October 30, 2025 • 33 mins
Lavelle in studio for a couple segments on the Twins manager news and other topics, before Wild coach John Hynes joins in front of tonight's game against the Penguins!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
About about the final play of the Timberwolves game involving
Austin Reeves and and Chris Finch answered that right out
of the gate, I thought it was really interesting take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Well, you know, in those situations, I think, uh, you know,
we've been really good when we just kind of switch everything,
keep everything in front. And you know, yesterday we we
kind of stayed in what you call coverage, and uh,
you know, the most important thing is whether you decide
to do A or B or C, is that you
(00:33):
have great clarity on what you're doing. And you know,
I think maybe there was a little bit of uh
indecision on what we were going to do there, So
uh totally on me in that moment in time, I
thought we executed the play before perfectly well we wanted
to take the foul, uh, and then after that, I
just I thought, you know, we needed to be a
(00:55):
little bit more clear on what was going on.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So that's Chris Finch, coach of the timber Wolves.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Lavelle Neil, the third columnist for the Star Tribune, nice
enough to join us in the studio. Thanks for taking
time to help KFA. We appreciate you and thank you
and good morning, Good morning wolves. In a little bit,
maybe Derek Shelton is the new Twins manager.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (01:16):
I thought this is one of the outcomes of this.
I thought this was the one possible outcome of the
Twins search. I thought it was gonna be someone either
Rauson or Shelton, two former Twins coaches were had probably
at the inside track to the gig because the Twins
know them, they know they know them well, they know
their smell. I didn't think they're gonna get a name guy.
(01:40):
When Scott's service showed the interest, that was intriguing to
me because he has had some He's had success.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
In the past.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
He has managed to see La Mariners to the playoffs.
He's dealt with good veteran players. He was there when
Juleo's Rodriguez broke in as a twenty one year old.
You know, I thought, okay, that could work here with
some of the Twins bits. But he was no longer
a candidate as of late last week. So both Shelton
(02:08):
and Ralson interviewed extremely well, which is really isn't surprising
the Twins do that before going back to twenty eighteen.
Shelton actually interviewed for the Twins manager job that Rockaball
Delhi got, but he was so impressive during that process
that the Twins asked him to be the bench coach,
(02:28):
and Shelton was crushed when he didn't get the job,
but he agreed to be the bench coach, so he
ended up being here two years. I worked with Rocco
and then moved on to I screwed it up Nowlsburg. No,
Shelton Sheldon up working. He was actually he was under
(02:49):
Monelors staff for a year, then Rocco staff for a
year before going to Pittsburgh. So now at Pittsburgh, believe
it or not, Pittsburgh situation in terms of funding a
hero's even worse than a Twins, and their front system
is and it has not been as strong.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So they lost a lot and a lot and a
lot and a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Wouldn't it be fair to say was worse than the Twins.
I mean, honestly, with all pro sports teams, and I'm
not just being you know, sarcastic, low hanging fruit guy here,
there can't possibly be an overall worse situation in pro
sports than this Twins deal.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a fierce competitor for that. This
is how bad it is in Pittsburgh, right, remember COVID.
Everybody took it up to shorts and COVID. Some teams
laid off employees and Twins did not. The Pirates froze
their employees' pench and plant payments during that pit. Okay,
so this was like to be it with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Maybe they just put a mask on it and it
really was there. People just didn't know how to get
to it.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And and there's people in the organization I really like
to have twins ties well I know very well, so
I feel bad for them. So so he got cam
May eighth of this year. So after they got to
like a twelve and twenty six start, a tough start,
and they.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Had they decided to move on.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
So so she brought Paul Skeins with him, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So the question is, you know what assurance is the
Shelton get in terms of how the Twins are gonna
fund this payroll?
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Is he prepared for.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
A rebuilding plan that may take a couple of years.
But he was well liked here, well organized, great communicator,
entertaining fellow like sus bourbon.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Uh so Illinois born.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
A lot of a lot of positives for with Derek Shelton.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah for you.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Oh, just a quick aside here, I just quickly googled
Paul skeensuh huh to make sure I didn't mess his
name up. And it was Paul Skeen. I knew it
was Skeens, but I was a ninety eight percenter. Yeah,
so I google it and first thing that pops up
his girlfriend is that gymnastics and yeah, social media influence
(05:01):
or whatever that is.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, Libby don Yeah, damn.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I didn't know that she was in town for She
was in town for the Pirate series.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So this year she was enough for the Pirate series.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
She got some FaceTime on the on the on the
video board Skien started during that series. The Twins won
that game that Skien started. That was also tonight that
Nelly performed after the game, so they actually have forty
thousand people at the ballpark that day.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
What's Nelly's most unpopular song? Was it it Skin Hot Here?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Then? You're kids like that song? Wasn't that jam for
one of your h.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
My daughter Nicole competed in dance now part of Hot
the Hot in here without the words, the instrumental bit.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The beginning, the beginning, the beginning.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, well, hey, so I'm looking forward to seeing Shelter back.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
He'll be great with the media.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
He's probably learned some lessons from his time in Pittsburgh
and we will stee how they apply it here.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Because this this is happening in the world. Why is
the Louisiana governor on McAfee.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Well, here because because the governor came out yesterday and
said he will not allow that fled director to hire
the next football coach after they just.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Fired Frank Kelly. Frank Kelly at LSU.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Yeah, he's they're gonna have they're gonna come up with
a board to select.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
A new coach. He's does he get to do that?
I guess he's gonna try to. He does not like
the ad.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
He's mad because with Kelly's deal, Kelly had like a
fifty eight million dollar buyout on its state school. Yeah,
and so he said, this is a terrible contract. I
can't believe you signed that. I'm not gonna let him
do that do this again. So yeah, so it's not
like the state's going to hire the coach. He even
he even joked they may have Donald Trump picked the
next coach of the LSU Tigers. Sol So now now now,
(06:48):
now Collegeport.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Is getting pulicized now man So.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
Okay, three to two the con Hey, Lavelle, what are
you what would you say to Twins fans who are
incredibly overwhelmed with the Shelton hiring that they believe that
if it was time to move on from Rocco Baldelli
replacing them with somebody who is perceived as being very
much of that mold, clearly you know, going formerly a part.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Of the staff.
Speaker 7 (07:13):
In fact, that this is this is an awful hire
that if you are looking to freshen things up, that
you are looking to kind of as we are turning
the page, as we've talked about Viking style earlier this week,
if you're trying to turn the page and push things
into twenty twenty six in a new and fresh direction,
that this is the antithesis of this.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
In fact, well I wrote.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
About this at the outset of this process to try
to manage expectations. Don't expect like a hot candidate or
a name player, a named a person with name recognition
to come in and take over the program.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It was not going to happen.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
It was going to be either a familiar face or
a first time manager.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Then is that because of the state of the franchise.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yes, because, like Ryan Flaherty, the Twins bench coach, was
considered a candidate here.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But he's a hot He's actually a hot commodity.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
It has several options, and it sounds like he may
be headed to the Projects. So if you have a
choice between San Diego and Minnesota, which programming you're selecting,
You're selecting the podject.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I mean that's two for two on the team and
the location.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, And the only thing I say is that hate
Shelton was here in twenty nineteen when the Twins won
one hundred and one games and set a record for
the titup set of major legue record for home runs
hit in the regular season. So he was here for
the good times, then left in twenty twenty to go
manage the Pirates. So maybe some of his good vibes
from that twenty nineteen campaign can be rekindled here. And
(08:39):
let's face the folks, the Twins are ready to win.
