John Bonnes

Great story. It's funny the little moments that make our fandom worthwhile. I look forward to seeing what you write about next. Thank you for sharing this.

Glad to see you blogging! Looking forward to reading more. If you have a specific pitcher in mind, it seems like it might make sense to start a topic in the Twins Daily forums called something like "Josh Winder (or whoever) Scouting, Analysis and Fixes" and see if that generates some community responses. Maybe it'll work or maybe not.

Aaron and John talk about the latest in the ongoing Carlos Correa contract saga, the Twins signing Joey Gallo and why it makes a trade likely, what's left on the free agent market to even spend on, and how Taylor Rogers and Willians Astudillo got paid. 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

The calendar says it's Christmas Eve, but for the Twins, it's Groundhog Day. Image courtesy of © Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports Stop me if you've heard this before - but Carlos Correa 's new team has concerns about his physical. This morning Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes reported that the Mets, who agreed to a $315M 12-year deal with Correa earlier this week, have medical concerns about Correa. Can this open the door for the Twins? Rosenthal reports that the two parties are trying to work through the news. But that news also means the agreement is in question. The Mets only have that agreement because a similar drama played out earlier this week between Correa and the San Francisco Giants, who had a 13-year, $350M deal with Correa. On the day the Giants were officially scheduled to introduce Correa to their fans, they delayed the press conference due to medical concerns. As a result of those concerns, the deal fell apart, and Correa signed with the Mets later that same night. Those medical concerns surrounded Correa's right leg, which has a plate due to surgery on a broken fibula in 2014 when he was a minor leaguer with the Astros. It has never landed him on the Injured List in his major league career, but there are concerns it will reduce his lateral mobility as he ages. That becomes increasingly important when signing someone for 12 years of hundreds of millions of guaranteed money. The Twins pursued Correa before his deal with the Giants and reportedly were also interested after that deal fell apart, but declined to raise their final offer to him, which was $285M over ten years. They also wanted to learn more about the medical concerns raised by the Giants. The Twins, however, likely have a different perspective on Correa's health, as he played 136 games for them just last year. As a result of his exceptional play and the leadership he showed to their team, the Twins pursued him for the last several months and seemed to be one of the finalists for his services. But they lost him - and then lost him again. We'll see if the third time is the charm. View full article

I think Fan Graphs early projecton system on this team has them at 81 wins, and that was before Gallo (and maybe before Vazquez). So you're objectively right - it's not a bad team. The question is how do they get better?

I hadn't paid much attention to that walk rate before this. Thank you for sharing it. That's an interesting aspect to consider when thinking about his future.

Great story. Thank you for sharing it. I truly love the headline. Really solid writing and analysis. I also agree that having Arraez follow Gallo is intriguing. Having Gallo bat ninth... not so much. Not sure how to resolve it. But I'd want him up with men on base.

I'd definitely suggest you fly to NYM, train to Bos. You will not want to drive in either NYC or BOS, so you'll just be paying massive parking fees. If you DO drive, I'd suggest leaving your car someplace in Newark and taking the train from there into NYC. I'd definitely recommend Patriot's Day, and I'd suggest you get there the night before if you can. Boston is a big party that morning. (It might also be the night before, but that experience was 30 years ago and it might have just been because Chrissie was hanging out with service industry workers, who tend to go pretty hard on Sunday nights.)

Here's what I like about this: you started writing, it kind of led to a dead end, but you saw it through and hit publish. This happens all the time to writers.

Awesome story. That first paragraph is fantastic, btw.

