Hartman: Twins owner won't restrict spending in free agency

Twins owner Jim Pohlad said this week that there are no serious restrictions on General Manager Terry Ryan when it comes to spending in free agency.

This is in contrast to what was said on a recent conference call Ryan and Twins President Dave St. Peter held with season-ticket holders, when they said payroll will be close to last season's total of around $85 million.

The truth of the matter is that Pohlad has never said no to Ryan. He said yes when the Twins signed pitcher Ricky Nolasco to a four-year, $49 million deal last season, the richest free-agent signing in club history. The Pohlads have been unfairly criticized when it comes to spending for talent.

"We've said this a million times, and the answer to that is clearly and unequivocally yes, whatever Terry wants to spend," Jim Pohlad said. "I'm not saying we're going to have a payroll of $200 million or $150 million but we've been up past $100 million before, and if Terry finds the opportunity, we're willing to go there again."

The Twins' highest payroll in history came in 2011, when it was $113 million.

Meanwhile, Pohlad, who has known new Twins manager Paul Molitor for a long time, talked about why he thinks Molitor will succeed with the Twins.

"Well, he's a winner," Pohlad said. "He has won at everything he's done, and I think that's really important. He seems to have a really good rapport one-on-one with people and his ability to teach. His ability to manage, we haven't seen that yet, but we were confident he will rise to that."

"Of course we are, yes," he said. "It hurts your brand a lot to lose four seasons in a row and whoever's fault that is, I guess it doesn't matter, but it has really hurt our brand and so we're very concerned about it."

Can Molitor help turn that around?

"I think he'll help, but winning helps," Pohlad said.

Last week Ohio State crushed Illinois 55-14 and Nebraska defeated Purdue 35-14. The Gophers football team struggled against those same two teams — defeating Purdue 39-38 and losing to Illinois 28-24 — indicating they will have to play much better Saturday against Iowa.

The Gophers will have to play their best game of the season to beat the Hawkeyes.

In four Big Ten Conference games, the Hawkeyes are averaging 37 points per game, the third-highest total in the league, and have scored 30 or more points in three of them. The Gophers are sixth at 29.2 points per game. Iowa has won 10 of the past 13 games with Minnesota, and Kill is 1-2 against the Hawkeyes.

"We'll have to be very disciplined," Kill said about his defensive game plan. "They're great in the offensive line. They do a great job of executing. Everybody is going to have to do their job. We can't have one guy go out and do something he's not supposed to do."

The Hawkeyes rushed for 221 yards in their victory over Northwestern last weekend (the Gophers rushed for 121 yards against the Wildcats), and, like most Hawkeyes teams under coach Kirk Ferentz, they are known for running the ball. But Kill said that what people might not know is Iowa is averaging 260.8 yards passing per game in conference play, the most in the Big Ten.

So is stopping the run the key to victory?

"It will be, it will be," Kill said. "That's who they are, and then the play-action pass. Their zone [run] scheme has given us trouble in the past and we're going to have do a good job against it.

It can be hard to figure out these Hawkeyes. They lost to Iowa State at home early in the season. In their home opener, they barely defeated Northern Iowa, and they lost at Maryland — a team that got beat 52-7 by Wisconsin. Still, Iowa has won at Pittsburgh and at Purdue, and it destroyed Northwestern.

Kill said he doesn't have an explanation for the ups and downs of the Hawkeyes, but he knows how good they are right now.

"Each week is different in college football," he said. "You never know for sure what's going to happen, but right now they're on a good roll. Hopefully we'll catch them when they slip back, but I don't think they will. Both teams are going to be highly motivated for this ballgame, so it should be a great game."

With four regular-season games to go, the Gophers (6-2, 3-1 Big Ten) control their own destiny. Kill knows this first game against Iowa is the biggest of the season so far.

"Everybody is tied up in our division and we're going head to head," he said. "There's no question [this is the biggest]."

• Since point guard Ricky Rubio signed his four-year, $55 million contract with the Wolves, he tallied 17 assists in the Wolves' close loss Saturday to the Bulls, tying a team record, and then went out and nearly had a triple-double (14 points, eight rebounds, 12 assists) and was one of the key difference-makers in the fourth quarter Wednesday as the Wolves beat Brooklyn 98-91. The Wolves had lost eight consecutive road games over the past two seasons before that victory. … Nikola Pekovic collected 16 points and 11 rebounds against the Nets, his second double-double of the season, after recording 23 in 54 games last year.

• Kieffer Bellows, son of former North Stars standout Brian Bellows, has committed to Boston College and is currently playing with the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Stampede, where he has six points (three goals, three assists) through 11 games. … Mario Lucia, son of Gophers coach Don Lucia, was named Hockey East player of the month after scoring seven goals and two assists in Notre Dame's first seven games. The Irish play the Gophers this weekend at Mariucci Arena.