David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Word Is Twins Falvey Wants Long Stay

Posted on September 29, 2019September 29, 2019 by David Shama

With the emergence of the 2019 Twins as one of the best teams in Major League Baseball, the franchise’s front office leader, 36-year-old Derek Falvey, could be coveted by other organizations—and soon.

Falvey grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts near Boston. His home town is about a 20 minute car ride from Fenway Park, the historic home of the legendary Boston Red Sox organization that is looking for a new leader of its baseball operations. Twins president Dave St. Peter was asked by Sports Headliners if he expected the Red Sox to request permission to talk with Falvey, who received a five-year contract with Minnesota after being hired as chief baseball officer in November of 2016.

“I don’t know that,” St. Peter said. “What I do know is Derek and his wife (Meghan) love Minnesota. They’re incredibly committed to this community and what we’re trying to build with the Twins. Derek will speak for himself but I know that based on my time with him, his 100 percent focus is on Minnesota, and that’s where he wants …to be for a long, long time.”

Falvey will be a favorite to win the MLB Executive of the Year. The Twins, who finished with a 78-84 record last season, are among the biggest of surprise stories in baseball this year. Minnesota has a 101-60 record heading into today’s final regular season game against the Kansas City Royals, and can tie the 1965 team’s record of 102 wins in one season. The club has won a near franchise record number of games, led the AL Central for most of this season, shown both a remarkable consistency and resiliency, and hit a MLB record number of home runs, 304.

Other organizations will now look at the Twins when contemplating how to fill their staff needs on the big league and farm system levels. That doesn’t necessarily mean Falvey, GM Thad Levine or manager Rocco Baldelli will be leaving Minnesota but personnel further down on the organizational chart almost certainly will.

“The more success that we have, the more likely it is we’re going to lose some people to other organizations,” St. Peter acknowledged. “It’s just part of the deal. I’d much rather have that problem than have an organization that nobody is seeking anybody from.”

When Falvey was hired he quickly brought Levine to the Twins. The two have formed a close partnership. Their ideas, vision and personnel hires have changed the culture and the way the Twins operate. The franchise has invested in people, technology, systems and processes that have paid off and indicate future success, too.

“Derek is (an) incredibly intelligent, very relationship-focused individual,” St. Peter said. “In many ways we think he is the perfect leader for a modern baseball team.”

When St. Peter and the Pohlad family were looking for a new front office leader they learned from talking with candidates there was a high regard for the younger players in the organization. Falvey benefitted from the start in having developing talents like Jose Berrios, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Eddie Rosario, Taylor Rogers and Miguel Sano under contract. They have been among the most signicant contributors to the surprising turnaround. But Falvey and helpers have brought in impact talent, too, including Ehire Adrianza, Willians Astudillo, Jason Castro, Marwin Gonzalez, Jake Odorizzi and Nelson Cruz, the veteran team leader and a popular choice for Twins MVP.

The decision by Falvey and Levine to fire manager Paul Molitor after last season was risky. Popular with the fan base and media, Molitor had been voted AL Manager of the Year in 2017. The decision to terminate him didn’t make sense to Molitor admirers and with the move Falvey and Levine positioned themselves for public ridicule in 2019 and beyond if Baldelli and the club failed on the field.

The 38-year-old Baldelli, who never managed before, took control of the Twins like he was a professor of the dugout and clubhouse. Baldelli has been unflappable in public, never berating players on the field or in the media. He and his staff, a reorganized group of coaches, have built trust with the players who are a diverse group with varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

“I think he (Baldelli) realizes that every player is different,” St. Peter said. “He has to have maybe a little different approach with one guy versus the next. But he also recognizes playing this game is hard and playing it over the course of 162 games in 180 days is really hard. There’s going to be ups and there’s going to be a lot of downs.

“There’s going to be some success but there’s going to be a lot more failures for every player. I think…Rocco understands that his role as the leader in this organization is to support those guys, to put them in a position to be successful.”

That success will have the Twins opening the postseason in New York against the Yankees on Friday. Minnesota’s road record, 55-25, is better than its 46-35 record for the home season in Minneapolis. “We’ve played incredibly well on the road so starting on the road in the postseason is not much of a concern,” St. Peter said. “It may even be an advantage.”

