Minnesota Twins head to Chicago this weekend

CATHY WURZER: It's a fine time to be a ball fan in the state of Minnesota. The Twins are still alive, even with yesterday's loss. The Loons are hot. I get the details from our sports pros Wally Langfellow, Eric Nelson. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and the co-host of 10,000 Takes sports talk show on radio and TV. Eric Nelson is the other host of 10,000 Takes and the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL. Hey, you guys. How are you doing?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Good, Cathy. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: Good, thank you for asking.

ERIC NELSON: Good afternoon.

CATHY WURZER: Hello, Eric. How are you?

ERIC NELSON: Great, great.

CATHY WURZER: Well, I know you both are very excited about the Gopher football team kicking off the season tonight at home against New Mexico State. Let me ask you this. What is the deal with the former UFM head coach Jerry Kill, who is now coaching New Mexico State, what's the deal with his comments about PJ Fleck?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, it goes back to his assistant coach, who eventually became the head coach, Tracy Claeys, when Claeys was head coach after Jerry Kill left because of-- for health reasons. Claeys then took over. And after PJ Fleck was hired, he made a comment that they needed to change the culture of University of Minnesota football. In other words, that there wasn't a good culture. There were bad things that happened under Tracy Claeys.

Well, not only did Tracy Claeys take umbrage with that, but Jerry killed it. And it's been going back and forth ever since then. And Jerry has-- he has pulled no punches on this, and so he is back in town. Ironically, he gets his first head coaching job since leaving the University of Minnesota, and his very first game as against the University of Minnesota. But tonight is a game that the Gophers should win. They're 38 point favorites tonight.

CATHY WURZER: Wow.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Before you get to wowed by that, though, let's not forget, a year ago, they lost to Bowling Green, and they were favored by 31 points over Bowling Green at Huntington Bank Stadium. So this is a game that they should win. They have a very veteran team. Mo Ibrahim is back. Tanner Morgan is back, literally in his sixth year because of COVID and redshirt and all that. So they have got a veteran team, and they should win tonight.

CATHY WURZER: Eric, what do you think?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. Well I was at that Bowling Green game last season. And Minnesota has a knack for playing down to their opposition. And they did that day. And it was really one of those, I can't believe what I just saw moments, where Bowling Green hung around and eventually won the football game. And I remember vividly leaving Huntington Bank Stadium and going out to the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis to coach my kid's youth team.

And they were pretty cocky going into that game. They were playing their archrival Champlin, or Brooklyn Park. I said, look, guys, dial it down. I just watched a team that was favored by 31 points lose at home. So there's no given whenever you take the football field. And the acrimony between Jerry and TJ is real. And I think a lot of us who will be there tonight-- I'll be there-- will there be a post-game handshake? A post-game punch? Will they ignore each other?

That's what this focus is. Jerry said when he left the U of M and all those comments came out from PJ about the culture, he would never set foot into Huntington Bank Stadium again. Well, here he is, because the job he took has Minnesota on the schedule. It'll be a body bag game if Minnesota plays up to capability. Body bag meaning New Mexico State comes in, gets a huge check, but leaves in a body bag because they're not as good as Minnesota. But I wouldn't assume anything.

CATHY WURZER: OK, we'll see what happens. OK, Vikings, by the way, Wally Langfellow. So are we down to the number of individuals we need on the team at this point with all the cuts that have been made?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Right. They've made some cuts. There's still some moving around from players on to the practice squad. They made a trade. But I think that the big news is that they have let go now. Seven of the 11 draft choices that were made last year by Rick Spielman, who, of course, at the time, general manager is now gone. And this year, seven of those 11 draft choices are now on waivers. They have been cut, including quarterback Kellen Mond, offensive lineman Wyatt Davis, and then most recently, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, wide receiver.

So what this says is that the new regime with Kevin O'Connell and company, they really don't think much of what Rick Spielman gave them as far as that draft class from last year. And let's not forget, you live and die on your draft in the NFL. And right now, the new regime does not think much of what Rick Spielman left them with regard to last year's draft class.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, and Cathy, Kellen Mond was taken in the third round of the 2021 draft out of Texas A&M. So for Minnesota to flat out cut him, that's a huge loss of draft capital. And he's already signed with Cleveland. So the Browns feel like they can maybe coach this kid up. But in the NFL, sometimes one team's trash is another team's treasure. Minnesota just made a trade today for Jalen Reagor from the Philadelphia Eagles. He did not pan out with Philly. He was taken one pick ahead of Justin Jefferson in the 2020 NFL draft. And he really was a bust for Philadelphia.

But the Vikings are hoping a new zip code, a new coaching staff can revive Reagor's career. He has a lot of upside. This will be interesting to follow. And remember, Minnesota lost Bisi Johnson for the season with an injury. As Wally mentioned, Ihmir Smith-Marsette has been cut. So Jalen Reagor has another opportunity here in Minnesota to prove he belongs in the NFL.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Twins. I'm still a little worried about the twins, Wally, in terms of, can they still hang on into the post-season?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I mean, obviously, we have a whole month to go. They trail Cleveland by a game and a half. They still have eight games with Cleveland-- three here and five in Cleveland. I'll be at most of those eight. I know.

CATHY WURZER: Do you have a life?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I'm going to Cleveland, so what can I say? Look, they come off a five in one homestand. They won five out of six. They had a five game winning streak until last night. Gave up a grand slam last night to Xander Bogaerts. And they ended up losing it six-five. They made a comeback but couldn't finish the comeback in the ninth inning, unfortunately. So they find themselves a game and a half out coming into the weekend. They travel to Chicago.

And really, Eric, as you know, this is a Chicago team that is down. Not quite out, because there's still a month to go.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, but clearly the White Sox are in desperation mode. They have been one of the catastrophic failures in this season so far. They were viewed by some, Cathy, as a potential World Series team. They're not even playing 500 baseball. But they're only five games behind Cleveland. There's a whole month ago. I'm sure they are looking at this series with Minnesota as, hey, we've got to win two minimum and hopefully three.

But they also have a sidebar going on. Their Hall of Fame manager, 77-year-old Tony La Russa, is out indefinitely because of medical reasons. He's been replaced by their bench coach Miguel Cairo. So is it the White Sox's last stand? Well you can't say that. But I will say this. If they don't win the series, they may fade away into the sunset.

CATHY WURZER: So before we go, I'm just going to say, Thursday Night Lights, I know a lot of people love the fact that high school football starts tonight. And I know Wally, you're going to be watching carefully here throughout the next few weeks, and we'll be talking about that-- how about next week? We'll talk high school football next week? How's that sound?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: We'll do that. I've got Edina Minnetonka tonight. I'm interested to see how that plays out.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Hey, Eric Nelson, thank you. Wally, we'll talk to you later, too.

ERIC NELSON: Thank you, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Talk to you guys later.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Will do.

CATHY WURZER: Wally Langfellow's the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine, the co-host of 10,000 Takes Sports talk show, and Eric Nelson's the other host of that show. He's also the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL.