I want this gig

I don't often envy athletes. Those who are great successes lead great lives, but most wind up frustrated, broke and without a real career at the age of 35.

Here's a guy I envy: Kurt Rambis.

Rambis will be paid $4 million to not work for David Kahn and Glen Taylor.

Yes, I'm jealous.

-Now that the Rambis fiasco is over, where will Kahn turn for his next coach?

Strib Wolves beat wrtier Jerry Zgoda listed some potential candidates. Rick Adelman would be a grand slam, a fine coach who deals well with players, emphasizes ball movement and can play fast enough to satisfy Kahn.

Don Nelson would be a an act of desperation, another example of Kahn reaching for a proven name, even though the proven name was kicked out of his last two jobs and is 71.

Know what name I like on Zgoda's list? Dave Joerger. I like coaches who commit to being a head coach early in their career, rather than riding coattails like Rambis did with Phil Jackson. I like guys who learn how to win at lower levels before they climb to the big time. And I like guys, like Joerger and Dwane Casey and Tom Thibodeau, who are given responsibility for an NBA team's defense and succeed.

Joerger helped the Grizzlies make the playoffs and beat the Spurs. He'd be hungry and driven. I don't know if he'd be the right guy, but he has the right kind of resume for my tastes.

-It's amazing. Every scout and baseball person and even baseball writer I speak with tells me they expect the Twins to win the AL Central. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised by that, but I fear fans are assuming it's going to be easy, and the Twins will still have to play at a remarkable pace to make it to 85 victories, which is probably the fewest number of victories that would win the division. (That's just my guess.)

The Twins are 41-48. Can they really go 44-29 with this bullpen?

I believe they'll have to find at least one more arm to go with Matt Capps, Joe Nathan and Glen Perkins. Maybe that's Chuck James. Maybe that's Carlos Gutierrez. More likely, the Twins will have to overpay to land a reliever on the trade market.

Remember, one of the reasons the Twins were able to surge back into relevance in the early 2000s was because of the trades made by Terry Ryan. He got Johan Santana for nothing; Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser for a catcher who was about to be replaced by Joe Mauer (A.J. Pierzynski), and made minor deals for Jason Bartlett, Lew Ford, Alexi Casilla and others who offered value.

Those deals are hard to make. So while the Twins may find it necessary to trade for another reliever, they can't afford to give up any more top prospects.