This is gonna be a couple of years before they
meet to get in the position here They got a
bunch of these young pitchers with live arms that still
are learning how to pitch in the majors. Some of
be part of the rotation next year. Maybe more spots
to be available if the Twins trade Pablo Lopez and
or Joe Ryan, which I said, Sai, They're gonna trade
(09:00):
Joe Ryan for sure this offseason, and the others were
end up in the bullpen. You got hitters who need
to get over to hump. Matt Waner, he's got to
be better. Trevor Larnark may have he may have voiced
his last chance with the Twins. They may cut him
loose during the offseason. Brooks Lee showed some flashes. I
think he had sixteen home runs this year, which is
which is promising. But Ben Affrick is a little bit
(09:22):
lower than what the Twins expected. They've got to get
him to make harder contact. And Shelton has been a
hitting coach hitting coach in the past. And then at
the top of the list is Royce Lewis. Royce Lewis should
be the focal on the Twins offense. Man, he's not there.
He's coming off for two poor seasons. You know the
guy who said I don't slump is now slump severely
in each of the last two years. Uh, he probably
(09:44):
needs some remodeling two in terms of his his approach
it the plate, maybe a swing. So there's work to
be done here, you know, Luke Keishue. Can he stick
at second basis? And should he be moved to the outfield?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Did the Twins have a first basement? Do the Twins
have a number three? This was at a number four eighter.
You know, there's a there's a lot of things.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Indeed that we worked over with this roster.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
Man.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
So regardless of who's taken over uh, the program here,
it's gonna be a couple of years before the Twins
maybe be in a.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Position to do anything.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
But these are two critical years in order to get
the younger people, the younger players to reach their potential.
You've got you've got Walker Jenkins probably getting into the
mix sometime next year, Emlue, Rob Veguez, Uh, maybe Calen Culpeper. Uh.
So we'll see how this goes. Man, and I think
the press conference is going to be sometime on Tuesday,
(10:38):
so maybe we'll get some clarity about the direction as
franchises had.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
It to to that end. Earlier you mentioned about assurances.
What what kind of assurance is clearly there's a process
through the interviewing and communication and decide to hire a guy.
You you get, you get all of Shelton's cards, and
hopefully Shelton gets most of the Twins cards. I would
I would assume then that he's on board with and
aware the idea. As you mentioned, this roster is actually
(11:03):
gonna get and look potentially much worse in March than
it does even now, because we Bill will potentially be
moving a Joe Ryan Pablo Lopez is potentially so you're
coming in in March maybe with less even than what
this team has now.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
That would be discussed, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Think that would have to be discussed in terms of
what the payroll is gonna look like, what players would
be allowed to bring in.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I don't think he.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Has a coach at staff in place as of now,
so he's gonna have to have discussions about who from
this current staff gets to stay stay and who he
would like to bring in from outside. I think the
pitching coach situation is gonna be very interesting. Actually, I
think Pete mckie's a pretty good pitching coach. I think
he's got a chance of sticking. But if he doesn't,
that high is gonna be crucial for all these dudes,
(11:47):
the Zebbie, Matthews and David Festas, the Mick Abeles, the
my man who came over from Tampa Bay, David Price, No,
Jeff Wright, James Shields, Tod Bradley, Todge Bradley, Yes, thank you,
Uh TODG. Bradley, who's got a load of talent but
needs to harness. They don't have a bullpen, they have
(12:08):
a playpen right now. You know, they've got to by
some guys to be relievers. Man, who's the closing next year,
Cole Sands? You know so, I mean there had to
be a lot of discussions about where this roster is at,
what they want.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
To achieve, and what's realistic expectation.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
We should try to trade for a guy like Louis Varlin,
you know, after the season, if guys like that are available,
would be cool to those guys on your team.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
If you're president of Baseball Operations, Derek Falve, how do
you handle all this?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
What you mean? I got you?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I mean with what's in front of you. Okay, you
got the manager, all right? I mean, you got what
you got here, Paul.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
You know, it all starts at the top, and Fay's
getting his marching orders from the from the from the ownership,
you know, and you.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Know they tapped out on helping no one.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
No one has come out and said it, but I
have a my spider sense tells me that it was
the ownership that wanted to trade players at the deadline.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
There's ownership to want to Rock dismissed. And now you know.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
It's up to them to provide Falve funds and direction
of how he can proceed with putting together a roster
for a shelting. So this starts at the top. And
that I wrote in the story today in today's editions
of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Well, I didn't know what you wrote and what Chris
Miller wrote, well, because it was co byline.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Oh, you're talking about the interesting things about Derek Sheldon.
I wrote the main story after the news broke. So
I think it's gonna be interesting sidebar to the press
conference on Tuesday, because I'm sure questions are going to
be asked about what the payrol is gonna be look
looked at. Now that it's October now or damn in November,
they share idea what they're going to spend during this offseason.
Can they be such some sort of a little transparent
(13:50):
about what they're going to do this offseason? Teams don't
like to do that generally. Can the twins are articulate
in some way or some fashion and where they're headed
with this roster during the off season?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Answer?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
What's probably going to ask about the limited partners, these
mysterious limited partners that no one knows who they are.
When are they going to be announced? And what type
of impact that they're going to have on roster's decisions?
Maybe Proof Life, Yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you. We
need him.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Standing somewhere with today's version of the Minnesota Star Tribune
with the current date on it.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Proof of Life, be careful of AI.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Who the manager is was just one of several questions
that was answered yesterday by ear This morning, is it
with the official announcement of Shelton being manager? There's still
so many questions that need to be answered with this franchise.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
L Lavelli Neil the third columnist, Star Tribume at Lavell
Neil via X World Series conversation and then some football
with our beloved wobble around the corner.
Speaker 7 (14:50):
But first the fan along with two men in a
junk truck, want to give you a shot at some
bonus box with the National Cash Contest. This hour's keyword
is credit. Use the keyword credit KFA dot com. You
might win with the keyword credit at kfan. Do I mean,
holy cal did they hit on a good one? And
he was in single a earlier this year? Incredible man, Yes,
(15:12):
yes it is. It's very impressive. His breaking ball is nasty.
It's absolutely filthy. It says sliders sometimes it says splitter.
