Well we’ve stuck a fork in the Vikings for the season so let’s start talking a little baseball, shall we?

I think the Minnesota Twins will have a better season than the last four years. With new skipper Paul Molitor at the helm, a little twist in management style may be a part of what this team will need. The Twins starting pitching rotation is looking better that recent seasons and with the signing of Phil Hughes to a 5 year deal, they may finally be coming around at opening the purse strings. The Twins defense looked pretty decent last season, but if they’re going to win more games, the offensive needs some work. Too many men left on base, base running errors, and power are some of the things to work on. People have to stop picking on Joe Mauer. One man is not the cause of this team losing all these games over the last four years. Every sports talk show caller says he should renegotiate his contract and take a pay cut. Seriously!? Put yourself in his spikes. Would you take a cut? You can’t blame Joe on this one. The Twins and Mauer’s agent cut the deal. Neither had to sign it. Besides that, if Mauer actually said that he’d be willing to do it the Player’s Union would probably rip him to shreds in the press. I don’t think he could do it if he wanted too.

One of the things that a lot of fans have told me over the last couple of years is that when they would be listening to the Twins on radio, they couldn’t tell which team was up to bat because of the different names on the roster. There were call-ups from the minors because of injuries and players sent down because of performance on the field. I’m surmising that something like that could be a problem in the clubhouse, when you’re not playing as a consistent unit.

Barring any injuries, I think the Twins could play slightly above .500 ball next season and a little better in 2016. I wouldn’t make World Series plans just yet.

Another Twins note is that the Veterans Committee failed again to induct anyone into baseball’s Hall of Fame. This year, Twins Tony Oliva missed it by one vote and former Twin Jim Kaat missed it be two. Three years ago when the committee last voted, Kaat missed by one vote. Jim Kaat was an amazing baseball pitcher who played in four different decades. (1959 to 1983) He won 16 consecutive Gold Glove awards which goes to the top defensive player at each position on the field. As a side note these awards are large and when I had a chance to interview Jim concerning his autobiography he said he wasn’t sure where they all were. They were so big he gave some away to a relative or a friend and he’s not sure who’s got them. Another interesting tidbit he told me was that he was quite frugal when it came to his baseball glove. He had used the some glove for 15 straight years. He was a pretty good hitter for a pitcher. I recall as a kid that manager Sam Mele would occasionally call on Kaat to pinch-hit for the pitcher that was in the game. You’re never gonna see that again.

The Twins Winter Caravan stops in Fargo again and this year it’s on Jan. 13th at Avalon West (formerly the Hub). Twin’s Kyle Gibson, Caleb Thielbar, and former Twin and broadcaster, Dan Gladden are the scheduled guests and ballpark food and of course the famous Twins highlight video, which some say will be very short again this year. (insert smiley face here) Tickets are available at KFGO on on-line at our stations website. Alright, so now to make plans on where to go to watch the Super Bowl this year.