Report From The Fort: Funderburk Opens, $2 Beer Fine Print, and a Classic Quote

[John Bonnes]

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

FORT MYERS—Starting pitching was supposed to be abundant on this Twins team, but there have been a number of starters we have yet to see in a game. Pablo López is undergoing Tommy John surgery, Joe Ryan is dealing with a sore back, Bailey Ober has been limited to live batting practice sessions, and we haven’t seen David Festa in a game yet, either. So Wednesday’s home game versus the Red Sox had Kody Funderburk take the mound in an “opener” type move. 

To prepare, he tried to replicate the role of a reliever.

“Just tried to keep it as close to a relief appearance as we could," explained Funderburk. “Try to time it out where warm up, in the bullpen, you know, finish up at 1:04. Take the field at 1:05.”

It went well enough. Facing three batters who hit left-handed and two who bat right-handed, Funderburk threw a scoreless inning. 

His spot on the depth chart has become a lot more crowded, as Anthony Banda and Andrew Chafin were both late additions to camp and Taylor Rogers signed earlier as a free agent.. Funderburk doesn’t have the experience either of them has. But he finished last year strong, and unlike other lefty specialists, his five-pitch mix may allow him to keep right-handed batters off-balance, or at least off-balance enough to get by (.751 OPS against in 2025). Funderburk sounds like he’s trying not to think about it—because he messed that up before.

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[Chad Freyer]

Strange? Colorado has $1 beers, before every game, in right field only. Right field is full of 20-30 year old fans at every game. The Twin consistently do it wrong. The Rockies put a terrible product on the field and yet the average 10k more fans than the Twins do. The 2027 lock out will be refreshing. 

[Brett]

If watching baseball in the sunshine doesn’t make one think about sipping on a beer, maybe think instead about the Twins current roster construction. That oughta do it.

[Teflon]

After a few $2 beers it becomes harder to read the fine print.

[The Great Hambino]

Regardless of the type of beer actually sold as part of this deal (I'm assuming Coors Light and under, and anything else is a bonus), I look forward to trying to revive a game I used to play with my wife when she was pregnant.  It's called "I Drive There, You Drive Home"

[bean5302]

On 2/25/2026 at 10:00 PM, Chad Freyer said:

Strange? Colorado has $1 beers, before every game, in right field only. Right field is full of 20-30 year old fans at every game. The Twin consistently do it wrong. The Rockies put a terrible product on the field and yet the average 10k more fans than the Twins do. The 2027 lock out will be refreshing. 

Can't agree with the sentiment on a 2027 lockout. It'll be catastrophic to baseball if it happens.