Major League Baseball

Charley Walters: Minnesota Twins tried in vain to make deal for Cliff Lee

Published Oct. 14, 2010 10:15 a.m. ET

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The Twins tried hard in July to trade for Seattle pitcher Cliff Lee, but it's clear the Mariners insisted on the Twins' top minor league prospect, outfielder Aaron Hicks, as part of the deal, and the Twins refused.

Lee shut down Tampa Bay twice in the postseason to propel the Texas Rangers into the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.

Lee is 32. Hicks recently turned 21. Lee has been a money pitcher in postseason play with a 6-0 record and 1.44 earned-run average.

But Lee is a rental player who can become a free agent after this season. It might take $130 million over six years for the Rangers, or another team, to sign him.

Hicks hit .279 in 115 games for the Twins' Class A Beloit Snappers this season with eight home runs and a team-leading 21 stolen bases. He's still at least a couple of seasons away from the major leagues.

Hicks has the tools to become a longtime major leaguer, maybe an all-star. But Lee could have been the difference maker for the Twins against the Yankees, who swept Minnesota in the first round.

Texas gave Seattle first baseman Justin Smoak and three other players for Lee, reliever Mark Lowe and a check for $2.25 million. Texas had to pay Lee $4 million of his $9 million salary this season.

Was it worth it? Would the Twins still be playing had they been able to make a deal for Lee by giving up Hicks? There are no guarantees, but it's a great debate.

"We would have loved to make the Cliff Lee deal," Twins general manager Bill Smith said Wednesday, declining to confirm which players Seattle wanted in return. "We had great interest in Cliff Lee. He's a tremendous pitcher. But one thing we can't control is how other organizations evaluate our players or other players. In the end, the Seattle Mariners' best offer was from the Texas Rangers. You tip your hat to them and move on."

Remember Mike Lynn's infamous gamble when he ran the Vikings, trading assorted players and draft picks to the Dallas Cowboys for Herschel Walker?

If Lee ends up putting World Series rings on his Rangers teammates' fingers, the trade was worth it for Texas. If not, the Twins retaining Hicks probably was the right thing to do.

New Iowa State men's basketball coach Fred Hoiberg, the former Timberwolves vice president, begins practice Friday, but the Cyclones still haven't received notice from the NCAA whether former Gophers 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward Royce White will be eligible to start the season. White, who left the Gophers in the middle of last season while under indefinite suspension, has applied for a waiver for immediate eligibility.

"We've submitted all the information, and now it's in the hands of the NCAA," Hoiberg said.

Until White becomes eligible, he'll practice with the team and three other Division I players who have transferred to Iowa State but can't travel with the team. If White isn't declared eligible this season, he'll redshirt and become eligible next season.

Meanwhile, Hoiberg said he believes White has the highest grade-point average in classes so far this fall.

"Better than 3.0," he said.

Ex-Vikings QB Wade Wilson is quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys team the Vikings will play Sunday at the Metrodome.

It was 50 years ago Wednesday that the Pittsburgh Pirates' Bill Mazeroski hit his dramatic ninth-inning home run off the New York Yankees' Ralph Terry for a 10-9 victory in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field. The late Johnny Blanchard from Minneapolis was the catcher.

Asked what pitch Blanchard had called for from Terry, he said, "The wrong one."

Dave Winfield from St. Paul has been named No. 15 on the Big Ten Network's top 50 "icons" list and will be profiled at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Roseville High shortstop Ryan Busch has committed to Georgetown University.

Waconia High 6-8 senior Shelby Moats has committed to play basketball for Vanderbilt. John Travis, a 6-6 forward at DeLaSalle, is leaning toward Harvard.

Ben Hankinson will be joining father John and brother Peter -- all former Gophers standouts -- in the Edina High Athletic Hall of Fame. Another former Gopher, Hankinson's brother Casey, is a cinch for future election.

A fundraiser for longtime local softball player Brett Emmons, who is undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer at the Mayo Clinic, is Friday evening at Moe's Restaurant in Mounds View.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Local ticket scalpers are getting more than $100 for even the worst upper-level seats for Sunday's Vikings-Dallas Cowboys game at the Metrodome.

Meanwhile, ticket broker StubHub reported Wednesday that more than 1,400 tickets are available and that buyers have paid as much as $850 (lower sideline) per seat.

Former Gophers defensemen Paul Martin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jordan Leopold of the Buffalo Sabres lead their teams in scoring with four points in three games. Both were free agents after last season, Martin signing a $25 million, five-year deal with Pittsburgh and Leopold a $9 million, three-year deal with Buffalo.

Nice move: It looks like the Vikings will be bringing back their popular mascot from 1970-92, Hub Meeds, 76, who is retired and lives in White Bear Lake, for a 50th anniversary celebration in December.

OVERHEARD

North Branch native Jon Lucivansky, who was a field judge in the rainy Vikings-New York Jets game in New Jersey on Monday night: "I feel like a prune."

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