Kahn has made his fare share of blunders, such as the infamous 2009 Draft when he took 3 PGs in the first round

With one year left on his contract and the busiest offseason in Timberwolves history since the KG trade, it seemed a proper time to examine how David Kahn has transformed a Timberwolves roster of mismatched young players with potential into a team with realistic playoff aspirations.

Kahn has undergone his fair share of scrutiny for quotes such as describing the currently amnestied Darko Milicic as “manna from heaven“, drafting Syracuse busts Jonny Flynn and Wes Johnson over Steph Curry and DeMarcus Cousins, joking that the NBA Draft Lottery was fixed when Minnesota didn’t get the #1 pick, and even getting fined $50K by the NBA for saying that Michael Beasley “smoked too much marijuana”. Whether by by random luck or savvy decision making, Kahn has seemingly assembled a balanced roster which has depth and pre-season playoff aspirations for the first time since KG was traded. Without analyzing the seemingly never-ending and often questionable trades of both players and picks that Kahn has made, let’s see how he has been able to reshape the roster.

After letting Kevin McHale go and ending the failed Kurt Rambis experiment (32-132 record, worth every penny of the $8 million investment), Kahn was able to convince a well respected veteran coach, Rick Adelman, to come to Minnesota. Adelman’s age (66), coupled with owner Glen Taylor’s impending sale of the team, served as catalysts to shift the Timberwolves into a team with a win-now mentality, which could be seen as contradictory since it is such a young and talented team.

The talented Kirilenko and Shved were Russian teammates and cost the same as Nicholas Batum

The result of this new mentality and Adelman having a say in player personnel, led to the trade of the 18th pick in the first round for athletic swingman Chase Budinger who played under Adelman in Houston. Last year’s underwhelming bench players Michael Beasley, Anthony Randolph, Darko Milicic, Martell Webster, Brad Miller, and Wayne Ellington have been let go and upgraded to the athletic Budinger, the solid backup center in Greg Steimsma, the talented Russian guard Alexey Shved, and forward Dante Cunningham. The PG duties will be split between Shved, Luke Ridnour and JJ Barea until Rubio returns.

Although the hot pursuit of Nicholas Batum proved to be fruitless, instead of overpaying for the French swingman on a potentially crippling 4 year deal, the Wolves signed All-NBA defender and last years Euroleague MVP, Andrei Kirilenko, to a more reasonable 2 year/$20 million deal. Kirilenko’s signing will mean the talented Derrick Williams will need to prove his scoring abilities off the bench. It also will help the transition for the 23 year old Shved, who was teammates with Kirilenko last season in Russia.

Kahn took a big gamble on former All-Star Brandon Roy with 2 year $10 million deal, but if he can stay on the court even for 20-25 minutes a game, he will provide the scoring ability that Wes Johnson could not. With a starting lineup of Rubio, Roy, Kirilenko, Love and Pekovic, the Timberwolves have the potential to secure a playoff spot in the 6-8 range. Looking at the state of the Western Conference, the Spurs, Thunder, Lakers, Clippers, and Grizzlies are locks for the playoffs, with the Nuggets, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Jazz, and possibly Golden State competing for those last three playoff spots. The knees of Rubio and Roy will be very important for this team but with Love and Pekovic scoring at will, Kirlilenko and Rubio supplying playmaking and good perimeter defense, a deep bench, and a scoring punch from Roy and Williams, Kahn has assembled a legitimate playoff team.

Many never thought Rubio would play in Minnesota, but his talent and Kahn's free agency moves could make Wolves fans forget about his past mistakes

A year ago I would have though that there was no chance that Kahn would receive a contract extension (I’m not saying he should now), but coupling the development of Rubio, Pekovic and Love with solid free agent signings, Kahn has seemingly quieted many of his critics. Now the players just need to stay healthy and perform up to their potential.

