Citing Success of Kody Clemens, Twins Sign Trent Hrbek, Chad Radke

[RandBalls Stu]

Image courtesy of ©Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins' endless bargain-bin shopping has resulted in precious few finds, but it feels safe to say that acquiring Kody Clemens for cash in April 2025 was an unqualified success. Clemens has played close to every position on the field, hit for unexpected power, and is a clubhouse favorite. Has the thriving journeyman taught the Twins any lessons about scouring for talent on a budget?

Maybe it's in the genes.

On Thursday, the team announced it was signing Trent Hrbek and Chad Radke, sons of Twins greats Kent Hrbek and Brad Radke, to minor-league deals. Both players will report to Single-A Fort Myers this weekend.

"The naysayers will call it nepotism," said a front office source. "We call it building a contender. Part of that is finding talent where others aren't looking."

Those naysayers aren't just calling it that, but they're also concerned that the players aren't as they seem.

"Neither Hrbek nor Radke have children with those names," said Aaron Gleeman of AaronGleeman.com, a local website for (baseball) perverts. "No photos or stats exist of either player. Also, my friend Dana (Wessel, notorious sicko shock jock at 93X) said he bought a couple fake mustaches at the party store for his quote 'baseball project' unquote. It's obviously one of his dumb bits."

Wessel was unavailable for comment.

"It's hard for small-market teams like the Twins to compete with the Dodgers and Yankees of the world," said the front office source. "So when someone cold-calls us and says that he's Trent Hrbek, starts laughing, clears his throat, then says that he and his buddy Chad Radke want to help us hit dingers, throw shutouts, and crush beers with the boys just like their dads used to, we'd be foolish not to follow up.

"We also have a voicemail from Todd Carew and are performing due diligence."

The Twins begin a 3-game series in Arizona versus the Diamondbacks this evening.

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[BobAzar]

They should work out an illegal under-the-table deal with Buxton's kids since they are too young to officially sign. No one say anything to Manfred.