The Twins and the woeful White Sox play each other 13 times this season, so it’s unlikely the Twins will lose 100 games. But they will probably lose at least 90 for a second straight year.
You’ve got to feel sorry for Twins’ first-year manager Derek Shelton. In 2021 and 2022 managing the Pirates, Shelton lost 100 games. Baseball managers generally are as good as their players.
Only twice in Twins history has the team lost 100 games, in 2016 (103) and 1982 (102). The way it looks now, the Twins’ most tradable asset, starter Joe Ryan, will be moved for prospects by August.
>> The Twins last season finished with a 5-8 record against the White Sox, who finished 60-102.
>> Despite a full no-trade clause and his insistence that he’ll finish his career in Minnesota, insiders say the Braves haven’t given up trying to swap for the Twins’ Byron Buxton, who is from Georgia.
>> Looks as if the Twins could face two-time Tigers Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal on Tuesday at Target Field.
>> Ex-Twins relievers: Louie Varland from North St. Paul hasn’t given up an earned run in four appearances for the Blue Jays; Jhoan Duran already has two saves in four games for the Phillies; Griffin Jax has a 22.50 ERA and is 0-2 after four games with the Rays.
>> Reed Burckhardt spent 13 seasons in player personnel and scouting with the Vikings. Now assistant GM of the Broncos, he could be an easy transition for the Vikings’ GM job. Born in Russell, Minn., Burckhardt was a QB at Russell-Tyler-Ruthton High.
>> The Vikings have the No. 18 pick in the April 23-25 NFL Draft, but with so many holes and lacking free agency money, it wouldn’t be surprising if they move down to acquire another pick. Defensive linemen is their greatest need.
>> Unproven QB J.J. McCarthy, 23, still has two years on his guaranteed rookie contract ($21.85 million, four years). Unless a team were to offer a can’t-refuse draft pick for him, say a second-rounder, he’s expected to remain with the Vikings this season in case Kyler Murray or Carson Wentz gets hurt.
>> Among clocked times by quarterbacks at their respective NFL combine workouts, in the important 3-cone drill that measures agility, change of direction and acceleration, McCarthy remains the fastest at 6.82 seconds. That’s better than where Patrick Mahomes (6.88), Josh Allen (6.90), Sam Darnold (6.96) and Jordan Love (7.21) finished. In 2016, Wentz clocked 6.86 seconds.
>> The Raiders will pay ex-Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, 37, $1.3 million next season, the same as the Vikings will pay Murray, 28. The Vikings will pay Wentz, 33, $3 million. McCarthy’s deal is for $6 million. QB Max Brosmer, 25, is under contract for $1.1 million. Meanwhile, Packers QB Jordan Love, 28, has a contract worth $36 million next season.
>> The way it looks now, sadly for Vikings rooters, the Vikings’ overall pick in the 2027 draft could also be middle of the pack. Minnesota’s 2026 schedule is the 11th most difficult in the 32-team NFL.
>> A local little birdie says that because Augusta National has begun electronically tracking Masters tickets on the secondary market, this week’s tournament resale prices generally are $5,000 for Wednesday (Par 3), $8,000 for Thursday, $6,000 for Friday and $5,000 for Saturday.
>> The Gophers’ recent hire of Brett Larson as men’s hockey coach shouldn’t be underestimated. Smart hockey people say Larson, hired from St. Cloud State, will incorporate a style of play similar to the one used by iconic Herb Brooks, who coached the Gophers to three NCAA championships by being fast and combative.
>> The Cubs’ recent signing of outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is a nice comparative for teammate first baseman Michael Busch, the Simley High grad. Both came into the major leagues in 2023.
Crow-Armstrong, 24, after hitting 31 home runs with 95 RBIs while batting .247 last season, received a $115 million, six-year contract. That’s more than $19 million a season. Busch, although four years older, last season hit 34 homers with 90 RBIs while hitting .261.
Busch should have a new deal by the time the Twins play the Cubs in Chicago July 17-19. The Twins host the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers, off to a 5-2 start, June 22-24. Also off to a 5-2 start, the Marlins with former Woodbury and Gophers star pitcher Max Meyer. They’ll be here May 12-14.
>> Meyer, who started against the Yankees on Saturday, had seven family members at Yankee Stadium for the game.
>> Tom Brown, the former Minneapolis Central and Gophers All-America lineman (1960 Rose Bowl) who died recently at 89, is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, as is former Gopher Bob Stein, the St. Louis Park grad and former Gophers defensive end.