A casual fan may see the Timberwolves sitting at 3-7 and think that this will be yet another season where the Wolves will finish as one of the worst teams in the league — an understandable assumption since they haven’t won more than 33 games since the 2004-2005 season.  But a quick look at their schedule and team statistics (and maybe a sweet Ricky Rubio dime or two), will illuminate some justified reasons for optimism:

1. New Coach/Losing Winnable Games:

Besides a 21-point victory over the hapless Washington Wizards, the Wolves have seemingly played down to the level of their opponents in this young season, to a fault. They have lost winnable games to the Cleveland Cavaliers (5-5), Milwaukee Bucks (4-6), Memphis Grizzlies (4-6) and Toronto Raptors (4-7), by an average of just 5 points. In each game they were either winning or a basket away from being tied in the fourth quarter, besides an uninspired effort against the Cavs.

The NBA did the Wolves no favors with games against the Heat and Thunder right out of the gate

However, the Wolves also played some of the toughest teams in the NBA tight, with narrow defeats to the Thunder (tied with 1:37 to go) and Heat (up 3 with 1:07 left until a questionable LeBron and-1 call tied it up). After this tough defeat they beat the Mavericks by 17 and Spurs by 10 in impressive back-to-back games.

In retrospect it was safe to assume that they wouldn’t have beat two of the best teams in the NBA with such little practice time and a new coach, but they showed their potential by even having a chance to beat such high-caliber teams. With more practices under Rick Adelman the young team should gel and learn ways to pull out victories in the fourth quarter.

2. Statistics:

The two biggest positives for the Wolves statistically this season have been their improvement on defense and point differential.  They are the only team in the NBA with a positive point differential and a sub-.500 record — a solid harbinger for future success and testament to the close games they have lost in the early season.

Defensively, they have improved from worst in the NBA last year (giving up a shocking 107.7 ppg) to 95.1 this year, a stark improvement which ties them with Memphis, Portland, and Milwaukee for 14th in the league.

Adelman will have his hands full with a young team that gave up 107 ppg, but improvements have been shown already

Offensively, they rank a respectable 12th in scoring at 95.4 ppg and 11th in 3-point percentage, but free throw shooting and turnovers have been issues.  They rank second-to-last in the league with 17.6 turnovers a game and force only 14.3 turnovers. Adelman noticed the carelessness with the ball immediately when watching players in practice before the season started. With his stress on ball security, and players hopefully taking it to heart, the turnovers should decrease, leading to more scoring opportunities on offense and less transition buckets for opponents.  In terms of free throw shooting, the positive is that the Wolves rank sixth in the league at 26.5 FT attempts per game. The negative is that those opportunities have been squandered, with an unacceptable 71.7 FT percent, ranking 22nd in the NBA.  That number should improve, as the Wolves shot 77 percent last year and only added better free throw shooters like Barea and Rubio.

3. The Spanish Sensation  

After only 10 games it seems apparent that the Wolves would not trade Rubio for John Wall in a trade straight up

Ricky Rubio deserves his own section because of his spectacular play which has led to him being the early favorite for Rookie of the Year. He leads the Wolves in plus-minus with a plus-52 overall, in assists at just under 8 per game and steals at 1.6 per game, all the while averaging just 29 minutes a game. The Wolves wanted to ease him into the NBA and temper expectations on the 21-year-old phenom, but from his first game it was clear that he was a fan favorite and invaluable asset to the team as a playmaker. His level of play has led to him leading all bench players in the NBA in terms of playing time at 29 minutes a game, as well as playing all but 70 seconds of each fourth quarter this season.  He has posted double doubles in three of his past five games, and most recently led the Wolves on a 20-2 run against the Bulls where he compiled 7 assists in the 2nd quarter and scored or assisted on every bucket during the run.  Rubio has also been much better than advertised as a shooter, picking his spots to the tune of a team leading .471 3PT% and is third on the team with a .463 FG%. With starters’ minutes (which will come very soon if he continues to play this well), Rubio could come very close to averaging a double-double as a 21 year old rookie, as he owns the third-best assist rate behind only Chris Paul and Steve Nash.

