Break Out The Bats, Gloves, and Suspensions?

Today the Minnesota Twins will begin their 55th Major League Baseball season.  This 55th season brings a lot of questions and a new manager to lead the way.

The Twins finished spring training with a record of 14-16-3, which some casual fans may say is not so bad.  Paul Molitor, former All-Star who played with the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Minnesota Twins, is now leading the ship over at Target Field.  Ron Gardenhire, who managed the Twins since 2001, was let go during the offseason as the Twins had just completed their fourth consecutive 90-loss season.  As a big Twins fan, every year of the past four seasons was a pill harder and harder to take.  The front office of the Minnesota Twins had finally had enough, at least that is what they say.  Along with replacing Gardenhire, they also terminated the services of pitching coach Rick Anderson.  Many were big fans of Rick Anderson and as time went on, I was not.  It was hard seeing so many pitchers leave the Minnesota Twins and become big successes.  Francisco Liriano had a near Cy Young award winning season in 2013 and he wasn't the only pitcher to do well.  Kyle Lohse also had a high level of success after leaving the Twins, which included a big pay day contract in the middle of it all.  Kyle Lohse also got to taste the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Johan Santana, who was outstanding with the Minnesota Twins and like so many other players, became too expensive for the Minnesota Twins checkbook.  Johan Santana did not go on to a World Series, but played in a big market with the New York Mets where he went on to throw the ever elite No-Hitter.  This is just a few of the examples of pitchers who left and became success stories and in some cases household names.  There are more, but this is why I felt that Rick Anderson needed to leave along with Ron Gardenhire.

Ron Gardenhire didn't have that same fire that he had when the team was successful.  When Gardenhire was given somewhat of an ultimatum after the 2013 season, you would like to think that it would serve as a wake up call.  It appeared that it did not as Gardenhire's team in 2014 showed no improvement.  The sad thing about the 2014 season is that Target Field was the featured ballpark by hosting the elite Major League Baseball All-Star Game.  This was the first time the Minnesota Twins were the hosts of this game since 1985 when the game was played in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.  Thankfully, out of sympathy, the Minnesota Twins did have two players on the 2014 All-Star squad.  Hometown kid Glen Perkins and catcher Kurt Suzuki were able to play in the mid-summer classic, unlike hometown hero Joe Mauer, who is currently getting paid $23 million dollars a season to be an average base hitting player.

I don't like being negative, but the Minnesota Twins have a lot to prove to win their fans back.  These fans are willing to spend their hard earned money to be competitive.  I am not saying they have to necessarily win, but they need to be competitive.  It is hard to be a Minnesota summer sports fan when you know you baseball squad is out of it by the All-Star break.

While the Twins did make some changes in leadership, brought in Starting Pitcher Ervin Santana in the highest free agent contract in Minnesota Twins history at four years for $55 million dollars, and brought back fan favorite Torii Hunter, they fans had something to maybe buzz about.  The reality is that the central division in the American League may be the most difficult in all of baseball this season, which doesn't bode well for the Twins.  Sports Illustrated in fact went out on a limb and predicted the Cleveland Indians, who have a young powerful starting rotation, to the World Series champs this year.  The Detroit Tigers lost Starting Pitcher Max Scherzer, but brought in prized pitcher David Price who shut down the Twins today on Opening Day in Major League Baseball. The Kansas City Royals made it to the World Series last year and are ready to prove that they are not just a fad with their young and talented squad.  The Chicago White Sox also made many changes in the offseason to improve their team with their focus on another Central Division title.  So the Twins have a challenge this year with the division mates being all competitive.  Just a couple of days ago, the Twins were also dealt with some more bad news.  Their big money free agent pitcher, Ervin Santana, was informed that he failed a test for a banned substance and was dealt an 80-game suspension as a penalty, which is half of the season.

In closing, I hope the Twins can put a spark in our summer sports season like the Minnesota Wild have done in the NHL during the late winter and spring.  It would be refreshing to be talking again about the successes of the Twins.  The last four seasons for the Twins have proved one thing.  If you lose badly in Major League Baseball, that trend can continue for many consecutive years if it isn't addressed immediately.  The Twins skid is now nearing a half of a decade and they barely fill half of their beautiful stadium that is only five years old.  Good luck Paul Molitor and the Minnesota Twins!

#twinsbiggestfan

Yo, Adrian!!!