In a nearly unheard of reversal, Jon Heyman of the New York Post is reporting that the Carlos Correa has agreed to a 12-year, $315M contract with the Mets, after his 13-year, $350M deal with the Giants fell through. The middle-of-the-night deal was struck after an unknown medical concern caused the Giants to postpone their scheduled press conference to introduce the superstar shortstop. The new deal is one-year and $35M short of the deal that was in place with San Francisco. It is also $30M and two years more than the Minnesota Twins final offer to Carlos Correa last week, which was for 10 years and $285M. Mets owner Steve Cohen revealed that last week the Mets made an offer last week of $300M, but talks with the Giants had already advanced, so that offer was rejected. The Mets had not been identified as a suitor for Correa’s services throughout most of his time on the free agent market, mostly because they are currently paying fellow superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor $341M to man the position. But last week, Lindor publicly welcomed the pursuit of Correa. It is not clear which player will play where in the infield. There were never any reports of the Twins exceeding $300M of guaranteed money in any of their offers to Correa. However, the new amount that Correa excepted is seemingly much closer to the level the Twins were willing to pay. Adding $15M per year over two years (perhaps on a player option?) for Correa when he would be 38 and 39 years old is still a significant risk. But by 2033 and 2034, even the Twins' payroll could be well north of $200M given MLB’s rising salaries. It might have been risky, maybe even silly, but $15M of dead money for those two years should not have been crippling to a franchise. Whether the Twins decided not to take that risk, or whether the Mets, Correa and agent Scott Boras never game them that chance, is unknown. How much “risk” the contract represents to the mega-rich Mets are taking is certainly debatable. What is not debatable is just how much it is going to cost them, and it far exceeds the value of the contract. Next year, the Mets will also need to pay a 90% “tax” on the average annual value (AAV) of the deal because they are over the highest threshold of MLB’s luxury tax level for the second year in a row. That means that while the Mets are paying Correa and AAV of $26.25M ($315M/12 years) they have to contribute another $23.625M to be distributed to other MLB clubs. That means their true cost is almost $50M per year for Correa, and will be for as many years as their payroll exceeds that luxury tax threshold. That illustrates the difference the Twins (and all mid-market team) are having competing for top-end free agents compared to large-market (or in this case, deep-pocket) owners. While the Twins offer wasn't so much less than the Mets winning bid, Correas was worth twice as much to the Mets. Enough, in fact to overcome the severe luxury tax penalty imposed by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. In reality, things haven't change much for the Twins since their situation 48 hours ago. They still are sitting with $30-40M worth of payroll room, but also with a free agent market devoid of top-end talent. But what looked like an unforeseen gift - similar to Correa falling into their laps last offseason - now looks like just another lost opportunity. View full article

Update - Sorry, Winter Meltdown tickets are now sold out. We'll see you on January 28th! Glen Perkins. Patrick Reusse. The Utlimate Bobblehead collection door prize. Our 2023 Pint Glass. 612 Brew craft beer. And all the Hot Stove you can handle. We are only able to release a very limited number of $40 tickets to the public, so grab yours right now, right here and use the password "MeltdownIsBack" if prompted. These tickets will sell out. And then on January 28th right after Twins Fest, you’ll be all mopey, and like “Why am I not drinking craft beer with Glen Perkins and Seth Stohs?” and you’ll make the mistake of saying that out loud and someone will point and laugh at you. Nobody wants that. So here are the details, with links to even more details, and below are the tickets. Saturday, January 28th . 5 to 8 PM. The Pourhouse Downtown, just three blocks from Target Field and Twins Fest. A Twins Daily Winter Meltdown Pint Glass. Two complimentary local craft pints from 612 Brew. Door prizes, including the Twins Hall of Fame Bobblehead Collection. Food and drink. Interviews with Glen Perkins and Patrick Reusse. It’s only $40 (if you can get tickets). So grab a friend or come by yourself. This is your tribe and we can’t wait to see you again. Get Your Tickets (and use the password "MeltdownIsBack" if prompted. ) View full article

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Aaron and John discuss Carlos Correa siging with the Giants and Christian Vazquez signing with the Twins. 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

Sorry! It's fixed. I just copied in the better link. Here it is as well: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/8338349/twins-daily-winter-meltdown-minneapolis-the-pourhouse-downtown

One sec. Working on it.