4. Injuries/Depth

With 66 games in 120 days due to the lockout-shortened season, it seemed reasonable to expect that injuries would occur and teams that were younger and had more depth would have an advantage. The Wolves are the youngest team in the NBA and have one of the best second units (Ricky Rubio, JJ Barea, Derrick Williams, Anthony Randolph, Anthony Tolliver), so this should seemingly give them an advantage during the compressed schedule.

Unfortunately the Wolves have already been bitten by the injury bug, with Michael Beasley spraining his foot, JJ Barea missing games due to a strained hamstring and ankle injury, as well as Martell Webster (back surgery), Brad Miller (knee surgery), rookie Malcolm Lee (knee surgery) having not yet been cleared to play this season.  Beasley and Barea should be back within a week and Miller, Lee and Webster are expected back before the midpoint in the season. All three could prove to be important pieces for the bench.  Webster can score and shoot 3′s, Miller is a 7-footer with a high basketball IQ whom Adelman has coached before, and Lee was promising in the preseason as a ball-handler and slasher on a team with a gaping hole at the 2-guard.

A slimmed down Kevin Love has been the most productive PF in the league averaging 24 and 15, but he can't do it all alone

The final and most glaring problem for the Wolves has been the play of the starters besides Kevin Love and Luke Ridnour.  Wes Johnson was able to average 10 points as a rookie and showed promise, but has seemingly lost his confidence and is currently shooting an abysmal 35% as he struggles to keep his starting position.  Beasley averaged 19.2 ppg and shot 45% last year but was shooting just 39% from the field and a ghastly 44% from the FT line before he sprained his foot.  Darko has been predictably inconsistent, but at least last year he could be counted on for two blocks a game whereas this year he is only averaging 0.8 a contest.  The inconsistencies from the starters has left the Wolves in holes early in games which Rubio has often been able to dig them out of, but it is not a recipe for success when your second unit is playing better than your first.

Wes Johnson and Beasley must play up to their potential if the Wolves want to be more consistent

As the team gets to practice and play more together under Adelman, it will improve both offensively and defensively. The turnovers will come down and free throw shooting will improve, because it cannot get much worse.  Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams will both see increased playing time, and they could prove to be a dynamic duo for years to come. Beasley and Wes Johnson will hopefully start playing up to their potential, and as the Wolves get healthier and develop chemistry they should hover closer to the .500 mark. With these improvements they can possibly contend for the 8th spot in the Western Conference which is shaping up to be a wide open and competitive race — giving hope to a franchise that so desperately needs it.

Ben Revere has been a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season for the Twins.  He has shown tremendous range in the outfield and has made many spectacular catches on the run. Last night he found a way to top them all while doing his best Spider-Man/Willie Mays impression:

Revere’s incredible catch

Revere has been a top prospect in the Twins organization for a few years and injuries have allowed the 23 year old to   prove that he can start for the Twins in 2012 and beyond.  Although his OBP has hovered around .300 for the season he has been consistently getting hits all season (80 hits in 85 games played), and his speed on the base paths has helped him score 44 runs and steal 23 bases on 30 attempts.  Extrapolate those numbers to a full 162 game season and he has the potential to score 100 runs and steal 50 bases, ideal numbers for a leadoff hitter or in the 2 hole behind Denard Span.

Revere's spectacular catch was just another example of the stellar defense and excitement he brings to the Twins

Span has struggled with symptoms from his concussion earlier in the season and could be out for the rest of the year as a precautionary measure. Span and Revere could make a very nice 1-2 combination at the top of the lineup and their speed would offer ample RBI opportunities for Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the 3 and 4 spots.