At other times that thing gets to like within three
feet of the plate and just all of a sudden
just drops straight down.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
At like ninety miles an high or whatever. Right, just
an impressive thing, but interesting. Think about Treya Savage. He
was selected in a draft two years ago. I want
to say, yeah, twenty twenty three first round pick. Was
it twenty twenty four? Yeah, it's first round pick. So
(15:48):
during his year this draft year, he ended up having
a punctured lung late in his season, which hurt his stock,
or he would have been he would have went a
little bit higher in the draft. So he was following
in that first round out. Okay, the Twins are drafted
behind the Blue Jays. They were all over him. They
had scouted him, they had cross checked him, they wanted
(16:09):
They say, if he's dropping down the right spot, we're
gonna take him.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
And the Blue Jays selected him one spot ahead of
the Twins.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
What amazing trade value that would have given the Twins
last year at the deadline.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I always loved that one. Twentieth overall twenty twenty four. Yeah,
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So the Toys are drafted twenty first, and they ended
up taking Kamlin Culpeper, Who's a guy.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Who's a guy.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
He had a great year, a double A and could
debut in the majors next year. But no, Y Savage
was on the Twins radar big time hitting that draft.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Do you put y'a momoto in the winter circle tomorrow night,
or do you think that the Jays closed out the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Just the one thing that's fascinating me in this series,
And I don't know if you remember last week when
the Jays won with the with the Springer home run
that looked like Joe Carter's home run in nineteen ninety three,
and I called Paul Molitor and talked about it, and
so I was talking to Wilder.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I said, do you think the Blue Jays have a chance.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
I think if the Blue Jays get to their the Dodgers' bullpen,
they got a chance to score some runs here.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
And Maaler agreed.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
He said, the thing about the blue Jays hitters is
that even like their seventh, eighth, and ninth hitters, they
push pitching counts up. They battle, they get the two
strikes and start falling off pitches. They extended bats and
they wear down a starter him And he says, if
the Blue Jays can do that in this series, they
can do damage.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I we so, and that's happened a little bit.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
What this transpired is that the Blue Jays have been
able to pitch to the Dodgers, which has been pretty
impressive with just Savage and some other bits here Shane Bieber,
you know, getting what they can out of the shirts
or and I don't know what injury Jose Burrios has,
because you know, he didn't make the roster, He didn't
mention the postseason. It would have been interesting to see
the former twin on the mountain in the World Series.
(17:52):
So that's the thing just jumped out to me, is
that they've been able to pitch to the Dodgers. I
believe that once you beat shoahil Tani when he's at
the it was powers, that anything's possible. As much as
I'm impressed with Yamamoto's arsenal and his his pitching acumen
and is willing to be a horse, they beat, they
beat O show Hey, and so they're not they're not
fearing anybody right now. Right you know, Springer may try
(18:16):
to play now with the side bit. Uh, look what
he did yesterday, Blake Snell three pitches to home runs
for off the bat, talk about getting punched in the
nose in the first inning, you know. So I wouldn't
put it past the Blue Jays to have success against Yamamoto.
And if they get into that bullpen, especially how everything's
transpired in this series, that marathon game in Game three,
(18:39):
beating losing this, losing to him in Game five, if
they get to Yamamoto, that could be.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Just devastating for the Dodgers. In the Blue Jays could
win Game six. Your best forty five seconds on this.
Your bears are at SINCI. This weekend. Are you expecting
win number five against old Joey Flacco?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Well, the only chance the be have to win this
game is that Flacco doesn't play. Blackhoo's got an ac
joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. Oh, he is fifty
to fifty for Sunday. He did not practice yesterday. Don't
know if he's practicing the deck that said, the Bears
top three corners are out. Jalen Johnson's been out, three
(19:19):
Steeves is out, Kyler Gordon's out.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Wow, they're starting backups to the backups. Dog. They had
to sign the guy I hate c D.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Gardner Johnson yesterday to help fill out their secondary. Remember him,
Him and the Latimore those as the Saints' secondary guys
who just talked trash for for sixty minutes. They signed him.
He's like one of the biggest trash talkers in the NFL.
Man and can't find a job. He was starting with
Eagles last year, which is weird. So we got that problem.
(19:51):
We're not getting a pass rush. Montese is driving.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Me up the wall.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Your boy, uh Nortles boy or Dame Bowl has been
underwhelming and getting it. Paid a lot of money to
be underwhelming dat yout but Austin Booker has been activated
this weekly.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
If I are.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The fourth round pick from not I think Northwestern who's
been impressive, was great in camp but got into Layton
camp and not play yet this year. Hopefully can help
the pass rush. But man, if Flaco starts, we're in trouble.
Jake Browning, we got us shot, but we got to
run the ball, which we can. We do have a
seven cell offensive line now that could run block. If
(20:33):
we can get the run end going and uh and
get Jake Browning to misfire to T Higgins and Jean Chase,
then we have a chance.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
But I'm very nervous. I appreciate you. See you next week. Peace.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Lavella Neil the third column to Star Tribune. Well Punk
talk with Wild coach John Hines, Man and finish the
radio show with one of our favorites, John Hines, coach
of the Minnesota Wild and coach joins us now, uh
Pittsburgh here tonight. And i'd imagine you guys want to
win pretty badly? How do you get it? Tonight?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
John? And good morning.
Speaker 8 (21:10):
Martn Pa. Always good to be with you, my man.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
You know I think we uh you know, are games coming.
I think we've played two solid, good games. We didn't
get the results we wanted. You know, we our goal
every day to get two points. We only got one
out of the last two. But I think playing uh,
playing with some really good structure to our game from
a checking perspective, and then I think we've done a
lot better job last few games, you know, really getting
(21:34):
inside a puck, play, getting scoring chances, get to.
Speaker 8 (21:37):
The inside of the ice.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
So that's you know, we need to continue to build
on that recipe and be ready.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
To go with given his age, z bullyam, giving how
young he is and inexperienced, so there's obviously room for
growth for all, but specifically for the youngsters. What what
do you think of his offensive game? I mean from afar,
it seems pretty smooth.
Speaker 8 (21:58):
Yeah, it's pretty smooth.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
I know he's got and he's got a great hockey mind.
From an offensive perspective, he's got a good skill set.
I think he's learning, you know, when there's opportunities to
be able to to do those uh, to use that
skill set. And then there's lots of times in the
game in the NHL that you know you have to
you have to be strong from a.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
Defensive aspect as well.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
I would probably say the big thing is just learning
when when is the right time in place to be
able to try to make plays and when you know
you need to keep it simple and either just advance
the puck or put the puck, uh, you know, to
a to a good area, particularly when you're under pressure.
Speaker 8 (22:36):
But what I like about him is.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
That he's he's learned, he's coachable, and he's a he's
a smart kid.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Hey, coach, are you looking for more physicality from your
guys or do you like, for the most part, how
that's going right now with the squad.
Speaker 8 (22:52):
No, I think that.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
There's like I felt like the Saint Louis games, like
there's been some games, the Ranger game, the Saint Louis Game, a.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Couple of games earlier.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
We played with a certain attitude and a competitiveness, whether
that is physicality of hitting people, or pluck battles or
winning the net fronts those areas of the ice. I
think those are you know, when we're at our best
and we have a team that's strong in those areas,
and we've got to play with that attitude and that
that commitment level in those areas.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Super early in the season.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
So the word slumping uh may be a little strong,
but you know you've lost four in a row, got
some points out of it, though, So when slumping a tad,
have you learned just a single win, a single victory,
grabbing two points can can pop the bubble and lead
to some really good things.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
That's a great question, pa, I would say that, yes,
I think anytime you win uh, it does do that.
Speaker 8 (23:49):
But you know, as I talked.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
To the team, when when you get in little funks,
you know, it's almost like being sick, Like you get
sick and then you start to feel better, and you
feel better, fear better, and now now you're right. And
I think the most important thing when you go through
these is to stay level headed, to find the solutions,
work together to get the game where it needs to be.
(24:11):
You know, for example, you could arguably say, you know,
we had as good a chance as Winnipeg to win
that game to night like we played, we only got
one point. But when you come out of them, you
don't just want one win.