“I guess in high school he was a gymnast; even when he was 260, 270 pounds and knocking centers into quarterbacks, he could do standing back flips. Awesome,” Stein said.
Of all sports halls of fame, College Football’s is statistically the most difficult to attain. Only two-tenths of one percent of players and coaches get elected.
>> Stein attended the Hall of Fame’s recent induction ceremony in Las Vegas, where former Gophers center Greg Eslinger and former St. John’s wide receiver Blake Elliott were inducted. Elliott supporters bought eight tables of 10 seats, at $900 per ticket, at the banquet, by far the largest contingent for any inductee in the Hall of Fame’s history,
>> Patrick Reusse will represent Mike Augustin and Gregg Wong at their inductions into the Mancini’s St. Paul Sports Hall of Fame on May 11 at the Char House.
>> The Wild are 16-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup; favored is the Avalanche at 16-5, per BetOnline.ag.
It’ll be tough for the Wild to play the Stars in Dallas in the first round of the playoffs, but it also will be tough for Dallas to play the Wild in St. Paul. It will be a great series.
>> Mahtomedi, which has produced a plethora of elite pitchers, has another for this high school season in 6-foot-2, 220-pound Connor Finn. Zephyrs alumni currently pitching include Mike Baumann of the New York Mets, Sean Hjelle professionally in Japan, Ethan Felling of the Gophers and Tony Neubeck, who is the top starter for the University of Indiana and this season beat the Gophers.
All have fastballs of more than 90 mph. Finn, a left-hander whose fastball has reached 95 mph, has committed to Texas Tech. There will be plenty of major league scouts with radar guns behind the backstop when Connor pitches this spring.
How has Mahtomedi produced all this pitching talent?
“If I tell you that, then everyone’s going to know,” longtime Zephyrs coach Rob Garry said with a laugh. “I wish I could take more credit for it.
“We’re thoughtful about how we handle pitchers. We don’t miss days in the weight room. But these kids have a ton of talent. They’re great listeners. We’re pretty fundamental.”
Garry, who teaches Spanish and also is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, would seem qualified as a pro baseball scout, especially with the influx of Latin American players. That could happen when his coaching career ends.
>> Wabasso native and former Minnesota State-Mankato star Nick Altermatt, 26, a White Sox minor league pitcher, struck out Reds outfielder Will Benson in a major league spring trading game.
>> That was Minnesota Golf Hall of Famer Bill Israelson, 69, after a recent hip replacement, shooting a 5-under-par 67 at the Trilogy Verde River course in Rio Verde, Ariz., last week. Former St. Cloud State pitching star Dave Mingo, 69, from Princeton, Minn., fired a 4-under-par 68 at 6,700-yard Desert Mountain (Az.) Apache Course the other day.
>> The Tom Lehman-John Fought designed Somerby Golf Club near Rochester has been sold to Evergreen Partners, which operates country clubs.
>> Wishing the best in a long recovery for Pat Micheletti, 62, the Gophers men’s hockey runner-up to John Mayasich in career scoring, after being hospitalized at Mayo Clinic for 24 days due to a virus that spread to nerves.
>> Congratulations to St. Agnes’ Rev. Paul Baker, a 2005 Cretin-Derham Hall grad and one of the smartest and nicest people you’ll meet, on his runner-up finish on a recent TV Jeopardy episode.
>> Brother Francis Carr and Mark Kenney will be inducted into the Catholic Athletic Association Hall of Fame on April 21 at Mendakota Country Club.
>> St. Paul’s West Seventh Street Boys Club, for 46 years under the direction of retiring Otto “Snap” Leitner, is being renamed in his honor, with Paul Weinberg, Tom Campion and Lonny Leitner taking over leadership.
Don’t print that
>> Vikings lost three former linebackers between 2008 and 2020. Wally Hilgenberg died with ALS at age 66, and Matt Blair (70) and Fred McNeill (63) had dementia when they died. Reasons for the recent deaths of linebacker Jeff Siemon (75) and Joey Browner (65) have not been released.
Stu Voigt played 11 years in the NFL as a tight end. Hilgenberg and Voigt were business partners, Blair was Voigt’s racquetball partner and McNeill was Voigt’s workman’s compensation lawyer.
When Voigt learned of the deaths of Siemon and Browner, his immediate reaction was that their deaths were football-related.