The Twins will have to decide whether or not Revere will take Span’s spot in CF, or one of the corner OF spots instead. Both players have great range and weak arms, with Span’s arm being a little stronger.  Either way, this leaves the Twins with one more open OF spot which could be filled by free agents Michael Cuddyer or Jason Kubel.  Cuddyer was voted the Twins only All-Star because of their plethora of injuries, and has enjoyed his best season since ’06 with a current line of .297/.364/.491.  Cuddyer does not have great range in the outfield but he has one of the best arms in the MLB and is a leader in the clubhouse who is very versatile (illustrated by his ability to play OF, 1B, and 2B this year). He will also be turning 33 in March and a deal of 3 or more years could come back to bite the Twins.

Kubel will serve the Twins better as a DH and 4th outfielder who has been one of the Twins most consistent hitters and was on pace to be their All-Star this year before going down with a foot injury.  These are just a few of the important decisions the Twins will have to make this offseason to be competitive again in 2012.

Matt Capps and Joe Nathan are also set to be free agents, with Glen Perkins looking to be the heir apparent as closer unless Nathan is willing to settle for less money than his $12.5 million team option.  The Twins will have decisions to make in terms of their starting pitching which has been their biggest weakness this season.

Francisco Liriano has been incredibly inconsistent even by his standards but still has the best stuff on the pitching stuff.  Scott Baker has been easily the Twins most consistent pitcher with a 3.21 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, but time on the DL has limited him to just 21 starts. Brian Duensing could be better served by moving back into the bullpen where he was very succesful in the past, possibly adding some speed to his fastball à la Glen Perkins who regularly throws 96 mph now after topping out around 93 as a starter.  Carl Pavano has shown that he can be a consistent innings eater and will finish the season around 200 IP with a respectable ERA in the mid or low 4′s.  Nick Blackburn has a staggering 1.60 WHIP and needs to be replaced by a free agent in the off-season.

For now the Twins will get to evaluate some young talent as the season winds down and hopefully see more consistent production from Mauer and Morneau to build confidence going into next season.

On a day when Delmon Young was traded to the Tigers after a disappointing 2011 season, Jim Thome put the that story to shame by launching his 599th and 600th home runs en route to a much needed Twins victory over the Tigers.

It is seeminly impossible to find a negative story about Jim Thome, who is heralded as a genuine class act and regarded as one of the nicest people in all of baseball. Thome joins the exclusive 600th home run club as its 8th member, with three of those members being tainted by PEDs (Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds).

Jim Thome has become just the 5th member of the "non-PED 600 home run club"

Thome will add it to the list of his career accomplishments which include being the only player besides “A-Roid” to hit 40 home runs for three different teams, holding the Indians single season home run record at 52, and the White Sox single season home run record for a left hander at 42.  Thome also boasts a gaudy .403 career OBP and .557 career slugging percentage.

The 3000 hit club has 28 members but the celebration for Derek Jeter made it seem as if he was the first member to join it. Thome’s 600th home run has not received as much press due to several factors but namely the fact that Minnesota is not nearly the same market as New York and the Twins disappointing season has not helped them garner attention around the team.

The story of lesser note was that Delmon Young was claimed on waivers by the Tigers and the Twins have received lefty Cole Nelson and a player to be named later in the deal. They also saved about $1 million that Young was due for the rest of this season. Cole Nelson is a 6’7 left hander who is just 22 years old, but currently has a 4.87 ERA and 1.64 WHIP in single A.  Nelson was selected in the 10th round of last years draft, and has the body to be a major leaguer.  Bottom line is that the Twins were not going to pay Delmon Young upwards of $6 or $7 million with the plethora of everyday outfielders on the potential 2012 roster (Denard Span, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Ben Revere).

The Twins are sellers at this point in the season and will need to sweep the Tigers in order to have a chance at catching them in September. That will be especially difficult since they have to face Justin Verlander tomorrow.

As evidenced by their 25th rank in the preseason Power Rankings on ESPN, the Vikings enter the 2011 season with lower expectations than past years when they had a certain quarterback who wore #4.  The lockout shortened offseason was particularly detrimental to a Vikings team which has a new head coach (Leslie Frazier), new offensive coordinator (Bill Musgrave), and a new QB (Donovan McNabb) to go along with a rookie QB (Christian Ponder).

