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GM Ryan: Molitor Doing ‘Heck of a Job’

Posted on June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 by David Shama

New Twins manager Paul Molitor and a revised coaching staff from 2014 received praise from club general manager Terry Ryan during an interview with Sports Headliners. The Twins, who lost 90-plus games the four previous seasons, had a losing record a year ago but today are 40-35 and 5.5 games out of first place in the AL Central Division.

The work of Molitor and his staff ranks with the most effective managing and coaching performances in MLB so far this season. “I’ve been impressed. I’ve been pleased,” Ryan said last week. “I think the players respond to all the staff. We’re in a good spot. We’ve got chemistry, camaraderie, and leadership and all that stuff, and more often than not you have to point to the manager. Give him the credit where credit is due.

“We’re playing very good, competitive baseball, almost on a daily basis. We haven’t gotten too giddy and we don’t get too far down when things aren’t going so well. He’s (Molitor) done a heck of a job here leading this thing. I am very happy for him, especially because he’s taken on a big responsibility here and he’s done something with it.”

The Twins are within six games of being halfway through the 2015 schedule. Ryan said the Twins can contend for the Central Division title and playoffs. “We’re in better shape than we’ve been the past four years by far,” Ryan said of a franchise that was last in the playoffs in 2010.

Ryan has been pleased with the team’s improved defense (including more athleticism in the outfield) and the starting pitching. His optimism about the club’s possible playoff participation is also based on what has been an under performing offense.

“We’re a better offensive club I think than what we’ve shown,” Ryan said. “Some of the guys that have produced the last year or two are still not back to even. That just gives me some sort of optimism we should be able to score more runs here and give our team the ability to take a little of that pressure off that pitching staff. That pitching staff has done a good job here.”

The performance of the starting pitching staff (including three starters with ERAs under 3.60) has surprised even the general manager and that’s boosted the overall pitching. “It’s not one guy (of the starters) that’s rebounded here,” Ryan said. “We’ve got a handful all of a sudden. (And) the bullpen has been pretty decent really from start to finish. We’ve had a couple of gaps but not too many.”

When former regulars Ricky Nolasco and Ervin Santana are ready to return from absences, the club will have too many starters. Ryan isn’t prepared to say now who fits in and who doesn’t. “We’ve got some difficult decisions to make, but they’re awfully good decisions because we’ve got a lot of competition for those slots,” he said.

The offense will be jumpstarted if Joe Mauer can hit like he did a few years ago. Ryan said Mauer’s rib injury diminished results last year that included a career low .277 average. The general manager said Mauer’s health this year isn’t an issue but the former three-time American League batting champion, who entered the season with a career average of .319, is batting just .260. He has 37 RBI (tied for third best on the team) and four home runs.

Mauer is hitting .240 in the last 30 games—indicative of his struggles this spring—but in his last seven is batting .323. With the season approaching the halfway place on the Twins schedule, Mauer will have to produce an avalanche of hits to finish with a .300 or better average. Ryan thinks it could happen.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t put that (.300) by him,” Ryan said. “I know he isn’t anywhere near that right now but I would not put that past him because he’s always shown the resiliency (to bounce back). He’s had a little bit of a tough year last year. We all admit that, but as long as he’s healthy—and he looks very healthy to me right now—I wouldn’t be surprised because there’s no reason, (with) his swing, his health.”

Mauer was a catcher his first 10 years with the Twins before moving to first base last season. Catching is the most physical and punishing position in baseball. Because of all the games Mauer caught, is he an old 32? Could that explain his decline at the plate?

“I don’t think so,” Ryan said. “In fact I think he’s a young 32 because he takes care of himself. …He knows what it takes to be prepared and he has done a good job of that.”

Worth Noting

Ryan talking about closer Glen Perkins (first in AL saves with 24), who could the Twins lone representative in next month’s All-Star Game: “Perkins has done nothing but impress this year and he’s put himself in a good position.”

Gary Trent Jr., the Apple Valley High School basketball player who will be among the most coveted college recruits nationally in the class of 2017, is among six “Faces in the Crowd” athletes featured in the June 29 issue of Sports Illustrated. Trent was recognized for his 19 second half points leading the U.S. 16-and-under team to a victory over Canada in the gold medal FIBA Americas game in June. The magazine also reported Trent was named tournament MVP, and earlier this year led Apple Valley to the Class 4A championship with a win over Champlin Park.

