John Bonnes

Aaron and John talk about Amazon getting involved in the Twins' uncertain TV situation, the clock ticking on an extremely inactive offseason, Joe Mauer on the verge of the Hall of Fame, the 2024 international prospect class, and revealing this year's Winter Meltdown guests. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. View full article

This year’s Winter Meltdown has yet another “first.” For the first time ever, our special guest isn’t going to be a Twins alum; we’ll have a current Twins player. In fact, we’ll have TWO of them. Two guests for the price of one. Plus, they’re current Twins. Plus … they’re homegrown! Yep, North St. Paul’s Louie Varland and Forest Lake’s Matt Wallner will be our special guests at the Winter Meltdown. Varland debuted with the Twins in September of 2022, starting versus the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, no less, and got his first strikeout versus Aaron Judge. (SMDH) Just 26 years old, he’s started 14 more games for the Twins since then, posting a 4.40 ERA and tallying 92K in 94 IP so far in his career. Wallner also debuted with the Twins last September, oddly enough in Varland’s second career start. He got his first hit in that game when he homered off of Shane Bieber. (SMDHv2) He’s also 26 years old, and has homered an additional 15 times since, with an OPS of 842. Both will be on stage and available to meet our guests on Saturday, January 27that The Pourhouse, just three blocks from Target Field and Twins Fest. Every guest will also get the brilliant 2024 Winter Meltdown pint glass, two complimentary Forgotten Star craft beers, and a Twins Daily matchbook. Plus, all the Hot Stove camaraderie you expect from a Twins Daily event. But there’s bad news, too. These tickets, which we hoped to sell for $60 apiece, will not be sold to the general public. We’ve given our Caretakers first shot, and they’re almost all gone already. However, you can still get them if you become a Twins Daily Caretaker, which will get you get one ticket free AND you can also purchase up to three extra tickets for just $20 each. It’s easy. Just sign up here for as low as $4 per month and enjoy exclusive content and benefits while supporting our writing team and community. Or, if you're already a Caretaker (or if you become one), look for your link and promo code at the end of this message. But don’t delay in grabbing your tickets as we may still run out! And get this – we’re STILL not done. Next week we’ll announce other activities and prizes for our Meltdown guests. So follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news as it’s released. Plus, stop by Twins Daily for more stories next week! View full article

The potential deal between Amazon and Diamond Sports (which owns Bally Sports North) could mean more options for Twins fans this season and more money for the front office to spend this offseason. Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports What implications might the potential partnership between Amazon and Diamond (also known as Bally Sports Networks) hold for the Twins? While the full extent of the impact remains somewhat uncertain, it has the potential to be a game-changing development, benefiting both fans and the team's offseason plans. Let's delve into the backstory and engage in some informed speculation. First, a bit of background: The Twins had a $55-million-per-year TV/streaming agreement with Diamond that recently expired. However, the real issue was Diamond's financial instability, due to mishandling their plan to stream MLB teams' games within their markets. They initially restricted others from broadcasting the games, but then encountered problems while attempting to do so themselves, effectively preventing anyone from streaming the Twins' games. Consequently, many teams, including the Twins, sought to terminate Diamond's streaming rights. On the other hand, Bally Sports Networks, while willing to pay for TV rights, recognized the growing significance of streaming. This left the Twins without a suitable TV partner, with limited alternatives. The Twin Cities lacked another sports network, and over-the-air channels were bound by contractual obligations to network programming. While the Twins, MLB, or other local teams could potentially establish their own channel, Comcast was reluctant to charge subscribers for it, making it a very limited revenue source, relying only on advertising, a lot of which the Twins already enjoy with their broadcasts. Enter the informed speculation. The Amazon deal, in theory, serves two critical purposes. Firstly, it could alleviate Diamond's financial woes, taking them out of bankruptcy. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, it brings in a minority owner with the expertise and resources needed to handle streaming successfully. This opens up the possibility of in-market games being available on Amazon Prime, making Diamond a viable partner once more for both TV and streaming rights. However, there's still one hurdle to overcome. Unlike most MLB teams, the Twins no longer have an existing agreement with Diamond, given that it expired this year. But it's reasonable to assume that negotiations for a new deal may have already been part of the discussions during this process. How soon that is all resolved is the biggest remaining question. In summary, it appears likely that the Twins will find a home on Bally Sports Networks next year, and their games in-market could become accessible via Amazon Prime - with a subscription, of course. This arrangement might also pave the way for the team to recoup a significant portion of the $55 million in revenue that seemed lost. This, in turn, could translate into a potential increase in payroll. Time is not on the Twins' side, but there's a window here. In fact, it raises the intriguing possibility that several notable free agents, including starting pitchers like Jordan Montgomery (who played for the Rangers, who were also affected) and Blake Snell (who played for the Padres, ditto), may have been patiently waiting for this development to bolster some teams' offseason payroll plans. View full article