The Vikings did not have very much cap room due to the new CBA salary cap of $120 million since they already had many veterans under contract.  Minnesota was forced to carefully choose the players they would add, as well as get rid of some players to clear up cap space. The off-season moves are indicative of how the Vikings feel about their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their opinion of returning players on their roster.

Moves:

1. Received Donovan McNabb for a 2012 6th round pick and a compensatory 2013 6th round pick

As stated in my previous article on the Vikings off-season priorities, I thought that Donovan McNabb would be the best fit for the Vikings in 2011. In terms of risk to reward, the Vikings gave up very little to acquire the 34 year old 6 time Pro Bowler.  McNabb has undergone much scrutiny and been second guessed repeatedly in his career and whether you believe it has been fair or not, his play on the field speaks for itself. People forget that 2009 was actually statistically one of his best and most efficient seasons (22 TD’s and a 92.9 QB rating in 14 games) before they lost to the Cowboys in the first round (McNabb’s only first round playoff loss in his career). As the quarterback, McNabb received an unfair amount of criticism when he was not responsible for the defense giving up 34 points, poor offensive line play, or turnovers by Michael Vick and Leonard Weaver in that game.

McNabb will give the Vikings more efficient play from the quarterback position than #4 could last year

After the 2009 season McNabb was traded to a putrid Washington Redskins team where he clashed with head coach Mike Shanahan and had few offensive weapons to go along with a shoddy offensive line.  McNabb’s 2010 season was not pretty but he comes into a much better situation in Minnesota with a chip on his shoulder, an improved offensive line and playmakers such as Percy Harvin and Adrian “All Day” Peterson that he did not have in Washington.  McNabb also got signed to a very reasonable 1 year $5 million contract with $2 million in incentives, which will motivate him to play for his next contract and prove that he is not done yet. While he will have to learn a new offense on the fly due to the lack of training camp, the Vikings should end up receiving more efficient quarterback play from McNabb this year than what they got from Favre last year.

2. Re-signed Ryan Longwell to 4 year/$12 million with $3.5 million guaranteed

An important singing for a valuable player who has a 93.5% success rate on FG’s in the past 2 years. The only knock on him was his distance on kickoffs, but with the ball moved up to the 35 yard line this year that shouldn’t be much of a problem.

3. Signed DT Remi Ayodele to a 3 year/$9 million deal, cut DT Jimmy Kennedy

This signing meant the release of Jimmy Kennedy (saved $2.5 million against cap) and most likely the end of Pat Williams’ tenure on the Vikings. It was a pleasure to see big Pat plug up running lanes for all these years and the hope is that Ayodele can do his best Pat Williams impression as the starting NT.

4. Signed WR Michael Jenkins to a 3 year deal, WR Devin Aromashodu to 1 year deal, and re-structured WR Bernard Berrian’s contract  

While I was hoping that the Vikings were going to make a bigger splash at WR, Jenkins offers them solid veteran WR who is a great run blocker and has familiarity with the offense playing under Musgrave in Atlanta. Jenkins is 6-4 and 214 pounds so he gives the Vikings a good red zone target to complement the speed of Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian. The Vikings did not want to match the $41 million ($18.5 guaranteed) that Seattle gave the injury prone Sidney Rice, and Jenkins will provide a solid red zone target for a bargain price. The Vikings also restructured Bernard Berrian’s contract so he is a free agent at the end of the season. Hopefully this will motivate him to play well for his next contract but I’m going to temper my own expectations.  Aromashodu will likely be the 4th or 5th WR but he has some big play ability.

