Twins need help beyond the farm

A year ago, the Twins caught fire when second baseman Alexi Casilla and Denard Span came up from Class AAA Rochester and filled the holes needed to spark the team to a great finish.

Back home from Rochester, N.Y., where he spent time scouting the farm team recently, Twins General Manager Bill Smith saw some players who might help the Twins in an emergency.

But it didn't appear that there were players available to give the Twins the same help that Span and Casilla did.

Smith singled out third baseman Danny Valencia and second baseman Steve Tolleson. He said that pitcher Anthony Swarzak, who was called up to fill in for Glen Perkins and won games against the Brewers and Cubs before being sent back down, is ready to help if needed. Smith also said he talked to Casilla, and he understands why he is in the minors and that he is working hard to improve.

Ask about reliever Jesse Crain, who no doubt was shocked when he was sent down, Smith said: "He needs regular work, and we're going to give it to him. He just got there."

As for the Twins, Smith admitted the club needed some help in the relief department.

"We're looking and talking [about getting a reliever], but nothing is imminent," Smith said. "Everybody is looking for relief pitching, and that's making it tough."

He praised the way the team played in June, when it went 15-12.

"We've won four series in a row on the road. They beat the Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals and the Royals," Smith said. "And three of those teams are the three best teams in the NL Central."

Can the Twins win the division with the present roster? "We're going to find out," he said. "We have a lot of time left to play, and we're playing better. We've had some guys settle down, our starting rotation is doing well, and we've had some guys step up in the bullpen, and that's what we've been looking for."

Is there chance of a trade to improve the team?

"We'd love to make the team better, but it would have to make sense," Smith said.

Any chance of getting an extension for third baseman Joe Crede, who is on a one-year contract? "We're going to wait and see what happens over the course of the season. He's been a good fit on this club; he's been a good player," Smith said.

The Twins recently completed their draft, and they have signed seven of their top 10 picks.

"We haven't signed our top two guys yet. We're still talking, and we've got until August 15," he said.

On another subject, Smith said that the Twins and other major league teams have had players play two sports, and that this could be an option for Gophers football and baseball star Eric Decker, who was drafted by the Twins.

Decker will represent the Gophers at the annual Big Ten football media event in Chicago along with two other captains, Lee Campbell and Garrett Brown, and also will speak at the annual banquet as a representative of all the players in the conference.

In reply to rumors that the Timberwolves eventually could move to St. Paul and Xcel Energy Center if poor attendance continues at Target Center, the Wolves have 16 years left on their lease with the city. However, the team has only two years on their contract with Target to maintain the Target name on the arena. You wonder if Target Corp. will renew naming rights now that the company has it for the new Twins stadium.

Two Wild employees under contract are Tommy Thompson, assistant general manager/player personnel, and Houston Aeros coach Kevin Constantine, who General Manager Chuck Fletcher said will coach the farm team this year. Thompson likely will be retained as well. Glen Sonmor, a longtime scout for the Wild, has retired but will continue to do color on Gophers hockey broadcasts.

Matt Nohelty, the Gophers baseball player who, along with women's swimmer Jenny Shaughnessy, won the Gophers Big Ten Medal of Honor for proficiency in scholarship and athletics, was drafted in the 38th round by the Twins. But Nohelty, a 4.0 student, has taken a job locally in engineering and won't attempt to play professional baseball.

The Gophers men and women finished 14th among 331 NCAA Division I schools in the Directors Cup, which measures overall athletic achievement. Only Ohio State and Michigan finished ahead of them in the Big Ten. ... Grant Potulny, who retired as a player and was appointed a graduate assistant Gophers coach, is one of the leading candidates to succeed Mike Hastings, who has become the head coach at Nebraska-Omaha. Potulny had an interview with Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi on Wednesday.

For the second year in a row, the Gophers wrestling recruiting group was named No. 1 in the country by D1CollegeWrestling.net. ... Gophers freshman golfer Derek Chang won the Southeastern Amateur, shooting 15 under par to win by seven strokes. Chang finished third in the Big Ten tournament.

Vikings coach Brad Childress spent last week fishing in Alaska with his son as well as Eagles coach Andy Reid, Childress' former boss.

Derek McCallum, who hit .400 for the Gophers, is batting only .180 for the Twins' Elizabethton rookie team, but he hit his first home run as a pro Tuesday.

You wonder how the ownership of the Detroit Pistons feels after President Joe Dumars fired coach Flip Saunders after he had coached the team to the NBA Eastern Conference finals three years in row and replaced him with assistant Michael Curry, who was fired after one 39-43 season and first-round playoff loss to the Cavaliers.

Former North Stars boss Lou Nanne, said he believes the Wild might have a good chance to sign Montreal star Saku Koivu, brother of Wild star Mikko Koivu. "Montreal has some salary-cap problems, and they have about eight free agents coming up this year and they can't sign everybody," Nanne said. "Saku is a little older [34] and so he might be in a better position to move than some of the other guys, and I would think that he would want to come here. I would not be surprised if the new general manager would be able to get him here."

Minneapolis Community and Technical College has announced a campaign to raise donations to cover the operating expenses for the MCTC men and women's basketball teams with an initial goal of raising $118,000 by March 1, 2010, to find the programs for 2010-11. MCTC will have a team in 2009-10 after earlier announcing it was dropping basketball. ... A new addition to the Gophers football staff in quality control is Tony Sorrentino, who played at Division III College of New Jersey.

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