You already have plenty of reasons to join us all at the Winter Meltdown: the camaraderie, the free brilliant pint glass, the Twins Daily/Forgotten Star collaborative beer, and the special guest that we’ll announce soon. I mean, tickets are nearly sold out already. So why did we add a book of matches as a giveaway? To be honest, I'm not totally sure. Maybe it's because we get excited, sometimes? Maybe it's because old-school stuff, like matchbooks and The Metrodome, seem cooler as we get older? Whatever. In any case, every attendee will also get a free Twins Daily matchbook, and attending The Meltdown is the ONLY way you’re going to be able to get them, so let’s go through the details again. We’ll rally on Saturday, January 27th, 5-9 PM, at The Pourhouse, just three blocks from Target Field and Twins Fest! Every guest will receive two complimentary Forgotten Star craft beers, including our Twins Daily/Forgotten Star Ale Central Champs Pale Ale! Every guest will get the brilliant 2024 Winter Meltdown pint glass designed by Brock Beauchamp. Every guest will get a Twins Daily matchbook. We’ll have special appearances by Twins alumni and other notable guests for Q&A sessions and handshakes. This year, we have limited tickets available, only 250 in total, and for now, they are exclusively for Twins Daily Caretakers. Caretakers get one ticket free and can also purchase up to three extra tickets for just $20 each. (Retail price is $60 apiece!) Become a Twins Daily Caretaker for as low as $4 per month and enjoy exclusive content, benefits, and support for our writing team and community. Sign up here! If you're already a Caretaker (or if you become one), look for your link and promo code at the end of this message. But don’t delay in grabbing your tickets ASAP as we may still run out! But even the matchbook doesn’t finish the reasons to join us. There are still more to come as we inch towards announcing our special guest! So follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news as it’s released. Plus, stop by Twins Daily for more stories later this week! View full article

It’s been a big year for our team and for Twins Daily, so we’re celebrating by brewing our first-ever beer! We collaborated with Forgotten Star on a Ale Central Champ Pale Ale. That’s right – you can now drink a Twins Daily beer! It’s a classic American Pale Ale brewed with a traditional West Coast hop profile, featuring a slightly bitter taste with a hint of honey sweetness.It’s perfect for counting down the days until Pitchers and Catchers report. (30 days.) You’ll be able to drink it as one of your two free beers at the Winter Meltdown, but you don’t have to wait that long. It’s available NOW at Forgotten Star! Forgotten Star is also providing another beer for the Winter Meltdown, their Northstar Cream Ale. You can sip them out of your free Winter Meltdown Pint Glass, while rubbing elbows with Twins alumni and special guests, or just talking Hot Stove with hundreds of other Twins’ fans. This is THE event of the offseason for Twins fans and we want you there. Here, again, are the details: We’ll rally on Saturday, January 27th, 5-9 PM, at The Pourhouse, just three blocks from Target Field and Twins Fest! Every guest will receive two complimentary Forgotten Star craft beers, including our Twins Daily/Forgotten Star Ale Central Champs Pale Ale! Every guest will get the brilliant 2024 Winter Meltdown pint glass designed by Brock Beauchamp. We’ll have special appearances by Twins alumni and other notable guests for Q&A sessions and handshakes. This year, we have limited tickets available, only 250 in total, and for now, they are exclusively for Twins Daily Caretakers. Caretakers get one ticket free and can also purchase up to three extra tickets for just $20 each. (Retail price is $60 apiece!) Become a Twins Daily Caretaker for as low as $4 per month and enjoy exclusive content, benefits, and support for our writing team and community. Sign up here! If you're already a Caretaker (or if you become one), look for your link and promo code at the end of this message. But don’t delay in grabbing your tickets as we may still run out! We’re still not done, by the way. Tomorrow, we’ll announce a new free giveaway for anyone who attends. So follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news as it’s released. We’ll see you tomorrow! View full article

