Twins – Page 146 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Dozier May Fill Twins’ Leadership Role

Posted on April 4, 2016April 4, 2016 by David Shama

The Twins start the regular season today and insiders will watch to see who fills the leadership void left by the retirement of Torii Hunter. A source close to the club told Sports Headliners he thinks it will be second baseman Brian Dozier.

Dozier begins his fifth season with the Twins this afternoon in Baltimore against the Orioles. To be a leader, a player has to be a success on the field. Last season was a breakthrough year for the second baseman who played in his first All-Star Game. He led the Twins in home runs with 28 and runs scored, 101.

The source described the 28-year-old Dozier as someone who plays hard and is a potential leader in part because he produces on the field and at the plate. “He is the kind of guy that cares,” the source said. “To be a leader you have to care.”

Hunter could be confrontational with underachieving teammates. While Dozier isn’t an in-your-face guy, he is willing to speak out when something is wrong, the source said.

The Twins had lost 90-plus games for four consecutive seasons when Hunter joined the team as a free agent for 2015. He found a dreary clubhouse where players weren’t enjoying the experience of playing baseball. “Losing a game isn’t life and death,” the source said.

Hunter focused on winning games but also wanted a locker room atmosphere that was fun. His clubhouse dance parties following games symbolized the new attitude of the Twins, who earned an 83-79 final record and second place finish in the AL Central.

“You’ve got to have some life in the locker room,” the source said. “If you treat everything so serious, it takes away a lot of the enjoyment of playing the game.”

Worth Noting

The Orioles project to be among the mediocre teams in the American League. Last season the Orioles’ record was 81-81 and the Twins were 7-0 against them.

The Twins tried for years to fill their shortstop position after trading J.J. Hardy to the Orioles during the 2010 offseason for a pair of minor league pitchers who never contributed. Hardy is still the Orioles’ shortstop, and hit .265 with three home runs and six RBI in spring training.

Former Twin Vance Worley was fourth on the Orioles in innings pitched during spring training and had a 1-1 record with a 4.32 ERA.

Temperatures could reach the low 70s with some precipitation for this afternoon’s game in Baltimore, according to Accuweather.com.

Twins’ TV analyst Bert Blyleven, who likes to talk about his birthdays, could well reference it on today’s Fox North telecast. Blyleven will be 65 Wednesday.

Jim Dutcher, the former Gophers coach who correctly predicted North Carolina would be a Final Four team, told Sports Headliners yesterday he believes Villanova’s defensive pressure will be too much for Carolina’s guards and the Wildcats will win tonight’s NCAA championship game 82-80.

Former Gophers football coach Jerry Kill received a standing ovation Friday night at the Minnesota Football Coaches Clinic at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park. Kill was presented with the MFCA’s Power of Influence Award that has been renamed the Jerry Kill Power of Influence Award.

Author Jim Bruton said the book he and Kill are writing is complete, and it’s now ready for editing. As part of researching the book, Bruton travelled to places Kill has coached and saw how much he is revered. “He is a god,” Bruton said. “Chasing Dreams, Living My Life One Yard at a Time” will be released next fall.

The MFCA’s Tackle Cancer initiative has raised $774,000 for research in four years. Prep football coaches in various parts of the state designate a home game as a fundraiser. Proceeds go to the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund.

Players from the Gophers’ 1967 Big Ten championship football team will be in town for a reunion April 22. They will gather at J.D. Hoyt’s Supper Club starting at 2 p.m.

WCHA commissioner Bill Robertson will meet with Arizona State officials at the Frozen Four in Tampa later this week to discuss the future conference affiliation of the Sun Devils. ASU may announce this summer which college hockey league its program will join and what the first year of participation will be. The Sun Devils are currently an independent.

Robertson has been talking to the Big Ten about preseason and postseason games involving that league and his WCHA. Plans might become finalized next fall. Robertson has proposed schools from the two leagues match up teams in the preseason similar to basketball’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge. In the postseason a single site would host separate WCHA and Big Ten tournaments.

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Vikes Need WR, Kill Praises Doctson

Posted on April 1, 2016April 1, 2016 by David Shama

The Vikings might count their blessings on draft night if Josh Doctson is available. “I’d take him in the first round if I wanted a guy that could make plays,” Jerry Kill told Sports Headliners this week.

The former TCU wide receiver could be available when the Vikings use the No. 23 pick in the first round of the April 28 NFL Draft. Speculation is the Vikings will use a selection in the early rounds to improve their wide receivers roster and hopefully acquire someone who becomes a big time playmaker.

When Kill coached the Gophers against TCU, his team had to contend with the 6-2, 202-pound Doctson. He was TCU’s leading receiver in two wins over Minnesota, catching 14 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s a freak of nature, a great player,” Kill said. “Great hands. He catches the deep ball as good as you can get it done. He’s special at going up in getting the ball. He’ll block you. He runs really, really well. Just a very, very good athlete that can make plays.”

