Charley Walters: Twins likely to decline trade offers for Jose Berrios, Byron Buxton

Jul. 24—Besides Nelson Cruz, who as expected was traded to Tampa Bay last week, the most sought-after Minnesota Twin as Friday's trade deadline approaches is starter Jose Berrios. Outfielder Byron Buxton would be, too, if he were made available, but that's unlikely.

The Twins have made multiple contract offers to Berrios, 27, who is under club control for 2022. The same for Buxton, 27, also under control for 2022. Expect both to be in Twins uniforms next year.

The Twins' Taylor Rogers, 30, is also getting steady attention from clubs seeking a closer.

It'll be surprising if shortstop Andrelton Simmons and starter Michael Pineda are still with the Twins after Friday.

The Wild have yet to retire any player jerseys during their 20-season history in St. Paul, but the first won't be recently departed nine-year competitors Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. It's expected to be the Wild's first permanent captain, No. 9 Mikko Koivu, who spent 15 seasons in the organization.

In anticipation that he might pitch against the Twins this weekend, Los Angeles Angels two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, 27, significantly increased ticket sales for the series at Target Field.

The Twins drew a season-high 23,337 for Ohtani's appearance at Target Field on Thursday evening.

The Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday recalled from the minors Brusdar Graterol, 22, whom they acquired in the Kenta Maeda trade with the Twins.

Funeral service for Tom Kelly Jr., who passed away at age 42 in Scottsdale, Ariz. in January, will be Aug. 13 at Transfiguration Church in Oakdale.

Had 7-foot-1 recent Minnehaha Academy grad Chet Holmgren, the incoming Gonzaga freshman, been eligible for Thursday's NBA draft, he would be a top-five pick, the same as his former teammate at MA, Jalen Suggs, on Thursday. Holmgren could be No. 1 overall next year.

Rochester's Matthew Hurt, who is leaving Duke after two seasons, will be a second round pick in Thursday's draft.

Tre Holloman, the 6-2 incoming Cretin-Derham Hall senior point guard who has Michigan State, Minnesota, Marquette, Oklahoma State and Dayton on his final five recruiting list (no favorite), on Sunday heads to Orlando, Fla., for a week as one of 60 national preps invited to the National Basketball Players Association camp.

Mike Rostampour, the former Henry Sibley basketball star, will play for Iran in the Olympics in Tokyo.

Career .304 hitter Tony Oliva, the former Twin who turned 83 last week, on his hall of fame chances in December's veterans committee vote: "I've been disappointed so many times — I've been waiting for the opportunity for 40-plus years. This time, I think it's looking good."

Only players not expected to attend the Twins' 30th anniversary celebration of their 1991 World Series championship on Aug. 14 at Target Field are Chuck Knoblauch, Jarvis Brown, Steve Bedrosian and the late Kirby Puckett.

There are 40 bowl games for the coming football season, and the Gophers will play Louisville in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 29, profootballnetwork.com predicts.

Despite returning 10 offensive starters, good guess on the Gophers' football season: A 6-6 finish, losing to Ohio State, Purdue, Maryland, Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin.

A massive steel replica sculpture of the storied Minnesota-Iowa Floyd of Rosedale football trophy, at a cost of about $125,000, was unveiled in Fort Dodge, Iowa., last week, messengernews.net mentions.

As of now, ex-Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater, 28, has a chance to win the Denver Broncos' starting job.

If Aaron Rodgers isn't quarterbacking the Green Bay Packers this season, the Vikings and Chicago Bears immediately become co-favorites to win the NFC North.

Nice to see a baseball player — the Twins' Mitch Garver — circle the bases after a home run without grandstanding.

Twenty-five years ago, ex-Gopher Tom Lehman received $310,000 for winning the British Open, which last week paid winner Collin Morikawa $2.07 million.

Minnesota boys basketball overall victories leader among 442 schools since 2011-12 is DeLaSalle, followed by Hopkins.

After spending four days in Denver recently during baseball's all-star break, that was hall of famer Dave Winfield meeting with pals for several hours at hometown St. Paul's Downtowner Woodfire Grill.

