John Bonnes

John Bonnes and Nick Nelson discuss the MVP candidates from the Twins' breakout 2000 season, including long-term Twin Brad Radke, outfielder Matt Lawton, and the on-base machine, third baseman Corey Koskie. View full video

The 2000 Twins had a clear cut MVP. What made him unique is that he a huge impact on the organization both on and off the field that year. Nick Nelson and John Bonnes review the candidates and unanimously agree on the obvious choice in Part 2 of our discussion on the 2000 Minnesota Twins. They start by reviewing the top three candidates: Corey Koskie, Matt Lawton and Brad Radke. Koskie had a breakthrough year, and both discuss how Matt Lawton is maybe one of the more forgotten players in Twins history. However, both agree that the MVP was Radke. His stats on the field certainly bear that out, especially after Nick provide some context for what it was like to pitch in the middle of the steroid era. But maybe more important, Radke signed a 4-year, $36 million extension midway through what would have been his free agent walk year. The agreement announced to fans that the Twins, who had slashed payroll two years earlier, were planning on spending again. The move established a cornerstone for the next postseason-bound Twins team. It also provided a moment to remember that we’ll talk about in our final segment of our video, coming out in a couple of days. We’re following up on last year’s “Twins in 2000s” series with videos where Nick, John and others discuss the Twins' teams of the 21st century. Just play the video for the discussion. You can also: read the original story about the 2000 Twins, Check out Part 1 where they give an overview of the 2000 season. come back in a couple of days to hear part 3 of their discussion, or share your memories or thoughts on the 2000 team below. View full article

Were the Twins of 2000 a team with a lot of promise? Actually, yeah, but it wasn’t necessarily clear at the time. Nick Nelson and John Bonnes begin their three-part video conversation by reviewing the 2000 Twins and how a bad year ended up paving the way for an awfully good decade. However, Nick points out that lost in a 69-93 record was a fair amount of promise. Future cornerstones AJ Pierzysnki and Cristian Guzman established themselves as promising regulars, and Johan Santana was on the team all year, albeit without his deadly changeup. Yet. The prospects got a lot of playing time because the payroll level was truly abysmal. Nick give some context for just how ugly by comparing the whole team to just one of the Twins' current homegrown prospects. In retrospect, 2000 was the year that the Twins bottomed out and began their climb to the summit of the AL Central. But at the time, it just felt like another year in the basement. Still, it was not without players that stood out, or special moments. We’ll cover both of those in Parts 2 and 3 later this week. We’re following up on last year’s “Twins in 2000s” series with videos where Nick, John and others discuss the Twins' teams of the 21st century. Just play the video for the discussion. You can also: read the original story about the 2000 Twins, come back in a couple of days to hear parts 2 and 3 of their discussion, or share your memories or thoughts on the 2000 team below. View full article

John Bonnes and Nick Nelson kick off their rundown of the Minnesota Twins teams of the 2000s with the overview of the 2000 season, the year before the Twins kicked off their decade-long run of AL Central dominance and Tom Kelly's final season as manager. View full video

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' best path to building a better bullpen, the New York Times buying The Athletic and what it means, and why so many starter prospects become relievers. 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 loved this. Thank you for writing it.

Aaron and John compile clips of their favorite Patreon podcast interviews with Glen Perkins, Parker Hageman, Patrick Reusse, Dan Hayes, and Betsy Helfand. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. For access to the full Patreon podcast archive, subscribe here: patreon.com/gleeman View full article

Aaron and John discuss the pros and (mostly) cons of rebuilding, the Twins current starting rotation, and the Church of Baseball. 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 think Seth is more stoked about this than even Do is. I did not know what a Jeopardy geek he was.