Bill Robertson, the men’s WCHA commissioner who offices in suburban Minneapolis, hopes to meet with Arizona State Athletic Department officials in Tempe this summer to discuss ASU joining his hockey league. It’s believed the Sun Devils are also being courted by the Big Ten and NCHC.

The Sun Devils have been playing club hockey but plan to be affiliated with a conference starting with the 2017-2018 season. Robertson said the ASU brand is “tremendous” and among the many reasons he is intrigued about the Sun Devils being in the WCHA is TV exposure from the Pac-12 Network. The Pac-12 is the conference home for other ASU sports but doesn’t offer hockey competition.

Among ASU officials is athletic director Ray Anderson who at one time was the agent for former Vikings coach Denny Green. Robertson sees the western United States as a “real growth area” for college hockey with the possibility some day of two major hockey schools on the West Coast—along with the two Alaska schools already in the WCHA.

Nearly 10,000 athletes from every state will compete and vie for medals in 19 sports during the National Senior Games that start here next month. Presented by Humana, this is the largest multi-sport event in the world for senior (ages 50+) athletes. The 800 competitions will take place July 3–15 at 26 venues in Bloomington, Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Events are free and open to the public. More at NSGA.com.

Volunteers, including scorekeepers in archery, badminton, basketball and volleyball, are needed. Airport greeters are also sought. More at TeamMNvolunteer.com.

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Father’s Day Prompts Sports Memories

Posted on June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 by David Shama

Father’s Day is this Sunday. I will celebrate with my sons by going to a Twins game on Saturday and playing golf on Sunday. No, we won’t be attending the opera, trying to save the environment or researching a cure for cancer. Just three guys mostly hanging out with sports as our platform.

Maybe I am not the world’s most sophisticated or intelligent dad. If I emphasized sports too much with my sons while they were growing up I am ready to plead guilty. But it’s no surprise that happened because athletics was the stuff that brought my dad and me together.

Sports was for sure the language my father and I shared. Dabe (not Dave) Shama was 44 years old when I was born, and his age and diabetes frequently made him tired, cranky and at times withdrawn. If it wasn’t for discussing and often arguing about teams, games and athletes, I know we would have communicated much less.

I don’t ever remember my dad saying he loved me but I know he did. For one thing there was usually a five or ten dollar bill available to me in his pants pockets. He made life comfortable for my mother and me—their only child. “I earn it and my wife spends it,” Dad often said.

At home Dad and I spent a lot of time listening to baseball games on the radio—sometimes tuning in distant broadcasts of the Braves, Cardinals or Pirates. When I was really young, Dad took me to baseball games involving American Legion teams at a park near our Minneapolis home. Then at eight years old I saw my first professional baseball game and it was one for the ages. The Millers manager put himself in the game as a pinch hitter and knocked a ball over the fence for the winning run.

After that I wanted to get my father in the backyard to play catch with me as often as I could. Dad did that once in awhile but mostly our bond with sports was focused on watching the Gophers, Twins and Vikings—and arguing! Dad was a lawyer and he loved to debate. Sometimes it didn’t matter which side of the issue he really believed in—he would take the opposite view just to argue.

Dad had his limits, though, on what or who he would stand up for. As a young attorney in private practice he once defended Communists but by the 1960s his politics had changed. He had no time for the Kennedy family, mostly because he thought Joe Kennedy was a crook.

My father spoke his mind, regardless of whether he was at home or in public. At Met Stadium he might harp on slugger Harmon Killebrew for his frequent strikeouts, tagging him “Harmless Harmon.” Chubby catcher Earl Battey was a plodding runner and at least once in his career was thrown out at first base on a single to the outfield. “He can’t run as well as I can,” my 50-ish, chubby father said again and again.

Baseball and Gophers football were Dad’s great sports loves. I wish I had ten bucks for every time he argued Ted Williams was the best hitter ever. And what a fortune I would have accumulated if I had five bucks for all the times dad talked about the years Williams couldn’t play baseball because he was a pilot in both World War II and the Korean conflict. “He missed five prime years of his career,” Dad said of Williams who still hit 521 home runs along with a .344 lifetime average and remains baseball’s last .400 hitter.

Coach Bernie Bierman and his five national championships established the gold standard for Gophers football. Up until Dad’s death in the 1970s he never accepted the lesser accomplishments of Gophers teams after World War II. He criticized the coaches and even their teaching methods, sometimes flapping his elbows in disgust at what he saw as passive blocking by Gophers linemen.