The Twins hope to have most of their injured players available for the postseason but reliever Sam Dyson, acquired in a trade with the Giants in July, may not even be with the club until 2021. He had shoulder surgery last week, and there is controversy whether he was injured when the Twins dealt for him. St. Peter doesn’t expect his club will receive future compensation from the Giants.

St. Peter is “bullish” about the Twins’ chances of competing for championships beyond this year. Despite a long list of expiring contracts, he expects the personnel core to return next season and that group could be blended with prospects the organization is optimistic about. That has the Twins president hopeful regarding competing for championships the next three seasons and beyond.

Owner Jim Pohlad was with the team last week when the Twins clinched the Central Division title. St. Peter believes the success was vindication for Pohlad who he thinks has been unfairly criticized by fans over the years as unwilling to spend money.

“It’s quite the opposite,” St. Peter said. “Jim has invested mightily in people, in process systems and facilities.”

St. Peter sees the support of the Pohlad family as providing a competitive advantage for the franchise. “Jim does not set a hard and fast budget (payroll) for our players. Derek Falvey has the autonomy to run our baseball operations. If you asked Derek, I think he would tell you that never once had Jim told him he could not do something.”

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U Boiler Wreckers Back Again

Posted on September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 by David Shama

University of Minnesota running backs Shannon Brooks, Rodney Smith and Mohamed Ibrahim are already names passionate Purdue fans should long remember. And Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette Boiler Nation has another look at the trio when the 3-0 Golden Gophers visit 1-2 Purdue in the opening Big Ten game of the season for both teams.

Injuries have troubled Brooks for much of his career but he has been cleared to play against the Boilermakers Saturday and he could make his season debut in the ESPN2 televised game. “I think there’s that spunk, that look in his eye, that he cannot wait to get back on the field,” Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck said.

Brooks played in just one game last season and six the year before, but 2016 and 2015 were healthier seasons for the Georgia native known for his exceptional field vision and slashing style. He had a career high 176 yards rushing at Purdue in the 2015 game Minnesota dominated and won, 41-13. His 17 rushes included a 71-yard touchdown run. And although the Gophers lost at Purdue in 2017, Brooks rushed for 116 yards on 18 carries.

Smith, a redshirt senior and Georgia native like Brooks, had one of his best days in 2016 against Purdue in Minneapolis. Smith ran for 153 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries as the Gophers won, 43-31. The 153 yards was his most ever in a single game until he equaled the total against New Mexico State in 2018. A hard runner who can turn short gains into longer ones, Smith is in the top 10 for most career rushing attempts and yards in Minnesota program history.

With Brooks and Smith injured last season, the Gophers turned to then redshirt freshman Ibrahim to help them to a 41-10 win in Minneapolis. Among the more determined runners in the Big Ten, Ibrahim ran for 155 yards on 18 carries, an impressive 8.6 yards per carry. That was his best as a Gopher until he dominated Georgia Tech with 224 yards rushing in Minnesota’s Quick Lane Bowl win.

Brooks, Smith and Ibrahim have befuddled the Boilermakers in the past and Minnesota will want more of the same Saturday. Minnesota’s offensive game plan every week is to control the football and the clock, with an emphasis on running . The Gophers rank 10th nationally in time of possession at an average per game of 34:36.

Minnesota will want to keep the ball away from a Purdue offense averaging 371 yards passing per game, tops in the Big Ten and fourth nationally. The Boilers, however, are rushing for just 50 yards each game. Purdue is third worst in the conference in rushing defense, giving up 175.3 yards.

Not to be greedy but Brooks, Smith and Ibrahim have to hope at least one of them adds a page or two Saturday to their “Purdue scrapbooks.”

Worth Noting

The Gophers have won five of their last six against the Boilermakers, but the game Saturday looks like a tossup for those who wager. Minnesota is 3-0 in nonconference games but has won by a total of only 13 points, and going into the season was considered a lesser team to Purdue by college football authorities. Purdue has key injuries and has won only one nonconference game, but is playing at home and with an explosive offense could take an early lead and make it difficult for the Gophers to catch up.