5. Signed OL Charlie Johnson to a 3 year/$10.5 million deal, cut Bryant McKinnie 

Maybe if McKinnie did more of this during the lockout then he would still be on the Vikings

In the most surprising move of the off-season the Vikings cut underachiever Bryant McKinnie who was doing his best Fat Albert impression, apparently weighing in at over 400 pounds and had  very high cholesterol. While McKinnie did save the Vikings $5.65 million against the cap, replacing a starting LT is never easy. The 6-4 305 pound Johnson did start at LT for the Colts last year in protection of Peyton Manning, and has been successful at Guard as well. It seems that Johnson is more suited to play Guard than Tackle but the Vikings may be forced to play him at LT unless Phil Loadholt moves from RT to LT.  Offensive line was a problem in 2010 and is my biggest concern for the 2011 Vikings, with starting RG Anthony Herrera already unsure of whether or not he will be able to start the season.

6. Signed LB Erin Henderson to a 1 year/$1.2 million deal, Safety Husain Abdullah to a 1 year/$1.835 million deal, and cut Safety Madieu Williams

Abdullah and Henderson were both restricted free agents who look to be starters in 2011. Abdullah was the Vikings most consistent safety in 2010 with 75 tackles and 3 INT’s, and Erin Henderson is fighting for the starting job at weak-side LB next to his brother EJ.  Safety Madieu Williams has been a huge disappointment with the Vikings and by cutting him they saved $3.5 million against the cap. The other starting safety job will be a competition between the hard hitting Jamarca Samford, and Tyrell Johnson who is better in coverage.

Harvin has come to camp 10 pounds lighter and looks even quicker as the Vikings new #1 receiver

As I stated previously, the Vikings were not overly active in free agency because of their cap situation, but they made some important personnel moves that should help them in 2011. On offense getting McNabb will be instrumental in getting solid quarterback play from a team that will already be relying heavily on Adrian Peterson in the running game. Musgrave has come out and said that Peterson will be involved more in the passing game, something I have been clamoring for since his rookie year. As long as the Vikings can get the ball into playmakers hands like Harvin, Peterson, and hopefully a motivated Berrian, their offense will be productive. McNabb will also have safety nets like TE’s Visanthe Shiancoe, rookie Kyle Rudolph, and veteran WR Michael Jenkins.

Defensively the Vikings still have great veterans such as Antoine Winfield and Cedric Griffin as the starting corners, Chad Greenway and EJ Henderson at linebacker, Jared Allen and Kevin Williams on the defensive line. These veterans can still all play at a high level, but the Vikings will need younger players like Erin Henderson at LB, Chris Cook as the nickel CB, Brian Robison to replace Ray Edwards, and whoever wins the starting safety job to play at competent levels and make plays for the defense.  I will have more to report as the preseason gets underway and I look forward to watching football once again.

On the heels of a 6 game losing streak during a disappointing injury riddled season, the Twins were in need of a boost. Nick Blackburn out dueled Jon Lester and the Twins scored 3 in the ninth after giving up their lead like they had in the first two games against Boston.

Jim Thome did not hit HR number 599, but he did deliver the game winning RBI double to put the Twins ahead for good. Joe Nathan then closed the door for his 255th save, passing Rick Aguilera to become the Twins all time saves leader.

This was a necessary win to preserve a seemingly lost season (9.5 games back of Detroit), but the Twins received good news in that Justin Morneau and Alexi Casilla will both be returning on Friday at Cleveland.

With the returns of Morneau and Casilla, the Twins will finally have their opening day starting lineup healthy

Alexi Casilla was playing great defense and getting on base in the 2 hole (.385 OBP in his past 10 games). Morneau was 9-22 (.409) with four doubles in his rehab stint and should give the Twins a huge boost in the clean up role.

Unfortunately the Twins most consistent pitcher Scott Baker was placed on the DL with a strained flexor muscle in his right elbow, and Kevin Slowey has been called up to start in his place. Slowey will have the chance to prove that he can be a solid starting pitcher once again, whether or not it is for the Twins or another team.

The Twins have a critical 6 games coming up with 3 at Cleveland and then 3 at Detroit. They must win both series’ if they want to have a chance at making another late season comeback.

