Twins – Page 17 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Looks Like a Star to be Born with Golden Gophers Basketball

Posted on September 27, 2024September 27, 2024 by David Shama

Enjoy a Friday notes column on various sports that even includes quotes from former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty.

The Golden Gophers men’s basketball team started official practices this week and insiders are confident the program has a special player in freshman point guard Isaac Asuma from Cherry, Minnesota.

If coach Ben Johnson didn’t have veteran guards, it’s likely Asuma would be in the starting lineup beginning with the first game on November 6 against Oral Roberts at Williams Arena. A four-star recruit by both Rivals.com and 247Sports, he was considered a top 100 player in the national high school class of 2024.

At 6-3 and about 200 pounds, Asuma has a Big Ten ready body with length and strength. He is also an unselfish playmaker with all-around physical and basketball skills that have caught the attention of observers since he arrived on the Minnesota campus earlier this year.

Isaac Asuma photo courtesy of University of Minnesota

Asuma’s willingness to learn, along with his friendly and outgoing personality, is the stuff of leadership. He has a poise and charisma often not seen in teenagers just out of high school.

Put it all together and it’s apparent why the attractive Asuma is referenced as a “stud.”

The team’s established star is senior Dawson Garcia who averaged 17.6 points per game. He is the leading Big Ten Conference scorer returning from last season. The 6-11 forward from Prior Lake High School was second team All-Big Ten last winter.

A scenario Johnson, his staff and Gophers fans want to see is for Asuma to stick around for a couple of years at Minnesota and play with Cretin-Derham Hall senior Tommy Ahneman. The 6-foot-10 center’s improvement has attracted the attention of major college programs including Notre Dame where he is scheduled to visit this coming weekend. Last season’s North Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year is a big target for the Gophers.

Asuma and Garcia are two of seven native Minnesotans on the Gopher roster. Women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit has 12 natives of the state.

The death last month of former Gopher assistant basketball coach Jimmy Williams reminded Minnesota sports fan Bob Klas of a Williams one liner when he was Minnesota’s interim head coach in 1986. Williams quipped: “I’m one of just two people who coaches in an arena that’s named after him.” (The other facility being the Dean E. Smith Center at North Carolina).

Eric Curry, the well-known Minneapolis area college basketball referee, plans to work 65-70 games this coming season with assignments in the Atlantic 10, Big 12, Missouri Valley and West Coast Conferences.

In the last 12 months news has surfaced about replacing Target Center and also costly renovations to improve Xcel Energy Center. The Timberwolves, if they emerge from an ownership dispute being led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriquez, apparently have interest in building a new facility in the Farmers Market area in downtown Minneapolis.

Public financing for a new Wolves arena will be difficult to secure including from a Minneapolis city council that seems most interested in grassroots and common folk agendas. “…If Minneapolis doesn’t want it, I would predict there could be more than one or more other cities that would like to bid for it, or try to get involved with the new Timberwolves stadium,” former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty told Sports Headliners. “So they’re going to have competition, I would think, if they are interested.”

Pawlenty was supportive of Minnesota’s professional sports facilities concerns as governor. He is a sports fan and values the quality of life component sports contributes to the lives of Minnesotans.

Asked about the idea of building a new multipurpose arena in Bloomington near the Mall of America for both the Wild and Wolves, Pawlenty defended the importance of Xcel and Target Center to their cities.

“With the exception of the Xcel Center, there’s not a lot of positive things happening in downtown St. Paul. In fact, a lot of negative things happening. If the Wild were to leave and not exist, I think that would present an existential threat to further threat(en) downtown St. Paul.

“So I gotta believe the St. Paul city and St. Paul legislative representatives would fight very hard to keep the Xcel Center or its future version in St. Paul. And I think the same would be true for Minneapolis.”

If the amazing Lynx make the WNBA Finals, they will have an October 18 Target Center conflict with the Timberwolves preseason game scheduled with the Nuggets that evening. The Wolves game would shift to October 17, per a local insider.

The Vikings annual game in Green Bay often prompts memories of former Pioneer Press sportswriter Don Riley who for decades wrote a pot-stirring column called “The Eye Opener.” Riley, who died in 2015 at age 92, loved to provoke the Packers and their fans.

“I never mention them as Green Bay. I just said the capital B Bushers,” Riley told Sports Headliners in 2011. He was then long retired after leaving the newspaper in 1987, with a “fan club” that included Packers fans in western Wisconsin who he insulted at banquets by suggesting they be searched for stolen silverware before leaving the facility.

