Clifford, a Golden Valley resident, won a tarpon invitational tournament in the Florida Keys last month where 127 tarpon were caught. She hauled in a record 14 tarpon in the 33rd annual tourney, breaking the previous record of 11.

The Twins have lost four straight but with a surprise 26-23 record still have the best winning percentage in the AL Central. Minnesota lost 8-6 to the Rays on Sunday in a 15 inning game that took 6 hours and 26 minutes—longest in club history. The Twins blew a late inning 8-2 lead on Memorial Day, losing 16-8 to the Astros. In losses to the Astros Tuesday and yesterday, the Twins were defeated 7-2 and 17-6. For the three game series the Astros scored 40 runs, the Twins 16.

“Building character right now, along with building a winning attitude,” said Jim Rantz. The now retired Twins front office executive spoke to Sports Headliners yesterday morning before another loss at Target Field.

The Twins can now show the defeats aren’t demoralizing to a team that was 59-103 last season. A strong June led by revived pitching would help. The club hasn’t played better than .500 baseball in June since a 14-13 record in 2012. Last year the Twins were 10-17 during the month, on their way to the worst record in the majors.

The June schedule has the Twins on the road for two-thirds of the month but Minnesota is 14-5 in away games so far, 12-18 in Minneapolis. The Twins play the Angels in Anaheim tonight and won’t have to face Angels superstar outfielder Mike Trout who was in the early running to win the AL Triple Crown before tearing a ligament in his left thumb.

The Twins had the opportunity to select Trout in the 2009 first-year player draft but took Kyle Gibson with the No. 22 choice. The Angels found Trout still available drafting at No. 25. Gibson has been inconsistent with the Twins during his career, and this season has been disappointing so far. His record is 1-4 with a 7.75 ERA.

In the Astros series the Twins faced star shortstop Carlos Correa who Houston chose with the No. 1 selection in the 2012 draft. The Twins, picking next at No. 2, drafted center fielder Byron Buxton. “I think we were leaning toward Buxton all along,” said Rantz who was involved with that draft.

Buxton has been sensational in the field and a major contributor to the improved Twins defense that has played a key role in the club’s early contention for a division title. After a miserable start at the plate, Buxton is contacting the ball with some consistency and he hit .254 in May. His average now is .201.

Rantz thinks Buxton might be the fastest player in baseball and refers to him as a hitter who eventually may average .250 to .280 each season, with double digit totals in home runs. “He’s going to get his hits and some of them won’t be pretty, but that’s what speed does,” said Rantz.

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners he hasn’t been surprised how consistent the Twins outfield and infield defense has been. Minnesota has the second fewest errors among MLB teams, according to Espn.com. “Our outfield defense has been as good as any outfield defense in Major League Baseball,” St. Peter said. “All of the modern metrics demonstrate that.”

St. Peter said minor league performances by Buxton and fellow outfielders Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario indicated they would perform well in the majors. Early signs were also present with shortstop Jorge Polanco and third baseman Miguel Sano. “I think the other person that probably doesn’t get enough credit is Joe Mauer at first base,” St. Peter said. “Joe is having an incredible year defensively over there and certainly should be somebody who gets Gold Glove consideration.”

St. Peter talking about the club’s personnel: “We’re always open to discussions about how we make our team better. I don’t think there is a single player on our roster that is immune from those types of discussions. …”

ByungHo Park is playing again for Triple A Rochester. He had a hamstring injury earlier in the year and is hitting .228 in 92 at bats after an impressive spring with the Twins and almost making the big league roster. “But I certainly expect to see Byung in Minnesota at some point in 2017,” St. Peter said about the DH and first baseman.

The Twins sold about 1,500 of the new Spring Ballpark Pass, St. Peter said. The pass provided access inside Target Field but not a seat and cost $99 to watch Twins games in April and May. That type of product is something the Twins will consider in the future.

St. Peter said the club has sold more than 13,500 season tickets and could exceed 14,000 for 2017. The team’s season ticket total last year was about 14,000.

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MLB Finds Time Can Move Slow

Posted on May 21, 2017May 22, 2017 by David Shama

The view from here is the average time of a nine inning major league baseball game appears similar to the continual complaining about the 60,000 page federal tax code—not much seems to change.

Typical games last over three hours and some “marathons” push toward four hours or beyond. A review of this morning’s 11 box scores for nine inning games in the Star Tribune showed six lasting over three hours, and five under that total. All the three hour games were at least three hours and 20 minutes, with the longest game clocking in at 3:50. The times for the games under three hours were: 2:35, 2:52, 2:52, 2:56 and 2:58.