Speaker 8 (24:24):
Win. Winning always helps, but you want.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
To make sure your games in order where then you
can start to win multiple games in a row. And
things like that, And it's no different if you're on
a winning streak. Sometimes at the end of a winning streak,
your game isn't really that good, but you get away
with some things, you get some bounces, and then all
of a sudden, you might go from winning four or
five straight to losing two or three in a row
because your game wasn't in order.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
And that's the focus it and coach.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It can be cliche, you know, to say, like, you know,
we want to start fast. Everybody wants to start fast,
but with you guys where you are at this stage
of the season, it is I mean, is that mandatory
that you guys start games better? And and if so, how
does one do that without potentially becoming leaky in other areas?
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Yeah, I think that it's it's it's it's coming out
with a diligence in your game right off the bat.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
You know.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
I feel like we've we've had some situations where there's
been some weird bounces that have gone into net early.
It's not because the guys aren't ready. Sometimes that's how
the game's unfold. I would say that, yes, we don't
want to start, you know, behind a couple of goals
every night.
Speaker 8 (25:28):
That's obvious. But what I do like is the response
of the push. There's no sag.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
We get it, you get back in the game, like
you're going to have to over the course of the season.
You know what's your team's response, what's there, what's their
dig in level when things don't go the right way?
What's the dig in level when they when they give
up possibly an early goal, and our guys stay with
it and we get ourselves back in the game and
we get ourselves right.
Speaker 8 (25:53):
To me, that's a really important trait.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Like when you go through all these things that you
go through, you're also really looking at how we responding
to certain types of situations. And I think there's a
lots of positive in a way we're responding to a
lot of situations.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
How Tarasenko, how's the veteran coming along for you? He
plays about sixteen minutes a game.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
I would say, Laddie's come in.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
I think Laddie has a good obviously his experience, so
I think his hockey sense and you know, his his
ability to be in the right areas and play the
game are there. I think when he's at his best,
he's shooting the pucks. Like the other night he had
five shots on net. You know, he drilled one coming
off the rush in the where Ecki just missed it.
I think it was in the second period. He'd come
in right in the slot, ripped it on the goalie.
(26:40):
Goalie couldn't handle it and it bounced and Ecki had
an open net and it just it just misfired, like
that's a wide open tap in play. But I think
when Vladdie is shooting the puck and attacking that way
and his shot first player, I think that's when he's
the most effective.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And early in the season. Early in season's coach Hines.
So you're you're down Zookie. Sounds like things are on
well and he should be back pretty soon. But he's
key specifically to that line. So when you're down guys,
you're you're implementing new players like taras Anko, a veteran,
some of these other newbies who may not be playing
(27:14):
a ton, they may be up and down all season.
What what are some challenges early in seasons when you're
implementing new stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Yeah, sometimes it's just getting the uh, getting the chemistry
you know of of of certain guys because you know,
like you could arguably say that, you know, Joe Hansson's
come up, and you know, he started with Hartman and Felino,
and we tried some other guys in the in the
quote unquote top six but didn't really didn't really fit.
There wasn't a huge impact. And Johansen's game has been
(27:45):
really good.
Speaker 8 (27:46):
As we all see.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
So I think he's been he's been good for us,
whether he's been with Rossi and Caprizov or he's been
with Eckingboldie, whatever line he's been on, he's fit. I
think now it's getting that chemistry with uh right now
with Ecki and bolds and and just it's just slotting
guys where they slot, what the role should be, the
chemistry of the lines, and that's uh, you know, that's
(28:10):
sometimes challenging at times, depending on how guys perform.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
UH.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Sidney Crosby tonight at age thirty eight seven points in
the last four goals in back to back games, thirty
eight years of age. What still makes him such a
tough customer?
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Well, one, he's I mean, he's one of these guys
that you know, very much like Carill like he's just
a he's a genetically talented player. That's a that's a
generational player. He's got tremendous work ethic and compete keeps
himself in unbelievable shape. And that's what makes those guys special.
That's what makes you know that. For Crosby, you know,
he's still in phenomenal shape. He still drives the bus,
(28:52):
he still plays the game with speed and pace.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
He can still make plays, and.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
That's what makes him, you know, probably one of the
best ever to play the game.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
And he still really strong on the puck. Isn't he
really strong?
Speaker 8 (29:03):
I mean you look at him.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
His legs are like three trunks and he's his center
of gravity, his ability to escape. He's a difficult player
to defend and contain.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
And that's that's because of his conditioning.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
It just because of his talent, and it's because of
his competitiveness.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Who gets the net for you tonight? Justson right on, man,
tear it up tonight. We'll chat next week, all right
talking yep see you coach John Hines, coach of the
Minnesota Wild.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
It's time to drop the pup. It's the boss.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I don't know enough about it, haven't watched it closely
enough at this stage. Of the equation too. I thought
it would be Jasper. I thought it would be Wallstat
no negative towards Bus. And you've had a day off
between the Winnipeg game in this game, but I think
I think Jasper's played just the It just just felt
like tonight would be a Wallstat game. But the Gus,
(29:56):
the Gus, the Gus is on fire. Oh with that
gust tonight, All right, here's the deal. Here's the deal,
ladies and gentlemen. Tomorrow, beginning at nine am, we have
a Friday football Yes, Buffalo Wild Wings Chan ass him,
(30:20):
Buffalo Wild Wings Chan.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It's gotta be sweet. May I can't wait to be good.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Alex Lewis, the athletic mad producer, yours truly we have
Greenway confirmation, Yes we do. Chad will be at the
feast tomorrow about nine to fifteen. Our friend from the
Fair a couple of years ago, the Lions representation, a
dear friend of mine, Jason Hatch. He will be there
to aid us with some Lions intel because he's just.
Speaker 7 (30:45):
Gonna try and dunk on us for twenty minutes, because
I mean, his team's in a spot where we're vulnerable
right now to the trash talking. Yep, hats see, that's
why he didn't make the appearance at the fair this year.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
And it shows.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Now, Yeah, last time we saw a squad they were
getting killed by Jaden, That's correct.
Speaker 7 (31:01):
And we were talking about regression and the under ten
and a half and all that. Now suddenly Hatches made
himself available for the Friday Feast when we're three and
four and we've been beaten down over the course of
the first eight weeks.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, we're gonna let the rest of the season play up,
play out, that is, but we definitely speculation from a
speculative standpoint. There have been many things said about the
football season into the nine to noon travels. But what
you just said the Lions absolute regression and what I
said about really eight and a half for the over
(31:37):
under on the pot Patriots, Why are you kidding me?
After what I just saw at the joints. All right,
feasting tomorrow, Buffalo while Lee chan ass him. Thank you
very much. I'm Paul Allen. Ladies and gentlemen from the
fighting city of fan Cato. Here comes emerging talent in
the rap world. Put your hands together for Big Daddy con.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Good stuff. What kind of twilight zone we are in.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
Would be fun to chat with the coach after a
win and we're beat up and we're battered and there's
blood on our sleeves and that's just the wolves. After
Austin reeves and La Rabia goes for twenty seven. Wasn't
interested in googling his name last night. It was almost eleven.
Are defense making dudes looking destined for the hall, so
expect fifty Saturday from LaMelo Ball.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
But at least the bike's got.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Detroit feels like to keep track of their points, we'll
have to hire Deloitte. Hold onto your butts each time
we see Gibbs with then their other five weapons, like no,
I got DIBs tomorrow. Keep feasting in your seat, belts fastened.