Riley chose the term “Bushers” because it was “derogatory” without picking on one individual. However, he did take an occasional shot at someone including legendary coach Vince Lombardi whose wife wanted him fired from the St. Paul newspaper. “Vince told her to lay off because he’s selling tickets for us,” Riley said.

Riley built much of his controversial column’s success on bashing the Packers and Green Bay. He wrote that Green Bay had the “world’s largest toilet paper factories” and once boasted that if the Vikings didn’t beat the Pack he would push a peanut with his nose from Appleton to Green Bay. The Vikings lost, Riley never pushed the peanut, and the Green Bay newspaper accused him of having no guts.

No Minnesota sports figure is under more fire than Twins manager Rocco Baldelli who has had a front row look at his team’s depressing late season collapse. From critical emails to chants at Target Field calling for his ouster, he is a likely scapegoat for a team that in August looked like a safe bet to make the playoffs and now is a long shot.

The opinion here is it’s 65-35 Baldelli returns for the 2025 season. His staff? Perhaps 80 percent probability there will be changes.

The Lindenwood football program went Division I in 2022, one year after St. Thomas did so. Lindenwood, located in St. Charles, Missouri, defeated the Tommies 64-0 at home on September 21. The Lions come to Minneapolis to play the Gophers on September 18, 2027.

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Vikings’ Big Challenge Injuries, Not Talent & Coaching

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by David Shama

The way it looks now the 2-0 Vikings have the personnel and coaching to fool the preseason skeptics and play their way into the postseason, perhaps with a division title and 10-7 record.

The Vikings, forecast to win 6.5 games, have been that impressive in opening season wins over the lowly Giants and the 49ers, a Super Bowl contender. “Dissect this team all you want but the Vikings are for real,” Ben Leber, the former Viking and astute radio analyst, said Monday on X (formerly Twitter).

The roster, altered in the offseason with key additions like quarterback Sam Darnold, running back Aaron Jones, linebackers Dallas Turner, Blake Cashman, Jonathan Greenard, and Andrew Van Ginkel, cornerback Stephon Gilmore, and kicker Will Reichard, has blended superbly with the holdover talent.

The coaching? There’s unanimity across the country head coach and offensive guru Kevin O’Connell, and defensive coordinator Brian Flores, are among the best in the NFL. Their teaching, and creativity, along with a player-friendly culture, give the Vikings an edge on other teams.

A run on injuries to key players looks like the biggest obstacle between the Vikings and realizing their goal of making the playoffs. Football is a brutal and unforgiving sport and the NFL, just two weeks into the season, has already seen gifted players sidelined—perhaps more than usual.

Christian McCaffrey, the 2023 NFL offensive player of the Year, didn’t play last Sunday for the Vikings. He is now on the Injured Reserve list as is big name quarterback Tua Tagovailoa of the Dolphins. The Rams have been decimated with injuries, including to star wide receivers, and the Packers are without highly paid quarterback Jordan Love for multiple weeks.

That doesn’t even begin to detail the story but the good news for the Vikings is they’re doing okay with injuries which, of course, are impossible for any team to completely avoid. Tight end T.J. Hockenson is out for at least early in the season because of a significant knee injury. That’s a major loss, and standout wide receiver Jordan Addison missed the 49ers game with an ankle injury.

Justin Jefferson image courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota’s practice report on Thursday listed 10 players dealing with injuries. Addison and outside linebacker Dallas Turner (knee) didn’t participate in practice. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson and linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. (both with quad injuries) were limited participants, but the former said he will play Sunday. The six other Vikings listed in the report were full participants.

As the season progresses, Vikings fans can watch with their fingers crossed on the medical front. Ideally, on most Sundays, the Vikings roster will be mostly healthy and healthier than the opposition. Put that down as the X factor for the season.

Worth Noting

The Vikings, led by Jones and backup RB Tyler Chandler, are averaging an impressive 5.1 yards per carry. “Every offense in the NFL needs to run the ball to be successful. …I have a good feeling that we’re going to be able to do that this year,” offensive tackle Brian O’Neill told Sports Headliners earlier this month.

Jones, who performed the “Lambeau Leap” into the stands at Lambeau Field while with the Packers, will now do the “Bank Vault” at U.S. Bank Stadium.

It appears the Packers let Jones sign with the Vikings as a free agent because of his age, history of injuries and salary. But the Vikings are pleased to have the 29-year-old who reportedly signed a one-year deal for $7 million, maybe $3 million more than the Packers who wanted him to take a pay cut.

