Twins – Page 184 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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

Comments Welcome

Return on Investment Twins Problem

Posted on June 1, 2012June 1, 2012 by David Shama

The Twins receive plenty of scrutiny for having close to 40 percent of the payroll invested in catcher Joe Mauer and first baseman Justin Morneau, limiting what the club can spend acquiring other players to field a better team. But winning games has also been minimized by salaries spent on unproductive players.

While Mauer makes $23 million this season and Morneau earns $14 million, as of last week the Twins had a total of about $25 million invested in other players who were making minimal or no contributions to the club’s effort to escape last place in the Central Division. Here’s a breakdown of the unproductive: Scott Baker, $6.5 million; Nick Blackburn, $4.75 million; Francisco Liriano, $5.5 million; Jason Marquis, $3 million; Tsuyoshi Nishioka, $3 million; Lester Oliveros, $520,000 ; Rene Tosoni, $520,00; Danny Valencia, $520,000; and Joel Zumaya, $850,000. (Compensation data referenced is from multiple online sources including Cotsbaseballcontracts.com).

Baker and Blackburn have been injured and not pitching for the Twins. Liriano pitched six shutout innings on Wednesday but has been so ineffective this season he’s flirted with a 10.0 ERA. Marquis was removed from the team roster last week. Nishioka, after being a bust as a rookie last season with the Twins, didn’t make the big league club coming out of spring training and is assigned to Class AAA Rochester.

Oliveros, acquired from the Tigers last year, is pitching for Rochester while Valencia, who started the season with the Twins, is playing third base there. Tosoni, an outfielder, was recently demoted from Rochester to Class AA New Britain. Zumaya, trying to make a comeback as a hard throwing relief pitcher, injured his arm in spring training and isn’t playing baseball.

According to About.com (using figures from the Associated Press), the Twins rank No. 13 among 30 MLB teams for highest salaries with an average of $3,484,630. While the Twins are last in the Central Division standings, the second place Indians have an average salary of $2,551,082 and rank No. 24. The Orioles, who lead the American League’s East Division standings, average $2,786,345 in salaries, ranking No. 20.

The Twins have reduced their payroll from $112.7 million in 2011 to $94.1 million in 2012, according to About.com.

Comments Welcome

Draft Big Potential Step for Twins

Posted on May 23, 2012May 23, 2012 by David Shama

The 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft next month could be a significant step in rebuilding the Twins franchise. After finishing with 99 losses last season and starting this year with an American League worst record of 15-27, it’s indisputable the franchise is looking for lots of talent on the big league roster and in the minor league system.

The Twins will have the second pick in the draft that begins on Monday, June 4 and continues through Wednesday, June 6. The Twins will also choose players at the No. 32 and 42 spots in the early drafting, plus four other picks before the draft ends.

The overall 2012 draft pool might not be the most talent-filled compared to predecessors but choosing at No. 2 after Houston is an extraordinary opportunity for the Twins. Baseballamerica.com lists the five top prospects as outfielder Byron Buxton, catcher Mike Zunino and right-handed pitchers Kyle Zimmer, Mark Appel and Kevin Gausman.

The Twins are struggling on the major and minor league levels to find starting pitching so one of the right-handers could be the choice at No. 2 in the draft. But there’s some bias against taking a pitcher so high for fear of an arm injury. Back in 2001 Twins general manager Terry Ryan passed on super pitching prospect Mark Prior and took catcher Joe Mauer with the first pick in the draft. It was a savvy move as Prior later developed arm problems while Mauer became a three-time batting champion for the Twins.

After returning as general manager during the last off-season, Ryan knows he’s on the spot to produce a great draft next month. He’s got plenty of help, though. Like other major league clubs, the Twins employ a lengthy roster of scouts.

The Twins media guide lists a scouting staff of 55 names. The roster includes director of scouting Deron Johnson and four major league scouts, one advance scout and one professional scout. But most of the scouts are looking for talent not already at the major league level with assignments in the U.S., Australia, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy, Panama,Venezuela and other countries.

That global commitment is documented by the organization’s roster of foreign born players as of 2011: Aruba, 1; Australia, 10; Canada, 5; Cuba, 1; Czech Republic, 1; Dominican Republic, 36; Germany, 2; Japan, 1; Mexico, 2; Netherlands, 1; Panama, 1; Puerto Rico, 8; South Africa, 1; Taiwan, 3; Venezuela, 31.

The Twins won’t, of course, fill all their personnel needs at next month’s draft. They will just try to secure a big contributor—or two or three—for future seasons, while continuing to look for talent all over the world.

Comments Welcome