Corey Koskie Elected to Twins Hall of Fame; Joe Ryan and Twins TV Updates

[Seth Stohs]

A few bits of information came out of the Twins media luncheon this afternoon at Target Field. We have some TV news, but the biggest news is that Corey Koskie has been elected to the Twins Hall of Fame and will be inducted this summer. 

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

 

On Friday afternoon at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins announced that third baseman Corey Koskie will enter the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. He will be inducted at a pre-game ceremony on August 17th. 

A native of Anola, Manitoba, Koskie was the Twins 26th round draft pick in 1994 out of Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia. A big, strong Canadian, Koskie was quite raw in baseball terms. After the draft, he spent a summer in Elizabethton. He then played at one level per season, from Low-A Fort Wayne, to High-A Fort Myers, to Double-A New Britain, and Triple-A Salt Lake. 

At each level, he hit, and he continued to add power. In 1997 in New Britain, he hit .286/.414/.531 (.945) with 26 doubles, six triples, and 23 homers. At Triple-A in 1998, he hit .301/.368/.539 (.906) with 32 doubles, five triples, and 26 homers. He earned an 11-game call up to the big leagues that September and hit just .138. 

He really didn't have a defensive position. Tom Kelly played him in right field, but over time, Koskie put in the work and became a very solid third baseman. In 117 games in his rookie season of 1999, he hit .310/.387/.468 (.855) with 21 doubles and 11 homers. The following season, he hit .300/.400/.441 (.841) with 32 doubles and nine homers. 2001 may have been his best season. He hit .276/.362/.488 (.850) with 37 doubles and 26 home runs. He also scored 100 runs and drove in 103 runs. 

He played three more seasons with the Twins and posted OPS of .815, .845, and .838. These all came before blogs became a big thing, and before Moneyball was dared to be discussed. His consistency, and his willingness to get on base with walks, may be more appreciated now than two decades ago. 

He wanted to remain with the Twins, but the Twins weren't willing to meet his price. Instead, he signed with the Blue Jays. He played in 97 games in 2005 and 76 games in 2006. Unfortunately, concussion issues really ended his career. For a long time, he struggled with lights, noise, and other major symptoms of concussion. 

He has remained in the Twin Cities, raising his kids, who were/are stars on the hockey rink and the baseball diamond. He now plays summer amateur baseball with his sons. 

Over his six seasons (and 11 game September call up), he hit a combined .280/.373/.463 (.836) with 180 doubles, 13 triples and 101 home runs. 

Koskie is now the 41st member of the Twins Hall of Fame. 

“For more than two decades, Corey Koskie’s presence and impact have been felt across Twins Territory, embodying what it means to be a Minnesota Twin through his leadership and community stewardship,” Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter said. “Corey was a clubhouse leader, a critical offensive catalyst and one of the best defensive third basemen in club history on several of the most important Minnesota Twins teams of the last 25 years. Post-career, he became a community leader, an annual presence in support of the Twins Community Fund and occasionally joined his family on local town ball fields.”

We have some information on how to watch the Twins... 
Starting February 11, Twins.tv will begin. The streaming package will cost $98.99 for the season, or $19.99 per month. In addition, there will be no regional blackouts, including in Iowa! More information will be coming over the coming weeks. Of note, season-ticket holders will be able to buy this streaming package for 50% off.   

The organization believes that they will get 92-93% season ticket renewal. The goal is to get attendance over two million in 2025. 

Joe Ryan Update
According to Derek Falvey, everyone is healthy at this time. Joe Ryan is doing the same workouts he would be doing now if he ended the season healthy. 

This is obviously great news for the team as Ryan continues to add pieces to his game that make him better. When his season ended in mid-August, it was a huge knock to the team. 

Falvey also mentioned that he is still trying to improve the roster, "whether it be first base, or a complementary right-handed bat." 

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[HerbieFan]

So happy for Corey.  Guy worked his tail off to become a good defensive 3B.  Solid, consistent producer.  An an even better person.  Congrats Corey Koskie!

