Charley Walters: Did Vikings trade down in draft just to save some money?

Every NFL team has a budget. One curious theory as to why the Vikings on Thursday night traded their No. 12 pick in the first round of the draft for the No. 32 pick is to save money.

One estimate is that the Vikings owe fired coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman a total of nearly $20 million over the next two years.

The signing bonus for the No. 12 pick, wide receiver Jameson Williams from Alabama taken by Detroit, will be in the $10 million range. The signing bonus for Lewis Cine, the safety from Georgia the Vikings chose at No. 32, will be about $5.5 million.

Cine, 22, will compete with 2021 fourth-round pick Camryn Bynum, 23, in training camp and possibly become successor to Harrison Smith, 33. Cine’s fierce style resembles that of Smith and Antoine Winfield Jr., the former Gopher with Tampa Bay.

Don’t be surprised if the NFL soon announces that the Vikings will play the New Orleans Saints in London as one of 17 games this year. The Saints would be the home team. The Vikings and Saints could again play in London in 2024, with the Vikings as the home team.

Byron Buxton has become one of baseball’s best players. The Twins’ center-fielder, 28, is in the first season of a $100 million, seven-year contract that could be worth nearly $50 million more if all incentive bonuses are achieved.

It took the Twins and Buxton five years to reach agreement on the new contract, signed last November.

“I don’t know the details of his contract, but I think it’s kind of fair for both sides,” Torii Hunter opined to the Pioneer Press last week. “I think Byron was happy with it, and he wanted to be a Twin. He didn’t have to sign if he didn’t want to. But he wanted to be a Twin, and the Twins are happy with that amount, as well.”

There are those who say the Twins, considering Buxton’s potential, got a bargain.

“If Byron’s happy with it, then it doesn’t matter what other people think,” Hunter said.

Hunter, 46, passionately involved in real estate and the restaurant business in Texas these days, won nine straight Gold Gloves as the Twins’ beloved center-fielder.

“Buxton’s a lot of fun for me to watch in center field,” Hunter said. “He’s better than I was tracking balls down. I mean, he’s fast, way faster than I was, 10 times faster than I was.

“He gets to balls I probably would have to dive for. I had to play analytically, strategically. Buxton doesn’t have to play that way. I can’t deny that he’s 10 times faster than I was.”

Tyus Jones, the former Timberwolves point guard from Apple Valley now with the Memphis Grizzlies, in the regular season had 324 assists with just 46 turnovers. That’s the highest singe-season assist-to-turnover ratio in NBA history. This is the fourth straight season that Jones, who turns 26 next week, has led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio — and that, too, is the longest streak in NBA history.

Jones, who scored eight big fourth-quarter points to end the Wolves’ season on Friday night, will become an unrestricted free agent this summer and is completing a $26.4 million, three-year contract. Already the Los Angeles Lakers are getting mentioned as a potential suitor for Jones, who is represented by superagent Bill Duffy and whose next contract should be in the $50 million range for four years.

It still appears the Wild will have to part with Matt Dumba in order to provide restricted free agent Kevin Fiala, 25, with a contract extension that could approach $8 million a season. That would be just $1 million short of the deal Kirill Kaprizov, 24, reached over five years last summer.

Trading Dumba, 27, and his $6 million salary should give the cash-strapped Wild enough cap room to extend Fiala, playing for $5.1 million this season.

A Kaprizov No. 97 autographed 2022 NHL Winter Classic game-used jersey has received a VSA online auction bid of $4,028.

Max Meyer, 23, the former Gophers star from Woodbury and first-round draft pick of the Miami Marlins, is 1-0 with a 1.83 earned-run average at Triple-A Jacksonville. The 6-foot right-hander recently had a perfect game though six innings, but he had to depart due to leg cramps. He has fanned 27 through 19 2/3 innings.

Look for Meyer to reach the major leagues before long. In fact, the Caesars Sportsbook in Las Vegas reports that a Tennessee bettor has wagered $2,000 that Meyer, still this season, ends up as the National League rookie of the year. At 3,000 to 1 odds, that would be worth $100,000 to the bettor.

