John Bonnes

The Twins set their coaching staff today, adding Bobby Cuellar, Tom Brunansky and Terry Steinbach to the coaching staff and clarifying the roles of Scott Ullger, Joe Vavra and Rick Anderson. Rick Anderson will keep his role as pitching coach, and holdovers Joe Vavra and Scott Ullger will take over third and first base, respectively. Newcomers Cuellar and Bruansky, both of whom coached in AAA-Rochester last year, will become the new bullpen coach and hitting coach. Finally, Steinbach, whose inclusion was not previously rumored, will be the bench coach and work with catchers. Manager Ron Gardenhire will continue to be the manager of the Twins, though his contract with the organization expires at the end of this year.

Aaron and John preview the Minnesota Twins offseason by reviewing possible free agents, talk a little about the TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook, tip their collective cap to Jim Rantz and then give a quick tutorial on how struggling organizations can take advantage of MLB's transaction rules. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.

After our weekly podcast, Aaron & I are going to try doing a short video that recaps the podcast and gets into other silliness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ib6uwW63M Immediately following episode 63, Aaron evaluates the podcast & comments further on the state of the Twins farm system while John mocks him from behind the iPhone's blinding light. Make sure to tune in next week, when we brave the new frontier of landscape mode.

I’m having trouble getting into the second round of the playoffs. I don’t really want either the Yankees or the Tigers to make the World Series, which means I can’t even root for the American League. The official team of The Voice Of Reason™ - the Phillies – is also out for the first time in years. But mostly I’m ready for the next act. The offseason. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve looked forward to an offseason this much in years. For starters, it’ll be nice to see what a Terry Ryan can do when he’s in charge right from the beginning. Also, there is at least a 50-50 chance that we see a long-time Twin player traded. We get to (hopefully) watch a rotation be built via the deepest free agent starting pitching market in several years. There is even a Twins prospect already strutting his stuff in the Arizona Fall League. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] (I’ll admit, there are also some personal reasons I’m excited for the offseason too. At the top of the list is Twins Daily. Being able to count on a Twins story every day, and being able to jump read and discuss all the rumors and implications of trades and signings is going to be awesome. Second is Gleeman and the Geek. I really enjoyed getting together with Aaron Gleeman on a weekly basis, throw back some beers and talk baseball for a few hours.) So let’s look ahead to what we can expect…. October 24th – The release of the TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook. (Also, the 1st game of the World Series.) The End of the World Series – Eligible players can file to become free agents. (Also, when the TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook 30% discount expires.) Sixth day after the World Series – Free agent market opens. Teams can sign free agents. December 3-6 – Baseball’s Winter Meetings, which means plenty of trade talk. December 6 – Rule 5 Draft January 25-27 – Twins Fest If this year is anything like last year, expect Terry Ryan to move fairly quickly. Last year he had almost everything wrapped up by Christmas, signing… Jamey Carroll on November 16th Ryan Doumit on November 23rd Matt Capps on December 6th Josh Willingham on December 15th Jason Marquis on December 22nd Joel Zumaya on January 18th There is a man after my own heart. Not only does he make moves fast, but he has the decency to do so on a weekly basis so I can spread them out over winter’s worth of podcasts.