How has this hometown kid and Twins All-Star never been to the Winter Meltdown? We blame ourselves. We’re going to remedy that. Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports We’re SO excited to announce that this year’s special Twins guest at Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be Glen Perkins, who needs absolutely no introduction. (But we’ll do one anyways.) If you grew up in a cave, Glen “Perk” Perkins pitched for the Twins for his whole MLB career, from 2006 through 2017. That included serving as the Twins dominant closer from 2011 through 2015. During that five-year stretch, he made the All-Star team three times and compiled 120 saves with a 2.84 ERA. (That is not a typo.) But that isn’t his only connection to Minnesota. He also attended and played for Stillwater High School and the University of Minnesota. And he still lives in the Twin Cities and is a television analyst for the Twins and Bally Sports North. And now, of course, he’s coming to our party. If you want to learn even more about him, just come to the Meltdown. He’ll be on stage along with Patrick Reusse at the event, which takes place at The Pourhouse in Downtown Minneapolis on Saturday, January 28th from 5 – 8. It’s just a couple blocks from Twins Fest, where you’ll likely be anyway. You’ll be joined by 300+ Twins fans, media members, Twins execs and many more to celebrate the upcoming season. All week we’ve been unveiling the great stuff your $40 ticket gets you, including these goodies: a Twins Daily Winter Meltdown Pint Glass with this year’s fantastic design, two complimentary local craft pints from 612 Brew, a chance to win our Twins Bobblehead collection door prize, and other prizes interviews with Glen Perkins and Patrick Reusse plus, all the Hot Stove chatter and camaraderie you can handle. We’ll only have 300 tickets available, with a base price of $40 apiece. The public has to wait until Monday to grab them, but our Twins Daily Caretakers can buy them TODAY through Sunday. If you're a Caretaker, you can see a story with the the instructions right now on our home page. Plus, Caretakers get other advantages: Each caretaker gets a free ticket to the Meltdown. Caretakers (who sign up by Thursday 12/15) can buy up to three additional tickets early, on Friday 12/16. Those additional tickets will be available at a discount price of $20. Caretakers get early access to the event, starting at 4:00 for a “thank you” happy hour with Twins Daily’s writers and founders. Finally, you can pat yourself on the back for supporting writers that bring you Twins stories every day, all year long, both during the season and the offseason. If there are still tickets available when the Caretakers are done getting tickets for themselves and their friends, we will release them to the general public on Monday, 12/19. Will there be any tickets left? We don’t know. We hope so? We know that our Caretakers take care of us, and we want to take care of them, so if you want to guarantee you get tickets, you need, join Twins Daily’s Caretakers. You can do so for as low as $4/month and you get exclusive content and other benefits too, as well as support our hard-working writers, moderators, and tech guys. Plus, of course, you can go claim your free ticket and buy some discounted ones through Sunday. We would LOVE to have you join us. Become a Caretaker! Otherwise, reserve the date, cross your fingers, and check back on Monday. If we have tickets available, they’ll be on sale at 8AM right here at TwinsDaily.com! View full article

The process could not be easier and everything you need to know is in this story. We're so excited to give you all first dibs on tickets for the Meltdown. As a Caretaker, you get a free ticket, though you must claim it before Monday morning, so be sure to follow the directions below. Plus, you can buy up to three tickets at half-price, for $20. Here's what you need to do: 1. Starting at 8AM on Friday, go to this link: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/8338349/twins-daily-winter-meltdown-minneapolis-the-pourhouse-downtown 2. Use the password "MeltdownIsBack" to login. 3. You'll be able to buy one free ticket for yourself and up to three tickets for $20 for friends. 4. Finally, we apologize for the ticket fees. If we could get rid of them, we would, but we can't. ☹️ Remember, even if you only want your free ticket, you need to go and get your ticket before Monday morning. At that point, the flood gates open, and we can't guarantee you a seat anymore. We're so excited to see you in person on 1/28! And don't forget to plan on getting there a little early; Caretakers get early entry so they can get the best spots, and we can hang out a bit before the public gets there. Thank you so much for your support of Twins Daily! View full article