Doctson impressed at the NFL Scouting Combine this winter and projects as one of the first wide receivers to be drafted. He might be chosen between No. 16 and No. 26 in the first round, depending on what various NFL teams are looking for to fill roster needs.

While draft authorities believe Doctson could be the Vikings’ first selection, the team needs help in the offensive line too. A probable candidate is former Ohio State tackle Taylor Decker who Kill also faced during his time as Gophers coach.

“Physical, strong, Ohio State lineman,” Kill said. “Well coached. He’s coming from a big time program. Both those guys (Doctson too) are coming from programs that are top 10 in the country. They’re going to have some substance to them about being successful.

“They’re coming from two coaches that—Gary Patterson (TCU) coaches people hard and so does Urban (Meyer, OSU) in a good way. They hardened them, and I think they get those kids ready to play in the NFL.”

The 6-7, 310-pound Decker projects more as a right tackle than a left, where better arm length and athleticism are needed against edge pass rushers, according to his profile on NFL.com/draft. His Web page describes him as a strong run blocker, “tough guy” and a potential team leader. That’s the kind of makeup demanding Vikings coach Mike Zimmer values.

Like any potential draft choice, Decker has weaknesses but an anonymous AFC regional scout said this on Decker’s Web page: “I hope you kill this guy because I would love for him to fall to us. He’s strong and tough. You can beat him up with this or that, but he’ll be a long-time starting right tackle in the league for years.”

Worth Noting

Kill has a busy schedule while living at his lake home in Illinois. He is a consultant for Miami of Ohio coach Chuck Martin and Southern Illinois coach Nick Hill. He is also involved with public speaking and appearances, although the University of Minnesota has yet to schedule him as an independent contractor.

Kill will see many of his friends tonight at the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Clinic at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park. Kill helped line up Arkansas coach Bret Bielema as the featured speaker for this evening.

The March 28 issue of Sports Illustrated includes the magazine’s 2016 MLB predictions. The Twins will finish last in the AL Central with a 74-88 record, per S.I. Last season the club was 83-79 and finished second in the division. What’s going on? S.I. quotes a rival scout who said the team is improving but the big problem is the Twins are in a “tough, tough division.”

The magazine has doubts about the club’s starting pitching—the depth and quality. The fifth starter, for example, looks like Ricky Nolasco who had a 6.75 ERA in eight starts last season. “If Ricky Nolasco is in their rotation, then their rotation stinks,” the scout said.

The Twins need an ace and Ervin Santana, who missed part of last season while suspended, looks like the best candidate among the starters. But the ace label may go unclaimed for awhile with hopes Jose Berrios can fulfill his promise. The 21-year-old right hander is starting the season in the minors but looks like a lock to be part of the rotation this summer or next. The Twins need power pitching and Berrios not only has a 2.98 ERA in four minor league seasons but has struck out more batters than innings pitched.

Former North Star Tom Reid believes the surging Wild are better than a year ago on this date. The Wild, with four games remaining in the regular season, have won six of their last seven games and look playoff bound.

Reid, who has been the team’s radio analyst since the franchise’s first season in 2000-2001, has a couple of reasons for believing the 2016 team is better. “Most of these guys have another year of experience with this hockey club,” he told Sports Headliners Wednesday. “The other part is I think their defense is much more mobile for this year with all three sets of defensemen they’ve been using.”

Last year the Wild advanced to the second round of the playoffs before being swept by the Blackhawks. Reid, who played 11 seasons in the NHL, won’t make predictions about the Wild’s playoff fate this year. He said playoff forecasting is unsure for various reasons including whether teams are coping with injuries and how opponents match up against them.

Asked about players—in addition to the team’s big names—who haven’t received enough credit for the Wild’s recent success, Reid mentioned Charlie Coyle, Matt Dumba, Nino Niederreiter, Erik Haula and Mike Reilly. “Those are some of the guys that have really stepped up,” Reid said.

The Wild replaced coach Mike Yeo earlier this year with John Torchetti. Reid has praise for both men.

“You won’t find a guy who works harder than Mike Yeo. He will be back (some day) in the NHL. I think he has learned a lot…what it takes (to coach in the league)…but his voice wasn’t being heard by the players, for whatever reason. Sometimes players…sulk when things aren’t going the way they want them to go. They want to control everything.

“But I think a new voice coming here with Torch (helped). I liked him because he’s kind of like a blue-collar coach. He’s in their (the players) face. He’s right to them when they come off the ice and they’ve made a good play, and also when they make a bad play. He wants them to understand right away that this is not acceptable—here’s what I want you to do.