Mahtomedi grad Michael Baumann, 26, who made the opening day roster of the Baltimore Orioles, is 1-2 with a 6.14 ERA in five relief appearances.

Former Stillwater star Will Frisch, whose fastball has been in the 95-mph range, underwent Tommy John surgery in his right elbow in March and has missed the season at No. 2-ranked Oregon State. Projected as a top five-round major league draft pick, Frisch will have two seasons remaining in college.

Gophers freshman infielder Brady Counsell, son of Milwaukee Brewers manager Greg Counsell, is batting .226 in 30 games.

Tampa Bay Lightning alternate captain Ryan McDonagh, the Cretin-Derham Hall grad chosen to speak at a White House ceremony last week honoring his team’s consecutive Stanley Cup championships: “Mr. (Joe Biden) president, it’s an honor being here. As an American and someone who hails from St. Paul, Minnesota, I never thought I’d be standing here at the White House next to you. So it’s been a surreal experience and something I think all of us will remember for a long time.”

Hastings grad Pat Fraher has again been named a referee in the NBA playoffs.

St. Paul’s Ken Mauer Jr., who has refereed NBA playoffs for 27 years, is sitting out this season due to league-mandated COVID vaccination. His appeal in New York is about to be heard.

New Twins hall of famer Tony Oliva has agreed to a partnership with Dan Stoltz’s locally-based SPIRE credit union.

Tony Levine, 49, the former Gophers wide receiver from Highland Park and ex-University of Houston head football coach, has been a big success story in the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain.

New Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will speak at a Dunkers breakfast at Interlachen CC on Thursday. Tom Lehman of the PGA Tour Champions headlines the Search Twin Cities Gala on May 22 at the Doubletree in Bloomington.

Ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant turns 95 on May 20.

Former Twins pitchers with other teams, per local baseball aficionado Joel Thingvall: Lance Lynn and Liam Hendricks, White Sox; Rich Hill and Hansel Robles, Red Sox; Ralph Garza and Matt Wisler, Rays; Jose Berrios, Blue Jays; Sergio Romo, Mariners; Martin Perez, Rangers; Jake Odorizzi and Ryan Pressly, Astros; Sean Poppen, Diamondbacks; Alex Colome and Tyler Kinney, Rockies; Zack Little, Giants; Kyle Gibson, Phillies; Trevor May and John Curtiss, Mets; Taylor Rogers, Padres; Chase De Jong, Pirates; Michael Pineda, Tigers, and Andrew Vasquez, Angels.

Catchers: Ben Rortvedt, Yankees; Mitch Garver, Rangers; Jason Castro, Astros, and Kurt Suzuki, Angels.

Infielders: Jonathan Schoop, Tigers; Josh Donaldson and Martin Gonzalez, Yankees; Niko Goodrum, Astros; Andrelton Simmons, Cubs; C.J. Cron, Rockies; Eduardo Escobar, Mets; Ehire Adrianza, Nationals, and J.T. Riddle, Reds.

Outfielders: Robbie Grossman, Tigers; Aaron Hicks, Yankees; LaMonte Wade, Giants; Eddie Rosario, Beraves and Rob Refsnyder, Red Sox.

DH: Nelson Cruz, Nationals.

Cron, by the way, is second in the National League in home runs (7) and among RBI leaders (19) while hitting .299.

The University of St. Thomas will play football at Harvard in 2023 on September 16, then host the Crimson at St. Thomas in 2029 on Sept. 15.

DON’T PRINT THAT

It will be announced that a national ultra-exclusive golf destination named Tepetonka and located nearly two hours west of the Twin Cities is about to be constructed.

Designed by Australian Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, the club will be limited to 100 members. The first 20 to join will pay a $100,000 initiation fee. The next 20 will pay $120,000, the next 20 $140,000 to get in, the next 20 $160,000, the final 20 $180,000.