The Twins were very quiet at the trade deadline because according to GM Bill Smith, “I’d rather make no deal than a bad deal.” While this is an inarguable point the Twins are a team with a surplus of outfielders with Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Ben Revere and Denard Span.

Luckily Cuddyer can play first while Justin Morneau is still rehabbing from his neck surgery and Jason Kubel can DH so that Young’s bat can stay in the lineup. The Twins are off today while Denard Span plays his last scheduled rehab start and is then expected to join the team on Tuesday in Anaheim.

Span was the subject of trade rumors for closer Drew Storen, but ultimately the Twins decided to keep their steady lead-off man and starting CF

Ron Gardenhire has already stated that Span will immediately relinquish his role as the lead-off man and starting CF for the Twins, moving Ben Revere into a fourth OF/pinch runner position. Span will act as a mid-season acquisition for the Twins who will need production from the top of the order with Alexi Casilla recently going on the DL because of a strained hamstring, and Ben Revere’s underwhelming .300 OBP in the lead-off spot.

Hopefully Span can get on base more consistently to give RBI opportunities to Joe Mauer who hit .356 in July. Scoring more runs will help the Twins climb out of the 7 game hole they have put themselves in due to shaky starting pitching since the All-Star break.

Bill Smith did note that the Twins could be active in making some moves in the August waiver deadline, possibly involving incumbent free agents Jason Kubel and Delmon Young. While it can discouraging to see the Tigers adding Doug Fister and the Indians Ubaldo Jimenez, there are still plenty of games left for the Twins to make another late season surge in the AL Central.

It’s about time that we are able to talk some NFL. With the lockout finally over and an intense free agency period soon to come I wanted to outline what I think the Vikings priorities should be before the season starts.

1) Get a veteran QB:

Christian Ponder is the QB of the future in Minnesota since they used the first round draft pick on him, but asking a rookie QB to take control of the offense, especially with the lack of preparation due to the lockout, is unreasonable and not in the best interest of the team winning this season (No, I don’t believe that the Vikings are in a “rebuilding” mode since they still have a roster to win now). The most likely options are either Donovan McNabb or Kyle Orton. While Orton statistically had a much better season I believe that he was more a product of a pass heavy offense which saw him pad his stats since the Broncos were often trailing in games and needed to pass more.  McNabb will have playmakers like Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe, and hopefully Sidney Rice at his disposal in Minnesota which is a great improvement than what he had in Washington.  The Redskins have made it clear that John Beck is their QB and McNabb would be a smart short term move that would improve the Vikings this season.

2) Re-sign Sidney Rice:  

This will depend largely on what type of offers other teams are willing to give an injury prone but talented receiver.  Rice had his breakout year in 2009 with 1312 yards and 8 TDs with #4 as his QB.  He remains a very good red zone target but injury concerns should scare teams from giving him a long term deal.  Hopefully the Vikings can come up with a fair offer that is also very incentive laden in nature, but I would say it is 50-50 on whether or not Rice will be in a Vikings uniform this season.  If not then the Vikings will have to find another receiver to replace him.

When Sidney Rice is on the field he can make incredible catches like this, but will the Vikes be able to re-sign him?

3) Release or re-structure Bernard Berrian’s contract

The Vikings are going to be $5.1 million over the new salary cap and will be making some financial maneuvers to get under.  Berrian has a cap number of $6.3 million and did not have a TD last season so unless he is willing to take a large pay cut I don’t see how the Vikings can keep him.

4) Re-structure All Day’s contract

Adrian Peterson is the face of the franchise and as he enters the last year of his contract it is essential that they hammer out a long term deal. Also, his cap number of $12.8 million for 2011 gives the Vikings even more incentive to re-structure his contract so they have more cap relief this season and can backload some of his contract.

5) Re-sign Pat Williams

Although this unfortunately seems like the year that the Williams Wall will be suspended for 4 games, Pat Williams remains a great run defender and someone the Vikings should sign for this next season. Their run defense has always been a strength and even if Williams only plays on running downs he is very valuable to the defense.