Coach Tony Johnson's 1999 DeLaSalle Class 3A state football champions, which included three players who went on to the NFL — Dominique Sims, Derrick Robinson and Jared Newberry — will be inducted into the Islanders' Hall of Fame on Aug. 5 at the school.

South St. Paul Hall of Fame inductees on Oct. 8: Gerald Gustafson, Glen Holzemer, Dave Grannis, Michelle Koerner and Julie Loomis.

As the University of St. Thomas moves from Division III to Division I in football this fall, top-tiered season ticket prices go from $150 to $275.

It's a new four-year men's golf coaching contract at Northern Illinois for John Carlson, the ex-Gophers coach.

The Gophers' P.J. Fleck, rated the 20th-best college football coach in the nation by Pro Football Focus, speaks at a Dunkers breakfast at the Minneapolis Club on Aug. 3.

Simley incoming senior Bella McCauley plays in the National PGA Junior Girls championship this week at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky.

Ex-Twins catcher Mike Redmond has moved from bench coach to interim manager of the Colorado Rockies.

Power-lunching at Lou Nanne's Tavern 23 in Edina last week were Joel Maturi, Darrell Thompson, Eric Eskola, Dave Lee, Dave Mona, Jerry Noyce, Dave Metzen, Doc Nagabods, Gene Glynn and Bob and

John Hoffman.

Hall of Fame Twin Kirby Puckett's 1986 Silver Slugger Award has brought $43,320 in a VSA online auction.

Former Gophers QB Adam Weber has gotten married to a former University of St. Thomas basketball player, Jazmin Townsend, and moved from Chicago, where he was in the commercial insurance business, to Dayton, Minn.

Ex-football Gopher Chris Gaiters is a detective with the Minneapolis police.

Retired pro wrestler "Jumpin' Jim" Brunzell from White Bear Lake reports the passing of fellow grappler Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff at age 71 from dementia last week.

Ryan McDonagh, the Cretin-Derham Hall grad and star defenseman for Tampa Bay, was to bring the famed Stanley Cup on Saturday afternoon to his alma mater in St. Paul.

The St. Paul Saints say as part of the deal for having a pig that delivers baseballs to umpires is providing that pig, named Space Ham, with all the hot dogs he can eat.

Inver Grove Heights' Sam Udovich, 14, who this spring won the national Drive, Chip and Putt age group championship at Augusta National, last week was runner-up by one shot in the Junior World championship at La Costa Country Club in San Diego.

Former Timberwolves broadcaster Jerry Schemmel, 61, will call Northern Colorado Bears football and basketball games this season.

Ex-Houston Rockets first-round draft pick Royce White, 30, from St. Paul is back playing in the Big3 professional 3-on-3 league.

Casey Danielson, 26, from Osceola, Wis., shot 68 the other day to win the Donald Ross Classic in Indiana for her second Symetra Tour victory of the year.

A "Fifty-Years of Tartan Baseball" celebration will be held with a golf tournament at Oak Marsh on Aug. 7.

The Macalester College women's golf team's nearly perfect collective grade-point average of 3.944 last season led all of Division III academically in the women's sport.

Blake Hoffarber, 33, noted for his dramatic basketball shooting feats as a Gopher, just enjoyed the birth of his second daughter in Wayzata.

For the 100th anniversary of the Resorters golf tournament next week in Alexandria, more than 500 entries were received within the first few hours of applications online.

Ex-Twins GM Terry Ryan spends a good amount of time at Target Field scouting for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Julian Loscalzo's 38th Bleacher Bums eight-day baseball tour begins Tuesday with visits to the major league Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, and minor league trips to the Louisville Bats, Quad Cities River Bandits and Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Chaska Town Course, Rush Creek, Stoneridge, the Meadows and the Jewell are rated the top five public golf courses in the Twin Cities area by Links magazine.

Local sports books author Ross Bernstein, who switched from a writing career to public speaking with gigs around the world, last week was inducted into the Council of Peers Excellence Speaker Hall of Fame.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Especially challenging for the disappointing Twins this season is that July is "harvest time," when the club seeks to cultivate potential season-ticket buyers and renewals for 2022.

The way it looks now, 345-pound Vikings nose tackle Michael Pierce, 28, out for the start of training camp with a calf injury, will play this season for $9 million, then have to move on despite a three-way contract.