Jones is an explosive runner, and he ended his Packer career with consecutive 100 yard games. “He doesn’t need much space to get going. That’s for sure,” O’Neill said.”

Hockenson’s workload has been taken over by replacement tight ends Josh Oliver and Johnny Mundt. Mundt praised Hockenson for his many attributes including his football IQ and big play ability.

“Yeah, for sure. He can get in and out of cuts and he can really turn on the gas and hit it 100 miles an hour. So, yeah, he’s got a lot of great attributes and (I’ve) definitely taken some of that and implemented it into my game.”

Mundt is a practitioner of visualization away from the field to achieve success on it, drilling down to specific details. He will visualize, for example, what he needs to do to be successful on third down in the red zone.

He told Sports Headliners he creates a setting in his mind where he “can smell the turf, the grass. You’re in the stadium, you hear the crowd. You really create the setting in your mind. Then you just visualize yourself taking these steps: Snapping your eyes around, catching the ball, tucking (it away), either breaking a tackle or just hitting the right angle.”

The recent Morrie Miller Athletic Foundation fundraiser generated a record $404,000. Former Viking Jared Allen was the celebrity speaker at a banquet for the foundation that raises money for youth athletics in Winona.

“One of the nicest athletes I’ve ever dealt with,” said Agile Marketing president Patrick Klinger who coordinated Allen’s appearance.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who designates a player each year to talk to the team about the Hawkeyes-Golden Gophers rivalry, expects a close score in Saturday’s rivalry game at Huntington Bank Stadium. The last three games have been decided by a total of 10 points.

Who has the best roster talent among the Gophers, Iowa and Wisconsin, another border rival? “I think they’re pretty similar,” said recruiting authority Ryan Burns. He told Sports Headliners: “I think it comes down to—with these three teams when they play—is what happens at quarterback.”

Race Thompson, the former Robbinsdale Armstrong basketball star who played at Indiana, has signed to play with the Memphis Hustle G League team. He’s the son of Darrell Thompson, the former Gopher record setting running back who for years has headed the local Bolder Options nonprofit benefiting youth.

Thompson’s son True, who played football for the Gophers, works at RBC in Minneapolis. Daughter Dominque, who played volleyball for Wisconsin, works for Bolder Options.

Daughter Indigo, who played volleyball at Virginia Commonwealth and San Diego State, is coaching high school volleyball in Virginia. Darrell’s wife Stephanie played volleyball at Iowa. He said Indigo “calls my wife after every game whether they win or lose to go through everything.”

Medical speculation: After the 2022 season both the Giants and Mets flirted with signing shortstop Carlos Correa but reportedly backed off because of a past ankle issue. Correa had to settle for a lesser offer from the Twins but in both 2023 and 2024 he has missed significant playing time because of plantar fasciitis. An altered gait, medical authorities say, can contribute to plantar fasciitis.

And how does a team contending for the playoffs have only two left-handed pitchers on the roster? Caleb Thielbar and Cole Irvin are both so-so veterans who in relief yesterday gave up two of the three runs in another costly loss to the Guardians.

Thielbar was the only lefty on the roster when Irvin was picked up on waivers this week from the Orioles. The Twins have been without a left-handed starter all season.

The Athletic yesterday ranked the pitching staffs of 12 postseason contending teams and the Twins are No. 12. “Bullpen has been awful and rotation depth questionable,” said The Athletic story written by Stephen J. Nesbitt and Chad Jennings.

The Wild opened training camp yesterday at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center in downtown St. Paul. Some training camp practices at TRIA Rink will be open to the public. Register at http://www.wild.com/openpracticesto attend an open practice session.

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Twins & Baldelli in Need of Smooth 2024 Season Finish

Posted on September 10, 2024September 10, 2024 by David Shama

Despite flirtations with winning the Central Division and a mathematical likelihood of being a Wild Card entry in the playoffs, these are frustrating days for the Twins and their fans.

The series sweep by the Royals last weekend in Kansas City prompted manager Rocco Baldelli to reportedly light into his players. The boss questioned the effort of his guys after a series that saw the Twins score two runs in three games.

Baldelli was also lit up over the weekend by critical fans who didn’t like his handling of starting pitcher Bailey Ober Saturday night against the Royals, a club that has now taken over second place in the division standings behind the Guardians. After seven innings and one-hit pitching, Ober was not sent out to the mound for the eighth inning even though his pitch count was at 83.

