John Bonnes

We will not want our Picnic With The Saints party to end, so we’ve including an exclusive 'After Party' at Tin Whiskers Brewing, just a few minutes walk from CHS Field. Tin Whiskers will provide special beer pricing to Twins Daily attendees AND is extending their hours until midnight to accommodate us. So to recap: pregame buffet picnic in the outfield, Saints game, postgame fireworks, Saints zaniness, craft beer corner, World Series rings, AWESOME PEOPLE and Tin Whiskers After Party, all for just $20/person and $10/kid. Tickets go on sale TOMORROW (Fri) at 8 AM on this very page. They are limited. If you haven’t already asked your family and friends to join you, do so tonight, so you can make sure to get yours before they sell out. You can get all the details for this July 14th event below. Or, if you have any questions, put them in the comments section below. See you there! Win Replica World Series Rings! So far, we’ve revealed a buffet picnic in the outfield, a Saints game and fireworks all for just $20 (and $10 for kids). Now we're adding one of our coolest giveaways: a replica 1987 and 1991 World Series ring set. One lucky attendee will get to take the rings home, but everyone will get a chance to wear them and have their picture taken with them. In fact, you need to in order to win them.At the game, we’ll have a Twitter contest during the pregame picnic where you, your family and your friends can have your picture taken with the rings. Post the pictures on Twitter with a special hashtag and you’ll be entered to win the rings. The more you post, the better will be your chances of winning. So add that to the list of reasons you should be back here on Friday morning at 8:00. And I’ll add one more: you’re going to be getting together with a great group of people. And I’ll add another – tomorrow, when we talk about the After Party….. Unbelievable Family-Friendly Price! Yesterday we announced our Picnic With The Saints, including a buffet-style picnic in the outfield, a Saints game and postgame fireworks, but we only teased the price. Today, I’m happy to announce we’ll be selling the tickets for just $20 for adults and $10 for kids 17 and under. Why so low? Because Twins Daily is all about gathering. It’s a core value, and we want you, your family and your friends to meet and talk baseball in a beautiful setting doing awesome stuff. To refresh your memory, here are the details: It is Friday night, July 14th. Before the game we’ll all gather for a pregame buffet- style picnic in the outfield. By itself, this is a $17 value. We will sit down the left field line and watch the Saints beat up the Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks. After the game, there will be fireworks as part of Xcel Energy Friday Night Fireworks. There will be a giveaway (announced Wednesday) that you and your kids are going to love. Even if you don’t win it, you’re going to want to experience it. You’ll also get entry to an exclusive After Party (announced Thursday) at a local taproom to unwind after the game. There will also be all kinds of other Saints fun, like their in-game craziness and the Beer Dabbler Craft Beer Corner which is coincidentally near our seats.(Ron Howard voice: “It was no coincidence.”) Tickets go on sale this Friday (the 16th) on this page and will likely sell out. The minor leagues are traditionally about affordable entertainment. The Saints are all about fun. Twins Daily is all about coming together. And Minnesota is all about being outdoors. So please get this on your calendar and on your friends’ calendars, and we’ll see you Friday morning when tickets are available. Picnic In The Saints Outfield! It’s time to watch some baseball! And the whole family is invited! Friday July 14th is Picnic With The Saints, the Twins Daily community’s trip to CHS Field. For a special price (and even a more special price for kids under 18), 200+ of us will invade CHS, picnic in the Saints outfield and witness the Saints beat up the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks before watching postgame fireworks. Here are the details: Before the game we’ll all gather for a pregame buffet- style picnic in the outfield. We did this same event two years ago and I guarantee you nobody will come away hungry. (That may not stop your kids from asking for ice cream in the 7th inning. But you probably know that.) After the game, there will be fireworks as part of Xcel Energy Friday Night Fireworks. During the game, you might want to check out the Beer Dabbler Craft Beer Corner which has something like 40 local craft beers for you and your adult friends. The special Twins Daily price (announced tomorrow) will reflect Twins Daily’s core mission to build community and make this one of THE events for Minnesota baseball fans and their families. We are far more interested in selling this out than breaking even. There will be a giveaway (announced Wednesday) that you and your kids are going to love. Even if you don’t win it, you’re going to want to experience it. You’ll get entry to an exclusive After Party (announced Thursday) at a local taproom to unwind after the game. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 8:00 AM on this page on Twins Daily. So reserve July 14th on your family calendar, send this link to your friends and set an alarm for Friday morning. We only have 200 tickets, they cannot be bought at the ballpark, and (especially after you see the price tomorrow) there is a high likelihood of a sellout. It’ll be really great to see everyone again. See you then and stop by all week for more details.

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Saving money on the first overall pick is a common strategy for MLB teams and has been used with much success. Drafting Lewis, who was considered along with Kyle Wright and Brendan McKay, to be a half step below Hunter Greene in terms of talent, could essentially give the Twins extra quality in some of their following picks. Again, click on the tweet for the details. So Lewis was the surprise pick at #1, but we heard reports that he was the pick because he gave the Twins a discount which they could use to essentially accumulate higher picks later in the draft. That’s a solid strategy; additional quality picks helps both with risk mitigation and with higher upside. And it costs nothing but a little negotiation. Plus, selfishly, it makes the rest of the night that much more fun. The Twins had two more picks last night, the 35th and 37th picks and lots of leftover money. Signing Lewis “below slot” gave them the opportunity to sign some higher ranked players who seemed to “tumble” down the draft board, not because there was anything wrong with them, but because they wanted more money than teams above the Twins in the draft (but below them in leftover money) could offer. What’s more, the most obvious of those players was a high school pitcher from Burnsville. Sam Carlson was projected to be a mid-first round pick. He’s a pitcher. He’s a hometown boy. And the fact that he was available at pick 35 made it seem like the Twins and he had conspired to allow him to fall into the Twins lap. Except that isn’t what happened. The Twins picked a college outfielder, Brent Rooker at 35. They picked a prep (Canadian) pitcher, Landon Leach, at 37. Both are legitimate top 100 prospects, but neither was a top 20 or even perceived to be a top 30 pick. In fact, one could reasonably project that both of them could also sign “under slot.” Carlson ended up going 55th to the Mariners who don’t seem to have the money to sign him. So WTF happened? We won’t find out all the signing amounts for several days, but I’ll float some scenarios, and you can add your own in the comment below. 1. Lewis didn’t sign for less than slot. I think that it’s already been reported that he did, but these moves make a lot more sense if Lewis' agent, Scott Boras, didn’t let Lewis sign for less than slot, or something happened that the Twins weren’t sure they had that extra money. 2. The Twins got sniped before #35. Whoever the Twins targeted with the 35th pick, was taken before they got their pick. Which would mean that either the player’s agent was incompetent, or the Twins didn’t get word to the player to make sure teams knew they needed to pass, or another team called their bluff or figured out a way to get their own leftover money. 3. A Carlson deal fell through. But they why do the Mariners take him at #55? They have to know they can sign him if they're going to use their second round pick on him, right? 4. The Twins have no intention of using their whole $14M draft budget. They saved money to save money. This just seems crazy. It would be a complete betrayal. 5. They're going to use the money on Day 2. OK, but now the top picks are already done. (Late add: track the Day 2 moves on Twins Daily's Day 2 Thread!) We are all left scratching our heads. Perhaps we'll get more information that clarifies what we witnessed. Or maybe this is the mess it appears to be.