#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1). Maybe it's me, but even if a baseball team is in a funk, somehow sweeping a doubleheader makes up for it.
Even though I did not work Saturday night's doubleheader-capper, I did see a snippet of the game on TV where the Twinks were well ahead of Kansas City. (And by the way, the play-by-play guy, Steve Physioc, who is the Royals' main TV announcer, is a great guy. Had a quick conversation with him once and he never acted like I was beneath him.) Cole De Vries turned in a solid start, as did Scott Diamond in the afternoon opener, which are few and far between. Also, the bats came alive (with home runs seemingly the weapon of choice in the nightcap) as the club beat K.C. Saturday by a combined score of 12-3.
That salvaged the week; the squad finished 4-3. Surprising that even though they are the worst team in the American League, as of right now they are only 1 1/2 games worse than Seattle, and by winning percentage they are actually better than four teams in the National League (Houston, Colorado, San Diego and, worst in the majors, the Cubs).
Today (Sunday) is the day rosters for next week's All-Star Game are announced. I'm pretty sure the Twins' rep will be Josh Willingham. There's an outside shot that Glen Perkins gets in. And if I'm totally wrong, Joe Mauer gets voted in; is he even anywhere near the top of the voting for A.L. Catchers? Meanwhile, they finish their series against the Royals this afternoon, then immediately go on the road for the first four-game series of the year (?) against Detroit, followed by a series in Texas.
#-2: Wild (Re-Entry!). I should have put these guys in last week's WMNSS because of the NHL Draft; mio malo. I will try and make it up to them by putting these guys ahead of the Wolves just because.
There are two big events that I need to cover. The more timely situation actually starts at 11 local time: Free agency. It's considered to be a thin free-agent market, but the Mild have the cash to throw at the two big catches this off-season: Nashville Defenseman Ryan Suter and New Jersey Forward (and Minnesota native) Zach Parise. The Star Tribune's excellent Michael Russo details what's going on to this very second: Parise is in Toronto, where his agent is, and they are still talking with the Devils. The guess from me (not from Russo) is that if things don't get hammered down by 11 CDT, Parise is single and looking to mingle. Meanwhile, Suter is in Wisconsin while his agent is in the hotbed of agency, northern Minnesota. Suter is testing free agency, but there's no guess from Russo who he's leaning toward.
One other player who picked up noise for the Mild is a street free agent coming out of college: Wisconsin Defenseman Justin Schultz, who was drafted by Anaheim in 2008 but has refused to sign with the Ducks. Russo said that according to Bob McKenzie of Canada's TSN, Minnesota is one of six teams in the running to sign Schultz. Unfortunately, also according to Russo, the Mild wound up third choice; Schultz has just decided to
What are the chances that the Mild whiff on all three of them? Very high. But let's just enjoy the anticipation and the what-ifs. There will be time in the next few weeks to judge the organization.
As for the draft, I don't want to make this into a Russo lovefest, but he accurately predicted that the Mild would pick Canadian D-Man Mathew Dumba with the seventh pick in the first round of the NHL Draft. Think of him as as a guy who plays larger than his physical size. Draft picks in the NHL are compared to pros so they can illustrate what a prospect's ceiling could be. Dumba's comparison? Drew Doughty, the tough and diminutive spark plug for the now-Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings. If this guy pans out, he will join Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Matt Hackett and Jonas Brodin as future players with the potential to be great players for the Wild. Hope so; like with the Lynx, this team has been so bad for so long that they can't help but stockpile studs that will turn the franchise's fortunes around.
One other thing: Dumba's unfortunate pronunciation of his last name -- Dumb-a. It's a heckler's dream. Hope he's talented enough to overcome the name-calling.
#-3: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!). Yes, this team's draft falls into this survey's screening week.
They didn't do a whole lot for the NBA Draft, but I think that's a good thing. Much was made about Utah winning their last game of the regular season because that meant that their first-round pick was outside the protection of the lottery and therefore was traded to the Woofie Dogs (that was the deal for Al Jefferson, The Stoic One).
It wound up being 18th overall, and so many writers went head-over-heels wondering whom the team would pick. Why would anybody give a shit about the 18th-best player in a draft that, at best, is split between deep and fallow? Projections leaned towards Shooting Guard because that's the position the organization needed to fill. The three names bandied about were two Washington guys, Tony Wroten, Jr. and Terrance Ross, and the guy with the most heat, Duke's Austin Rivers. He made that miracle dagger 3 at the buzzer to beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill, but beyond that he's considered to be a selfish ball hog who will destroy team chemistry. And this seemed to be the guy more prognosticators thought the Wolves would take.
So thank Buddha that they just traded away the pick. In a move I derisively thought was initiated by David Kahn but seems to have the imprints of Head Coach Rick Adelman, the pick was traded to Houston in exchange for 2 1/2 tweener Chase Budinger and the rights to some guy playing out in Europe. Jerry Zgoda of the Strib thought the team would trade the pick to the Rockets, but in exchange for Kevin Martin. A microwave who could cook from outside on any given night instead of a guy whose attributes are in limbo between two positions? Sounds right to me. Still, Adelman believes that Budinger is the 2-guard with the fantastic three-point percentage the Timberwolves need to open up their offense. And it doesn't hurt that he was drafted in the second round and will make only $942,000 this upcoming season.
So the Woofie Dogs had just the 58th overall pick in Thursday's draft. They tried moving up, but when that failed, they took a flier on a guy who could have been great until his career got derailed by not one but two ACL injuries, Robbie Hummel out of Purdue. A few years ago he formed a formidable three-headed monster with Jajuan ... Johnson (?) -- and some other guy? Anyway, there's a chance that Hummel's once very promising career will end without him even stepping onto an NBA game. But there's little risk and nothing but potential here if his ACL's are good.
So now to free agency, which started at 11 Saturday night. Michael Beasley and Anthony Randolph were not offered contracts, so they're gone. Darko Milicic might be next. Martell Webster has been resigned, but maybe so he could be moved at a later date. Maybe to make way for Pau Gasol, which would be very interesting ... but for Derrick Williams? He seems like a nice guy, but right now Gasol is a much better player.
In the meantime the Woofs are still looking for swingmen, as well as other roster-padders, so according to Zgoda, the following are names Kahn and Adelman are pursuing: Brandon Roy, Jordan Hill, Greg Stiemsma, Nicolas Batum, and Jamal Crawford.
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