It's always a party at beat Up Shanahassen.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Escape from reality.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
And we'll give you ten reasons to get fired up
because it's jj season. Unfair podcast Today's Paul Allen Show,
or listen back to previous show and interview site going
to the iHeartRadio app or kfan dot com
About about the final play of the Timberwolves game involving
Austin Reeves and and Chris Finch answered that right out
of the gate, I thought it was really interesting take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Well, you know, in those situations, I think, uh, you know,
we've been really good when we just kind of switch everything,
keep everything in front. And you know, yesterday we we
kind of stayed in what you call coverage, and uh,
you know, the most important thing is whether you decide
to do A or B or C, is that you
(00:33):
have great clarity on what you're doing. And you know,
I think maybe there was a little bit of uh
indecision on what we were going to do there, So
uh totally on me in that moment in time, I
thought we executed the play before perfectly well we wanted
to take the foul, uh, and then after that, I
just I thought, you know, we needed to be a
(00:55):
little bit more clear on what was going on.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So that's Chris Finch, coach of the timber Wolves.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Lavelle Neil, the third columnist for the Star Tribune, nice
enough to join us in the studio. Thanks for taking
time to help KFA. We appreciate you and thank you
and good morning, Good morning wolves. In a little bit,
maybe Derek Shelton is the new Twins manager.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (01:16):
I thought this is one of the outcomes of this.
I thought this was the one possible outcome of the
Twins search. I thought it was gonna be someone either
Rauson or Shelton, two former Twins coaches were had probably
at the inside track to the gig because the Twins
know them, they know they know them well, they know
their smell. I didn't think they're gonna get a name guy.
(01:40):
When Scott's service showed the interest, that was intriguing to
me because he has had some He's had success.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
In the past.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
He has managed to see La Mariners to the playoffs.
He's dealt with good veteran players. He was there when
Juleo's Rodriguez broke in as a twenty one year old.
You know, I thought, okay, that could work here with
some of the Twins bits. But he was no longer
a candidate as of late last week. So both Shelton
(02:08):
and Ralson interviewed extremely well, which is really isn't surprising
the Twins do that before going back to twenty eighteen.
Shelton actually interviewed for the Twins manager job that Rockaball
Delhi got, but he was so impressive during that process
that the Twins asked him to be the bench coach,
(02:28):
and Shelton was crushed when he didn't get the job,
but he agreed to be the bench coach, so he
ended up being here two years. I worked with Rocco
and then moved on to I screwed it up Nowlsburg. No,
Shelton Sheldon up working. He was actually he was under
(02:49):
Monelors staff for a year, then Rocco staff for a
year before going to Pittsburgh. So now at Pittsburgh, believe
it or not, Pittsburgh situation in terms of funding a
hero's even worse than a Twins, and their front system
is and it has not been as strong.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So they lost a lot and a lot and a
lot and a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Wouldn't it be fair to say was worse than the Twins.
I mean, honestly, with all pro sports teams, and I'm
not just being you know, sarcastic, low hanging fruit guy here,
there can't possibly be an overall worse situation in pro
sports than this Twins deal.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a fierce competitor for that. This
is how bad it is in Pittsburgh, right, remember COVID.
Everybody took it up to shorts and COVID. Some teams
laid off employees and Twins did not. The Pirates froze
their employees' pench and plant payments during that pit. Okay,
so this was like to be it with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Maybe they just put a mask on it and it
really was there. People just didn't know how to get
to it.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And and there's people in the organization I really like
to have twins ties well I know very well, so
I feel bad for them. So so he got cam
May eighth of this year. So after they got to
like a twelve and twenty six start, a tough start,
and they.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Had they decided to move on.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
So so she brought Paul Skeins with him, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So the question is, you know what assurance is the
Shelton get in terms of how the Twins are gonna
fund this payroll?
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Is he prepared for.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
A rebuilding plan that may take a couple of years.
But he was well liked here, well organized, great communicator,
entertaining fellow like sus bourbon.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Uh so Illinois born.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
A lot of a lot of positives for with Derek Shelton.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah for you.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Oh, just a quick aside here, I just quickly googled
Paul skeensuh huh to make sure I didn't mess his
name up. And it was Paul Skeen. I knew it
was Skeens, but I was a ninety eight percenter. Yeah,
so I google it and first thing that pops up
his girlfriend is that gymnastics and yeah, social media influence
(05:01):
or whatever that is.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, Libby don Yeah, damn.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I didn't know that she was in town for She
was in town for the Pirate series.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So this year she was enough for the Pirate series.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
She got some FaceTime on the on the on the
video board Skien started during that series. The Twins won
that game that Skien started. That was also tonight that
Nelly performed after the game, so they actually have forty
thousand people at the ballpark that day.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
What's Nelly's most unpopular song? Was it it Skin Hot Here?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Then? You're kids like that song? Wasn't that jam for
one of your h.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
My daughter Nicole competed in dance now part of Hot
the Hot in here without the words, the instrumental bit.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The beginning, the beginning, the beginning.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, well, hey, so I'm looking forward to seeing Shelter back.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
He'll be great with the media.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
He's probably learned some lessons from his time in Pittsburgh
and we will stee how they apply it here.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Because this this is happening in the world. Why is
the Louisiana governor on McAfee.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Well, here because because the governor came out yesterday and
said he will not allow that fled director to hire
the next football coach after they just.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Fired Frank Kelly. Frank Kelly at LSU.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Yeah, he's they're gonna have they're gonna come up with
a board to select.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
A new coach. He's does he get to do that?
I guess he's gonna try to. He does not like
the ad.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
He's mad because with Kelly's deal, Kelly had like a
fifty eight million dollar buyout on its state school. Yeah,
and so he said, this is a terrible contract. I
can't believe you signed that. I'm not gonna let him
do that do this again. So yeah, so it's not
like the state's going to hire the coach. He even
he even joked they may have Donald Trump picked the
next coach of the LSU Tigers. Sol So now now now,
(06:48):
now Collegeport.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Is getting pulicized now man So.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
Okay, three to two the con Hey, Lavelle, what are
you what would you say to Twins fans who are
incredibly overwhelmed with the Shelton hiring that they believe that
if it was time to move on from Rocco Baldelli
replacing them with somebody who is perceived as being very
much of that mold, clearly you know, going formerly a part.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Of the staff.
Speaker 7 (07:13):
In fact, that this is this is an awful hire
that if you are looking to freshen things up, that
you are looking to kind of as we are turning
the page, as we've talked about Viking style earlier this week,
if you're trying to turn the page and push things
into twenty twenty six in a new and fresh direction,
that this is the antithesis of this.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
In fact, well I wrote.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
About this at the outset of this process to try
to manage expectations. Don't expect like a hot candidate or
a name player, a named a person with name recognition
to come in and take over the program.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It was not going to happen.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
It was going to be either a familiar face or
a first time manager.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Then is that because of the state of the franchise.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yes, because, like Ryan Flaherty, the Twins bench coach, was
considered a candidate here.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But he's a hot He's actually a hot commodity.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
It has several options, and it sounds like he may
be headed to the Projects. So if you have a
choice between San Diego and Minnesota, which programming you're selecting,
You're selecting the podject.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I mean that's two for two on the team and
the location.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, And the only thing I say is that hate
Shelton was here in twenty nineteen when the Twins won
one hundred and one games and set a record for
the titup set of major legue record for home runs
hit in the regular season. So he was here for
the good times, then left in twenty twenty to go
manage the Pirates. So maybe some of his good vibes
from that twenty nineteen campaign can be rekindled here. And
(08:39):
let's face the folks, the Twins are ready to win.
