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GM Brings Hope to Faltering Twins

Posted on June 18, 2012June 18, 2012 by David Shama

Terry Ryan’s return this season as Twins general manager adds optimism to discussion about the franchise’s future. Ryan, who was the team’s general manager from 1994-2007, returned to that position last fall with the task of improving a club that lost 99 games and finished last in the Central Division.

The Twins have struggled again this season, compiling a 26-39 record compared with 29-39 on this date in 2011. But Ryan’s positive influence on the franchise is evident.

“I think the work he did in the off season, particularly in and around Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit, a Jamey Carroll, I think those moves are indicative of what Terry and his staff will be able to do here to improve this team,” Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners late last week. “We have a lot of work to do, particularly on the starting pitching front, but I think Terry’s leadership continues to pay dividends for us. And certainly the amateur draft that just concluded. …His fingerprints are all over that draft.”

The Twins won four division titles in Ryan’s last seven years when he was the franchise’s baseball boss. His admirers place him among MLB’s most astute general managers. “I certainly think so and…I know his peers around major league baseball would think so,” St. Peter said. “If you polled the other 29 GM’s I think Terry Ryan would rank certainly at or near the top of that list in terms of the most respected GM’s in the game.”

There’s no doubting Ryan’s work ethic either. “He’s going to work his tail off to help make us better,” St. Peter said. “He doesn’t view this (franchise) as a rebuilding process. He views this as frankly an opportunity for us to perhaps continue to pivot, to contend. He has not thrown in the towel in terms of 2012. …

“We’ve got to continue to play better baseball. Get back to .500 and hopefully play meaningful games down the stretch. We’re not focused on 2013. We’re still focused on how we can make the Twins better in 2012.”

St.Peter said Ryan gives “150 percent” to his job and that’s a reminder the Twins general manager must manage stress. The long hours and mental demand of the job contributed to Ryan vacating his general manager position back in 2007 and accepting a lesser role with the organization.

St. Peter said he thinks Ryan is “doing fine” managing stress. The organization has been aware of helping Ryan shape a favorable schedule, and today’s communications technology allows him to sometimes work from home. St. Peter suggested too that Ryan has come to better realize there are certain matters he can control and others he can’t.

Twins Notes:

St.Peter said first baseman Justin Morneau hasn’t had concussion symptoms this season. Morneau is hitting .238 for the season compared with a career MLB average of .279. He has 10 home runs and 33 RBI in 2012 so far.

“I expect him to have a big second half (of the season),” St. Peter said. “I think his timing is getting closer. He’s missed a lot of baseball games over the course of the last two years. Often for hitters in particular, timing is the last thing to come. I think he’s in store for a big second half, and frankly we need that out of him.”

The Twins are working on “questions and issues” with MLB and the city of Minneapolis regarding the 2014 All-Star Game being held at Target Field. “We remain very hopeful, but nothing definitive yet,” St. Peter said. “We still believe there’s an opportunity perhaps to have an announcement during the 2012 season.”

St. Peter described the sold out Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw concert on July 8 at Target Field as “the concert of the year in Minnesota.” The event will be the first concert ever at the Twins ballpark and “we could have one or more shows in 2013,” St. Peter said.

The Twins also remain interested in having Target Field as the site for the NHL Winter Classic but no date is determined at this time.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer is hitting .475 in Interleague games this season. He had three hits in four at bats in yesterday’s win over the Brewers but had to leave the game early with a bruised right quad. His availability is day-to-day.

Twins infielder Jamey Carroll is batting .405 with eight RBI and 11 runs scored in his last 11 games.

The Twins have been home the last three years for Father’s Day weekends and encountered rain each time.

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Worth Noting

Posted on June 15, 2012June 15, 2012 by David Shama

Wondering what the football Gophers do best? Well, Lindy’s Sports College Football 2012 Preview has an answer. The publication lists the “Five Best Rivalry Trophies”…and guess what? Minnesota is the only program to appear on the list twice. Here are the top three: Floyd of Rosedale —Iowa vs. Minnesota. The Jeweled Shillelagh — USC vs. Notre Dame. Paul Bunyan’s Axe —Minnesota vs. Wisconsin.

New Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague starts work on Monday and a media photo-op is scheduled for that morning.

Former Cretin-Derham Hall head football coach Rich Kallok, more recently an assistant with the program, said he’s not sure if he will be on the staff this season. Kallok has had three hip replacements and also back problems. Two years ago he coached linebackers for the Raiders.

Raiders senior running back James Onwualu, who verbally committed to Notre Dame, is likely to be a wide receiver with the Irish, said Kallok who recently celebrated his 45^th wedding anniversary with wife Sue.

Will the Timberwolves choose 7-foot North Carolina center Tyler Zeller with the No. 18 pick in the upcoming NBA draft? Jim Dutcher, the former Gophers coach, believes Zeller can play in the NBA for many seasons.

“He’s very competitive and a good low post scorer,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners. “He shoots the turnaround and has some good inside scoring moves.”

Not long ago Nbadraft.net projected Syracuse shooting guard Dion Waiters as the Wolves’ first round selection on June 28. However, Waiters is now predicted to be the No. 11 choice in the draft going to Portland.

The Wolves drafted Syracuse shooting guard Wes Johnson two years ago and he’s been a major disappointment. Dutcher said the Wolves have given Johnson more playing time than he’s earned because he was a No. 1 draft choice. “They’re playing him so they don’t look bad,” Dutcher said.

Former Hopkins star Royce White is projected to be drafted No. 24 by Cleveland. The 6-foot-8 White is likely to be a small forward in the NBA and there are doubts about his outside shooting but Dutcher believes that might not be a problem.

