Twins – Page 131 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Gibson, Hughes to Hold Twins Fate

Posted on March 27, 2017March 27, 2017 by David Shama

Twins authority Roy Smalley believes his former team can win a dozen more games in 2017 than last season, and also be a fun club to watch, but he said it won’t happen without better pitching from starters Kyle Gibson and Phil Hughes.

Smalley played shortstop for the Twins for 10 seasons and now does analysis of the team on TV. He singled out veteran pitchers Gibson and Hughes when asked about the upcoming season and the likelihood for improvement. Minnesota was 59-103 in 2016. Gibson’s record last season was 6-11 with a 5.07 ERA. Injuries forced Hughes to miss much of the year and his record was 1-7 with a 5.95 ERA.

The Twins five-man rotation will be led by Ervin Santana, 7-11 with a 3.38 ERA a year ago. Santana is considered a No. 2 or No. 3 level starter but on the pitching-poor Twins, he is the stopper. Other starting pitchers for the rotation will be Gibson, Hughes and Hector Santiago, acquired in a trade with the Angels last season for Ricky Nolasco. He had a 3-6 record and 5.58 ERA record with Minnesota. The fifth starter is to be determined.

“Every team plays the way they pitch,” Smalley said. “The starting pitching is the most important thing on any team, so having not made any changes other than Hughes coming back (he didn’t pitch after June 9), the starting staff is virtually the same.

“You’re looking for Ervin Santana to be Santana. You’re looking for Phil Hughes to be better. You’re looking for Kyle Gibson to be better. If Hughes isn’t better and Gibson isn’t better…then it almost doesn’t matter what the other keys (for a good season) are.”

Gibson, who is 29 years old, was 11-11 with a 3.84 ERA in 2015. Hughes, 30, was 11-9 with a 3.40 ERA that year. Gibson’s best victories total with the Twins was 13-12 with a 4.47 ERA in 2014. The best Hughes has done was the same year, when he was 16-10 and had a 3.52 ERA.

“Gibson has got to be no longer a .500 pitcher,” Smalley said. “He can’t be 12 and 12 any more. His M.O. has been he will win 10 or 12 games, and in those games that he wins, his ERA is like 1.80 or something. And in the 10 or 12 games he loses, his ERA is 6. It’s been a Jekyll or Hyde kind of deal. He’s either really good or he’s out in the third inning.”

Smalley believes this season Gibson can “flip” several games that have been losses in prior years. “(A record of) 15-10 is not only doable but necessary for Kyle Gibson. I think he has to win 15 games, and Hughes has got to be a 14, 15 game winner for them (the Twins) to take a really big step.”

Smalley’s expectation is that the three leading winners in the rotation must win “between 40 and 45 games” for the Twins to make that improvement of winning a dozen or more games this season than last. Good relief pitching, defense and hitting will be important, but Smalley emphasized the starting pitching in his interview with Sports Headliners.

Miguel Sano (photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins).

If the starting pitching is at least average, then it makes the club’s potential offensive power much more relevant, Smalley believes. Second baseman Brian Dozier looks like a solid bet to produce a lot of home runs after hitting 42 last season, and this could be the year much-hyped prospects Miguel Sano (third base) and Byron Buxton (center field) emerge as major run producers.

“Then you’re going to have a really fun team to watch,” Smalley said. “…Because those guys can supply enough offense along with other guys that are around them. Guys like (right fielder Max) Kepler and (shortstop Jorge) Polanco who I think are terrific hitters, or are going to be. I mean you got a chance to have some really fun offensive production.”

Worth Noting

Minnesota Wild season ticket holders receive priority on purchasing playoff tickets, so the club is encouraging other fans to join the GameDay Tickets text notification list at wild.com/gamedaytix. Fans on the list receive a SMS text message on playoff game days if tickets are available. The Wild’s first round playoff details will be announced after the NHL regular season ends April 9.

Defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. recently rejoined the Gophers and impressed coach P.J. Fleck on Saturday after a two-hour practice. “He’s been leading our secondary,” Fleck said. “He hasn’t been out here that long obviously—but, man, did he take over our defense today. Very proud of him. I love his how, I love his effort. He shows incredible leadership out there. You can tell that young man loves to play the game. …”

Fleck has several candidates for the starting quarterback position. He is looking for a starter who is going to “command the team on offense,” and make decisive and exceptional decisions.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Association is expecting record attendance this year for its annual clinic March 30-April 1, but is still accepting reservations. This year’s speakers at the DoubleTree Hotel in St. Louis Park will include Fleck, Duke’s David Cutcliffe and North Dakota State’s Chris Klieman.

There will also be a Youth Coaches Clinic March 30 and April 1 at the DoubleTree Hotel. Sessions will include ideas for building a youth football program, practice planning, and much more.

For more information about the clinics and other details regarding the MFCA, click on the advertisement on this page.

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U Roster Offers Frozen Four Talent

Posted on March 22, 2017March 22, 2017 by David Shama

Wally Shaver has been the radio play-by-play voice of Gophers hockey for 16 years. He thinks the Minnesota team that is only two wins away from earning its way into the Frozen Four could win a national title. “I think this team is talented enough to get it done,” he told Sports Headliners Monday.

The Gophers won national championships in 2002 and 2003 under coach Don Lucia. Three years ago Lucia’s team lost in the Frozen Four finals to Union. Shaver believes the 2017 Gophers compare favorably to past Minnesota teams.

Minnesota has seven players with 10 or more goals. No other major college team can match that. “They’re a very balanced team and deep in scoring,” Shaver said.

Minnesota, as usual, has exceptional players like sophomore forward Tyler Sheehy, who is the 2017 Big Ten Player of the Year and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award given to college hockey’s best player. Senior Jake Bischoff is the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, while sophomore goalie Eric Schierhorn is the conference’s goalie of the year for a second consecutive season. Joining those three on the All-Big Ten first team is senior forward Justin Kloos. That collective talent is backed up by other productive players and means opponents can’t concentrate much on controlling just one or two players, or lines.

A hot goalie in college hockey’s playoffs always determines much of a team’s fate. Shaver said Schierhorn had his “ups and downs” during the long season but he suggested the Alaska native “hit the reset button” during Christmas time. Schierhorn has a .935 save percentage in his last nine games. “There is no question he is peaking at the right time,” Shaver said.

Last Saturday Schierhorn stopped 59 of 63 shots in a double overtime loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. “He was the best player on the ice,” Shaver said.

In that game a penalty set up a winning power play goal for PSU. Shaver cautions that if the Gophers are to advance this weekend and beyond, they must keep penalties to a minimum.

Minnesota, the regular season Big Ten champion, will play Notre Dame on Saturday in one of two games in Manchester, New Hampshire as part of the Northeast Region. Cornell plays UMass-Lowell in the other game, with Saturday’s winners meeting on Sunday in Manchester to determine who advances to the April 6 Frozen Four in Chicago against champions from three other regions.

The Gophers, 21-11-3, are the Northeast Region’s No. 1 seed and the favorite to win two games in Manchester, but Notre Dame, 21-11-5, impresses Shaver, too. He said the Fighting Irish has only one senior and if underclassmen don’t leave the program Notre Dame could be the “odds-on” favorite to win the Big Ten Conference title next season.

“It’s a very good regional and a great matchup for us to start with against Notre Dame,” Lucia said. “We know them, and they know us. We’re excited to get back into the tournament and compete for a national championship.”

The Gophers and Irish didn’t play against each other as nonconference opponents this season but have been frequent foes with Minnesota having a 27-15-3 record in the rivalry. Notre Dame plays its first Big Ten season in 2017-2018, increasing league membership to seven teams. The goal is to become an eight-team hockey league but there is no indication the Big Ten is even close to determining another member.

