John Bonnes

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

Join us and have Uncle Pat entertain you with his baseball recollections and insight. Please, for the love of gawd, find a way to not miss this. Last winter, when we all still couldn’t gather, Patrick Reusse joined the Gleeman and the Geek podcast to discuss the biggest fights in Minnesota Twins' history. The response from our listeners was amazing - because the discussion was amazing. So we’re getting the gang back together. Reusse, of course, is a legend in this state. He was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame in October 2019. He’s written for both the Pioneer Press and currently writes for the Star-Tribune. He’s done radio and podcast work with KSTP-1500 since 1980. He was also a 20-year panelist on The Sports Show which aired on WUCW-TV, Fox Sports North, and Victory Sports One. You can join him and 300+ Twins fan media members, Twins execs, and many more 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. We'll talk about tangent after tangent after tangent, as only Reusse can do. We’ll also be joined by a Twins alum who we’ll announce tomorrow. Plus, you’ll get a Twins Daily Winter Meltdown Pint Glass (with this year’s fantastic design), two complimentary local craft pints from 612 Brew, a chance at winning our Twins Bobblehead collection door prize, and all the Hot Stove chatter and camaraderie you can handle. So how do you get tickets? The plan is to offer them to the public on Monday, 12/19, for $40 apiece. However, it’s possible Twins Daily’s Caretakers, who get first dibs, could snap them up first. If you want to guarantee a ticket for you and three friends, you can become a Twins Daily Caretaker. Caretakers get special perks for supporting Twins Daily and our writers. 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. Finally, caretakers get early access to the event, starting at 4:00 for a “thank you” happy hour with Twins Daily’s writers and founders. If there are still tickets available after that, we will release them to the general public on Monday, 12/19. But if you do join, you can do so for as low as $4/month and you get exclusive content and other benefits too, as well as support our writers, editors, moderators and tech team. We would LOVE to have you join our exclusive little club. Tomorrow we’ll announce our headlining guest, and Caretakers will be able to start snapping up tickets at 8 AM. So stop by tomorrow for sure, and maybe follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news as it’s released. View full article

If you’re a bobblehead collector, let me introduce you to heaven. If you’re not ... well, you are now. Door prizes have never been the focus of the Winter Meltdown. Usually, they're something we like to include in between our great guests. There’s just so much more: meeting Twins greats, craft beer, the collectable pint glass, camaraderie, Aaron Gleeman’s bubbly personality … the list goes on and on. But this year is different. This year we have the ultimate Minnesota Twins bobblehead collection. It includes all 34 members of the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame who were inducted through the 2021 season. It's no longer for sale; you’ve got to attend the Winter Meltdown to get your mitts on it. It’ll be just a couple blocks from Twins Fest at The Pourhouse in Downtown Minneapolis, just a couple blocks from Twins Fest, on Saturday, January 28th from 5 – 8. We’ll be joined by a Twins player (who we're announcing Friday) and 300+ Twins fans, media members, Twins execs and many more to celebrate the upcoming season. Not only will you get to gather with Twins Daily writers and members and talk Hot Stove, but we’ll include a Twins Daily Winter Meltdown Pint Glass with this year’s fantastic design, and two complimentary local craft pints from 612 Brew. Tickets could be tricky. The plan is to offer them to the public on Monday, 12/19, for $40 apiece. However, it’s possible Twins Daily’s Caretakers, who get first dibs, could snap them up first. If you want to guarantee a ticket for you and three friends, you can become a Twins Daily Caretaker. Caretakers get special perks for supporting Twins Daily and our writers. 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, starting at 8 AM. Those additional tickets will be available at a discount price of $20. Finally, caretakers get early access to the event, starting at 4:00 for a “thank you” happy hour with Twins Daily’s writers and founders. If there are still tickets available after that, we will release them to the general public on Monday, 12/19. But if you do join, you can do so for as low as $4/month and you get exclusive content and other benefits too, as well as support everyone who works on the site. We would LOVE to have you join our exclusive little club. We’d also suggest you follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news as it’s released. Tomorrow, we announce the first of our special guests. It’ll be his inaugural visit to the Meltdown, and I guarantee he’ll entertain you. In the meantime, set aside the date, gather your Twins friends, and get a plan together for tickets. We’ll see you tomorrow. View full article