These times are typical of MLB games and there are days when games played in under three hours are minimal. Decades ago games weren’t so lengthy, with three hour affairs a rarity. Common were games that lasted around two hours and 30 minutes, or less.

Fans and owners have been wrestling with the problem of lengthy games for years. Back in 2010, Baseball Prospectus reported games lasted an average of 2:55, but by 2014 the average was 3:08. The next year MLB decided to enforce rules speeding up games and for the 2015 season the average came in at 2:56, according to an October 2015 A.P. story. The average before the All-Star Game was 2:53 but after the mid-season break the average was three hours.

In 2016 the average game was back to three hours, according to an October 15 article by the New York Times that credited Baseball-Reference.com. The Times story pointed out the Nationals-Dodgers five-game playoff series last fall averaged over four hours and there was an inning that lasted 66 minutes. Times writer Benjamin Hoffman noted that in 1919 the Giants and Phillies played a nine inning game in 51 minutes.

MLB seems to have periods of lacking willpower in enforcing rules to speed up games.

St. Paul Saints owner Mike Veeck told Sports Headliners three hours is the “magic” number to avoid. Veeck, known as one of baseball’s great marketers during a career that included front office assignments with the White Sox and Rays, spoke about ways to speed things up. He said there should be 90 seconds between innings (instead of two minutes or more). He also emphasized there needs to be enforcement of 20 seconds or less between pitches, and hitters can’t be allowed to fiddle away time by stepping out of the batter’s box.

“The umpires have to have more say on the field, and the owners have to back them up,” Veeck said.

Veeck suggested owners know they can sell a lot more popcorn and beer during a long game than a short one. There are also other revenue streams like team stores in stadiums that help line the pockets of owners.

While a captive audience for a long game can mean more cash for the home club, baseball runs the risk of alienating fans. Many fans find a long game boring. Baseball is a leisurely game to watch and while it can be relaxing at 2:30, it may become tedious when it’s an hour or more longer.

MLB teams play 81 home dates and the fan who wants to attend several games or more has to consider the time investment. Allow a couple of hours to go to and from a game, then add on nearly four hours at the ball park, and that becomes a hefty time investment for some folks to make several times per year.

“I think this is one instance where you have to absolutely do what’s right by the fans,” Veeck said. “If we are losing attention span, then we have to speed it up any way we can.”

Baseball should particularly fret about getting in front of younger generations with their limited attention spans. A new marketing tactic is that Facebook is partnering with MLB to broadcast 20 Friday night games this season.

Twins general manager Thad Levine thinks baseball can look at things to speed the game up like requiring a pitcher to face more than one batter in an inning. His suggestion is more than valid because often the No. 1 factor in making for long games is the parade of pitchers used over nine innings. Baseball purists won’t like it, and Levine didn’t offer it, but certainly another way to speed up the game would be to limit the total number of pitchers than can be used in an inning.

During a conversation with Sports Headliners Levine placed emphasis on the question of what baseball leaders can do to make games more “compelling,” not necessarily faster. He said the effectiveness of relief pitching often means outcomes of games are pretty much determined by the sixth inning or so. The depth and quality of bullpens frequently neutralizes offenses. Football and basketball have more late game drama and heroics.

Despite critics who insist baseball is too long and boring, the game remains popular. More than half of the 30 MLB teams are drawing 28,000 fans per game or more, with eight clubs attracting over 35,000, according to ESPN.com. Those attendance numbers could continue to climb as summer approaches, and also because MLB has a bumper crop of exciting players.

The star list is long, impressive and youthful led by the likes of superstar outfielders Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. “I think the game is in a terrific place right now in the sense that there is just such a slew of young, exciting players in the game,” Levine said.

The Twins don’t have a superstar but third baseman Miguel Sano, 24, might qualify some day. Sano is part of a Twins youth movement that shows promise on the field and for selling tickets for a franchise that has seen home attendance decline every season since 2010. Sano and centerfielder Byron Buxton, 23, were named this month to Keith Laws’ best under 25 list for ESPN.com. Pitcher Jose Berrios, 22, looks like he has star power, too.

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Twins GM Talks Draft, Risk-Taking

Posted on May 18, 2017May 18, 2017 by David Shama

Sports Headliners had an in-depth telephone interview with Twins general manager Thad Levine last week. The 45-year-old executive talked not only about next month’s MLB Draft but other topics including risk-taking, trades, his sense of humor and love for baseball starting at five years old.

The Twins choose first in the June 12 first-year player draft and that means they don’t have to worry about any of the other 29 MLB clubs taking the guy they want. The challenge, though, is figuring out who to choose. “There isn’t a clear-cut No. 1,” Levine said about the top prospects available in the draft.