“A layman’s opinion, absolutely,” Voigt told the Pioneer Press on Friday.
>> Voigt, 77, who lives in Apple Valley, recently spent two days at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., for extensive NFL-sponsored brain testing. Results: His brain is normal for a 77-year-old.
>> The NFL’s labor agreement with on-field officials ends May 31, and replacements already are being trained for the 2026 season. This is not good news, former NFL official Bernie Kukar told the Pioneer Press last week.
“I’ve been talking to a few of the guys who are still working with the NFL, and it’s kind of a foregone conclusion that they are probably going to lock the officials out again,” said Kukar, who has residences in Edina and Lutsen.
Kukar was referee for two Super Bowls and alternate for another during his 22-year NFL career. Replacement officials were used the first three weeks of the 2012 season with embarrassing results.
“This time, they’re going to try to go to lower-level officials, like either Division I guys from maybe the Big Ten or Southeast Conference, etcetera, and say to these guys if you come and deal with us right now, we will look very favorably at you for coming here full-time as a NFL official,” Kukar said.
“What it looks like right now, from what I’ve heard from some of the active guys, (a lockout) is almost inevitable.”
>> Kukar, who’s in fine physical and cognitive shape, turns 86 next month. His secret?
“Keep moving. If you stop moving, they’re going to throw dirt on your face,” he said.
>> The Twins late last season went into a holding pattern to get more financial help from new investors, clearly calculating that a low payroll — resulting in even lower attendance — would be better than spending more for higher attendance. The team’s value will spike a bit after an industry labor settlement following an anticipated lockout in 2027, enough for Pohlad ownership to get the price they want to sell.
>> The Major League Baseball Players Association reportedly has a war chest of more than $519 million in case of a work stoppage. Meanwhile, each of baseball’s 30 teams reportedly has committed some $75 million in case of a lockout.
>> Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle was well prepared when he recently hired Brett Larson from St. Cloud State as men’s hockey coach and promoted Greg May to women’s hockey coach. At his home in St. Paul, Coyle keeps a green folder listing all coaches of the Gophers’ 22 sports that, if necessary, he would target for replacement.
Coyle also delegates various administrators representing each sport to keep lists of prospective coaches. Names are updated during seasons, and prospects are tracked. That allows for expedited background checks.
Coyle doesn’t use coach search firms, which generally cost between $100,000 and $200,000. He feels it’s his job, not a search firm’s, to find a coach. Coyle also has candidates spend time with the University’s president.
>> UConn athletics director David Benedict, who hired Husky men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley (2023, 2024 NCAA championships) was Gophers deputy A.D. in 2012-14.
By the way, a Hurley assistant, Luke Murray, 40, last week was hired as head basketball coach at Boston College. He’s the son of actor Bill Murray.
>> President Trump’s full executive order that would curtail NCAA athlete transfers as well as oversee name, image and likeness (NIL) would be beneficial to the Gophers. But athletes won’t be happy. It’s set to go into effect Aug. 1.
>> Each Gophers athlete with an external NIL deal from Minnesota’s collective this season has already been paid.
>> Only the top four teams in last week’s eight-team College Basketball Crown tournament receive NIL money, but the Gophers, who were eliminated by Baylor 67-48 in Las Vegas in the first round, did get travel expenses and a $4,500 food and beverage allowance.
>> Had the Ishbia group from Michigan not pivoted from the Twins to the White Sox to invest in major league ownership last summer, Hall of Fame former Twin Joe Mauer from St. Paul was to be sought as a limited partner. The Twins’ new partner group has no former players involved.
>> At a recent Timberwolves-Pistons game at Target Center, upper row tickets were $214 at the box office. The seats didn’t sell.
>> To break the Minnesota girls high school basketball scoring record that Providence Academy’s Maddie Greenway set this year (5,621 points), a player would have to start 29 games a season from grades 7-12 (174 games) and average 32.5 points a game.
>> Members of the 1980 USA Miracle On Ice Olympic gold medal men’s hockey team will be featured guests at the big Morrie Miller Athletic Foundation banquet in Winona in September.
>> Disappointed with Target Field’s grass the last couple of years, the Twins last month installed new emerald green sod. Last season’s field had playability, but not its usual standard of aesthetics.
Overheard
Former Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko to the Pioneer Press on future career possibilities: “Maybe I can find something fun to do with no scoreboard.”