Stock Watch: 6/17/11

The best (at least not involving the home teams) playoff season in recent memory has concluded, and I have to say I'm feeling some withdrawl.  It's never easy to say goodbye to the 2+ month stretch of a good game or two every night.  Particularly when the local ballclub isn't doing much to inspire interest.

But life goes on, and we do have a few interesting developments on the local sports scene this week.  Most appear positive at the moment, but the question is, will they remain that way in the long term?  Not surprisingly, I have some opinions:

Buy - Ricky Rubio as a Timberwolf

Sure I'm the guy who's spent the past two years saying that Rubio would never see the court for the Wolves, even made a wager to that end.  I also continue think he's probably more style than substance at this point, and wouldn't be surprised if he ends up an NBA flop.  But hey, when you're dealing with the worst franchise in the league, there's nowhere to go but up, and waiting this long has certainly added to the intrigue.  Whatever shortcomings may exist in Rubio's game, the fact remains that he's younger than most of the players on the team, and should certainly get plenty of minutes to figure things out once he arrives.  Hope is all this team has got, and he makes up the lion's share.  Here's to the few Wolves diehards out there, I'm happy for you and hope it works out.

Sell - Mike Yeo, Minnesota Wild coach

Admittedly, I don't know much about this guy, other than what I've read the past few weeks.  He could very well be the next great NHL coach.  But put me in the same camp as most Wild fans today, who are questioning the idea of going with another unproven guy behind the bench.  Yeo has a few things in his bio that I like: Experience with a Cup winner, history of working well with young talent, sweet name (pronounced Yo!, how can you top that?).  But there are also some things causing a scratch of the head.

If the Wild are looking to embrace a youth movement, that's great, it's been long overdue.  Unfortunately, the team is lacking a couple of key ingredients for said movement to be successful, most notably a group of talented young players who are ready to contribute.  Sure they have a few decent prospects scattered about, but there's no one who really blows your doors off.  Colton Gillies is a player who's been quick to credit Yeo with aiding his development, and he certainly ended things on a good note with a strong playoff run.  But 11 goals and 15 assists in 64 AHL games doesn't offer the impression that our scoring woes are about to be a thing of the past.  Last year's first round pick is staying in Finland for another season, the rest of the best are on the blue line, where the team is already somewhat strong, what youth is going to be here for Coach Yeo to mold next season?

Add this to my familiar refrain of "capped out, bad contracts" and what exactly is the radical plan which will make this situation different than what Todd Richards dealt with?  Perhaps there were personality issues hastening Richards departure that we're not privy to, but does Yeo have a better shot gaining the confidence of a mostly veteran than Richard's would've in year 3?  It's just a perplexing move.  All along I figured the Wild were going in the MacTavish/Hitchcock direction, a veteran guy who could command the lockerroom and coax more production out the (many) underperforming veterans on the roster.  Instead they head the opposite way, hiring a name that appears to lack the cachet to excite season ticketholders and the gravitas to hold the attention of the vets.

But if you want the positive spin, listening to the Barreiro show yesterday, they likened this move to the Steelers hiring Mike Tomlin away from the Vikings a few years ago, a situation with many similarities.  The only problem is, that was the Steelers and this is the Wild.  One team makes good decisions, the other, not so much.

Hold - The red hot Minnesota Twins

The past couple of weeks has brought the ballclub back from the dead, but they're still on life support.  One bad stretch pushing them back into double digits would put us right back at square one.  Sure the return of Joe Mauer and the Japanese shortstop (he's being acknowledged generically until he justifies his presence) should help, but who knows, it could also mess up whatever odd chemistry they've found lately.

Playing the second half of June the same way they did the first would do a lot to convince me that this isn't just a blip.  It starts tonight with a mediocre San Diego team and a series they should take 2 out of 3 in.