John Bonnes

The tickets were won by Rick Trueman. Congrats Rick! You have an email waiting for you.

Just because you didn’t attend the Winter Meltdown, doesn’t mean you can’t join in some of the fun and win some cool stuff. Meltdown sponsor Fan Duel has opened up a private Twins Daily contest around the big game, exclusive to our readers, and not only can you win money but you can win this Justin Morneau signed picture.Just click on this link to head over to our private Twins Daily contest. You’ll pick the five players you think will have the biggest impact in next Sunday’s big game and then get: A $10 bonus for signing up,Big cash prizes if you win (and remember, it’s a game only for Twins Daily readers and Gleeman and Geek listeners)Bragging rights on Twins DailyPlus, we’ll randomly pick someone to send the Justin Morneau-signed picture.It does not get any better than this, and Fan Duel makes it so fun and so easy to play. If you like analyzing sports, you’re going to love Fan Duel. So join the party and Enter our private contest Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about the Twins signing Martin Perez just seconds before the show started, the nearly empty free agent reliever shelves, why the Twins' lack of spending should leave fans disappointed, returning to KFAN for another season on the radio, selling out the Winter Meltdown, and Willians Astudillo finishing runner-up to Delmon Young. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. Click here to view the article

But of course, they didn't really need to invest heavily in multi-year contracts. They could have added any number of solid relievers or starting pitchers with a one or two-year commitment. It may be that they tried and failed, similar to a roto owner realizing he has way too much of his budget leftover and very few desirable players left. I don't know if screwing up is better than being cheap, but a sub-$100M payroll is just embarrassing for a team whose core players are not into their arbitration years.

The Winter Meltdown sold out of $40 tickets, but Fan HQ can still set you up, and for FREE! Just enter the Fan HQ Giveaway here and you can win four free tickets to our big winter event. You'll be in town anyway for Twins Fest, so just walk over to Brother's Bar & Grill on Saturday (1/26) at 5 and join us, Michael Cuddyer, ........the new Twins beat writers, and revel in two free 612 Brew craft beers, a free pint glass, drink specials, Pick & Shovel prize pack, autographed prizes, and pizza swag. Giveaway ends 10 PM CST on Tuesday 1/22. This is the last way you can get tickets to the Meltdown. Enter now! Click here to view the article

We're sorry, but we're sold out! Thank you to those who bought tickets and we'll see you along with Michael Cuddyer, the new Twins beat writers, two free 612 Brew craft beers, the free pint glass, drink specials, Pick & Shovel prize pack, autographed prizes, and pizza swag. This is going to be the best Winter Meltdown yet.Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be January 26th from 5:00-7:30 at Brother’s Bar & Grill. You’ll be in town going to TwinsFest anyway, so stop by and bask in the warm glow of the hot stove with other Twins fanatics. Again, we're sorry, but tickets are sold out. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about Blake Parker joining the Twins' bullpen, Miguel Sano and Willians Astudillo making winter ball headlines, announcing Michael Cuddyer as the Winter Meltdown special guest, arbitration settlements, Brian Dozier's new home, and the earliest over/under lines. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.Sponsored by Away Traveland Harry's Razor's. Click here to view the article

Twins Daily is very happy to announce that Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota Twins slugger, All-Star and magician, will be joining us as our special guest at the Winter Meltdown. Remaining tickets for the event go on sale tomorrow (Tuesday, the 15th) at 8 AM and are expected to sell out fast. Cuddyer is a fan favorite, but there will be a lot of fan favorites at this year’s meltdown.This year’s Winter Meltdown includes two free 612 Brew craft beers, a free Winter Meltdown pint glass, drink specials, a Pick & Shovel prize pack, autographed prizes and swag from Pizza Luce. We’ll also have a panel discussion with our new Twins beat writers - Betsy Helfand of The Pioneer Press, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com and Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Plus, we are very excited to have Michael Cuddyer join the Meltdown as our special guest. Cuddyer played in the major leagues for 15 years, including 11 with the Minnesota Twins from 2001 through 2011. He was a two-time All-Star, Silver Slugger Award winner and even received MVP votes. He ranks 12th all-time in home runs for the Twins. He was elected to the team's Hall of Fame in 2017 and now serves as a special assistant in the front office. You won’t want to miss this event. Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be January 26th from 5:00-7:30 at Brother’s Bar & Grill. You’ll be in town going to TwinsFest anyway, so stop by and bask in the warm glow of the hot stove with other Twins fanatics. Again: tickets go on sale at Twins Daily at 8:00 on Tuesday the 15th right here for $40. Click here to view the article

Besides prizes, this year’s Winter Meltdown will include giveaways, including swag from Pizza Luce, who will have a promotional table to check out. That’s on top of the two free 612 Brew craft beers, the free pint glass, drink specials, Pick & Shovel prize pack, and autographed prizes. Tickets go on sales Tuesday at 8AM on Twins Daily. You’ll also get to meet our new Twins beat writers and special Twins guest…..…who is going to be named on Monday. But here’s today’s hint, to go along with the ones from Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and yesterday. Hint 5: He pitched for the Twins. With those five hints, you should be able to whittle down the Twins alumni to just one name, but if you don’t want to work that hard, we’ll announce him tomorrow. You won’t want to miss it. Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be January 26th from 5:00-7:30 at Brother’s Bar & Grill. You’ll be in town going to TwinsFest anyway, so stop by and bask in the warm glow of the hot stove with other Twins fanatics. Again: tickets go on sale at Twins Daily at 8:00 on Tuesday the 15th for $40. Click here to view the article

