Sid Hartman: A bust last year, Casilla turns it on this time around

With the Twins still in the playoff race last summer and players looking for a trade that would improve the team, the club instead traded second baseman Luis Castillo to the Mets for two unknown minor leaguers on July 30, making for a very unhappy Twins clubhouse.

The Twins were 53-51 at the time, seven games back in the American League Central and 6 1/2 in the wild-card race.

Castillo was batting .302 at the time and playing great at second, making a great double-play combination with shortstop Jason Bartlett. To replace the veteran second baseman, the Twins called up rookie Alexi Casilla, who was hitting .269 for Class AAA Rochester.

Twins players made it clear they were unhappy over General Manager Terry Ryan's decision to trade Castillo while not adding anyone that could help right away. The only other time I have heard Twins players come out in the open and be critical of management like that was in 1988, when Andy MacPhail traded Tom Brunansky to St. Louis for Tommy Herr, who turned to be a real flop at second base.

The players believed the trade was going to kill the team's chances of making the playoffs, and they were right as the club went 26-32 the rest of the way, finishing below .500. Casilla hit only .219 after getting recalled while playing horribly in the field, making several rookie mistakes.

Well, this spring, Casilla was rarely mentioned as a candidate to make the Twins roster. He got off to a slow start at the plate at Rochester this year and was still hitting only .219 when GM Bill Smith recalled Casilla on May 10 after Nick Punto went on the disabled list.

Well what a different situation it has been this year. After playing sparingly immediately following his recall, Casilla made his 12th consecutive start at second on Saturday night against the Yankees. He went 1-for-3 with three walks, scoring two runs and driving in one in the 7-6 loss in 12 innings, and is hitting .340 on the season.

"That is exactly what he thought was going to happen last year when we traded Castillo and called up Casilla, who was playing great for Rochester," Smith said.

Twins batting coach Joe Vavra said Casilla has a new attitude compared to last year.

"Guys come up and they're a little bit apprehensive and jittery and they want to set the world on fire when they come up the first time, they have a tendency to do too much," Vavra said. "He's come back with a whole different attitude as far as there's a calmness to him, he's not playing out of control.

"So, if the tools are there and the ability is there and you add that kind of relaxed feeling when you play, it's going to come out in the results. We're seeing it at second base and we're seeing it at the plate, he's just doing great things. Last year, everybody will tell you there was something that happened within his game every day, something would happen that was probably attributed to youth and inexperience and this year you don't see that too much."

Casilla, acquired from the Angels for J.C. Romero in 2005, was the Twins 2006 Minor League Player of the Year, and now he's showing off the skills in the majors that made him such a highly regarded prospect two years ago.

"You can see the tools are there, and the ability," Vavra said. "He runs well and handles the bat from both sides of the plate. He plays defense, he's got good range, pretty good instincts on the field."

Tim Leiweke, who got his big break as the first marketing director of the Timberwolves and now is president of the huge Anschutz Entertainment Group in Los Angeles, was recently presented the coveted Sports Executive of the Year award by SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily.

The Anschutz holdings that Leiweke runs includes Staples Center and Home Depot Center, the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. AEG also has managed Target Center since April 2007.

"We try not to get focused on awards," Leiweke said in SportsBusiness Daily. "It's a great tribute to AEG, but we firmly believe our best days are still ahead of us."

The award, presented in New York last week, was a well-deserved honor for one of the sharpest marketing executives I've ever seen operate.

There is little doubt that some Major League Baseball team will draft Gophers wide receiver Eric Decker, who played baseball this spring. But NFL scouts will tell you that Decker has such great talent on the gridiron that he can become a pro football player immediately, compared to having to start a pro baseball career in the minors. Decker led the Gophers with 67 catches for 909 yards and nine touchdowns last fall. He batted .329 this spring.

The Gophers don't have even one Minneapolis high school football player on their roster. And it's been a long time since a local high school football player who has been recruited as hard nationally as Ra'Shede Hageman, a 6-5 tight end from Washburn. Hageman has 11 offers, according to GopherIllustrated.com, and he said that he will probably end up looking at Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

The Twins have been amazing against AL Central opponents, going 18-9 within the division. The White Sox are second at 14-8. Kansas City was 10-11 and Cleveland 9-11 going into their game Saturday night, and Detroit is a woeful 5-17.

In addition to center Matt Birk, other Vikings players in the last year of their contract include Kendrick Allen, Brooks Bollinger, Michael Boulware, Robert Ferguson, Jim Kleinsasser, Derrick Pope, Benny Sapp and Darren Sharper and Ellis Wyms.

While the Gophers men's basketball team has been recruiting Osseo 6-9 post player Sam Dower, the word is that Iowa has offered him a scholarship.

Former Gophers golfer Clayton Rask has turned pro and will try to qualify for the Canadian Tour. ... Former Gophers on the Hooters Tour include Matt Anderson, Bronson La'Cassie, David Morgan, Justin Smith and Simon Nash.