[stringer bell]

I’m in for the streaming! Very reasonable price, I think. 

[DJL44]

31 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I’m in for the streaming! Very reasonable price, I think. 

61 cents a game

[DJL44]

I heard Falvey say that Buxton and Correa are in good health at the moment. I wondered why he didn't mention Royce Lewis in that sentence.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the new Twins rewards program. Not sure if I understand it well enough to have an opinion.

[tony&rodney]

Any word on cost if one already subscribes to MLB.com? Does anyone know how that works?

[jmlease1]

loved Koskie. he was a heck of a Twin. Might have (should have?) won a Gold Glove if it hadn't been for Chavez out in Oakland, which is pretty impressive considering he initially looked like he was playing 3B with a frying pan at times rather than a glove. But he really put in the work and improved.

Huge part of that 2002 team that needed maybe 2004 Johan and a little better bullpen luck and they could have been one of those special teams.

[CRF]

So...is this gonna be $100 bucks more on top of what I'm already paying for cable? 

[thelanges5]

This is a link to the FAQ at twins.tv

https://www.mlb.com/twins/schedule/broadcast-faq

[IndianaTwin]

16 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

First off I love Corie Koskie and am very happy for him.

I know I will get some thumbs down on this comment, but is the bar kinda low here for Twins HOF?  I wonder if we looked back at other Twins players if we could find somebody NOT in the Twins HOF with better stats than Corey had?

Over his six seasons (and 11 game September call up), he hit a combined .280/.373/.463 (.836) with 180 doubles, 13 triples and 101 home runs. 

I don’t have a list of Twins HOF guys, but what I can say is that Koskie is 14th in WAR among position players whose time in the franchise was primarily in Minnesota rather than Washington.

I know there are some non-players among the HOFers, but that would suggest that it’s not out of line for Koskie to be the 41st member. The guys immediately above him are Dozier, Morneau (Buxton), Tovar and Hunter, before a big jump up to Bob Allison, etc. I don’t know if Dozier is in, but the other guys almost certainly are. 

 

[IndianaTwin]

(Addendum to previous.)

And to anticipate what could easily be a future debate, the current next two after Koskie are Roy Smalley and, um, Max Kepler.

[ashbury]

42 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

First off I love Corie Koskie and am very happy for him.

I know I will get some thumbs down on this comment, but is the bar kinda low here for Twins HOF?  I wonder if we looked back at other Twins players if we could find somebody NOT in the Twins HOF with better stats than Corey had?

Over his six seasons (and 11 game September call up), he hit a combined .280/.373/.463 (.836) with 180 doubles, 13 triples and 101 home runs. 

Depends on whether you are Small Hall or Large Hall for the Cooperstown HoF.

Depends on whether you think a local HoF should be as selective as the national one.

Depends on whether you favor guys who proved their stardom via longevity, or by shining exceedingly brightly.

Depends on whether you think there is one particular path to the HoF or that all kinds can coexist.

Depends on whether stats should decide things or whether it's the person who is inducted.

Answering these questions (and there are others - this isn't an exhaustive set) will help explain why there can be differences of opinion.  Broadly, I'm a Large Hall guy, and when it comes to a particular team I'm even more expansive; let's celebrate our sport's and team's heritage rather than constantly denigrating really good players as "not good enough," and I would love there to be an additional tier called "Inner Circle."  I tend to lean toward the guys who starred even if briefly (thus I look first at Wins Above Average on b-r.com, rather than Wins Above Replacement).  I'm okay with including players that other people favor, at least to a certain extent.  And finally I am very inclined to give extra "points" to a player for things not quite captured in the stats, even on the flimsy grounds that a guy was famous (in a good way of course) because it's a hall of FAME.

People who disagree with me on these points aren't going to find agreement with me on the players I pick either.  That's fine, otherwise it would be a boring world to have everyone in lockstep.

So with that said, kudos to the Twins for choosing Corey, and congratulations to him!  His career was a bit on the short side, but he excelled while here.

[IndianaTwin]

49 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Depends on whether you are Small Hall or Large Hall for the Cooperstown HoF.