This is gonna be a couple of years before they
meet to get in the position here They got a
bunch of these young pitchers with live arms that still
are learning how to pitch in the majors. Some of
be part of the rotation next year. Maybe more spots
to be available if the Twins trade Pablo Lopez and
or Joe Ryan, which I said, Sai, They're gonna trade
(09:00):
Joe Ryan for sure this offseason, and the others were
end up in the bullpen. You got hitters who need
to get over to hump. Matt Waner, he's got to
be better. Trevor Larnark may have he may have voiced
his last chance with the Twins. They may cut him
loose during the offseason. Brooks Lee showed some flashes. I
think he had sixteen home runs this year, which is
which is promising. But Ben Affrick is a little bit
(09:22):
lower than what the Twins expected. They've got to get
him to make harder contact. And Shelton has been a
hitting coach hitting coach in the past. And then at
the top of the list is Royce Lewis. Royce Lewis should
be the focal on the Twins offense. Man, he's not there.
He's coming off for two poor seasons. You know the
guy who said I don't slump is now slump severely
in each of the last two years. Uh, he probably
(09:44):
needs some remodeling two in terms of his his approach
it the plate, maybe a swing. So there's work to
be done here, you know, Luke Keishue. Can he stick
at second basis? And should he be moved to the outfield?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Did the Twins have a first basement? Do the Twins
have a number three? This was at a number four eighter.
You know, there's a there's a lot of things.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Indeed that we worked over with this roster.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
Man.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
So regardless of who's taken over uh, the program here,
it's gonna be a couple of years before the Twins
maybe be in a.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Position to do anything.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
But these are two critical years in order to get
the younger people, the younger players to reach their potential.
You've got you've got Walker Jenkins probably getting into the
mix sometime next year, Emlue, Rob Veguez, Uh, maybe Calen Culpeper. Uh.
So we'll see how this goes. Man, and I think
the press conference is going to be sometime on Tuesday,
(10:38):
so maybe we'll get some clarity about the direction as
franchises had.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
It to to that end. Earlier you mentioned about assurances.
What what kind of assurance is clearly there's a process
through the interviewing and communication and decide to hire a guy.
You you get, you get all of Shelton's cards, and
hopefully Shelton gets most of the Twins cards. I would
I would assume then that he's on board with and
aware the idea. As you mentioned, this roster is actually
(11:03):
gonna get and look potentially much worse in March than
it does even now, because we Bill will potentially be
moving a Joe Ryan Pablo Lopez is potentially so you're
coming in in March maybe with less even than what
this team has now.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
That would be discussed, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Think that would have to be discussed in terms of
what the payroll is gonna look like, what players would
be allowed to bring in.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I don't think he.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Has a coach at staff in place as of now,
so he's gonna have to have discussions about who from
this current staff gets to stay stay and who he
would like to bring in from outside. I think the
pitching coach situation is gonna be very interesting. Actually, I
think Pete mckie's a pretty good pitching coach. I think
he's got a chance of sticking. But if he doesn't,
that high is gonna be crucial for all these dudes,
(11:47):
the Zebbie, Matthews and David Festas, the Mick Abeles, the
my man who came over from Tampa Bay, David Price, No,
Jeff Wright, James Shields, Tod Bradley, Todge Bradley, Yes, thank you,
Uh TODG. Bradley, who's got a load of talent but
needs to harness. They don't have a bullpen, they have
(12:08):
a playpen right now. You know, they've got to by
some guys to be relievers. Man, who's the closing next year,
Cole Sands? You know so, I mean there had to
be a lot of discussions about where this roster is at,
what they want.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
To achieve, and what's realistic expectation.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
We should try to trade for a guy like Louis Varlin,
you know, after the season, if guys like that are available,
would be cool to those guys on your team.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
If you're president of Baseball Operations, Derek Falve, how do
you handle all this?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
What you mean? I got you?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I mean with what's in front of you. Okay, you
got the manager, all right? I mean, you got what
you got here, Paul.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
You know, it all starts at the top, and Fay's
getting his marching orders from the from the from the ownership,
you know, and you.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Know they tapped out on helping no one.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
No one has come out and said it, but I
have a my spider sense tells me that it was
the ownership that wanted to trade players at the deadline.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
There's ownership to want to Rock dismissed. And now you know.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
It's up to them to provide Falve funds and direction
of how he can proceed with putting together a roster
for a shelting. So this starts at the top. And
that I wrote in the story today in today's editions
of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Well, I didn't know what you wrote and what Chris
Miller wrote, well, because it was co byline.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Oh, you're talking about the interesting things about Derek Sheldon.
I wrote the main story after the news broke. So
I think it's gonna be interesting sidebar to the press
conference on Tuesday, because I'm sure questions are going to
be asked about what the payrol is gonna be look
looked at. Now that it's October now or damn in November,
they share idea what they're going to spend during this offseason.
Can they be such some sort of a little transparent
(13:50):
about what they're going to do this offseason? Teams don't
like to do that generally. Can the twins are articulate
in some way or some fashion and where they're headed
with this roster during the off season?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Answer?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
What's probably going to ask about the limited partners, these
mysterious limited partners that no one knows who they are.
When are they going to be announced? And what type
of impact that they're going to have on roster's decisions?
Maybe Proof Life, Yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you. We
need him.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Standing somewhere with today's version of the Minnesota Star Tribune
with the current date on it.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Proof of Life, be careful of AI.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Who the manager is was just one of several questions
that was answered yesterday by ear This morning, is it
with the official announcement of Shelton being manager? There's still
so many questions that need to be answered with this franchise.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
L Lavelli Neil the third columnist, Star Tribume at Lavell
Neil via X World Series conversation and then some football
with our beloved wobble around the corner.
Speaker 7 (14:50):
But first the fan along with two men in a
junk truck, want to give you a shot at some
bonus box with the National Cash Contest. This hour's keyword
is credit. Use the keyword credit KFA dot com. You
might win with the keyword credit at kfan. Do I mean,
holy cal did they hit on a good one? And
he was in single a earlier this year? Incredible man, Yes,
(15:12):
yes it is. It's very impressive. His breaking ball is nasty.
It's absolutely filthy. It says sliders sometimes it says splitter.
