Sid Hartman: Twins see payoff of Santana trade

Well, the trade that sent Twins pitcher Johan Santana to the Mets for a bunch of unknowns and unproductive players is looking a lot better today than it did in 2008, when it was severely criticized.

It is one big reason why the Twins are 5-1 in one of their best starts.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy and closer Jon Rauch were acquired with some of the four players the Twins received for Santana, and they have filled two big holes.

Twins General Manager Bill Smith sent outfielder Carlos Gomez to the Brewers for shortstop Hardy, who is hitting .280 with three runs, seven hits and three RBI that have been influential in the Twins' record. In addition Hardy hasn't made an error in the field and has made some game-saving plays.

Smith sent pitcher Kevin Mulvey to the Diamondbacks for Rauch, who now is leading the American League with four saves in the four games in which he has appeared. The 6-11 relief pitcher has a 0.00 ERA. He has pitched a total of four innings, has given up five hits and has struck out three. He got both saves in the two White Sox victories.

As for the other players acquired in the Santana trade, pitcher Philip Humber was released, and Deolis Guerra is pitching for the Twins' Class AA New Britain club. Guerra, 20, was 11-9 in 2008, and last year, pitching for Class A Fort Myers and New Britain, he was 12-11 with a 4.89 ERA in 26 starts. Mulvey was 7-9 with a 3.77 ERA in 27 starts for Class AAA Rochester last year. Gomez played great in the field last year but hit only .229. He did open the season with the Brewers this year going 4-for-5, but has only one hit since and is batting .238.

It appears that Twins manager Ron Gardenhire made a good decision when he decided to forget his closer-by-committee plan and turn the job over to Rauch.

Lack of site hurt Lakers Patrick Reusse had an interesting column in Saturday's paper about this being 50 years since the Lakers moved to Los Angeles and how interesting it would have been had the team that has won 10 titles since moving to Los Angeles stayed here.

Well, if you want to know why the Lakers moved, it was because they didn't have a decent place to play and faced the same problems that faced the North Stars hockey team that moved, that faced the Twins who might have moved were it not for Target Field being built and why the Vikings might eventually move if they don't get a stadium.

And the reason the NHL came back here is that Xcel Energy Center was built.

The Lakers played most of their games here at the Minneapolis Auditorium. But when March came around, the building wasn't available for the playoffs because it was booked by the Builders Show, the Sportsman Show and other events.

So the Lakers had to play at the old Minneapolis Armory and the old St. Paul Auditorium.

I'll never forget the big argument Berger and Chalfen got into when Chalfen learned that Berger had listened to then-coach John Kundla and Vern Mikkelsen and killed the deal with the Celtics that would have brought Kentucky stars Cliff Hagan, Frank Ramsey and Lou Tsioropoulos for Mikkelsen in 1956.

Had that deal been made -- and I still have the papers that the commissioner OK'd around my house someplace -- the Minneapolis Lakers would have finished last and Russell, as he wrote in more than one book, would have played here.

Yes, my close friend Pete Newell of college basketball fame was handling the negotiations for me with Russell, and Newell was confident Russell would play here if he was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers, who were not a very good team at the time minus big stars George Mikan and Jim Pollard, who had retired.

Interesting also is how the value of the Lakers franchise has increased.

The franchise was bought for $15,000, sold to Bob Short for $150,000, sold by Short to Jack Kent Cooke for $5 million-plus, sold to Jerry Buss for $62.5 million and today is worth at least $750 million.

Glen Perkins, the Twins pitcher who was sent to Rochester, pitched three shutout innings for the Red Wings on Saturday before running into trouble and giving up two runs in the fourth inning without retiring a hitter. Perkins allowed one hit, two earned runs and walked and struck out three.

Vikings defensive lineman Pat Williams, who injured his arm during the season, said Friday while attending the Carol Fitzgerald memorial fundraiser that he no longer needs to wear a brace, that his arm is fine and he is looking forward to playing next year.

And Ray Edwards, the Vikings restricted free agent who hasn't signed a tender, said he was surprised that the Vikings have not talked to him about a multiyear contract.

While all the Vikings quarterback talk is about Brett Favre and whether he will come back, Sage Rosenfels is living here during the off season and hasn't missed a day working out since the season ended. Rosenfels was acquired from Houston, where he had won six of the 10 games he started in two previous seasons. However, last year for the Vikings, he wasn't active for even one game. One of Rosenfels' big boosters is Favre, who is confident Rosenfels will play for somebody in the NFL in the near future. Rosenfels is signed through 2012.

The veteran Vikings players start their offseason workouts Sunday and will join the young players, who have been working out for two weeks.

Kevin Michael Dunbar, a 6-4, 292-pound lineman who started as a freshman for Prior Lake and the son of Karl Dunbar, Vikings defensive line coach, has already been offered a scholarship by the Gophers. Young Dunbar was recently singled out by one of the websites as one of the top five high school linemen in the state.

And Nick Davis, son of Gophers offensive line coach Tim Davis, was a member of the Cretin-Derham Hall football team last season. He didn't see much action but will play in the future.

Kyle Theret, the Gophers starting safety who was recently suspended for some legal problems, will be back with the team this fall.

UCLA has some interest in Bloomington Jefferson basketball star Marcus Alipate, the brother of Gophers quarterback Moses Alipate. ... Jamie Hoffman, the baseball player from New Ulm, Minn., who was taken by the Nationals from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft and immediately traded to the Yankees, was returned to the Dodgers when the Yankees decided not to keep him on their roster.