Depends on whether you think a local HoF should be as selective as the national one.

Depends on whether you favor guys who proved their stardom via longevity, or by shining exceedingly brightly.

Depends on whether you think there is one particular path to the HoF or that all kinds can coexist.

Depends on whether stats should decide things or whether it's the person who is inducted.

Answering these questions (and there are others - this isn't an exhaustive set) will help explain why there can be differences of opinion.  Broadly, I'm a Large Hall guy, and when it comes to a particular team I'm even more expansive; let's celebrate our sport's and team's heritage rather than constantly denigrating really good players as "not good enough," and I would love there to be an additional tier called "Inner Circle."  I tend to lean toward the guys who starred even if briefly (thus I look first at Wins Above Average on b-r.com, rather than Wins Above Replacement).  I'm okay with including players that other people favor, at least to a certain extent.  And finally I am very inclined to give extra "points" to a player for things not quite captured in the stats, even on the flimsy grounds that a guy was famous (in a good way of course) because it's a hall of FAME.

People who disagree with me on these points aren't going to find agreement with me on the players I pick either.  That's fine, otherwise it would be a boring world to have everyone in lockstep.

So with that said, kudos to the Twins for choosing Corey, and congratulations to him!  His career was a bit on the short side, but he excelled while here.

Though talking about the Twins HOF, you actually kinda summarized why I’m more of a Big Hall Guy for Cooperstown. After visiting a couple of times, I asked myself, to use a current example, “Does it diminish Mariano Rivera’s legacy to have Billy Wagner in the Hall?” No, we all know that Mariano was a capital S-STUD, whether there’s five relievers in the Hall or 15.

But will Billy Wagner being there pump up an Astros fan and bring a new level of enjoyment to the game for that? Well, I remember how loud I yelled when Tony-O was named. So, yeah, let’s err on the side of grace. It’s a game, after all. Let’s celebrate what’s awesome about it, including this short guy who could blow the ball past just about anybody.

And like you, I give “points” to guys for the things that don’t “count.” It’s the Hall of FAME. Not the Hall of Best Players. For example, given the numbers, I think Tommy John is a borderline case. Being a Big Hall Guy, I’d probably vote for him. But contribution to the game? Think of how the game has changed from him being the Guinea pig and going under the knife. Dang. With some of the cool stuff they have on display there, they should have one of Dr. Jobe’s scalpels. Shoot — when John dies, they should harvest a tendon. Okay, maybe not. But still, I think John deserves in.

Or Curt Flood. His stats would be on the extreme edge, better than just a few other CFs who have been selected. But talk about a career-ending injury (to the soul). Every player who has signed a contract since Andy Messersmith should be sending Flood a Christmas card. I think he deserves inclusion, and his role in breaking the reserve clause should be on his plaque.

So back to the Twins. Yes to Koskie.

————————-

I’ll differ with you on the Inner Center thing, however. Not a fan of that. I think it just leads to the same tendency to denigrate. Sure, we can all agree on Willie Mays being in, since he’s first in WAR among CFs, but is the edge of the Inner Circle at Mickey Mantle (4th) or Joe DiMaggio (7th) or …

Just not sure that’s worth it. Let everyone have their own mental Inner Circle if they want.

[Vanimal46]

3 hours ago, CRF said:

So...is this gonna be $100 bucks more on top of what I'm already paying for cable? 

I would guess cable/satellite customers have access to whatever channel they end up being on for no charge. 

[DocBauer]

With no insult to the amazing HOF Harmon Killebrew...who moved around a lot...Gaetti and Koski were the best 3B I've seen in a Twins uniform in my 50+ years of being a fan. 

BOTH had struggles early. Gaetti had "hands of stone" until he didn't. Koskie was "too tall and awkward" until he wasn't. I often reference to Lewis at 3B when examining the careers of both of them.

While their careers don't necessarily overlap one another, I often wonder about the horrible/unfair injuries that robbed Koskie and Mauer and Mournea. 

Smalley should be next. 

