Sid Hartman: Vikings want a star, even if on defense

The Vikings need to upgrade their offense in order to improve on last season's 6-10 record.

And even though they need a wide receiver and other offensive help, the team plans to draft the best player available -- even if it's a defensive back -- according to vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman.

So, despite a decline in season-ticket sales, the team might not select a player who could be a factor in marketing and selling tickets.

Spielman also made it clear that the Vikings will not take a wide receiver with the seventh pick in the first round unless it is Calvin Johnson of Georgia Tech.

Apparently, quarterback Brady Quinn of Notre Dame and running back Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma are high on the team's list, but the Vikings said they will take a defensive player if they have one ranked higher.

"Yeah, we need play-makers, but again you don't know what's going to happen on draft day," Spielman said. "And if we feel that strongly about a defensive back that's on our board or a defensive tackle or whatever position, you can't have enough good players.

"You want to get play-makers here, and we're going to continue to do that. We're going to continue to try to do that on draft day. But we also have to look to the future of this organization -- that hey, maybe this guy is going to be a starter for this year or maybe he'll be a backup until next year but he'll definitely play for us as a rookie.

"But you have to look at two, three, four years down the road. And it may be we take a player or two that we don't need but he's too good of a player to pass up. And you can't have enough good players."

Spielman says you can't go wrong when you take good players, regardless of their position.

Spielman said there has been talk about drafting a quarterback high.

"Yeah, and we'll see what develops there and how we feel, but you know if we feel a quarterback is the best player at that number seven overall pick, that may be the choice," he said. "But there may be another guy ahead of that quarterback on the draft board. I think it's very important as you go through this that you take guys on how you have them ranked and what type of football players they are, regardless of position."

Spielman said offensive players won't be disregarded.

"There's certain points in the draft that we'll look at and have some certain guys targeted that we feel fit what we're doing from an offensive standpoint," he said. "And again, there will be guys that may be good quarterbacks but they have to be specific to what we do offensively, they have to have certain traits that coach Brad Childress is looking for in a quarterback.

"If they don't have those traits, it was just like in free agency. There are good players that we didn't go after but not because they're not good players, but because we want players that will excel in the systems that we run."

Well, the second guess is always the best guess, so Spielman and company are going to be second-guessed. But like Bud Grant used to say, you can't judge a draft for at least three years.

Hunter hot with bat

Twins outfielder Torii Hunter is off to one of his best starts, hitting .315 with 13 doubles, four home runs and 16 RBI in 19 games. He hit his fourth homer in the second inning of Wednesday night's 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

At the same point last season he was hitting only .229 with two doubles, five home runs and 13 RBI.

Jottings

The Twins will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1987 World Series championship team Aug 17-19. All living members of that team are expected to be on hand. Kirby Puckett and Joe Niekro have passed away.

In their first 12 home dates, the Twins' attendance is 324,389, an average of 27,024, compared to 273,188 a year ago (an average of 22,766).

One of my favorite baseball books was written by David Halberstam, who was killed in an auto accident this week near San Francisco. He autographed the book "to the man who opened the door I couldn't unlock." Several years ago Halberstam wanted to interview Ted Williams but couldn't make the connection, and Bobby Knight called me to see if I could help. I called Williams, with whom I had a great relationship since his minor league playing days here, and Williams agreed to be interviewed by Halberstam. From that time on I received just about every book that the great author wrote. We had a nice reunion when he was here last year for a speaking engagement.

Speaking of books, Kent Hrbek has a new book authored by Dennis Brackin of the Star Tribune. The first signing will be today from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the downtown Barnes & Noble.

Gophers wide receiver Logan Payne was one of the 30 players the Vikings worked out a week ago, and he apparently made a good impression.

Going into a nonconference game against South Dakota State on Wednesday, Gophers outfielder Mike Mee was sixth in the nation with a .448 batting average and Gophers pitcher Josh Oslin was tied for 15th in the nation with nine saves. If Mee continues at this pace he has a good chance to be a high major league draft choice and a chance to be the Big Ten's most valuable player. ... The Gophers took a 26-7 record into Wednesday's game, and their .788 winning percentage is eighth in the nation. The Gophers are ranked No. 17 in the RPI ratings.

Brock Lesnar, the former Gopher and pro wrestler, said he is enjoying his new role as a mixed martial arts fighter and said it allows him to take advantage of his athletic ability. Lesnar will make his mixed martial arts debut against Korea's Hong-Man Choi in the Los Angeles Coliseum on June 2. ... Gophers wrestlers Cole Konrad and Jared Lawrence will wrestle in the World Trials in Las Vegas on June 10. ... David Zilverberg of Wayzata, the standout 125-pound high school wrestler, has signed a tender to attend Minnesota. His dad, Pat, and uncles Larry and Dan all wrestled for the Gophers.

Matt Fornasiere, the former Gophers infielder, made two all-star teams while in the Cleveland farm system but was released and so far hasn't received another offer. Twins general manager Terry Ryan did call Matt's father, Rob, and asked if Matt would be interested in joining the Twins minor league system as a catcher, but Matt is not interested in changing positions at this stage of his baseball career.

Tom Ward and his Shattuck-St. Mary's hockey team had six players earn future college scholarships: Ben Blood (North Dakota), Ben Youds and Peter Lompado (Minnesota State Mankato) and Derek Stepan, Brock Montpetit and Jordan Murray (Wisconsin). Ty Gretzky, son of Wayne Gretzky, was a sophomore at Shattuck-St. Mary's last year and, according to Ward, had a good year playing for the Double A Midget Team.

Former Gopher Shani Marks, the Big Ten champion in the triple jump and 600-meter run, and former Gophers wide receiver Ron Johnson recently were married. Marks recently won the triple jump title at the USA National Indoor Championships.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com