Worth Noting

Minnesota boys’ high school basketball fan Ken Lien has seen thousands of games over the years, and he was asked by Sports Headliners to name the teams he believes will win state tournament titles this week. His predicted champs are: Class 4A Champlin Park; Class 3A DeLaSalle; Class 2A Minnehaha Academy; and Class 1A Minneapolis North. His runner-ups, starting with Class 4A, are Apple Valley, Marshall, Crosby-Ironton and Goodhue.

A grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration is scheduled today at MSP International Airport to introduce the new Minnesota Twins sports bar and restaurant. Twins Grill is located in Concourse C of Terminal 1, and displays memorabilia and graphics recognizing the franchise’s past and present. The 220-seat restaurant offers traditional ballpark food and local craft beers.

Commissioner Bill Robertson and other leaders of the Edina-based WCHA were elated last Saturday when the league’s championship playoff game between Bowling Green and Michigan Tech drew a capacity crowd of 4,466 in Houghton, Michigan. Tech won the game in an electric atmosphere that represented a stark contrast to past years when the WCHA’s playoff title game was hosted in large venues like the Xcel Energy Center in front of meager crowds.

“I have watched a lot of professional, college and high school games, but that environment was one of the best I have ever seen,” said Robertson, who celebrated his 56th birthday yesterday.

George Stewart, the former Vikings wide receivers coach, now is special teams coordinator and assistant head coach with the Chargers. After about 34 years as an assistant coach in college and the NFL, Stewart still thinks about becoming a head coach. “I have a burning desire to do that at some point,” he told Sports Headliners Monday.

Stewart is 58 and head coaches are usually younger, but he mentioned Mike Zimmer was the same age when the Vikings hired him in 2014 as their football boss. Stewart said he wants an NFL head position, and the only head job in college that interested him was at his alma mater, Arkansas.

Stewart worked 10 seasons for the Vikings before deciding earlier this year to move on. When Stewart was a young coach with the 49ers, the legendary Bill Walsh told him 10 years was often long enough for an assistant to stay with one organization. An assistant coach’s instructions can become stale in talking with players after a long period, Stewart said, while explaining why he left the Vikings.

It doesn’t look like Chad Greenway, the newly retired Viking linebacker, is in any rush to decide what’s next in his life. Another former Vikings linebacker, Scott Studwell, told Sports Headliners he would advise Greenway to take six months to consider his future.

Condolences to Greenway and his family after the death last week of grandfather Michael Schoenfelder from Mount Vernon, South Dakota.

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Twins Season Opener Near Sellout

Posted on March 7, 2017March 7, 2017 by David Shama

A notes column starting with a conversation last weekend with Twins president Dave St. Peter.

St. Peter said about 5,000 tickets remain for the Twins’ home opener on Monday, April 3 against the Royals. The game will almost certainly sell out, but of concern to St. Peter is how the club will draw in many of its other 81 home dates. The Twins drew less than 2 million fans last season, the lowest total since moving into Target Field in 2010.

The team won just 59 games last year, but St. Peter praised the loyalty of Twins fans and predicted the season ticket total will only be down 1,000 or so in 2017. “We’re going to come in at about 12,000 season tickets,” he said.

The baseball world believes the Twins underperformed last season. Writer Ben Reiter predicted in the March 6 issue of Sports Illustrated that the team has too much young talent “to continue to be this bad.” He analyzed all 30 MLB teams and counted the Twins among clubs expected to trend upward this year.

St. Peter said new Twins baseball bosses Derek Falvey and Thad Levine believe “the core” of the team didn’t play up to its potential last season. Falvey’s title is executive vice president and chief baseball officer, while Levine is senior vice president and general manager. The two have impressive backgrounds but St. Peter cautioned, “They’re not miracle workers.”

Falvey and Levine are in the process of learning all they can about the Twins franchise including everyone from players to coaches to support personnel like trainers. Their focus is on long-term success, and part of that is figuring out what St. Peter termed “competitive advantages” the Twins can put in place. The opinion here is such advantages might include teaching and assessment techniques, and superior advance scouting of opponents.