At other times that thing gets to like within three
feet of the plate and just all of a sudden
just drops straight down.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
At like ninety miles an high or whatever. Right, just
an impressive thing, but interesting. Think about Treya Savage. He
was selected in a draft two years ago. I want
to say, yeah, twenty twenty three first round pick. Was
it twenty twenty four? Yeah, it's first round pick. So
(15:48):
during his year this draft year, he ended up having
a punctured lung late in his season, which hurt his stock,
or he would have been he would have went a
little bit higher in the draft. So he was following
in that first round out. Okay, the Twins are drafted
behind the Blue Jays. They were all over him. They
had scouted him, they had cross checked him, they wanted
(16:09):
They say, if he's dropping down the right spot, we're
gonna take him.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
And the Blue Jays selected him one spot ahead of
the Twins.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
What amazing trade value that would have given the Twins
last year at the deadline.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I always loved that one. Twentieth overall twenty twenty four. Yeah,
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So the Toys are drafted twenty first, and they ended
up taking Kamlin Culpeper, Who's a guy.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Who's a guy.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
He had a great year, a double A and could
debut in the majors next year. But no, Y Savage
was on the Twins radar big time hitting that draft.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Do you put y'a momoto in the winter circle tomorrow night,
or do you think that the Jays closed out the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Just the one thing that's fascinating me in this series,
And I don't know if you remember last week when
the Jays won with the with the Springer home run
that looked like Joe Carter's home run in nineteen ninety three,
and I called Paul Molitor and talked about it, and
so I was talking to Wilder.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I said, do you think the Blue Jays have a chance.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
I think if the Blue Jays get to their the Dodgers' bullpen,
they got a chance to score some runs here.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
And Maaler agreed.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
He said, the thing about the blue Jays hitters is
that even like their seventh, eighth, and ninth hitters, they
push pitching counts up. They battle, they get the two
strikes and start falling off pitches. They extended bats and
they wear down a starter him And he says, if
the Blue Jays can do that in this series, they
can do damage.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I we so, and that's happened a little bit.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
What this transpired is that the Blue Jays have been
able to pitch to the Dodgers, which has been pretty
impressive with just Savage and some other bits here Shane Bieber,
you know, getting what they can out of the shirts
or and I don't know what injury Jose Burrios has,
because you know, he didn't make the roster, He didn't
mention the postseason. It would have been interesting to see
the former twin on the mountain in the World Series.
(17:52):
So that's the thing just jumped out to me, is
that they've been able to pitch to the Dodgers. I
believe that once you beat shoahil Tani when he's at
the it was powers, that anything's possible. As much as
I'm impressed with Yamamoto's arsenal and his his pitching acumen
and is willing to be a horse, they beat, they
beat O show Hey, and so they're not they're not
fearing anybody right now. Right you know, Springer may try
(18:16):
to play now with the side bit. Uh, look what
he did yesterday, Blake Snell three pitches to home runs
for off the bat, talk about getting punched in the
nose in the first inning, you know. So I wouldn't
put it past the Blue Jays to have success against Yamamoto.
And if they get into that bullpen, especially how everything's
transpired in this series, that marathon game in Game three,
(18:39):
beating losing this, losing to him in Game five, if
they get to Yamamoto, that could be.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Just devastating for the Dodgers. In the Blue Jays could
win Game six. Your best forty five seconds on this.
Your bears are at SINCI. This weekend. Are you expecting
win number five against old Joey Flacco?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Well, the only chance the be have to win this
game is that Flacco doesn't play. Blackhoo's got an ac
joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. Oh, he is fifty
to fifty for Sunday. He did not practice yesterday. Don't
know if he's practicing the deck that said, the Bears
top three corners are out. Jalen Johnson's been out, three
(19:19):
Steeves is out, Kyler Gordon's out.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Wow, they're starting backups to the backups. Dog. They had
to sign the guy I hate c D.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Gardner Johnson yesterday to help fill out their secondary. Remember him,
Him and the Latimore those as the Saints' secondary guys
who just talked trash for for sixty minutes. They signed him.
He's like one of the biggest trash talkers in the NFL.
Man and can't find a job. He was starting with
Eagles last year, which is weird. So we got that problem.
(19:51):
We're not getting a pass rush. Montese is driving.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Me up the wall.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Your boy, uh Nortles boy or Dame Bowl has been
underwhelming and getting it. Paid a lot of money to
be underwhelming dat yout but Austin Booker has been activated
this weekly.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
If I are.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The fourth round pick from not I think Northwestern who's
been impressive, was great in camp but got into Layton
camp and not play yet this year. Hopefully can help
the pass rush. But man, if Flaco starts, we're in trouble.
Jake Browning, we got us shot, but we got to
run the ball, which we can. We do have a
seven cell offensive line now that could run block. If
(20:33):
we can get the run end going and uh and
get Jake Browning to misfire to T Higgins and Jean Chase,
then we have a chance.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
But I'm very nervous. I appreciate you. See you next week. Peace.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Lavella Neil the third column to Star Tribune. Well Punk
talk with Wild coach John Hines, Man and finish the
radio show with one of our favorites, John Hines, coach
of the Minnesota Wild and coach joins us now, uh
Pittsburgh here tonight. And i'd imagine you guys want to
win pretty badly? How do you get it? Tonight?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
John? And good morning.
Speaker 8 (21:10):
Martn Pa. Always good to be with you, my man.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
You know I think we uh you know, are games coming.
I think we've played two solid, good games. We didn't
get the results we wanted. You know, we our goal
every day to get two points. We only got one
out of the last two. But I think playing uh,
playing with some really good structure to our game from
a checking perspective, and then I think we've done a
lot better job last few games, you know, really getting
(21:34):
inside a puck, play, getting scoring chances, get to.
Speaker 8 (21:37):
The inside of the ice.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
So that's you know, we need to continue to build
on that recipe and be ready.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
To go with given his age, z bullyam, giving how
young he is and inexperienced, so there's obviously room for
growth for all, but specifically for the youngsters. What what
do you think of his offensive game? I mean from afar,
it seems pretty smooth.
Speaker 8 (21:58):
Yeah, it's pretty smooth.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
I know he's got and he's got a great hockey mind.
From an offensive perspective, he's got a good skill set.
I think he's learning, you know, when there's opportunities to
be able to to do those uh, to use that
skill set. And then there's lots of times in the
game in the NHL that you know you have to
you have to be strong from a.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
Defensive aspect as well.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
I would probably say the big thing is just learning
when when is the right time in place to be
able to try to make plays and when you know
you need to keep it simple and either just advance
the puck or put the puck, uh, you know, to
a to a good area, particularly when you're under pressure.
Speaker 8 (22:36):
But what I like about him is.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
That he's he's learned, he's coachable, and he's a he's
a smart kid.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Hey, coach, are you looking for more physicality from your
guys or do you like, for the most part, how
that's going right now with the squad.
Speaker 8 (22:52):
No, I think that.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
There's like I felt like the Saint Louis games, like
there's been some games, the Ranger game, the Saint Louis Game, a.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Couple of games earlier.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
We played with a certain attitude and a competitiveness, whether
that is physicality of hitting people, or pluck battles or
winning the net fronts those areas of the ice. I
think those are you know, when we're at our best
and we have a team that's strong in those areas,
and we've got to play with that attitude and that
that commitment level in those areas.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Super early in the season.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
So the word slumping uh may be a little strong,
but you know you've lost four in a row, got
some points out of it, though, So when slumping a tad,
have you learned just a single win, a single victory,
grabbing two points can can pop the bubble and lead
to some really good things.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
That's a great question, pa, I would say that, yes,
I think anytime you win uh, it does do that.
Speaker 8 (23:49):
But you know, as I talked.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
To the team, when when you get in little funks,
you know, it's almost like being sick, Like you get
sick and then you start to feel better, and you
feel better, fear better, and now now you're right. And
I think the most important thing when you go through
these is to stay level headed, to find the solutions,
work together to get the game where it needs to be.
(24:11):
You know, for example, you could arguably say, you know,
we had as good a chance as Winnipeg to win
that game to night like we played, we only got
one point. But when you come out of them, you
don't just want one win.
Speaker 8 (24:24):
Win. Winning always helps, but you want.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
To make sure your games in order where then you
can start to win multiple games in a row. And
things like that, And it's no different if you're on
a winning streak. Sometimes at the end of a winning streak,
your game isn't really that good, but you get away
with some things, you get some bounces, and then all
of a sudden, you might go from winning four or
five straight to losing two or three in a row
because your game wasn't in order.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
And that's the focus it and coach.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It can be cliche, you know, to say, like, you know,
we want to start fast. Everybody wants to start fast,
but with you guys where you are at this stage
of the season, it is I mean, is that mandatory
that you guys start games better? And and if so, how
does one do that without potentially becoming leaky in other areas?