Minnesota has won five of its last 18 Big Ten games, but coincidentally holds the nation’s longest nonconference winning streak at 18 straight.

Gophers basketball coach Lindsay Whalen has a five-star commit in Alexia Smith from Ohio. That will help the 2020 recruiting class because three of the top state of Minnesota prospects are headed elsewhere: Paige Bueckers of Hopkins to Connecticut, Lauren Jensen of Lakeville North to Iowa, and Alyssa Ustby of Rochester Lourdes to North Carolina.

Look for the Vikings, who since last year are annually scheduling Friday night prep football games at TCO Stadium in Eagan, to arrange for future matchups involving Minneapolis and St. Paul teams. Among schools under consideration should be Washburn, the first big school state champion when the Minnesota High School League created the football playoffs in the 1970s.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins wowed business and other community leaders while speaking at Tuesday’s Twin Cities Dunkers meeting at the Minikahda Club. Cousins was inspiring and informative in his remarks including when he talked about the power of free enterprise and how much business does for society.

Cousins is a Murray’s patron and enjoys the downtown restaurant that opened in 1946, and is still a city favorite.

This year the Vikings are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1969 team that had a 12-2 regular season record and played in the 1970 Super Bowl. One of the team’s two losses came in the opening game against the New York Giants whose roster included Bob Lurtsema. He was awarded the game ball by the Giants for his performance in the 24-23 win. After joining the Vikings in 1971 he later became Benchwarmer Bob, backing up one of the great NFL defensive lines in history.

Lurtsema, 77, regularly walks about four miles at Orchard Lake near his home in Lakeville.

The 3M Open, scheduled next year for July 20-26, avoids the busy July 4 holiday that the PGA Tour Event faced in 2019. There is a seven-year commitment to hold the tournament at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. Sports Headliners is told that only in 2023 might dates conflict with the Fourth of July period.

Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino expects that redshirt junior forward Eric Curry, who missed much of last season because of injuries, will be ready when the schedule starts in November. Curry, who has shown skill but been slowed by injuries during his Minnesota career, will be a key player on a team reorganizing after the departures last spring of the two best players, forward-guard Amir Coffey and forward Jordan Murphy.

With the team in early practices for the 125th season of Gophers basketball, Pitino isn’t sure about many things with his team but believes a strength could be outside shooting. Now starting his seventh season, Pitino has coached two of his last three teams to the NCAA Tournament. “I think we’re building stability,” he said.

Dave Wright, sports information director at Hamline, announced on Facebook Monday he is retiring from his position in October. His varied experiences in communications include working for the St. Paul Saints in their early years under Mike Veeck.

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Jerry Kill: NDSU Bison FBS Program

Posted on September 24, 2019September 25, 2019 by David Shama

How impressive is the North Dakota State football program that has won seven FCS national titles in eight years and is riding a 25-game win streak? Impressive enough to earn the praise and admiration of former University of Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill who has coached at both the FBS (Division I-A) and FCS (Division I-AA) levels.

Kill spent much of his head coaching career at the FCS level including seven seasons at Southern Illinois. In his last five years, from 2003-2007, the Salukis were 50-14 and made five consecutive FCS playoff appearances. Although Kill went back into coaching last week as an assistant at Virginia Tech, he was recently the athletic director at Southern Illinois where the Salukis and the other teams in the Missouri Valley Conference annually try to figure out a way to compete with the Bison, who several years ago had a 33-game win streak.

In Kill’s first season as Minnesota coach in 2011, NDSU defeated the Gophers 37-24 in Minneapolis. The coach saw talent he envied and knew those players could compete in the Big Ten. “There were about five of them, six of them—when we played them—I ’d have taken in a heartbeat,” Kill said in a telephone interview. “Shoot, the year we played them I might have taken the whole damn team.”

The Gophers haven’t played the Bison since 2011 but did take on another Valley power in their opening game on August 29 in Minneapolis. No. 4 ranked South Dakota State gave Minnesota fits before losing 28-21 in the fourth quarter.

