Twins extend pact with Beloit Snappers

By Tom Miller
Janesville Gazette Staff

BELOIT -- The Minnesota Twins enjoyed spending last summer in Beloit.

To show its appreciation, the major league club has extended its Player Development Contract with the Beloit Professional Baseball Association through the 2008 season.

The two-year extension assures that the Twins will supply the Class A Midwest League affiliate with players through that period.

Minnesota replaced the Milwaukee Brewers as Beloit's parent club last season. The Snappers went 69-71 and earned a Western Division Wild Card berth in the second half of the season.

"I was really happy with our relationship here," Terry Ryan, the Twins' general manager, said before the Winter Hot Stove banquet at the Beloit Country Club on Thursday night.

Ryan said Beloit's cooperation met every expectation that he and the Twins had.

Jim Rantz, the Twins' director of minor league operations, echoed Ryan's sentiments.

"Our players were very happy to be in Beloit last season, and we look forward to a return trip to the playoffs," Rantz said.

Ryan, a Janesville native, said he hopes having the Twins in this area will develop a fan base.

"I know you have a lot of Brewers and Cubs fans in this area," Ryan said. "I hope to give them another team to root for.

"We had a nice group of players here last year. They were some of our better prospects. We think we're going to have a pretty decent team again this year."

The 2006 season opens at Pohlman Field on Thursday, April 6, against the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

New manager in town

Jeff Smith survived a hectic drive out of Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Thursday afternoon.

The new manager of the Beloit Snappers is more confident about his ability to negotiate the young group of players he'll have this spring.

Smith spent seven seasons in the Twins' minor league system as a catcher. He also spent time in the Boston and Texas organizations before retiring as a player in 2004 due to a knee injury. Smith was offered a coaching job with the Rangers but said he went to the Twins to ask for a job.

He spent much of his later years in the minors acting as a mentor to young pitchers, which he said prepared him for his new job.

Smith was named to replace last year's manager, Kevin Boles, who was promoted to Ft. Myers.

"I'm a pretty laid-back guy, but no one is going to be more prepared," he said.

One of major challenges for any manager at the Class A level is to keep players going through the long minor-league season of games and bus rides.

"That's the biggest test," Smith said. "I remember my first year, I felt like dropping over by July 15 and we still had 45 games to go. Most of these guys never played more than 100 games before."

In addition, the cold and rainy conditions that usually greet the players in the Midwest League for the first month of the season is in complete contrast to what most of them are used to.

Smith said the chance to work with Ryan was one of the reasons he wanted to return to the Twins' organization.

"That's a big part of it," Smith said of Ryan's influence on the Twins' success. "There isn't a more honest man that you could work for."

Smith's wife, Ronna, and their 3-year-old son Cooper, plan to move to this area for the season.