Every year the Winter Meltdown has included great prizes, and this year is no different, which is one reason we expect tickets to sell out fast after they go on sale here Tuesday at 8AM. This year, Fan HQ is providing both a Jose Berrios signed baseball and an autographed item from our Twins special guest, who is….…going to be named on Monday. But here is today’s hint, to go along with the ones from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: Hint 4: He had Tom Kelly as a manager. You’ll not only get to attend the Meltdown with our special mystery guest, but could win an autographed item from him from Fan HQ. With two Twin Cities locations, Fan HQ has all the sports gear you need and the autographed items you want, plus great events like a chance to meet Bo Jackson next Saturday the 19th Plus, they’ll be also giving away an autographed Jose Berrios baseball. But there is much more. If you haven’t been following along, Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be January 26th from 5:00-7:30 at Brother’s Bar & Grill. You’ll be in town going to TwinsFest anyway, so stop by, have a couple of free 612 Brew craft beers, get a free pint glass, buy a Routine Pop Fly, win a Pick & Shove prize pack, meet the new Twins beat writers, hang with special guests, and bask in the warm glow of the hot stove with other Twins fanatics. Tickets go on sale at Twins Daily at 8:00 on Tuesday the 15th for $40. Click here to view the article

The Winter Meltdown is for gathering, and we especially appreciate those attendees that connect with others. So this year, we’ll reward some attendee with a monster gift basket from Pick & Shovel, just for finding the guts to talk to strangers. Plus, we’re happy to announce one of our baseball panels. But you can’t win if you don’t attend, so make sure you’re here on Tuesday morning at 8:00 AM to get some of the limited tickets.Attendees will be invited to play a mixer game. Those that complete the challenge will be entered for a Pick and Shovel Gift Basket, featuring well over $100 in free merchandise. Pick and Shovel is known for their creative and original designs organic to Minnesota sports, and baseball in particular. They'll also have a table at the event, so you can peruse and purchase your favorite items. Download attachment: pick_and_shovel_900.jpg And speaking of new people, besides our special Twins guest, we’ll have a panel of new Twins beat writers, so we can all get to know them. Betsy Helfand of The Pioneer Press, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com and Dan Hayes of The Athletic will all join us on stage to talk a little about how they became Twins beat writers and give us their insights on this year's team. Later, we’ll have our special guest. We dropped hints on Wednesday and Thursday who it is, so check those out. Today’s hint: Hint 3: He played at least one season with the Twins at Target Field. Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be January 26th from 5:00-7:30 at Brother’s Bar & Grill. You’ll be in town going to TwinsFest anyway, so stop by, have a couple of free 612 Brew craft beers, get a free pint glass, a Routine Pop Fly, meet some special guests, and bask in the warm glow of the hot stove with other Twins fanatics. Tickets go on sale at Twins Daily at 8:00 on Tuesday the 15th for $40. We’ll announce more soon, so stop by Twins Daily to get all the news and collect all the hints. Click here to view the article

There will be more specials, giveaways and prizes at this year’s Winter Meltdown than ever before, but we also have fewer tickets available than ever before, so make sure you’re here on Tuesday morning at 8:00 AM. Today we can announce Three Olives will be offering a cocktail at a special price. Plus, another hint about our main guest.Three Olives has supported Twins Daily’s events several times over the past few years, and this year they’ll be offering a premium vodka cocktail called the “Routine Pop Fly” for the price of a rail drink. Besides drink specials, we'll have a special panel talking Twins and special guest Twins alum. Plus, every guest gets a free pint glass AND two free 612 Brew craft beers with which to fill it. Over the next few days, we’ll let you in on more goodies, including who our special guest will be. Yesterday we gave out our first hint. Since we got a guess of Glen Perkins in the comments, today’s hint will be: Hint 2: He was on the Twins team that went 71-33(!) over their last 104 games of the season. Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be January 26th from 5:00-7:30 at Brother’s Bar & Grill. You’ll be in town going to TwinsFest anyway, so stop by, have a couple of beers, get a free pint glass, a Routine Pop Fly, meet some special guests, and bask in the warm glow of the hot stove with other Twins fanatics. Tickets go on sale at Twins Daily at 8:00 on Tuesday the 15th for $40. We’ll announce more soon, so stop by Twins Daily to get all the news and collect all the hints. Click here to view the article

This year’s Winter Meltdown is going to be crazier than ever so you’ll want to grab some of the few remaining tickets on Tuesday morning at 8:00. In the meantime, we will unveil a host of new giveaways and prizes for those lucky enough to get a ticket. Plus, we’ll start giving hints as to who this year’s special guest will be.Today we can display this year’s Winter Meltdown pint glass, sponsored (as it has every year) by 612 Brew and designed by our own Brock Beauchamp. Every guest gets a free pint glass AND two free 612 Brew craft beers with which to fill it. But that’s not all - not by a long shot. Over the next few days, we’ll let you in on all the goodies in store, including who our special guest will be. Until that big reveal, we’ll help you narrow the field a bit with some hints. Hint 1: He’s an MLB All-Star. Twins Daily’s Winter Meltdown will be January 26th from 5:00-7:30 at Brother’s Bar & Grill. You’ll be in town going to TwinsFest anyway, so stop by, have a couple of beers, get a free pint glass, meet some special guests, and bask in the warm glow of the hot stove with other Twins fanatics. We’ll announce more soon, so stop by Twins Daily to get all the news and collect all the hints. Download attachment: winter-meltdown-2015-2018.jpg Above: previous years' designs Click here to view the article