Falvey and Levine haven’t rushed to make headline moves within the organization, or force trades. St. Peter confirmed second baseman Brian Dozier, who hit a career high 42 home runs last season, prompted a “fair amount of dialogue” during the offseason regarding a possible trade. The Twins president said there was a lot of interest but nothing offered had enough value to support parting with the club’s best player.

It’s still difficult to accept the death of Kirby Puckett. The Hall of Famer and one of the franchise’s most popular players ever died 11 years ago yesterday at age 45 after suffering a stroke. …

Chad Greenway’s press conference announcement today of his retirement after 11 NFL seasons probably didn’t catch anyone by surprise. In an interview with Sports Headliners almost two years ago, the former Pro Bowl linebacker acknowledged 2015 might be his last season because of his aging body. “… You give everything to the game and it’s going to take bits and pieces of you, but you can’t let it take too much,” Greenway said.

In the interview Greenway said his post-football focus will be on wife Jennifer and their children. “Live for your family,” Greenway said. “Live for your kids as a dad. Be a great husband. Just take it one day at a time.”

Greenway, who grew up near a small town in South Dakota and played nine-man football, considered an NFL career “near impossible” as a teenager. Three times during his career teammates voted him Defensive MVP. …

Tonight at the Xcel Energy Center former Wild head coach Mike Yeo faces his old team for the first time as boss of the St. Louis Blues. Yeo took over from Ken Hitchcock as Blues head coach on February 1. The Wild is 2-1-1 against the Blues so far this season with the most recent game a 5-1 win in St. Paul. Yeo coached the Wild for parts of five seasons from 2011-2016 and had a record of 173-132-44. …

Big Ten leading scorer Tyler Sheehy of the hockey Gophers has been named the Big Ten Second Star of the Week following a four point performance last weekend in Ann Arbor against the Wolverines. …

The Gophers basketball program has never won the Big Ten Tournament that starts tomorrow in Washington D.C., but is a dark horse favorite this year. Minnesota begins tournament play on Friday and because of a double bye will only have to win three games (instead of four or five) to emerge as the conference champion.

Minnesota played a poor second half on Sunday in its regular season finale and loss to Wisconsin but won nine more Big Ten games than a year ago. All the Gophers top eight players have remaining eligibility except for guard Akeem Springs. Minnesota will soon be mentioned among the preseason favorites for the 2018 Big Ten title.

Incoming freshman guard Isaiah Washington will only add to the hype about the Gophers. New York’s No. 1 point guard with his flashy style has drawn national attention. His arrival and the success of the 2016-2017 team might result in a season ticket increase of 2,500 or more during the coming months, pushing the total over 10,000 and setting up a potential streak of consecutive Big Ten sellouts at Williams Arena. This season the Gophers only sold out two games at home.

Gophers sophomore guard Ahmad Gilbert averaged 17.6 points and 11 per game as a high school senior in Philadelphia but his success has been limited at Minnesota. He didn’t get on the court in 15 of Minnesota’s 18 conference games and played a total of six minutes. Close observers of the program wonder if he will transfer to another school. …

The Gophers’ football team holds its first spring practices today and Thursday but no sessions are open to the public until late March and early April. The public is invited to watch three of new head coach P.J. Fleck’s spring sessions: March 28 and April 4—starting at 4:45 p.m. at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex—and April 15 beginning at noon in TCF Bank Stadium for the annual spring game. …

The “Breakfast with Leroy” group will remember and pay tribute to Leroy Hardeman this Saturday on the 10th year of his passing. Hardeman was an extraordinary athlete and his accomplishments included induction into the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame. The group will gather for breakfast and tributes starting at 9 a.m. at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus, 1114 American Blvd West. The public is invited, with more information available by contacting Pat Rickert at 612-861-3981.

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