“He’s one of those guys that will step right in and not be afraid to take charge. He’s shown that by just his benching of some of the players. …I think he’s given our guys a little bit of confidence in themselves too. He uses the word trust all the time. Trusting each other. I think that’s what the team is doing right now.”

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All Eyes on Twins’ Byron Buxton

Posted on March 28, 2016March 28, 2016 by David Shama

With a dismal trial run at the plate in 2015, Byron Buxton is on the spot this spring with the Twins.

The club is all but begging him to win the center field job left open by the offseason trade of Aaron Hicks to the Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy. As of yesterday, Buxton was hitting .225 with no home runs and three RBI in spring training. He has struck out 12 times in 40 at bats. That’s similar to his initial big league production last season and not acceptable for a much hyped athlete who the Twins chose with the second overall pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.

The Twins have been struggling for years to fill the position Kirby Puckett and Torii Hunter turned into a franchise legacy. Buxton, then 21, arrived in Minneapolis last season with fielding and base running skills to make him a highlights regular on ESPN’s SportsCenter, but at the plate he often looked clueless. He struggled to make contact with the ball in his MLB debut year, frequently fooled by both fast balls and breaking pitches. In 129 at bats he hit .209 and struck out 44 times. He hit two home runs with six RBI.

Despite the disappointment of 2015, expectations remain high for Buxton. MLB.com placed him at No. 2 on its top 100 prospects list for 2016 and other authorities are also all in.

Buxton is even given a No. 47 ranking by Sports Illustrated in its March 7 article about the 50 MLB players with the most trade value (Twins right fielder Miguel Sano ranked No. 25 while the Angels’ Mike Trout topped the list).

SI wrote this about Buxton: “So ummm…mulligan? Buxton’s highly anticipated MLB debut was a bust.” The magazine said he has been “viewed by most as the best prospect in the game” and he could become an AL MVP candidate.

Health problems have slowed Buxton’s progress since the Twins signed him out of Appling County High School in Georgia. More injuries in 2016 will send the wrong signal about his future—and a worse indicator will be troubles at the plate. Yet this offseason Baseball America ranked Buxton the Twins’ best prospect in several categories including best hitter for average.

Buxton, who didn’t have enough at bats to expire his eligibility for American League Rookie of the Year in 2015, has a .301 lifetime minor league average. His stats include an impressive 2013 season when he hit .341 at Cedar Rapids and .326 with Fort Myers.

With his sensational fielding and base running skills, the Twins will drool over a Buxton who starts to approach .300 this year or next—and he better or the doubts about his hitting will be supported by facts.

Twins Notes

Miguel Sano (photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins).

The Twins open the regular season in Baltimore a week from today and Buxton could be one of six new faces in the lineup from a year ago. Others look like shortstop Eduardo Escobar, designated hitter Byung Ho Park, left fielder Eddie Rosario, pitcher Ervin Santana and right fielder Miguel Sano.

The Baltimore game will be one of 150 FOX Sports North will telecast during the regular season. ESPN will televise the Twins game at Oakland May 30 while FS1 will carry Twins games May 14 at Cleveland and June 4 in Minneapolis against the Rays.

The Twins will play their sold out home opener at Target Field on April 11 against the White Sox. Twins legend Rod Carew will throw the ceremonial first pitch. Carew, who suffered a major heart attack and subsequent surgery last year, awaits a possible heart transplant. In January the Twins and the Carew family launched the Heart of 29 campaign designed to assist the American Heart Association’s efforts to raise funds and build awareness of cardiovascular disease.

The Twins have opened their regular season on the road in five of the last seven years. Minnesota has lost seven consecutive opening games.

The Twins had a bad start last year at 1-6 but earned a comeback season under first-year manager Paul Molitor. The team’s 83-79 record was a big improvement over four consecutive previous seasons of 90-plus loss records.

Minnesota finished second in the AL Central Division behind the Royals who were 12-7 in the season series against the Twins. The Royals won the World Series and are the preseason pick by many authorities to win the Central again.

Four passionate baseball fans and Sports Headliners readers offered predictions about the Twins and other teams. Three of the four forecast an 85-77 record while the fourth person, Bill Robertson, e-mailed that Minnesota will win “two to four more games than in 2015.”

Tim Murray has the Twins finishing third in the division behind the Royals and Indians while the others project another second place finish. Joel Shama, the most optimistic crystal baller, wrote the Twins “will snag a wild card.” Everyone predicted the Royals will win the division again.

Here’s how one fan summed up the Twins: “They still lack a true ace of the starting rotation and the bullpen is very shaky. It should be fun watching their hitters do damage to once ‘un-homerable’ Target Field.”

The Cubs and Blue Jays are popular choices by the predictors to play in the World Series. The group split two-two on whether the Cubs or Jays will become baseball’s 2016 champion.

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