Kill was asked how the Bison might perform playing in the Big Ten.

“Jumping from that league and jumping all the way to the Big Ten is a huge jump,” Kill said. “(But) North Dakota State is a Division I (FBS) program.”

College football authorities raise the question of whether an FCS power like NDSU has enough quality depth to survive the physical pounding of a nine-game schedule in a conference like the Big Ten. “I don’t know,” Kill said. “I am not ever going to say North Dakota State can’t do anything because they beat K-State. They beat Minnesota when I was there. Shoot, they beat just about everybody they played.”

That’s for sure. Power Five Conference teams think twice about playing NDSU after the Bison have defeated Iowa, Kansas State and Minnesota (also in 2007) on their home fields. No wonder Bison fans have circled dates on future calendars when their team plays at Oregon next year and visits Arizona in 2022.

The Bison’s phenomenal success (not even duplicated by Alabama or Clemson on the FBS level) is built on shrewd recruiting and player development. NDSU benefits (as do North Dakota, SDSU and South Dakota) from there being no FBS programs in the Dakotas, and one FBS program in Minnesota. The Bison roster this season lists 36 Minnesotans including new star quarterback, Trey Lance.

“I think it started with (coach) Craig Bohl,” Kill said about the success in recruiting Minnesota. “Craig Bohl was real good at taking those in between kids that may not be quite ready to be in a Power Five (program). They did a great job of developing players.”

Bohl left for Wyoming after the 2013 regular season. His successor, Chris Klieman, departed for Kansas State following last January’s seventh national title. But the program rolls on under new head coach Matt Entz, with the latest triumph last Saturday’s 27-16 win over No. 4 national ranked UC Davis. The week prior the Bison played on the road at No. 18 Delaware and won 47-22.

The Bison and South Dakota State have byes this week before starting Missouri Valley schedules October 5. After the Minnesota loss, SDSU has won games by scores of 38-7, 38-10 and 43-7. The Bison and Jackrabbits play October 26 in Brookings. Call it a Valley showdown or matchup of two teams that could play in a FBS league like the Mid-American Conference, or just know it will be a special football game.

Worth Noting

Kill said he missed football when I asked him earlier this month how he was doing. Then came last week’s announcement he joined the Virginia Tech staff as an assistant coach and gave up the AD position at Southern Illinois.

Tracy Claeys, Kill’s defensive coordinator at Minnesota, is one of the best defensive minds in the country but he must be having nightmares after UCLA’s 67-63 win last Saturday over Washington State, the program whose defense he leads now.

Are the Purdue Boilermakers, who host the Gophers Saturday, overdue for a rebound? Dating back to the end of last season, Purdue has lost five of its last seven games. Minnesota has won six of its last seven.

The Vikings’ Dalvin Cook is the fifth player in NFL history with at least 110 rushing yards in each of his team’s first three games of a season. The others are Pro Football Hall of Famers Jim Brown, Curtin Martin, O.J. Simpson and Emmitt Smith.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, with 342 NFL career touchdown passes, is tied with Vikings legend Fran Tarkenton for the ninth-most in league history.

Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park will cost about $5 billion and have a transparent plastic roof like that on U.S. Bank Stadium. The new privately funded facility opens next season as the home of the Chargers and Rams. U.S. Bank Stadium, a public-private partnership, opened in 2016 at a cost of $1.1 billion.

Twins total home attendance for the 2019 regular season was 2,294,152, including 12 sellouts. The franchise finished its 81 home dates with the largest season attendance since drawing 2,477,644 fans in 2013.

The Twins will finish about in the middle for home attendance among the 30 MLB clubs when all regular season schedules end next weekend. Per figures from Espn.com, the Los Angeles Dodgers will lead all franchises in attendance averaging 49,075 per game. The Miami Marlins, having finished their home dates like the Dodgers and Twins, averaged a pathetic 10,016.

The Capital Club will hear from Minnesota Timberwolves CEO Ethan Casson October 4 at Town & Country Club, and listen to new Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin October 22 at Xcel Energy Center. More information about the club is available from Patrick Klinger, patrickklinger@klingercompany.com.

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