Sid Hartman: Homegrown Twins relatively few in '08

The Twins, who saw their 10-game winning streak end Saturday night in a 5-1 loss to Milwaukee, have had a reputation of developing players in their farm system. However, a check of the active roster finds that only nine of the 25 players on the team were originally drafted by the club.

The nine players are pitchers Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Jesse Crain, Glen Perkins and Kevin Slowey, along with four position players: catcher Joe Mauer, first baseman Justin Morneau and outfielders Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel. Two more homegrown players, pitcher Pat Neshek and utility infielder Matt Tolbert, are on the disabled list.

Of course, the Twins have traded away some of their players to acquire others on the present roster. But it is interesting how much of the 2008 roster arrived from other organizations, compared to previous Twins teams that were loaded with players who came up through their system.

Great deals were made in past years to acquire players such as Alexi Casilla, Nick Punto, Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser, along with Francisco Liriano and Bobby Korecky, both in the minors right now after pitching for the Twins earlier this season; this past offseason, the Twins brought in Carlos Gomez, Brendan Harris and Delmon Young in trades.

Matt Guerrier was claimed off waivers in 2003 and has turned into a reliable reliever. Previous years saw the Twins pick up free agents such as Mike Redmond and Dennys Reyes. And Brian Buscher, who has taken over at third base, was a minor league Rule 5 draft pick in 2006.

Perhaps the only negative for the team in how it has built the roster was that several of the free agents signed over recent years, including some on the current roster, did not perform as expected.

Mark Rolfing, a longtime television golf commentator who is involved in NBC's telecast of the U.S. Women's Open this weekend at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, said that women's golf has made tremendous strides in attracting fans' interest.

Asked about the possibility of a mixed-team championship between men's and women's players, Rolfing mentioned there used to be one that NBC colleague Dottie Pepper frequently played in, adding: "I would love to see them resurrect that tournament. I think there would be a lot of interest in it. It's just that the game has exploded so much that the schedule is full everywhere you turn. But I think you'll see a day again where that happens."

Does Rolfing see the day when women's purses are comparable to the men's?

"The men's purses are considerably bigger than the ladies' purses right now," Rolfing said. "Tennis has basically gone in the other direction, and I think that in tennis, in a lot of cases, the women at Wimbledon are playing for the same amount of money as the men. Will it ever get to that point in golf? I'm not sure it will. But I think that gap is going to be narrowed, and that's one of the big initiatives that the LPGA has right now, to raise the level of the purses for their big events."

He said because of the poor economy, pro golf is having problems getting sponsors.

"I think the Champions Tour probably is having as much trouble as either the LPGA or the PGA Tour," he said. "But the economy in general is not good, as everybody well knows. And I think some of the first things that go during times like this are sponsorships. So it's going to be a big task not only for ladies' golf but for men's golf, to not so much find new sponsors for new events but just hang on to the ones they've got."

Vikings tight end Jim Kleinsasser was recently inducted in the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Also inducted was Dewey King, who played football for the Gophers for one year before transferring to UND. Past inductees include Phil Jackson, Roger Maris, Lute Olson and Dale Brown.

Former Gophers kicker Rhys Lloyd played in last season's season finale for the Carolina Panthers, and he appears to have a shot at sticking on the roster as a kickoff specialist. The Panthers have a longtime kicker in John Kasay, but he had trouble getting his kickoffs deep last season.

Kurt Knoff, the former Vikings safety and a Minnesota native now active in the local NFL Alumni Association, said his organization expects to raise $100,000 for various charities at its annual golf tournament Monday at Bearpath Country Club in Eden Prairie.

I thought that former Gophers football coach Glen Mason gave Logan Payne the opportunity to be one of the better receivers in the Big Ten, and those opportunities helped him get signed as a free agent with the Seattle Seahawks. But Payne told the Tacoma News Tribune that with the Gophers "we just ran the ball all the time so I had to take on different roles. But now that I am finally in a passing offense, and playing with a guy like Matt [Hasselbeck] is a dream come true, something that receivers love to do, run routes and catch balls. So I am happy."

Can you believe that top tickets for the Brock Lesnar mixed martial arts event Aug. 9 at Target Center are $600 and the event is almost sold out? Several similar events will follow this one because of the popularity of the sport.