6) Re-structure Chad Greenway’s contract

Greenway has been the Vikings leading tackler for the past three seasons and before the lockout they placed the franchise tag on him, making his cap hit $10 million for this season.  Similar to Peterson, the Vikings want to sign him long term anyways, and their cap concerns make the need for restructuring his contract even more logical.

I have faith that Zygi Wilf will do what is best for the Vikings as he has shown his willingness to spend money and make the necessary moves to put the best product on the field.  This free agency frenzy will be very interesting to follow and I look forward to seeing the Vikings make moves to improve their team in 2011 and beyond.

The Twins entered a 12 game homestand agaisnt their AL Central opponents 6.5 games back from the Tigers and finished it 7 games back.  They took 3 out of 4 from the Royals, split 4 games with the Indians, and dropped 3 out of 4 to the Tigers.

For a homestand where starting pitching was not particularly strong and the Twins could muster only 3.4 runs per game it could have gone much worse. I’m going to take the optimistic viewpoint of this homestand being merely an aberration for the offense which now has regulars such as Delmon Young and Jason Kubel back in the lineup. Jason Kubel needs to get hot so that the Twins are more of a power threat, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Joe Mauer hit a home run either.

Denard Span is on a rehab assignment right now and hopefully will be able to come back in a week or so since Ben Revere is in the midst of a 2-31 slump which has seen his batting average drop from .278 to .249. He also has hit the ball right back to the pitcher a startling number of times.

The Twins have missed Denard Span's steady production from the leadoff spot

Getting Span back will be important so that the top of the lineup can get on base for Mauer, Cuddyer, and Kubel to drive them in. The Twins are a startling 8-35 when they don’t score first versus a staggering 39-19 record when they do score first. This emphasizes the importance of the one two hitters so that the Twins can get on the board early.

Nevertheless 7 games back is still more than manageable in a wide open AL Central although the Twins will have to play better against the Tigers in their 9 remaining games with each other.

The Twins now go on a tough 10 game road trip to play the Rangers, Athletics, and Angels which will be no walk in the park.  My hope is that the Twins will emerge from this road trip no worse than the 7 games back that they stand right now.  In what has been an up and down season for the Twins, they need to start another hot streak to chip away at the Tigers.

After battling all year to move within just 5 games of 1st place in the AL Central, it was demoralizing for the Twins to get swept in a doubleheader against the Indians.  At 7 games back the Twins needed to at least avoid getting swept and preferably split the series.

The third game was not encouraging as we saw 7 2/3 innings of dominant pitching by Cleveland’s ace Justin Masterson, who gave up just 4 hits and no walks while he pumped his sinker to the tune of an astonishing 17 ground outs in the game.  Liriano was not at his sharpest but still went 6 innings and allowed just one run.

In the ninth the Indians turned it over to their All-Star closer Chris Perez who had blown only one save all season. After getting Alexi Casilla to fly out he walked Joe Mauer, gave up a bloop double to Michael Cuddyer (aided by infielder Luis Valbuena playing emergency LF), and intentionally walked Jim Thome to face his old college roommate, Danny Valencia.

Valencia worked the count to 2-1 and then pulled a fastball for a single to left which scored Cuddyer from 2nd and gave Valencia his 3rd walk-off hit of the season.

Valencia has an impressive 13 game winning hits as a Twin in just over a year's worth of at bats

Then in game 4 Valencia broke up a 4-4 tie in the 8th inning with another bases loaded single to take the lead.  Tsuyoshi Nishioka then slapped a single to left for 2 more runs leading to a Twins 7-5 victory.

These two wins kept the Twins within 5 games of the Al Central leaders (Detroit and Cleveland), and tonight the Twins start another important 4 game series against the Tigers.

As cliché as it sounds, every time that Twins fans are ready to give up on the team they seem to find a way to scrap together a win. Clutch plays have kept them in the race and shown the rest of the AL Central what they already knew: the Twins will fight until game 162*.

*Or 163 if necessary (http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13103651)