Here are suggestions for the Twins as they start the off-season:

Delmon Young hit .300 after the All-Star break with nine of his 12 home runs and 35 of his 60 RBI coming during that period.  See if that surprising productivity will appeal enough to another team to acquire quality pitching or infield help. Young hit .284 this season after a 2008 with these numbers: .290 average, 10 home runs and 69 RBI.

Tutor outfielder Carlos Gomez during the off-season in hitting and base running.  Then let him learn more and polish his skills for a full season at Triple AAA Rochester in 2010.

Second baseman Alexi Casilla?  See tutoring plan.

Move Joe Mauer to third base before next season.  He will be 27 in 2010 and after six seasons of catching doesn’t need the physical abuse that goes with the position.  A problem, though, is Mauer likely will resist moving to another position and during an off-season where the Twins want to sign him to a new contract Mauer has the leverage about where he plays.

Good luck in re-signing 34-year-old shortstop Orlando Cabrera.  He will be a free agent and played for $4 million this season, according to Cott’s baseball contracts, https://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/minnesota-twins_17.html  The guess here is Carbrera will be looking for more years (maybe three) than the Twins are willing to negotiate into his next contract.

If the Twins had played Sunday night’s playoff game against the Yankees outdoors instead of the Metrodome the temps would have been in the 30’s.  TBS reported that the game time temp was 31 in Denver on Sunday night for the Rockies and Phillies. If the Twins had advanced to the World Series they would have opened the series at home on October 28.

It’s interesting that better baseball is played in the American League but the National League has superior average attendance.  The AL won the All-Star game for a 13^th straight year in 2009 and for the fifth consecutive season was 20 games or better in interleague play.  National League franchises drew about 3,000 more people per game than American League teams last season.

One explanation is the National League has better baseball cities in California (San Francisco over Oakland and Los Angeles over Anaheim) and Missouri (St. Louis over Kansas City).

The Sporting News issue of September 28 named its best players and teams of the decade in baseball, basketball, football and hockey.  Mauer was selected as the catcher on the all-decade baseball team and former Twin David Ortiz was the designated hitter.

Vikings guard Steve Hutchinson made the NFL all-decade team while former Viking Randy Moss was named a wide receiver.  Former Timberwolf forward Kevin Garnett made the NBA all-second team.  Native Minnesotans Larry Fitzgerald Jr. (wide receiver) and James Laurinaitis (linebacker) were first team selections on the all-college team.

Vikings coach Brad Childress talking about whether rookie right tackle Phil Loadholt could have played last Sunday against St. Louis with an injured ankle:  “He said he could of, but you’ve got to believe what you see.  We didn’t want to expose him to that (potential injury).”

Comments Welcome

Vikings tackle Bryant McKinnie said there’s awareness about protecting 40-year-old quarterback Brett Favre who has been vital in the team’s 5-0 start.   McKinnie said he “takes pride in trying to keep him (Favre) off the ground.”

Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis told Sports Headliners that center Al Jefferson, forward Kevin Love and guard Jonny Flynn will be starters, but two other positions remain to be determined before the season begins.

During the regular season the Timberwolves will have 20 fewer games than last season on KSTC, channel 45.  The Wolves will have 15 games on that station and 40 on Fox Sports North with 35 of them broadcast in HD.

Trevor Mbakwe will play in Friday night’s “Tubby’s Tipoff” at Williams Arena.  The junior college transfer hasn’t been cleared by athletic director Joel Maturi to play in games. A woman alleged Mbakwe attacked her earlier this year in Florida and a trial is pending.

Coach Tubby Smith’s team begins regular practices on Saturday morning. The tipoff event is free and open to the public.  Activities will include three-point shooting and slam dunk contests, and a team scrimmage.  Following the scrimmage, Gopher players and coaches will participate in a 30 minute autograph session.  Doors open at 7 p.m. with the event starting at 7:30 p.m.

Gopher football coach Tim Brewster isn’t a believer in teams playing well in games if the practices went poorly.  He said game success is “100 percent” about how a team prepares and the staff emphasizes having “winning” practices during the week leading to victories on Saturdays.

The Gophers will play before more than 106,000 people in Beaver Stadium on Saturday and against legendary coach Joe Paterno, the winningest Division I coach ever.  But Brewster said he enjoys such road games and wants his players to have a similar attitude about such challenges.  Penn State, 5-1, is ranked No. 13 in the country in the USA Today poll.

Concordia-St. Paul senior setter Maggie McNamara, who leads NCAA Division II players in assists for the fourth straight season, is 18 assists from the school assists record of 6,724 held by Cailin Terhaar (fifth in Division II history).

Comments Welcome

Twins reliever Joe Nathan didn’t hold a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning of playoff game No. 2 against the Yankees on Friday night.  The Twins eventually lost 4-3 in 11 innings, sending Minnesota home trailing 2-0 instead of being in a 1-1 tie series with home field advantage in the dome for games three and four.  The Friday night loss was the key game as the Yankees closed out the best of five series with a win last night in the Metrodome.

Nathan didn’t produce on Friday night but he’s arguably the team’s most valuable player after catcher Joe Mauer, and the Twins are so out matched in personnel against the Yankees that this wasn’t a series Minnesota was likely to win.  During the season Nathan saved 47 of the team’s 87 wins.  His saves total was a career high and second highest in the American League as the Twins won the Central Division title by one game.

Late last week Nathan was recognized as Rolaids Co-Reliever of the Year in the American League along with the Yankees Mariano Rivera.  The Yankees reliever is 40 years old which should give inspiration to Nathan, 34, that he can continue to be outstanding for several more years.

In that ninth inning on Friday night Nathan gave up a single to American League Most Valuable Player candidate Mark Teixeira and then a home run to all-time slugger Alex Rodriguez.  That two-some is part of the best offense in baseball.

The Yankees had baseball’s best record this season, 103-59 and were 10-0 against the Twins during the regular season and playoffs.  The Yankees are a consensus choice to win their first World Series since 2000.  The Twins had the worst regular season record of the eight teams in the major league playoffs.  It could be argued that there are seven or eight teams better than the Twins.

The Twins competed against the Yankees and also late in the season without half of their regular infield, plus an in-season rebuilt pitching staff.  Would having third baseman Joe Crede and first baseman Justin Morneau, both power hitters, and pitchers like Kevin Slowey and Pat Neshek have positioned the Twins to beat the Yankees?  We will never know but you can throw in another question, too.  With a more complete roster would Nathan have even been in that situation on Friday night?

Comments Welcome