MLB.com’s Minnesota Twins’ beat writer, Do-Hyoung Park, has apparently had enough of this offseason labor stoppage crap and has taken it upon himself to entertain us. Park announced on Friday that he will appear on Monday’s Jeopardy! Show, competing against the show’s latest juggernaut, Amy Schneider, who will enter Monday’s show on a streak of 13 consecutive wins. The show was taped earlier this offseason, but until today Park has been forbidden from admitting he was a contestant, and is still bound to secrecy about how the episode turns out. He prepared throughout spring training and the season for the competition, and even coaxed the producers of the show to delay his appearance until after the Twins’ season ended. Park will compete against “Jeopardamy”, Amy Schneider, who has dominated the competition recently. She has already won $536,400 during her 13-game win streak, moving her into 4th place in Jeopardy! all-time winnings list for regular players. TheJeopardyFan.com predicts a 24-game win streak for her, which would give her a 91.956% chance of continuing her streak through 14 games, which would of course mean a one-and-done for Do. But don’t count our guy Do out. Park graduated in 2017 from Stanford with both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and another master’s in computer science. He also graduated from St. Paul Central early . The kid has some serious game. Can he perform a Twins-vs-the-Yankees level upset? Tune in this Monday (locally) at 4:30 PM on KARE11 to find out. View full article

Aaron and John discuss Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat entering the Hall of Fame, the Minnesota Twins' new coaching hires, and what the team's strategy should be when the offseason restarts. 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 discuss the Twins inking Byron Buxton to a 7-year extension, signing starting pitcher Dylan Bundy, and sitting on their hands as the free agent starting pitching market dries up. 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

Thank you for the kind and thoughtful post.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me a half dozen teams, shame on me. How many times now since 2019 have we watched premier starting pitcher free agents sign for reasonable contracts like this one? In 2019 the narrative was just that they couldn't convince them to take their money. Are we going to hear that again with Gausman and Ray? They just couldn't stomach the opt-out, like they hesitated on Buxton's no-trade? Perhaps we just need to accept that this front office doesn't believe in paying for pitching, no matter what they might say about pursuing high-end talent.

Two of the top four free agent starting pitchers are now spoken for, but early this morning, the Twins were linked to the biggest remaining prize, AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray. Not surprisingly, they are not alone. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman also listed the Tigers, San Francisco Giants, Rangers and Angels as suitors for Ray’s services, and previously the Red Sox and Blue Jays had been mentioned. However, it’s worth noting that several of these teams have already signed free agent pitchers this offseason, perhaps limiting their interest. For instance, the Blue Jays reportedly now have an agreement with another of the other four premier pitchers on this list, Kevin Gausman. On the other hand, who wouldn’t want to add Ray? Last year he posted a 2.84 ERA over 193.1 innings, striking out 11.5 per nine innings. Most importantly, the 30-year-old’s career struggles with his control completely disappeared: he walked only 2.4 batters per nine innings, after averaging 5.1 per nine from 2018-2020. If the Twins want to play, they’ll need to pay. MLBTradeRumors predicted Ray would receive a $130M contract, 5-year deal on the open market. Given some of the other contracts we’re seeing, that estimate may be a little high, but any deal would certainly exceed $100M. What’s more, they’ll also likely need to move fast. The two premier pitchers who are at least very close to greements - Gausman and Max Scherzer - have done so in in the last 24 hours as teams and players scramble to get something done before MLB's Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on Wednesday. It is widely anticipate that event will lead to a work stoppage, effectively killing the offseason market for both sides. That urgency is further heightened by concerns that normally mundane details, like getting physicals done, will need to be completed by then for contracts to be valid. The Twins entered the offseason with at least three spots in their starting rotation to fill, and as of yet have not signed any free agents. They did, however, reach an agreement yesterday with star center fielder Byron Buxton on a 7-year extension. But starting pitching remains the team’s biggest need, and the available arms are dwindling fast. Even beyond the top four arms, other highly attractive targets like Noah Syndegaard, Justin Verlander, Eduardo Rodriguez, Anthony Desclafini and many others have signed within the last two weeks. View full article