You waited almost 20 years for the Twins to win a postseason game. Time to raise a glass to the end of the losing streak at Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown. Image courtesy of Brock Beauchamp Every year since we first threw the Winter Meltdown back in 2014, we give away a pint glass with a unique design. (Including the year we all sat on our couch.) Last year’s pint glass, “celebrating” the injury-plagued 2022 season, was inspired, but Brock Beauchamp’s design this year might be our favorite yet. But you can ONLY get it if you’re lucky enough to attend Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown, so here’s the important information: It will be an energy-filled night filled with Hot Stove camaraderie and anticipation for the 2024 season. Every guest will receive two complimentary craft beers and... the brilliant 2024 Winter Meltdown pint glass designed by Brock Beauchamp. Get ready for special appearances by Twins alumni (like Glen Perkins, Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer) and other notable guests for Q&A sessions and handshakes. This year, we have limited tickets available, only 200 in total, and they are exclusively for Twins Daily Caretakers, for now. Caretakers can also purchase up to three extra tickets for just $20 each, which is 1/3 the general admission cost. Become a Twins Daily Caretaker for as low as $4 per month and enjoy exclusive content, benefits, and support our team. If you're already a Caretaker, look for your link and promo code at the end of this message. But don’t delay in grabbing your tickets as we may still run out! And what might you be putting in that glass, you wonder? I’m glad you asked, because we have a new local craft beer sponsor, and they’ve brewed a beer just for Twins Daily! So stay updated by following us on Twitter and Facebook for more announcements. More Details: Tickets Now On Sale for the 2024 Winter Meltdown! View full article

The postseason losing streak is over, so let’s party! Twins Daily's Winter Meltdown is back, complete with special guests, a glorious pint glass design, and a lot of other special surprises. But tickets are again limited, so read to the end to find out the best way to get them. Here’s what you need to know. Image courtesy of 2023 Winter Meltdown When and Where The event will be Saturday, January 27th from 5-9 PM at The Pourhouse (10 S 5th St) in downtown Minnneapolis. That is the weekend of Twins Fest, and it's just three blocks from Target Field, so you can attend Twins Fest and walk over for the icing on the cake. What Each guest gets: Loads of Hot Stove camaraderie (or Cold Stove commiseration) as we get geeked up for the start of the 2024 season. Two free craft beers. A free Winter Meltdown pint glass with Brock Beauchamp’s brilliant 2024 design. We’ll have a Twins alum or and other special guests stop by for Q&A and to shake hands. The most recent previous guests included Glen Perkins, Kent Hrbek, Trevor Plouffe, Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, and Latroy Hawkins. Giveaways, activities, and a lot more that we’ll reveal soon. We’ve been throwing this event since 2013. It started in a nearby bar, but it’s grown so much that we’re actually having trouble finding spaces big enough to accommodate us, so let’s get to the ticket conversation. How/Tickets We’ve had hundreds of people want to get it on this exclusive event in the past, but this year we only have 200 tickets available, and you likely will need to become (or know) a Twins Daily Caretaker to get a ticket. 1. Each caretaker gets a free ticket to the Meltdown. 2. Caretakers can buy up to three additional tickets for just $20 The Caretakers take care of Twins Daily, and we want to take care of them, so to give them the best chance, we’re limiting the tickets to them, at least for now. If you would like to join Twins Daily’s Caretakers, you can do so for as low as $4/month. You get exclusive content and other benefits too, as well as support our hard-working writers, moderators, and tech guys. We would LOVE to have you join us. Can I Just Buy A Ticket? Maybe? If, somehow, our Caretakers don’t sell this thing out, we’ll offer general admission tickets the week of the event. They’ll be $60 apiece. Become a Caretaker here! If you’re already a Caretaker, THANK YOU. Just scroll down to the end of the story for your link and promocode. But please don’t delay in buying your ticket. Even limiting them to Caretakers and their friends, we’re fairly sure we’ll sell out. So grab them now. Looking for more details? Great! We’ll be revealing more and more about the Meltdown as it approaches, including our guests, our special brewery, a surprise beer, giveways, and other sponsors. We’ll start tomorrow, when we reveal our Twins Daily 2024 Pint Glass design. Brock Beauchamp really outdid himself this year. You won’t want to miss it! So follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news as it’s released. Plus, stop by tomorrow for our pint glass reveal! View full article

This one hits a little close to home. 😆😁

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' continued slow offseason that now at least includes Josh Staumont and (maybe) Ryan Jensen, why Joe Mauer's Hall of Fame chances are looking better and better, some clarity on the center field market, and our year-end podcast numbers. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. View full article