Baldelli, hired by the Twins after the 2018 season and a patron of analytics, has long been unpopular with many fans who find fault with his pitching and lineup decisions. The sniping at Baldelli by the fans has intensified with the club sliding in the standings after going 2-5 on its most recent road trip and losing to the lowly Angels at home last night.

The Twins, with a 77-68 record, are 6-15 in their last 21 games. They would have a Wild Card entry in the American League playoffs if the season ended today, but other teams potentially could overtake them before the regular season ends in late September.

Certainly a spot in the postseason and emerging as the winner in their opening series would ease the frustrations of the 2024 season. And who knows? Perhaps boost Baldelli’s job security? He was, BTW, AL Manager of the Year in 2019 when Minnesota won the division title with a 101-61 record.

Fans started feeling angst last offseason when ownership decided to reduce payroll from a franchise record of reportedly $156 million or more in 2023. The cut was made at least in part because of uncertainty regarding local TV revenues in 2024. That was a downer for a fan base that became passionate after the Twins won the division title and took down the Blue Jays in the opening postseason series.

Part of the offseason story, too, was the free agent departure of starting ace Sonny Gray to the Cardinals. The Twins and their fans have felt his absence, particularly with the shoulder injury that has sidelined key starter Joe Ryan for the remainder of the season.

When it comes to injuries, the Twins have reason to lament. Shortstop Carlos Correa, the highest paid man on the team, hasn’t played since July 12. He’s become too familiar with the disabling pain of plantar fasciitis after having the condition with his left foot last year and right foot this season. He is counted on to not only produce on the field but also with his leadership off it.

Center fielder Byron Buxton, the team’s second highest paid position player, has spent much of his career on the IL. He’s been out a couple times in 2024, including most recently not having played for the Twins since August 12.

The team medical report, of course, goes deeper with the absence of starting right fielder Max Kepler and bullpen arms because of injuries.

Third baseman Royce Lewis, often sidelined the last three years, has been able to play of late but is in a massive slump. A .300 hitter his first two major league seasons, he has hit .167 in his last 15 games. The season average is at .243 as the right-handed hitting Lewis struggles to hit breaking balls away from him. Adding to the drama of this season is the recent reported reluctance of Lewis to fill in at second base, a new position for him.

The Twins September swoon might look at least a little different if they had successfully added pitching or hitting help before the July 30 trade deadline. Minnesota’s only move was to add journeyman pitcher Trevor Richards from the Blue Jays who has since been outrighted to Triple A St. Paul. Not adding mid-season help to a team fighting for a pennant had to be a disappointment to Twins players.

On the frustration list for fans, too, is that part of the season Twins games weren’t televised on local cable. That’s changed now but Comcast/Xfinity customers are paying more to see the games and it’s uncertain what the franchise’s TV situation will be for 2025.

That uncertainty will likely impact payroll for next season. Staff ace Pablo Lopez is due a big raise of about $13 million and a lengthy list of important personnel including Ryan, Ober, Lewis, Willi Castro, Ryan Jeffers, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran are all arbitration eligible. The educated guess is the Twins will plan to roll with a budget similar to this season, in the $125 to $130 million range. To reach that total the Twins will need to part with higher paid personnel, probably including Kepler.

Know this: the Twins have enough talent to reduce a lot of frustration in this town. Lopez and Ober could make the Twins starting pitching formidable in a short playoff series. A lineup that welcomes back Correa and Buxton, along with a hot hitting Lewis, the power bats of multiple batters, and versatile position players like Castro and Brooks Lee, along with bullpen arms like Duran and Jax, could make a stir in the closing weeks of September and into the playoffs.

The Twins showed their potential earlier in the season after recovering from a 7-13 start to play some of the best baseball in the majors from late April to mid-August. Credit the work of front office leaders Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, and others in the organization, for the productive things they have done right including the acquisition of players like Lopez, Ryan, Castro and Santana from other clubs, and farm system development with the likes of Lee, Lewis, Ober, Jose Miranda and Matt Wallner.

It will be interesting to see if Baldelli still has command of the locker room as the club works its way through a schedule that ends at home September 29 against the AL East Division contending Orioles. Will how the club finishes 2024 impact his return for next season?

Probably not because management and ownership try to foster an organization of stability. The Twins don’t operate with a quick trigger. Baldelli’s teams have won three division titles.

Baldelli was hired by Falvey and Levine. Best guess is they still consider Rocco their guy.

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