How the Twins and Bally Sports Could Get the Band Back Together in the Broadcast Booth

It was announced last week that Denard Span would join the Minnesota Twins broadcast booth in 2024.

He joins a quartet of former players I am dubbing the “2K Twins,” that includes Perk, Plouffe, LaTroy, and Morneau. While (in one sense) this pushes me closer and closer to my inevitable mid-life crisis, it also gives me another thing to look forward to ahead of the 2024 season.

I’ve enjoyed the recent shift in the broadcast plan, to one that shares the 162-game burden among many voices and personalities, rather than the same color analyst over and over and over and… you get it. Moreover, I look forward to fresh perspectives on today’s Twins and the overall game. Listening to the likes of Bert Blyleven, Jack Morris, and other players from an older and very different era trash today’s game just didn’t work for me. This shift is one thing--maybe the only thing--that Bally Sports and the Minnesota Twins have gotten right on the TV front over the last few years.

Gone are the days of listening to the same two voices for 162 games a year, and here are the days of a rotating broadcast tandem. While I’m not advocating for anyone else to get kicked from the booth, I thought it’d be a fun exercise to look at a few other alumni whom I’d like to see put on the headset. Here’s my personal top three, in no particular order.

Johan Santana
A member of the Minnesota Twins and Venezuelan Baseball Halls of Fame and currently helping with Spring Training in Fort Myers, Santana has been around more in recent years. Don’t read this as a shot to Perk or LaTroy, but I would love to hear Santana talk pitching and provide live analysis of what he’s seeing as it happens. Imagine celebrating “Pablo Day” alongside one of his countrymen, and listening to the Cooperstown snub break down each pitch, at-bat, and the approach the righty is using.

Moreover, with so many foreign-born players in today’s game, it would be great to get the game from someone with a similar perspective as many of today’s players. And, as Cody Christie suggested, staying involved in a variety of ways should help his case for Cooperstown--to right the wrong of the BBWAA.

Michael Cuddyer
Cuddy, another Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer currently involved with Spring Training, has stayed involved in the game through USA Baseball. In addition to that, just scrolling through his Twitter feed will show you the various podcasts and shows to which the former Twins outfielder has contributed. He's also been outspoken about mental health in sports.

And at the end of the day, who would be more fitting to talk about the current era of Twins baseball than a guy who spent considerable time at six different positions in his career? 

Corey Koskie
I’d bet that Morneau and our friends to the North would just be tickled pink to see another Canadian in the booth. A key cog to the early years of the 2K Twins, he’s stayed involved with the game at the youth level, coaching various teams--including with MASH Baseball and Benilde-St. Margaret’s. He was even suiting up for the Loretto Larks, a townball team in the West metro, as recently as 2021.

Again like Morneau, Koskie’s career left you wanting more for the guy who dealt with more than his fair share of concussions and was done at just 33 years old. But the perspective he could bring as someone who is currently raising, coaching, and very involved with young athletes could be a fresh look at what makes today's athletes tick.

Who else would you like to see in the broadcast booth alongside Cory Provus? Join the conversation in the comments!