Levine and chief baseball officer Derek Falvey will have a lot of authority on who the Twins choose with a pick that could help determine the success of the ballclub for 10 years or more. Levine said they want the best player available and will not make their selection based on position need.

The Twins’ evaluators are looking for the most “talent and upside” they can find, according to Levine. But who to chose?

Media speculation has names like high school pitcher-shortstop Hunter Greene, and collegians Brendan McKay (pitcher-first baseman) and Kyle Wright (pitcher) at or near the top of lists. “We don’t have a guy who is unequivocally that person we are going to take,” Levine said.

As Levine, Falvey and the franchise’s other talent evaluators hold a progression of meetings, certain players get added into the mix each time and others drop out. “I don’t know that we’ve necessarily inked in the three, four, five guys that we’re going to choose (from) come hell, or high water,” Levine said.

In the meantime, Levine and Falvey, who last fall were both hired to bring new direction to the franchise, are looking for opportunities to improve the existing roster. The front office has already shuttled players back and forth between Minneapolis and the club’s Triple A farm team in Rochester. The promotions of DH-first baseman Kennys Vargas and pitcher Jose Berrios show promise.

Levine said he and Falvey have divided up contacts with the other 29 front offices, and are on the telephone everyday discussing information that could lead to trades. The offseason acquisitions of catcher Jason Castro and key reliever Matt Belisle have helped the Twins play competitively, and sometimes Central Division leading baseball.

Since Levine and Falvey arrived from previous front office jobs with the Rangers and Indians, the two have added resources in technology and expanded the baseball staff tying to give the Twins an advantage in various phases of operations ranging from talent acquisition and player development to scouting the opposition. Levine said what he and Falvey found already in place was an extraordinary work ethic among those employed in the club’s baseball department.

Levine worked for 11 seasons as assistant general manager with the Rangers before joining the Twins. He was involved with player acquisitions, roster composition, contract negotiations, statistical and financial analysis, and international scouting.

He participated in a lot of decision making with the Rangers and that will certainly be true with the Twins. What Minnesota fans may wonder is he more of a risk-taker, or a proceed with caution executive?

“I think some of that is circumstantial, so I would tell you I played different roles throughout my career,” Levine said. “I think Texas (the Rangers) by and large was an organization that embraced risk. It was very risk tolerant, and I think in that environment sometimes I had to play the role of the voice of reason.

“Whereas in my early (time) in Minnesota, I may be more of the person pushing the envelope on the risk-taking side. …But I think the best decision making groups have people who represent all thoughts and all thought processes.

“I think one thing that I have found effective in my career is recognizing what the occasion calls for, and making sure I represent different points of view (so)…that we have everything really evaluated before we ultimately make our final decision.”

If Levine sounds like a bright guy, it’s because he is. He majored in English with pre-med intentions at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. He has an MBA from UCLA and did some graduate work in South Africa. He worked in marketing for Coca Cola, the Rockport Company and Reebok, Ltd. In addition to the Rangers, his MLB resume includes stops with the Dodgers and Rockies.

As a youngster, Levine lived in Virginia and traces his love for baseball back to an Orioles game he attended with his family when he was five years old. He vividly remembers his father Michael spilled a beer and lost a hot dog to grab a foul ball at the game. A young boy thought to himself that getting a $3.25 baseball must be pretty important to sacrifice a beer and a hot dog, while keeping his son out of “harm’s way.”

“From that day forward, I think I really fell in love with the game,” Levine said. “It’s the bond that has tied me to my dad.”

Seldom does a week pass that he doesn’t hear from his father, “suggesting a trade, or some kind of recommendation.” Levine admits some of the advice is spot-on but he doesn’t let dad know. “One call a week would (then) turn into three calls a week, and I don’t know if I could handle that,” he said.

That quip is part of the wit frequently heard from Levine. His humor is often on display in conversations or speaking in front of groups. “I think this is something that was genetically passed down,” he said. “My grandfather Arthur Levine passed it to my father Michael Levine, who passed it to me. I am hopeful I can pass it along to some of my children (Greta, Tess and Quinn).

“I have wrestled with it (humor) throughout my career. I think it is important to come off as being very professional and very capable. But by the same time token, I enjoy levity and I enjoy putting people’s minds at ease—being able to connect with them sometimes through self-deprecating expression.”

When it comes to humor, sometime wives are sharp critics? Does Levine’s wife Claudette think he is amusing? “Not at all,” Levine answered. “She has heard most of my material. She is by far the toughest audience for me. If I get her to laugh, I know I have done something pretty special because she is a pretty stiff critic.”

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