Transcripts

[UPBEAT MUSIC] DOUGLAS HALL: The Minnesota Twins open a weekend series with the division leading California Angels tonight in Anaheim. And the Twins pitching staff will have a new member. Bert Blyleven is joining the team after being acquired in yesterday's waiver deal with Cleveland. With us in the studios to discuss the deal is our Morning Edition baseball analyst Howard Sinker of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. Howard, how did the Twins pull it off? How did they get Blyleven?

HOWARD SINKER: I don't know. Obviously, Cleveland felt a compelling need to get rid of him now end of the season when Blyleven would have had the right to veto a trade through his seniority. And because Blyleven didn't clear waivers and the Twins were the worst team that put a claim in on him, the Twins were really the only team they could deal with and Curt Wardle.

Two minor leaguers was the best package was the, only package they could get and Cleveland bit. To me, it's a little bit incomprehensible, but if I were a Twins fan right now, I don't think I'd be complaining too much.

DOUGLAS HALL: Quite a coup for the Twins then. But can one good pitcher revive the team?

HOWARD SINKER: Oh, no, he probably can't pitch every day. He can't even pitch every other day. But it's a start in the right direction. There's a baseball adage that good pitching is contagious and I don't think that's necessarily true.

But having a pitcher of Blyleven's ability and Blyleven's record has to help the other guys just through association, just through the fact that here's a guy with more experience than any three of their current pitchers put together. The guy's been around for 15 years. He has to be able to do something for them.

DOUGLAS HALL: Well, the Twins have been looking at another pitcher recently as well, Steve Howe, who's had his own troubles. What's the status of that deal?

HOWARD SINKER: That's on hold. Right now the Twins say they want Howe and Howe's agent is apparently waiting to find out whether the Dodgers would be liable for the majority of his salary, even in the event of a strike.

If he is satisfied that they would be, and apparently there has been no ruling on that, then how I think we'll join the Twins sometime in the next week or so. That's, of course, providing that there is no strike. And that's a very, very big if right now.

DOUGLAS HALL: Can the Twins offer Blyleven? Getting back to Bert Blyleven, the winner he wants to play for. The Twins haven't been doing that well this season.

HOWARD SINKER: I think that eventually they can. The interesting thing about the Twins right now is we've been giving them chance after chance to get back into the race. And within the next 10 days, they have seven games with California. Right now they're 10 games behind California.

If the Twins go six of seven or maybe sweep those seven games, they're back in the race. If they split those games, if they even go four and three in those seven games, we might as well start talking about 1985, or 1986, or 1987, or whatever. Blyleven thinks he can pitch for five or six years. So this isn't just a short-term acquisition. To talk about them suddenly being back in the pennant race is probably a little bit silly, but there's always a chance.

DOUGLAS HALL: Well, there is a strike looming by Tuesday of next week. Possibly players will be walking off the job. Do you think that hiatus would help the twins?

HOWARD SINKER: Probably not. I think the Twins need to play all the games they can get right now. Unless, of course, they were to go out on strike Tuesday, not come back until April and the 1985 season would be nothing more than a memory, and everyone would forget about how poorly they played.

DOUGLAS HALL: How would you gauge the effect of Ray Miller now that he's been at the post for a little while?

HOWARD SINKER: Again, I think that's a long-term type of deal. There was obviously the short-term psyching up, of having a new manager. They won six out of their first 10 games. There's a different feeling. The fact that all 25 guys know they're going to get into a game at some point or another. Nobody is sitting on the end of the bench.

I think the players believe in what he's trying to do, but it's very, very easy to believe in what somebody is trying to do when he's been around for six weeks. The real test is going to be next spring when he institutes how he wants to do spring training and the players find themselves maybe doing a lot more work. The real test is going to be next May when he chews out Kent Hrbek over something. That's going to be when we'll find out whether the Twins really believe in Ray Miller.

DOUGLAS HALL: Well, tonight the Twins go up against the division leaders, the California Angels. They've had a little slump lately. Is this a turning point for the twins possibly?

HOWARD SINKER: This might be a good time for the Twins to be catching the Angels. The Angels have lost six out of seven games. Their young pitchers might not be as sharp now as they were earlier in the season. And the Twins traditionally have played fairly well in California. So there are a lot of elements that add up towards the Twins making some surge towards the division leadership. Whether it's a false alarm though remains to be seen.

DOUGLAS HALL: Well, thanks for talking with us this morning. Howard Sinker, Morning Edition baseball analyst. This is Morning Edition on KSJN.

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