The Twins continue a run against National League teams tonight when the Brewers come to town. Many baseball fans don’t know that when the San Francisco Giants were the New York Giants the National League franchise had intentions of moving to Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Millers were a Giants farm team in the 1950s and the Giants were drawing small crowds in the dilapidated Polo Grounds. The Millers’ new stadium, Metropolitan Stadium, was to become the new home of the Giants but following the 1957 season Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley convinced Giants owner Horace Stoneham to move their franchises to California.

Nationally known Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker’s son Steve passed away this spring at age 52.

The Twins lost their first series since May 25-27 against the Tigers when the Phillies took two of three games from Minnesota this week.

Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe has hit 11 home runs in his last 21 games. Catcher Joe Mauer leads the team in multi-hit games and has four in eight games this month.

Tennis historian and author Jim Holden notes when Forest Lake’s Dusty Boyer won his fourth state Class 2A singles title earlier this month he broke a tie with Rochester legends Dave Healey and Chuck Darley. Boyer defeated Eden Prairie’s Scott Elsass for the championship. Both players are headed to Nebraska to play college tennis. Holden is the author of Tennis in the Northland, a comprehensive history of boys high school tennis in Minnesota.

Finishing among the top 100 Division III schools nationally in the final Learfield Sports Directors Cup standings are St. Thomas at No. 8, Gustavus No. 39, St. Olaf, No. 41 and Concordia, No. 80. The MIAC (with 10) was one of only five conferences in the nation to place 10 or more schools in the standings.

Dave Wright, former Saint Paul Saints media relations director and local author, has been named sports information director at Hamline after filling the position on an interim basis.

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Worth Noting

Posted on June 11, 2012June 11, 2012 by David Shama

Craig Brischke won the men’s Tapemark Charity Pro-Am yesterday at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. Martha Nause won the women’s championship. This was the 41^st year of Tapemark charity golf raising funds for local charities benefitting the developmentally and learning disabled.

Former Timberwolves and Gophers coach Bill Musselman might have had two of his protégés coaching in the NBA Finals this year. Scott Brooks, who played for Musselman’s expansion Wolves, is head coach of the Oklahoma City team that plays in the finals starting tomorrow night against Miami. The Heat might not have won the Eastern Conference playoffs if Chicago point guard Derrick Rose, perhaps the NBA’s most valuable player, had not been injured in late April and unable to play since then. The Bulls head coach is Tom Thibodeaux, a former Musselman assistant on the first Wolves team.

Other Musselman “alumni” who are or have been NBA head coaches include ex-Wolves players Tyrone Corbin (current Utah coach), Sidney Lowe (former Wolves coach) and Sam Mitchell (former Toronto coach). Musselman’s son Eric Musselman has been head coach for Golden State and Sacramento, while Flip Saunders, who played for the elder Musselman with the Gophers, had NBA head coaching jobs with the Wolves, Detroit and Washington.

Don’t forget Roy Terwilliger when congratulating public figures who helped make state legislative approval of the Vikings stadium bill a reality. Terwilliger was chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission from 2002-2010. Before that he was a state senator representing Edina and Eden Prairie who was involved with stadium support for the Vikings, Twins and Gophers.

His stadium support dating back to the 1990s made an important contribution to all three teams. When Terwilliger left the senate in 2002 he didn’t know that his stadium expertise would lead to an appointment as MSFC chair by then-governor Tim Pawlenty. “I had a four-foot high stack of (stadium) stuff that I threw out, and then had to replace,” Terwilliger told Sports Headliners.

Terwilliger didn’t predict whether the new downtown Vikings stadium will have a retractable roof. He said opening up the facility to the elements changes the required design of various stadium components including concession areas. A retractable roof would have cost at least an additional $25 million back in 2010, he said.

Happy birthday to former Gophers two-time All-American tackle Bobby Bell who turns 72 on Sunday.

Vikings cornerback Chris Cook has changed his uniform number from 31 to 20.

The Twins chose 43 players in last week’s First-Year Player draft and only seven of them list cold weather communities for hometowns. Those figures are another example of where the best baseball players come from, and provide insight as to why northern college teams like the Gophers aren’t the national powers they once were. Minnesota won national championships in 1956, 1960 and 1964.

The Twins chose 24 pitchers and 19 position players—six catchers, five infielders and eight outfielders. No Minnesotans were among the 43 players drafted but the Twins did choose two Wisconsin natives, right fielder Adam Walker from Milwaukee and Brad Schreiber of Menasha.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Gophers baseball stadium will be held at 1:30 p.m. today. Speakers are expected to include former Gophers and Twins star Paul Molitor.

The Twins, who won two of three games against the Cubs Friday through yesterday, have been winners in seven of their last nine games versus that National League franchise. The Twins are 73-41 in Interleague play since 2006.

Twins pitcher Scott Diamond, who won on Saturday, is 3-0 in four starts this season at Target Field with a 1.03 ERA. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 13 consecutive innings. His season record is 5-1 with a 1.61 ERA.

Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe is batting .387 with three doubles, four home runs, seven runs scored and nine RBI in eight games this month.

The Minnesota Minute Men, in cooperation with the Twins Community Fund, will announce the 2012 high school Play Ball! Mr. Baseball and Ms. Softball Award winners at a banquet next Sunday at Jax Café in Minneapolis. Baseball coach Richard Seltz (Austin) and softball coach Neil Johnson (Shakopee) will be honored with Lifetime Achievement awards for dedication to their sports and time served helping youth athletes achieve goals. www.minnesotaminutemen.com

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