Aaron and John say thank you for a fun year of Twins podcasts and talk about how Byron Buxton impacts the center field picture, which Twins players and prospects have the most trade value, Yoshinobu Yamamoto joining Shohei Ohtani in LA, and a clip of Cory Provus on the 2024 television situation, You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. View full article

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' lack of offseason action, Shohei Ohtani's record-setting $700 million deal with the Dodgers, Joe Mauer's path to the Hall of Fame, and our predictions for the next three months. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. View full article

Aaron and John talk about Cory Provus replacing Dick Bremer as the Twins' television voice, the free-agent departures of Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, and Emilio Pagán, how the Twins will look to fill the sizable holes in the pitching staff, and what exactly goes on at the Winter Meetings. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. View full article

I need your input and (maybe) help. One pie-in-the-sky thing I've been thinking about for years is creating a photo archive for Twins Daily. We have a ton of photographers in our community who take pictures of players, especially minor leaguers. I'd love to create a searchable archive to use both internally and maybe even externally if I can get a team of people willing to contribute and catalog them. Ideally, we might be able to do something like add a nominal licensing fee, so it might even pay for itself, or compensate the photographers. Or maybe we provide it for Caretakers and use some of the funds we get from them? Primarily, I just want to create something where it is easy to add and catalogue photos and easy to search and find photos. Here's one thing I do know: this is going to take a team of people and some management. So I need your help and input. 1) I'd love any brainstorming or ideas you have around this project that we can kick around below. 2) Also, if you would like to be involved, either as a photographer or as someone who helps catalog photos, can you you reply below? Thank you for your interest, and for making Twins Daily a community and resource that is unique among baseball fan-bases. Thanks, John

After four years with the Twins, the right-hander will pitch the next two years for a division rival. Image courtesy of © Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports The Twins must say goodbye to Kenta Maeda, as the veteran right-hander inked a two-year, $24-million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Maeda, a familiar face from his time in Minnesota, will now don the uniform of a division rival, forcing the Twins to grapple with his presence on the mound as an opponent. Earlier reports had linked Maeda to the Tigers, but the Twins were still in the mix, albeit with a preference for a shorter-term commitment. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the Tigers secured Maeda with a multi-year deal, closing the door on any potential reunion. With Maeda's arrival in Detroit, the Tigers gain an experienced arm for their young rotation, helping to replace Eduardo Rodriguez, who became a free agent after opting out of his deal earlier this month. Maeda, entering his age-36 season, is expected to stabilize Detroit's starting staff. Meanwhile, losing Maeda means the Twins must replace a pitcher who provided stability, interspersed with bursts of excellence when healthy. Maeda became a full-time starter after being acquired by the Twins from the Dodgers for Brusdar Graterol before the 2020 season, and he shined. He finished second in the AL Cy Young voting after that 2020 COVID-shortened season, throwing 66 2/3 innings of 2.70-ERA ball. His 2021 season was much more of a struggle, ending with Tommy John surgery, which also cost him the entirety of the 2022 season. He returned in 2023, but battled a triceps injury that cost him most of the first half of the season. He then reverted to his old form, throwing 88 1/3 innings with a 3.36 ERA from June 23 on. Last season was the last year of the eight-year contract with the Dodgers he signed when he came over from Japan. The deal gave only $3 million annually in guaranteed money, with incentives for starting that could raise his salary to $10 million or more each year. That team-friendly contract was an appealing aspect of acquiring Maeda. His new deal is much more standard for pitchers, guaranteeing an eight-figure salary regardless of his health or role. In Twins Daily's Offseason Handbook, we estimated he would receive a 1-year, $12-million contract, but we debated internally if he would end up with a multi-year deal. The Tigers reportedly landed him, despite interest by the Twins in re-signing him, by agreeing to the extra year. The Twins are also in the market for a veteran free-agent starting pitcher to replace Kenta Maeda and Sonny Gray. Maeda is the fourth veteran starting pitcher to sign, joining Aaron Nola (7 years, $172M) and other ex-Twins Kyle Gibson (1-year/$12M) and Lance Lynn(1-year/$11M). Twins Daily's Offseason Handbook profiled an additional 18 available starters that will likely be on the Twins' wish list. Other available pitchers at Maeda's level included Jack Flaherty, Luis Severino, and Frankie Montas. The Twins must now consider these other, less familiar, names. View full article