Don't be surprised if former Vikings first-round draft pick cornerback Jeff Gladney plea bargains his family assault charge in court in Dallas on Thursday, then gets suspended by the NFL.

The Vikings and every other NFL team received $309.2 million in national TV revenue during last season's COVID year, it was revealed by the publicly-owned Packers last week.

Look for the Vikings' Brian O'Neill, 25, who's as talented as any right tackle in football, to sign a new deal that could approach $18 million a year.

The football Gophers already are 14-point underdogs to Ohio State for their Sept. 2 game in Minneapolis.

Some prominent Gophers supporters were worried the U of M might have dropped baseball had it not been for coach John Anderson, 66, recently inking a two-year contract extension.

The Gophers athletics department still owes some $40 million for its $166 million Athletes Village complex that opened three years ago.

Ex-Minneapolis Roosevelt football coach Adam Flanders will be named the Teddies' athletics director.

Experts say nice guy Giannis Antetokounmpo, after leading his Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA championship, could at least double his reported $25 million in endorsement deals.

Why the Timberwolves won't acquire Ben Simmons: The point guard has a $177 million contract that will guarantee $40.3 million in its final season in 2024-25.

Former DeLaSalle basketball star Cam Rundles will be hired as an assistant at the University of St. Thomas.

Look for recenty retired WCCO-AM icon Dave Lee to take a position working for the Richard Schulze Family Foundation.

Ex-Gopher Angus Flanagan, who won $5,000 for first place in his first pro golf tournament, the TapeMark, and shot 1-over-par 72 in the opening round of the 3M Open, has missed his first two cuts on the minor league Forme Tour.

The wife of a former Gophers football captain has mailed the president of Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio, requesting that the firm that has merged with TCF Bank not replace the Gophers maroon and gold logo on its football stadium with Huntington's green and white logo.

It's been nearly 10 years now that major league organizations have replaced traditional baseball people with front-office nerds.

St. Paul's Steve Friedlander, who has overseen golf operations at some of the country's most prestigious clubs, is getting renewed interest from posh Ventana Canyon in Tucson, Ariz.

While game parking fees adjacent the minor league St. Paul Saints' CHS Field are $20, ramps next to the marble league Twins' Target Field charge $12.

Indiana 6-8 basketball junior Race Thompson, the Armstrong grad, considered a transfer to Minnesota for the upcoming season but decided to remain with an experienced program.

Popular utility player Willians Astudillo, back with the Twins after being dispatched to the Saints, spent a hour after a game in St. Paul the other day autographing items for fans.

Odds of the Twins winning the World Series went from 60-1 on June 1 to 200-1 in July on BetOnline.ag.

The Timberwolves are 300-1 odds to win next season's NBA championship.

Odds of Vikings coach Mike Zimmer being fired this year are 11-1, according to sportsbetting.ag, which lists the Dallas Cowboys' Mike McCarthy the first to go at 7-1.

Reduced prices for ex-Twins autographed baseballs: Byung-Ho Park, $75; Matt Capps, $30; Jason Kubel, $25.

Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay protected Cretin-Derham Hall grad Ryan McDonagh, the star defenseman who made $6.75 million this year and turns 33 next month, from Seattle in last week's expansion draft.

Marcus Carr joined six other transfers headed to Texas that with the ex-Gopher combined to average 89.2 points last season, Chris Monter points out.

Coach Richard Pitino, whose Gophers last season made just 207 of 730 three-pointers, told thelairnm.com that he wants his new team, New Mexico, to average about eight three-pointers per game.

Good news: Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, who include ex-Viking Steve Hutchinson, will be limited to six minutes for their acceptance speeches on Aug. 7 in Canton, Ohio.

OVERHEARD

St. Cloud native Bob Barbarossa, now 73 and living in Bonita Springs, Fla., on still being the youngest player (age 16) in the 118-year history of the Minnesota State Amateur to win its golf championship: "I remember very distinctly that I played against all my heroes in Minnesota, Gene Christenson and Neil Croonquist and on and on at Somerset Country Club. I played really, really well, and the amazing thing I always think back on is that I wasn't nervous.

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