Each member can play only 100 rounds per year. And if a member plays 25 rounds and has three guests, that will count as the 100-round limit.

About 40 members — some already have committed — are expected to be from Minnesota, the rest from across the country.

Ogilvy’s design firm is named OCM. Ogilvy was at the site recently, spending five days walking the layout. The project is being overseen by Mark Haugejorde, the former University of Houston golfer from New London-Spicer.

Tim Leiweke, who might be the most powerful marketing executive in all of sports, was impressed with the playoff resurgence of the Timberwolves, as well as with future owners Mark Lore and Alex Rodriguez.

Leiweke was a Wolves VP with the expansion team that set a NBA attendance record of 1.07 million playing in the Metrodome in it first season (1989-90) despite winning just 22 games.

On April 13, 1990 at the Metrodome, 45,450 spectators showed up for a 117-102 Wolves victory over Orlando. This season at Target Center, the Wolves averaged 16,028, 21st in the NBA.

Contrary to speculation, Leiweke insists Lore and Rodriguez are intent on keeping the Wolves in Minneapolis rather than trying to move them to Seattle, where Rodriguez played his first seven seasons in Major League Baseball.

“I know the new partners pretty well,” Leiweke said. “I love their spirit, their intensity, their ideas. I think they’re really going to be good for the city and the team.

“I think the way they’re partnering with (departing owner Glen Taylor) is fantastic. But the juice that these guys are going to bring to this franchise is going to be amazing.

“These guys are really thinking long and hard about a long-term play for the arena (Target Center) and what to do with it. But they’re not looking anywhere but Minneapolis.”
Target Center opened 32 years ago, in 1990.

“I think these guys know at the end of the day something has to be done to the arena,” Leiweke said. “Is that a renovation, is that a new build? I think they’re looking at a lot of things. I can tell you every conversation I’ve had with them and the management team there, which is also good, everything’s been focused on a long-term solution there.”

Taylor Rogers, traded by the Twins to San Diego three weeks ago, already has eight saves in nine chances and hasn’t given up a run. An error cost him being 9 for 9 in saves.

While Twins first baseman Miguel Sano (one home run and three RBIs in 16 games while batting .096) continues to falter in the final year of his $30 million contract, young slugger Jose Miranda (two homers and 11 RBIs in 18 games while hitting .250) is conspicuously getting some time at first base for the St. Paul Saints.

Look for Gophers men’s basketball to redshirt two of their incoming high school signees. Who they will be will be determined in summer workouts.

It looks like fired Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, 65, whose $1.99 million house in Inver Grove Heights quickly sold for nearly the asking price, will sit out this season while collecting $8 million the team owes him, then try to land a defensive consulting job for 2023.

Also fired by the Vikings, GM Rick Spielman’s $975,000 Eden Prairie home sold within 48 hours for more than the asking price. Word is Spielman, who generally shunned local media, is headed to Naples, Fla., and could end up with, gulp, a media job.

Boston University is hiring a new men’s hockey coach, and Minnesota State Mankato’s Mike Hastings, 56, seems a logical target. The job would come with a $250,000 pay raise.

At the end of the school year, Cretin-Derham Hall athletics director Phil Archer will leave to become an associate director of the Minnesota State High School League.

Gophers NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion Gable Steveson, speaking at a Dunkers gathering at Interlachen the other day, wouldn’t say whether he’ll play a good guy or bad guy when he embarks on his World Wrestling Entertainment career.

Topps says ex-Minnehaha Academy star Chet Holmgren, expected to be a top-five pick in the upcoming NBA draft, helped choose nine designs for the 7-footer’s collectible cards that launched last week.

It hasn’t been announced, but Bob Kurtz, 74, the peerless Wild play-by-play voice for 21 seasons, has quietly retired from the team and won’t be working the playoffs.

OVERHEARD
Ex-Twin Torii Hunter, on the Twins moving up to first place: “I know it’s early, but anytime you can be in first place with the White Sox and Cleveland in the (division), you’ve got to enjoy it and ride that bike until the wheels fall off.”