It’s been a long winter. It was also a long season. We’re commemorating that (I guess?) with an inspired Winter Meltdown pint glass design. You’ll get your free pint glass at Twins Daily’s 2023 Winter Meltdown. As we announced yesterday , it’ll take place at The Pourhouse in downtown Minneapolis, just a couple blocks from Twins Fest, on Saturday, January 28th from 5 – 8. But not only will you get the free glass, but you’ll also get two free 612 Brew craft beers, and entry into our door prize raffle, including the greatest grand prize we’ve ever given, which will be announced tomorrow. But that’s not all. We’ll have some special guests who we’ll be announcing later this week, including a Twins alum who will answer questions from Aaron Gleeman and John Bonnes, and then will stick around a bit to meet our community. Plus, of course, there will be loads of Hot Stove give-and-take as we get geared up for the start of the 2023 season. The $40 tickets go on sale to the public on Monday, 12/19, provided we still have some. However, if you want to guarantee a ticket for you and three friends, you can become a Twins Daily Caretaker. Caretakers get special perks for supporting Twins Daily and our writers: 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. Finally, caretakers get early access to the event, starting at 4:00 for a “thank you” happy hour with Twins Daily’s writers and founders. 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. This is the first year we’ve had Caretakers. If you would like to 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. We would LOVE to have you join us. We’d also suggest you follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news as it’s released. Plus, we’ll see you tomorrow when we reveal our grand door prize. I honestly didn’t know something like this existed. If you’re a Twins fan, you won’t want to miss it. View full article

Friday morning at 8:00 AM. Caretakers will have through Sunday to get their tickets before we release them to the general public.

We've missed you all SO MUCH. Let's light this candle. Image courtesy of Twins Daily It’s been three long years since we were able to gather in true Twins Daily Hot Stove fashion, so yeah, we’re jonesing a little. Judging from all the DMs asking about the event, so are you. So we’re going big – but tickets are limited, so read to the end to find out the best way to get them. We'll be talking about the Winter Meltdown all week! Today – We’ll tell you where and what and when and how you can get tickets. Tomorrow (Tuesday) – We reveal the (truly inspired) 2023 Winter Meltdown Pint glass design Wednesday – We reveal the greatest raffle grand prize we’ve ever given at a Winter Meltdown. Thursday – We reveal our first guest speaker. Friday – We reveal our Twins alum guest speaker AND tickets to on sale for Twins Daily Caretakers only. Next Monday – Tickets are available to the public. When and Where The event will be Saturday, January 28th from 5-8 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 who has a $40 ticket gets: 1. Two free craft beers from 612 Brew. 2. A free Winter Meltdown pint glass with our 2023 design. 3. Entry into our door prize raffle, including the greatest grand prize we’ve ever given. 4. Just loads of Hot Stove camaraderie (or commiseration) as we get geeked up for the start of the 2023 season. 5. Aaron Gleeman and John Bonnes will interview at least two guests on stage, who will also take some time to visit with our community. The most recent previous guests included Kent Hrbek, Trevor Plouffe, Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, and Latroy Hawkins. We’ve been throwing this event since 2012. 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’ll only have 300 tickets available, with a base price of $40 apiece. However, we’re giving our Twins Daily Caretakers four advantages in securing them: 1. Each caretaker gets a free ticket to the Meltdown. 2. Caretakers (who sign up by Thursday 12/15) can buy up to three additional tickets early, on Friday 12/16. 3. Those additional tickets will be available at a discount price of $20. 4. Finally, caretakers get early access to the event, starting at 4:00 for a “thank you” happy hour with Twins Daily’s writers and founders. If there are still tickets available when the Caretakers are done, we will release them to the general public on Monday, 12/19. Will there be any tickets left? We don’t know. This is the first year we’ve had Caretakers and we have well over 100, so we’ll see. The Caretakers take care of Twins Daily, and we want to take care of them, so we are guaranteeing all of our Caretakers will get the tickets they need, provided they get them before they go on sale to the general public. 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. Become a Caretaker here! We are absolutely stoked to reveal the logo, grand prize, and both guest speakers throughout the rest of this week. Make sure to set aside the date, gather your Twins friends, and get a plan together for tickets. 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

Aaron and John talk about MLB's wild, billion-dollar Winter Meetings, what it all means for the Twins and Carlos Correa, the ongoing search for a veteran catcher, Dansby Swanson, Carlos Rodón, and other fallback plans, and which Twins could be on the trade block. 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