 

 

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, CRF said:

So...is this gonna be $100 bucks more on top of what I'm already paying for cable? 

No details on that yet.

[DJL44]

Dave Goltz next?

[PatPfund]

5 hours ago, CRF said:

So...is this gonna be $100 bucks more on top of what I'm already paying for cable? 

That probably is up to your cable provider; my best guess is if your current service includes a package of regional sports networks (like FanDuel), Twins.tv will slot into that package. If not, you might need to balance an upgrade versus just streaming the Twins. Your provider may not have the details yet, but ultimately they'd be the ones making the final coverage calls.

[Russ]

With 60 plus years of the Twins you almost need it divided up by decades.  Some earlier Twins get forgotten for what they did.

[D. Hocking]

I don't have cable, and the streaming option is a pretty decent price.  This year might be the most Twins games I watch since channel 29 stopped showing the weekend games.

[jmlease1]

On 1/24/2025 at 5:53 PM, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

First off I love Corie Koskie and am very happy for him.

I know I will get some thumbs down on this comment, but is the bar kinda low here for Twins HOF?  I wonder if we looked back at other Twins players if we could find somebody NOT in the Twins HOF with better stats than Corey had?

Over his six seasons (and 11 game September call up), he hit a combined .280/.373/.463 (.836) with 180 doubles, 13 triples and 101 home runs. 

Team HoF is going to be a different standard than MLB HoF to begin with. Koskie was a key member of a bunch of good Twins teams that emerged after a long time in the doldrums. As a 3B he was one of the better ones in the AL when he was a Twin (you can make an argument that he was right there with Glaus for 2nd best in the AL behind Chavez during his peak), and was popular with the fans and great in the community. Not his fault they didn't win a title during his time. 116 OPS+ and 22.1 bWAR during his time as a Twin is pretty dang good and he locked down 3B nicely.

Gaetti is frequently seen as the best 3B in Twins history (I mean, technically it's Harmon, who hit so much better than anyone that it didn't matter that they never should have made him play 3B), but he racked up an OPS+ of 100, and his bWAR of 27.1 is more...but is also over more seasons. Gaetti the better defender, Koskie the better hitter. But they're fairly close, aren't they? 

[JBK]

On 1/24/2025 at 8:13 PM, DJL44 said:

Dave Goltz next?

Geoff Zahn

[bean5302]

On 1/24/2025 at 5:53 PM, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

First off I love Corie Koskie and am very happy for him.

I know I will get some thumbs down on this comment, but is the bar kinda low here for Twins HOF?  I wonder if we looked back at other Twins players if we could find somebody NOT in the Twins HOF with better stats than Corey had?

Over his six seasons (and 11 game September call up), he hit a combined .280/.373/.463 (.836) with 180 doubles, 13 triples and 101 home runs. 

Corey Koskie managed 22.1 career bWAR for the Twins, and that's a very good baseball career in general, even if the only stayed with the Twins. For players who wore a "Twins" jersey that puts him at 14th in batting and 23rd overall in "Twins" history. For a team which has been around for 65 years, that's pretty good. Koskie's Twins contribution is essentially identical in WAR to Morneau, and Dozier (not in).

Your options to get into the Twins' HoF:
1) Be a truly an exceptional player for the Twins during your playing career (Radke, Puckett, Mauer)
2) Be a "good" or better player strongly linked with the '87 or '91 Championship team (Gagne, Gaetti)
3) Be active with the Twins post career (Cuddyer, Hunter, Gladden)
4) Be part of ownership, recognizable voice or part of the front office (Pohlad, Carneal, Stelmaszek)
5) Have nobody else qualifying for the HoF under previous rules and the team is desperate (Tovar)

While Koskie was a very good player, I think he got the call because of #3.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minnesota-twins-corey-koskie-hall-of-fame/

Quote

For more than two decades, Corey Koskie's presence and impact have been felt across Twins Territory, embodying what it means to be a Minnesota Twin through his leadership and community stewardship," Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter said in a written statement. 

If a player generates less than 30 career WAR with the Twins, they're not going to get in without help from rule 3-5.