Twins – Page 94 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Lynx’s Reeve May Draw NBA Interest

Posted on July 25, 2019July 25, 2019 by David Shama

The hiring of a female head coach in the NBA has gone from possible to likely in recent years.

In 2014 Becky Hammon became the first full-time paid assistant female coach in the league when she joined the Spurs staff. During the last few months there has been a trend in hiring females with the 76ers, Cavs, Celtics and Kings placing women on their staffs. There are now nine female assistants in the NBA.

Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL and NHL have no female head coaches, but the NBA has been a pioneer in its hiring of women as assistants and referees. Is the league ready for its first female head coach?

“Well, I think as a league we’ve been about as flexible as any league, and so probably if it’s going to be done, it’s probably going to happen in the NBA,” said Glen Taylor who owns both the NBA Timberwolves and WNBA Lynx.

The NBA has long been known for its diversity and openness to change. NBA commissioner Adam Silver is an advocate for more females in his league. He wants about half “of new officials (referees) entering the league” to be women, per a May 9 story on Nba.com from the Associated Press. Speaking at an event in Washington, D.C., Silver also said: “There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball.”

Taylor told Sports Headliners the first female to become a head coach in the NBA will face “a lot of pressure,” but he thinks it’s just a matter of when—not if—that a woman is leading a club in the league. That person might be promoted from an assistant’s position in the NBA, but certainly Cheryl’s Reeve’s resume could some day put her in the conversation for a head job in the league, or perhaps a No. 1 assistant’s role.

Reeve, 52, is both the Lynx’s general manager and head coach. She is also an assistant coach on the USA Women’s National team that will compete in the 2020 Olympic Games. Since becoming head coach of the Lynx in 2010, she has coached Minnesota to four WNBA titles. Taylor has consistently been impressed with her work. “I am a great fan of her,” he said.

Going into this season Reeve worked with a reshuffled roster including the absence of star players Lindsay Whalen (retired) and Maya Moore (sabbatical for 2019). Yet the Lynx has surprised followers by being a competitive team. Although on a losing streak recently, the club has a 10-10 record is and only 3.5 games out of first place in the WNBA Western Conference.

“I just gotta admire her, how she has changed her defensive strategy and offensive strategy to fit the new players,” Taylor said last week. “It’s been just terrific.”

Worth Noting

The Twins, who hold a two game lead in the American League Central Division over Cleveland, will see the Indians in Minneapolis for a four-game series starting August 8. Prior to that series the Twins will compete against three teams playing less than .500 baseball (White Sox, 45-54; Marlins, 38-62; Royals, 39-64), plus the National League East Division leading Braves, 60-43. The Indians, though, will have a more difficult schedule facing three of four opponents who are at or above .500, including the AL West Division leading Astros, 66-38.

The Twins and Indians will also play two series in September, one in Minneapolis and the other in Cleveland. This season the Twins are 5-4 against the Indians.

Aaron Hicks, the Yankees outfielder who the Twins gave up on and traded to New York, beat Minnesota with a two-run home run on Tuesday night and is hitting .329 in his last 19 games. In that stretch he has seven home runs, 16 RBI and 16 runs scored.

The Twins, who lost two out of three to the Yankees this week in their series at Target Field, attracted a sellout crowd last night of 40,127. It was the club’s eighth sellout of the season.

The Vikings, valued at $2.4 billion, rank No. 35 on the Forbes list released this week of the 50 most valuable sports franchises in the world. The NFL Cowboys ranked No. 1 at $5 billion, with MLB’s Yankees second at $4.6 billion.

Sports Illustrated ranks Golden Gophers senior wide receiver Tyler Johnson No. 62 among its top 100 college football players going into the 2019 season.

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Twins Trade More Likely Next Week

Posted on July 23, 2019July 23, 2019 by David Shama

Enjoy a Tuesday Minnesota Twins notes column.

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners his club is focused on acquiring starting and relief pitching, “people that can help us down the stretch (of the schedule).” The MLB trading deadline is July 31 and there hasn’t been much activity by any of the teams yet, but St. Peter isn’t surprised.

“When you look at the past trade deadlines, 80 to 90 percent of the trades are made within the last three days before the deadline,” St. Peter said. “So I expect it will pick up…maybe some during the coming week, but for sure the following week going into July 31.”

