Shooter Now: For Vikings, cutting Rosenfels makes cents; Liriano was Twins' version of Strasburg
Despite outplaying Tarvaris Jackson during the exhibition season, it's a decent guess that Sage Rosenfels will be the quarterback the Minnesota Vikings cut by Saturday's deadline and that money will have something to do with it.
Rosenfels is to be paid $2.6 million this season, Jackson $1.1 million. The Vikings already are among the NFL's highest-salaried teams.
Ideally, the Vikings would trade Rosenfels, but the expectation that they'll release him makes a trade difficult.
— Minnesota Twins general manager Billy Smith said the closest comparison his club can make to the season-ending elbow injury of Washington Nationals rookie pitching sensation Stephen Strasburg was the elbow injury Francisco Liriano suffered in 2006.
"Liriano was the talk of the major leagues," Smith said.
So was Strasburg. Liriano has made a nice comeback after ligament replacement surgery that Strasburg will undergo today.
Smith said Twins closer Joe Nathan, who had the same surgery in March, is recovering on schedule.
"Joe has done very, very well with every step of the program," Smith said. "And the most important thing is not to try to race ahead of the program.
"There has been enough Tommy John surgeries and enough very successful recoveries to understand that you can't beat the system. They say it's a 12-month to 15-month program, and in (Nathan's) case, there's zero chance that he's going to be able to pitch this year. So it's just take your time, follow the program and we'll look forward to seeing him in spring training in 2011."
— Super featherweight Wilton Hilario from St. Louis Park is in Mexico City with International Boxing Federation featherweight champion Orlando Salido, helping him prepare for an HBO-televised title bout against former Olympic gold medalist Yuriorkis Gamboa on Sept. 11 in Las Vegas.
Hilario, 26, gets $750 a week to spar several rounds a day with Salido. Hilario, who has a 12-1-1 record with 10 knockouts, has become serious about his boxing future and has sold his Minneapolis barbershop to focus on the sport.