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Yeah, I think that it's it's it's it's coming out
with a diligence in your game right off the bat.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
You know.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
I feel like we've we've had some situations where there's
been some weird bounces that have gone into net early.
It's not because the guys aren't ready. Sometimes that's how
the game's unfold. I would say that, yes, we don't
want to start, you know, behind a couple of goals
every night.
Speaker 8 (25:28):
That's obvious. But what I do like is the response
of the push. There's no sag.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
We get it, you get back in the game, like
you're going to have to over the course of the season.
You know what's your team's response, what's there, what's their
dig in level when things don't go the right way?
What's the dig in level when they when they give
up possibly an early goal, and our guys stay with
it and we get ourselves back in the game and
we get ourselves right.
Speaker 8 (25:53):
To me, that's a really important trait.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Like when you go through all these things that you
go through, you're also really looking at how we responding
to certain types of situations. And I think there's a
lots of positive in a way we're responding to a
lot of situations.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
How Tarasenko, how's the veteran coming along for you? He
plays about sixteen minutes a game.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
I would say, Laddie's come in.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
I think Laddie has a good obviously his experience, so
I think his hockey sense and you know, his his
ability to be in the right areas and play the
game are there. I think when he's at his best,
he's shooting the pucks. Like the other night he had
five shots on net. You know, he drilled one coming
off the rush in the where Ecki just missed it.
I think it was in the second period. He'd come
in right in the slot, ripped it on the goalie.
(26:40):
Goalie couldn't handle it and it bounced and Ecki had
an open net and it just it just misfired, like
that's a wide open tap in play. But I think
when Vladdie is shooting the puck and attacking that way
and his shot first player, I think that's when he's
the most effective.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And early in the season. Early in season's coach Hines.
So you're you're down Zookie. Sounds like things are on
well and he should be back pretty soon. But he's
key specifically to that line. So when you're down guys,
you're you're implementing new players like taras Anko, a veteran,
some of these other newbies who may not be playing
(27:14):
a ton, they may be up and down all season.
What what are some challenges early in seasons when you're
implementing new stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Yeah, sometimes it's just getting the uh, getting the chemistry
you know of of of certain guys because you know,
like you could arguably say that, you know, Joe Hansson's
come up, and you know, he started with Hartman and Felino,
and we tried some other guys in the in the
quote unquote top six but didn't really didn't really fit.
There wasn't a huge impact. And Johansen's game has been
(27:45):
really good.
Speaker 8 (27:46):
As we all see.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
So I think he's been he's been good for us,
whether he's been with Rossi and Caprizov or he's been
with Eckingboldie, whatever line he's been on, he's fit. I
think now it's getting that chemistry with uh right now
with Ecki and bolds and and just it's just slotting
guys where they slot, what the role should be, the
chemistry of the lines, and that's uh, you know, that's
(28:10):
sometimes challenging at times, depending on how guys perform.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
UH.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Sidney Crosby tonight at age thirty eight seven points in
the last four goals in back to back games, thirty
eight years of age. What still makes him such a
tough customer?
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Well, one, he's I mean, he's one of these guys
that you know, very much like Carill like he's just
a he's a genetically talented player. That's a that's a
generational player. He's got tremendous work ethic and compete keeps
himself in unbelievable shape. And that's what makes those guys special.
That's what makes you know that. For Crosby, you know,
he's still in phenomenal shape. He still drives the bus,
(28:52):
he still plays the game with speed and pace.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
He can still make plays, and.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
That's what makes him, you know, probably one of the
best ever to play the game.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
And he still really strong on the puck. Isn't he
really strong?
Speaker 8 (29:03):
I mean you look at him.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
His legs are like three trunks and he's his center
of gravity, his ability to escape. He's a difficult player
to defend and contain.
Speaker 8 (29:11):
And that's that's because of his conditioning.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
It just because of his talent, and it's because of
his competitiveness.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Who gets the net for you tonight? Justson right on, man,
tear it up tonight. We'll chat next week, all right
talking yep see you coach John Hines, coach of the
Minnesota Wild.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
It's time to drop the pup. It's the boss.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I don't know enough about it, haven't watched it closely
enough at this stage. Of the equation too. I thought
it would be Jasper. I thought it would be Wallstat
no negative towards Bus. And you've had a day off
between the Winnipeg game in this game, but I think
I think Jasper's played just the It just just felt
like tonight would be a Wallstat game. But the Gus,
(29:56):
the Gus, the Gus is on fire. Oh with that
gust tonight, All right, here's the deal. Here's the deal,
ladies and gentlemen. Tomorrow, beginning at nine am, we have
a Friday football Yes, Buffalo Wild Wings Chan ass him,
(30:20):
Buffalo Wild Wings Chan.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It's gotta be sweet. May I can't wait to be good.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Alex Lewis, the athletic mad producer, yours truly we have
Greenway confirmation, Yes we do. Chad will be at the
feast tomorrow about nine to fifteen. Our friend from the
Fair a couple of years ago, the Lions representation, a
dear friend of mine, Jason Hatch. He will be there
to aid us with some Lions intel because he's just.
Speaker 7 (30:45):
Gonna try and dunk on us for twenty minutes, because
I mean, his team's in a spot where we're vulnerable
right now to the trash talking. Yep, hats see, that's
why he didn't make the appearance at the fair this year.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
And it shows.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Now, Yeah, last time we saw a squad they were
getting killed by Jaden, That's correct.
Speaker 7 (31:01):
And we were talking about regression and the under ten
and a half and all that. Now suddenly Hatches made
himself available for the Friday Feast when we're three and
four and we've been beaten down over the course of
the first eight weeks.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, we're gonna let the rest of the season play up,
play out, that is, but we definitely speculation from a
speculative standpoint. There have been many things said about the
football season into the nine to noon travels. But what
you just said the Lions absolute regression and what I
said about really eight and a half for the over
(31:37):
under on the pot Patriots, Why are you kidding me?
After what I just saw at the joints. All right,
feasting tomorrow, Buffalo while Lee chan ass him. Thank you
very much. I'm Paul Allen. Ladies and gentlemen from the
fighting city of fan Cato. Here comes emerging talent in
the rap world. Put your hands together for Big Daddy con.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Good stuff. What kind of twilight zone we are in.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
Would be fun to chat with the coach after a
win and we're beat up and we're battered and there's
blood on our sleeves and that's just the wolves. After
Austin reeves and La Rabia goes for twenty seven. Wasn't
interested in googling his name last night. It was almost eleven.
Are defense making dudes looking destined for the hall, so
expect fifty Saturday from LaMelo Ball.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
But at least the bike's got.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Detroit feels like to keep track of their points, we'll
have to hire Deloitte. Hold onto your butts each time
we see Gibbs with then their other five weapons, like no,
I got DIBs tomorrow. Keep feasting in your seat, belts fastened.
It's always a party at beat Up Shanahassen.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Escape from reality.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
And we'll give you ten reasons to get fired up
because it's jj season. Unfair podcast Today's Paul Allen Show,
or listen back to previous show and interview site going
to the iHeartRadio app or kfan dot com
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