Twins executives Derek Falvey and Thad Levine lead the franchise search to improve the pitching staff via trades with other clubs. Their rapport with other baseball decision makers is something St. Peter values.

“To me the ability to pull off trades is sometimes rooted in the relationships between the general managers and heads of baseball operations, and I am optimistic that we’ll do everything possible to improve our team,” St. Peter said.

The Twins have about a dozen pro scouts looking at other big league players. St. Peter said that number hasn’t changed over the years but what is different now from years ago is a lot of evaluation is done in Minneapolis with analytics and discussions. Falvey, the chief baseball officer, and Levine, the general manager, have demonstrated their player acquisition skills since being hired by the Twins in October of 2016.

A number of players acquired during the Falvey-Levine era are leaders on a Twins team that has been in first place in the AL Central Division for over 100 days. Although the club’s lead over second place Cleveland is only 3 games, St. Peter predicts his team will finish “at the top of the American League Central.”

Last night the Twins defeated the Yankees 8-6 in the opening game of a three-game series at Target Field. Minnesota came up with a first inning triple play, the first ever for the Twins at Target Field, and the club hit five home runs, including two by catcher Mitch Garver.

Dating back to 1999, the Twins have yet to sweep a series against the Yankees. The legendary franchise is 21-9 against Minnesota including winning two of three games earlier this season. The Yankees lead the AL East with one of the best records in baseball at 64-35.

But former MLB shortstop Roy Smalley, who works for Fox Sports North as a Twins analyst, doesn’t think the Twins are intimidated by past results against New York. “I think that’s overrated, that mystique stuff,” he told Sports Headliners. “The Yankees have been a really good team for a long time.”

Certainly this series, though, is another opportunity for the 61-38 Twins to measure themselves against one of baseball’s best. “I regard it as a litmus test against any of the good teams,” St. Peter said. “When we play Cleveland that’s a litmus test. The Yankees are obviously one of the better teams in baseball so we’ll be tested for sure, but we think we can match-up with them and play competitive baseball. Hopefully we can come out and find a way to win the series.”

St. Peter isn’t expecting any of the Twins-Yankees games to be sellouts but attendance will be over 30,000 each of the three nights. Announced attendance last evening was 34,627.

At the end of last week the Twins ranked No. 6 among the 15 American League teams in home attendance with an average of 26,308 fans per game at Target Field.

A week from tonight the Twins start a three-game series against the Marlins in Miami where home attendance is pathetic. The Marlins were averaging 9,809 per game at the end of last week.

Twins legend Tony Oliva, who turned 81 last Saturday, is a regular at a Bloomington fitness club.

Among the items being sold in the Twins Majestic Clubhouse Store at Target Field are authentic jerseys of various players priced at $300.

Dick Bremer, who started working Twins TV games in 1983, is doing a book with local author Jim Bruton that will come out next March.

Baseball returns to the Olympics in 2020 but don’t expect to see Twins like Jake Odorizzi pitching for the United States or Max Kepler in the outfield for Germany. MLB players are not allowed to participate but minor leaguers will be able to compete in the Olympics.

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Vikes GM Downplays Pressure on Him, Zim

Posted on July 21, 2019July 21, 2019 by David Shama

Perhaps longevity creates confidence and calm in the high expectations world of the National Football League. That was the impression Rick Spielman gave when asked about pressure on himself and Mike Zimmer for the 2019 season.

Spielman, the Vikings general manager, has been making personnel decisions for the Minnesota NFL franchise since 2007. Zimmer, the team’s coach since 2014, is now the longest tenured head coach in the NFC North Division. Spielman and Zimmer reportedly have contracts that extend only through 2020 so ownership appears to be scrutinizing its leaders.

Spielman was asked by Sports Headliners if there is more pressure going into this season on him and Zimmer than in the past? “Every year is pressure,” he said. “There is no difference than any other year.”

The Vikings open training camp this week coming off an 8-7-1 record last season and missing the playoffs. The record fit a pattern of the Zimmer era with alternate years of success including off and on participation in the postseason. Zimmer’s 2014 team finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs. His next team was 11-5 and lost its first postseason game. In 2016 the Vikings were 8-8 and again a playoff no-show. They had a memorable 2017 season at 13-3 and advanced to the NFC Championship game before losing to the Eagles.