I sat for hours at the dining room table defending the coaches, players and state of Gophers football. Dad never accepted my arguments that college football had changed from the power style of pre-World War II years to a more open speed and finesse game. “They’re not good enough to beat a good high school team,” Dad would sometimes say of a Gophers team having a lousy season.

Yeah, Dad’s arguing and negativity was a load at times but it was balanced by his honesty and integrity. He was a respected attorney in Minneapolis who eventually gave up his private practice to become part of the city’s legal team. His title became first assistant city attorney for Minneapolis, and he once earned the handsome salary of $12,000 per year.

Among my lasting impressions of Dad is from a story in the Minneapolis Star. After my father returned from lunch one day he found a bribe on his desk at City Hall. There was a stack of money on the desk and Dad reported it right away including to the Star’s City Hall beat writer. The next day’s edition of the Star had a picture of my father and the story about “honest” Dabe Shama.

The anecdotes I have shared in today’s column might leave you with the image of a rather humorless man, but that wasn’t true. My father had a dry wit and his sense of humor often included exaggeration which he used in recalling his days in the Army.

Dad was in his early 40s when he was drafted for service in World War II. Short and overweight, he hardly looked like a Hollywood war hero. But during World War II America needed every able and willing body it could enlist for the war effort against both Germany and Japan. My father was assigned to desk work in Central America during the war—and years later he proudly proclaimed, “We successfully defended the Panama Canal.”

He joked about the Panama Canal, but Dad hated the humid and hot climate of Panama. He counted the days when he could return to Minneapolis. “I always said if I got back home I would get down on the ground and kiss the pavement at 6th and Hennepin,” Dad said.

And I believe he did just that.

My father was admired for his intellect and memory. Those were attributes that served him well not only in the practice of law but also as a distinguished member of the Masons. He was rightfully proud of his Masonic lodge and brethren. He rose to the position of Grand Master and I recall the day he stepped down from his one year appointment. The lodge honored him with an inscribed gold watch. My father was called to the front of the room to receive his gift. While accepting it, he brought me—his five year old son—to the front of the room, and then he took off a wristwatch he had worn for years and gave it to me. We both had watches on this special night.

Through the years Dad paid for my college education, bought me a car, and took me to a lot of sports events, but being gifted his old watch at an event in his honor ranks with my fonder memories. Happy Father’s Day, Dad, and thanks for all you did to make my life better.

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‘Sky’s the Limit’ for Vikings Defense

Posted on June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 by David Shama

Notes on the Gophers, Twins and Vikings.

The Vikings ranked No. 14 in total NFL defense last season. Minnesota was No. 25 among 32 teams in rushing defense and No. 7 in pass defense. This week the team is finishing mini-camp for the spring and veteran defensive end Brian Robison likes what he sees.

“I think the sky’s the limit for us (defensively),” Robison said yesterday. “I think we’ve got an opportunity to do some really special things around here.

“I think our DBs are playing tremendous right now. I think they’re even better than what they were last year. Defensive line wise, I think we’re rushing very well. Linebackers, having Chad (Greenway) back and having a few of those guys back in there doing the things they’re doing. Fifty-four (rookie Eric Kendricks) is doing some great things out here.

“Yeah, we’ve got very high expectations for our defense and now it’s just about going out there and doing it. We can always have high expectations but if you don’t put it on tape then it doesn’t matter.”

Contrary to a published report earlier this spring, J.D. Spielman hasn’t verbally committed to the Gophers. Vikings general manager Rick Spielman told Sports Headliners yesterday the Gophers remain on the list of possible college destinations for his son who will be a senior football player at Eden Prairie High School next season.

Spielman said he and his son visited Michigan and coach Jim Harbaugh two weeks ago. Additional college visits are planned later this month but Spielman declined to identify the schools. J.D., who just finished his lacrosse season for Eden Prairie, has football offers from Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska. Spielman said his son is being recruited as an “athlete,” meaning he could play collegiately on offense, defense or special teams.

Zac Epping, the former Gophers guard, is working with Minneapolis-based agent James Selmer and drawing interest from several NFL teams including the Titans. Epping, who has lost weight since his Gophers days and feels quicker, now weighs 310 pounds and hopes to have a deal soon with an NFL club.

Teams are looking at Epping as either a guard or center. The 6-2 Kenosha, Wisconsin native impressed during his Gophers career with his work ethic and passion for competition. As a young college player, former Gopher offensive lineman Matt Carufel made an impact on Epping. “He kind of taught me, don’t take any crap from anybody,” Epping said.

The Vikings and U.S. Bank officially announced a 20-year naming rights deal on Monday for the new downtown domed stadium. U.S. Bank Stadium has long been rumored to be the name for the facility that opens next year. Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported Monday the deal is for $220 million.

If an $11 million per year figure is accurate, the deal is by far the largest of its kind for a Minnesota sports venue. Target Field naming rights have been estimated in the $5 to $6 million range annually with Xcel Energy Center perhaps worth half that, and Target Center and TCF Bank Stadium under $2 million each.

Dave Mona is looking for auction items for the sixth annual Camden’s Concert on July 13 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Among items already secured are prime seats at Lambeau Field for the Packers and Vikings game. The concert features the Wright Brothers and is named after Dave and Linda Mona’s grandson Camden Mona. The event raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Anyone with ideas for auction items can call Dave Mona at 952-944-5344.

Phil Steele’s College Football Preview and Athlon Sports have named Gophers punter Peter Mortell first team preseason All-Big Ten, according to a June 1 Gophersports.com story. Both Steele and Athlon included Minnesota defensive backs Briean Boddy-Calhoun and Eric Murray on their All-Big Ten second teams. Defensive end Theiren Cockran made Steele’s second team and offensive tackle Josh Campion was on Athlon’s second unit.

Former Gophers associate athletics director Tom Wistrcill has resigned as Akron athletics director to become an executive with Learfield Sports, the national company that works with colleges and conferences developing sports related revenues including for broadcasting.

Whether 21-year-old rookie center fielder Byron Buxton goes back to the minor leagues will have a lot to do with if he can hit breaking ball pitches. Buxton debuted on Sunday, struck out twice and was hitless in four at bats. He saw plenty of breaking balls. He is hitting .200 in three games with the Twins.

Breaking balls are a challenge to most young hitters, and whatever the reasons the Twins organization is working on a string of promising prospects who have floundered early in their MLB careers. The list includes Oswaldo Arcia, Aaron Hicks, Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas. All but Hicks impressed with early hitting only to stumble later.

Part of hitting success is confidence and the Twins didn’t allow Arcia, Buxton, Hicks, Santana and Vargas to play and excel for a full season in Triple-A, baseball’s highest level in the minors. The suspicion here is Buxton will be dispatched back to the farm system in a couple of weeks if he doesn’t impress at the plate. No doubt that would be a good move for this highly scrutinized athlete who is rated among the top prospects in baseball.

Buxton is a social media hit with over 24,000 Twitter followers. Decades ago Buxton’s rookie trading card would have been a hot item but now sports memorabilia, including card collecting, has much less interest. The value of old baseball cards for the bigger names is still impressive, though. Harmon Killebrew’s rookie card could command $250, with Rod Carew’s at $150. Mickey Mantle’s rookie card still is the gold standard with a price that might exceed $25,000.

St. Thomas men’s basketball coach John Tauer has authored a book on youth sports and parents. “It’s a combination of psychology, motivation research, anecdotes from the playgrounds to the pros on how and why kids excel or get burned out on sports,” Tauer wrote in an e-mail to Sports Headliners. The book is titled Why LESS is MORE for WOSPS (Well-Intentioned, Overinvolved Sports Parents) and more information is available at Amazon.com. Dr.Tauer, a St. Paul native, has his doctorate in social psychology.

The Warriors likely wouldn’t have earned an NBA title if high scoring guard Klay Thompson had been traded last summer to the Timberwolves. There was interest inside the Warriors organization in sending Thompson—the son of former Gophers All-American center Mychal Thompson—to the Wolves in a deal involving disgruntled power forward Kevin Love who was later traded to the Cavs. But Warriors consultant Jerry West insisted Thompson not be traded and was ready to resign if the deal was made, according to a SI.com story last Thursday by Chris Ballard.

West is a brilliant talent evaluator, perhaps the best in NBA history. He played a major administrative role in the Lakers winning eight world titles in Los Angeles and more recently helped turn around both the Grizzlies and Warriors. The legendary West was drafted as an All-American guard out of West Virginia in 1960, the same year the Lakers left Minneapolis, so he never played here. Ballard wrote that West’s drive for perfection is still present and he can shoot his age, 77, on the golf course.

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