I am a big Minnesota Vikings fan.  They have been my team from the day I was born, and will be my team forever.  I am really struggling with this Adrian Peterson nonsense that is going on.  Many times when a professional athlete is making a career change either via a trade, or signing on with a new team by the way of free agency, you must likely will hear the line, "At the end of the day, it's a business."  Sometimes the athlete says that to support their decision to sign with another team. Sometimes the athlete ends up saying it because they were traded, which didn't make them happy, and all they have to fall back on is that statement.  This is something that Adrian Peterson needs to be aware of, the NFL is not only a sport, but also a business.  I don't like getting into the politics, because it frustrates me when some teams are able to spend more money which creates an imbalance in sports.  However, Adrian Peterson's choices most certainly affected a business and it put the Minnesota Vikings not only in the spotlight in a negative manner, but also in a bind.  Adrian claims to be upset with the Minnesota Vikings for not letting him play during the investigation last season when the Vikes put him on the Commissioner's Exempt List.  Despite being on this list, Adrian was sitting at home, but still receiving his paycheck each week.  The Vikings wanted to play him badly after be deactivated for a week, but when several of the Minnesota Vikings sponsors threatened to pull the sponsorship because of what Adrian Peterson chose to do, what else were the Minnesota Vikings supposed to do?  They had to make a business decision to keep their business viable.  Now, if it had been me that chose to do the actions that he did, I would been sent home...without a job and without anymore paychecks.  Adrian Peterson was allowed to make a plea deal (like all athletes that run into trouble magically do) and get the felony charges removed.  He was then suspended for the rest of the year, and finally stopped getting paid.

Now it is 2015, and everything is behind Adrian Peterson, although the trauma his son is probably still experiencing from the incident is still as fresh in his mind as the day it happened.  Adrian is lucky, he finally has the opportunity to have life back, and focus on playing in the NFL again. However, Adrian has chose to not let things go.  Adrian feels everything is owed to him.  Adrian feels that the Minnesota Vikings screwed him over, even though they have said time and time again that they welcome him back with arms wide open.  Instead of being grateful for his second chance, he now demands a trade, and he wants to be traded to Dallas, near his hometown.  He feels that he shouldn't have to renegotiate his contract and that's fine.  If he wants to stick to the numbers on the contract, then he should remember one number at this time.  That number is three, the number of years left on his contract.  He owes that to the Minnesota Vikings if they chose to keep him no matter of how big of a fit he throws.  It's all me, me, me with Adrian Peterson.  Before he was charged with crime that he chose to commit, the Vikings were "all in" with having Peterson be the face of the Minnesota Vikings.  In every drawing or image shown in the media of the new Vikings stadium being built, Adrian Peterson's picture was a part of those images.  They are not part of those images anymore.  The ones to take the worst punishment is the fans.  The fans who spend their hard earned money to go to the games.  What did the fans do?  It was selfish enough to affect the 2014 season the way it did, but dang it! Let's not let it affect the 2015 season.  We have Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback, the most promising player at quarterback since Brett Favre.  We brought in Mike Wallace at wide receiver to make the big plays.  We have also made numerous free agent signings and already had a solid defense.  Adrian, please don't screw up our 2015 season, the fans don't deserve it.

So if it were up to me to handle the Adrian Peterson situation, here is what I would do.  I would approach Adrian and tell him that we would like him to play for the Minnesota Vikings for the 2015 season.  After all, if Adrian Peterson is pissed, he will run hard this upcoming season.  He hasn't played in almost a year when the new season begins, and if he sits out (called a "holdout") he could be sitting out of action for a second consecutive season.  If he does this, it will have a drastic effect on his effectiveness as a star NFL running back.  I think it would be career suicide if he sat this season out.  So, I would tell him that he has three years left on this contract that he will not be released out of.  I would also tell him that he will be almost 34 years old when his contract is up, which means he may likely be past his prime.  So...I would tell him that if he comes back to the Vikings and play 2015 with full effort, then after the season I would trade him if still requests it.  By doing this, the Vikings get him for one more year in his prime and it allows the team to make alternative plans at the running back position for the future instead of being screwed on the spot.  By doing this, it would give the Vikings some leverage back.  Now I know Adrian Peterson is making huge money, which affects the Vikings salary cap, but it could be worth it if he shuts his mouth and runs angry.  The other catch to this is that NFL Free Agency has already began and teams are moving quickly to put their teams in place prior to the NFL Draft.  Many teams are not willing to pay for Adrian Peterson's contract and don't want to give up a high draft pick for someone who only cares about himself.

Now I could be wrong here, and the Vikings could still trade him during the NFL Draft.  I just hope that he is not given what he wants by being traded to the Dallas Cowboys, where he wants to go.  I am just tired of Minnesota sports teams being in the position to have to trade a superstar player because of a fluke or losing.  It is those days that makes it hard to be a Minnesota sports fan.

#govikesgo

New Blog, New Topics!

Welcome to my newest blog called Minnesota Sports Scene.  Many of you read my other blog called, "Blogging Rookie" and I hope you enjoy and share my passion with Minnesota sports.  I look forward to writing about sports items that are going on in all levels of sports throughout the state of Minnesota.  Now, what I write is my opinion, and as always it is ok to disagree with my thoughts.  I encourage anyone who reads my blogs to leave comments after reading my blogs.  Who knows, it may prompt me to write about something that you bring up.

I would say that my favorite sport is baseball.  I have been a Minnesota Twins fan since I was about nine years old.  My wife is not really a sports fan, and most of my family is not sports fans, except my brother and my two brothers-in law.  So, I am excited for this and here we go...