The results of 2018 left the Vikings collectively and individually disappointed and angry, starting with their all business head coach. The attitude in spring practices was evident to Spielman and most everyone else. “Usually our team and coach Zim responds when there is a chip on his shoulder,” Spielman said.

Perhaps the Vikings can regain the NFC North Division title they lost last season but there is no consensus among pro football authorities they will do so. The prevailing thought is the Vikings, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers are bunched so close the NFC North eventual winner will not be a surprise unless it’s the Detroit Lions.

The Vikings have a talented and veteran defense, with players who have been together for several seasons. The offense has two of the best receivers in football in Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, and also a new found commitment to run the ball more because $84 million quarterback Kirk Cousins showed last season he can’t carry the team like the NFL’s elite passers.

A July 12 article by Patrick Daugherty on Yahoo sports pointed out that while Cousins had new career highs in completion percentage (70.1) and touchdowns (30), his performance declined in the second half of the season including in the last game of the season against the Bears when the Vikings needed a win to make the playoffs.

“Cousins also got worse as games (during the full season) wore on, with his completion percentage declining each quarter, from 76.1 in the first to 67.3 in the fourth,” Daugherty wrote. “12 of Cousins’ 40 sacks came in the final period, as did four of his 10 picks. With the Vikings’ season on the line in Week 17, Cousins managed all of 132 yards against a Bears team that was basically already locked into the No. 3 seed, giving it little to play for.”

Worth Noting

Billy Beane, the former Twins player whose gift for analytics was depicted in the movie Moneyball, is still with the low-budget A’s where he is an executive vice president and minority owner of the resourceful franchise known for its savvy personnel moves.

The A’s have turned former Twins starter Liam Hendriks into a top closer who consistently throws near 100 miles per hour. The trade-hungry Twins need a right-handed late inning closer to balance impressive lefty Taylor Rogers.

As of Sunday morning Hendriks had pitched 20.2 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to June 6. During that 19 game period he struck out 34 and walked three.

Hendriks saved last night’s 5-4 A’s win in the ninth inning at Target Field. It was Minnesota’s first loss this season after going into the ninth with the lead. The record now is 53-1.

Possible realignment of the Big Ten’s East and West Divisions in football was asked about by media at Big Ten Media Days last week in Chicago. Nothing has been announced by the conference but the East is consistently the stronger division. Moving Michigan to the West would ensure the Golden Gophers and Wolverines played every season for the famous Little Brown Jug.

Not only does realignment seem a possibility but so too does expansion of league members from 14 to 16. That’s another topic Kevin Warren could be dealing with this fall and later. Warren, the Vikings chief operating officer, begins working with outgoing Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany in September and then takes over as commissioner January 1.

Warren is a neighbor of Gophers coach P.J. Fleck in Edina.

Fleck talked about academics in Chicago, saying his players earned the highest GPA in the football program’s history last fall at 3.20.

Fleck on why talented wide receiver Tyler Johnson returned for his senior season rather than turning professional: “He thinks we’re going to be really good.”

A Cleveland.com poll of Big Ten reporters asked them who among the current head football coaches they would hire if they ran a Big Ten athletic department. In the results posted last Thursday Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald was the top choice with 14 of the 33 votes. Nebraska’s Scott Frost was second with nine votes. Purdue’s Jeff Brohm had four votes and finished third in the poll. Fleck didn’t receive a vote.

Another Cleveland.com media poll posted last Thursday forecast that Michigan will win the East and Nebraska the West. The Gophers are the choice to finish sixth in the seven-team division but did receive one first place vote.

Brad Salem, son of former Gophers head coach Joe Salem, is the new offensive coordinator at Michigan State.

Among ideas being considered by the NBA is allowing teams that don’t qualify for the present 16 playoff spots to play their way into the postseason. “We’ve looked at that for a couple of years,” Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners. “I just think that there is always a team or two that’s been injured, and has the worst record but now (they) have a pretty good team, and it gives them a second chance for making up for their lost season.”

X Games returns to U.S. Bank Stadium for a third consecutive year August 1-4. The made for TV and ESPN covered event might draw a total of 25,000 to 30,000 spectators to the stadium over the four days. The X Games will return in 2020 in the final year of the agreement at the stadium.

Minneapolis Golf Club’s course is closed for renovation until June or July of next year. Members can play other private courses including Golden Valley Country Club.

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