The Twins added six prospects to their 40-man roster, shielding them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft, and swung a trade for reliever Eric Orze from Tampa Bay, making for a busy Tuesday.

The Twins need to rebuild their bullpen after trading away five relievers at last season’s deadline, and Orze, a right-handed reliever who split last year between Triple-A and the majors, should figure into their plans next season.

Orze posted a 3.02 earned-run average in 33 games for the Rays last season. The Illinois native, who was a fifth-round draft pick in 2020, threw 41 2/3 innings for the Rays and picked up three saves, including one in a July game against the Twins.

The Twins traded minor league pitcher Jacob Kisting, who pitched at Class A and Class-A Advanced last year, to acquire him.

Between adding Orze and left-handed pitchers Connor Prielipp and Kendry Rojas, right-handed pitchers John Klein and Andrew Morris, and outfielders Gabriel Gonzalez and Hendry Mendez, the Twins’ 40-man roster now sits at 40.

Prielipp, 24, was the Twins’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year after posting a 4.03 earned-run average across 24 games (23 starts) at Double and Triple-A last season. The native of Tomah, Wis., was the Twins’ second-round pick in 2022 and is among their top-10 prospects, per MLB Pipeline.

Prielipp finished the season in the Saints’ rotation alongside Rojas, whom the Twins received as part of the return for the trade that sent Louie Varland and Ty France to Toronto. The 22-year-old had a tough go of it in eight starts at St. Paul, but he is considered the team’s top pitching prospect, per MLB Pipeline.

Klein, 23, also reached Triple-A by the end of last season. The Brooklyn Park native had a 3.98 ERA across two levels last year, finishing with 128 strikeouts in 106 1/3 innings.

Morris, 24, missed part of the summer with a forearm injury but finished the season with a 4.09 ERA at St. Paul.

Gonzalez, whom the Twins acquired from Seattle as part of the Jorge Polanco trade, had a strong season last year, hitting .329 with a .909 OPS and 15 home runs as he jumped from Class-A Advanced to Double-A to Triple-A.

Mendez, part of the return from Philadelphia for Harrison Bader at this year’s trade deadline, spent the year at Double-A, where he slashed .299/.399/439 and added 11 home runs and 62 runs batted in.

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A man under a civil commitment as being mentally ill and dangerous admitted in court Tuesday to fatally stabbing a woman in her St. Paul apartment in 2022 after believing she was his mother.

Appearing by Zoom from St. Peter Regional Treatment Center, Maurice Angelo McClinton Smith, 42, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder in the killing of 47-year-old Tina M. McCombs in the North End on Jan. 9, 2022.

Under questioning by his attorney John Riemer to establish a factual basis for the plea, Smith agreed that he had used methamphetamine and ecstasy and drank alcohol before going to McCombs’ apartment.

According to the criminal complaint, Smith and McCombs were Facebook friends, and Smith told police in an interview they met about a month earlier. The complaint wasn’t clear how well they knew each other.

Smith agreed with his attorney’s statements that McCombs had previously cut his hair, and that she had supported him through what the attorney said his client described as “very traumatic mother issues.”

Maurice Angelo McClinton Smith (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Through McCombs’ support, Riemer asked his client, “you transferred that into seeing this person as your mother?” “Yes, sir,” Smith said.

“In fact, you specifically killed (McCombs), stabbed her, to seek revenge for what your mother did to you?” Riemer asked. “Yes, sir,” Smith said.

Smith is under a civil commitment that was originally put in place about seven months after the killing. In August 2023, he was found to be competent to face the charges against him.

Under terms negotiated in his plea agreement, Smith faces a term in the low to middle range of state sentencing guidelines. Smith’s attorney said his custody placement will be determined by the Minnesota Department of Corrections and Department of Human Services.

Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher set Smith’s sentencing for Feb. 13.

Two stab wounds to chest

Officers were sent to the apartment at 180 W. Larpenteur Ave. about 2:30 p.m. Jan. 9, 2022, after a report of a man kicking in doors while holding a knife. As officers were on the way, they received updated information that a woman had been stabbed.

Police found McCombs unresponsive on the bedroom floor, and parts of the door and lock to the apartment scattered in the entryway. She was pronounced dead, and an autopsy showed she’d been stabbed twice in her chest.

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Her boyfriend told police he was dozing in the living room when a man broke in. He heard McCombs yell, “What … is wrong with you?” before the man stabbed her. He said he’d seen the man around and thought he was homeless.

About 90 minutes after the killing, police received a report of a man lying on a back stoop of a residence three miles away and found Smith. He was unable to respond to officers, had dried blood on him and matched the stabbing suspect’s description. McCombs’ boyfriend identified him from a photo lineup as the man who killed her.

An investigator asked Smith why he was at McCombs’ apartment and he said “to get some tea and crumpets,” the complaint read. “… When asked why he went to see (McCombs), Smith said, ‘To kill her.’ Smith said he was a simple prophet.”

By COLLEEN BARRY

MILAN (AP) — Venice has been charmed by a recent visitor: An acrobatic, wild dolphin. The feeling appears to be mutual — he so far refuses to leave — but proximity to humans has put him in danger.

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The dolphin nicknamed Mimmo has been delighting tourists and Venetians for months with his acrobatic flips. Experts are now eager to move him into open water, especially after verifying wounds indicating that the dolphin had been likely hit by a boat propeller.

Multiple agencies used low-intensity acoustic devices to nudge Mimmo away from the heavily trafficked St. Mark’s Basin on Saturday — and it worked briefly. But the dolphin came back within an hour, as experts feared he would.

“It’s very worrying because it’s a hot spot with lots of boat traffic,’’ said Guido Pietroluongo, a veterinarian at the University of Padua’s emergency response team for stranded dolphins, whales and porpoises, known by the acronym CERT.

St. Mark’s Basin, the shallow expanse of water in front of St. Mark’s Square connecting to both the Giudecca and Grand Canals, is heavily trafficked by ferries, vaporetti buses, water taxis, and private boats.

During the failed operation, experts confirmed Mimmo had suffered superficial lesions, likely from a boat propeller, Pietroluongo said. It was the first time they had noted injuries to the dolphin, and his wounds are expected to fully heal. But experts are worried about his continued safety in such proximity to human activity.

They don’t plan any immediate action, and are hoping that colder seasonal temperatures will lure him, and his fish prey, out of the lagoon toward warmer waters, Pietroluongo said.

Mimmo’s arrival in the Venetian lagoon was registered on July 23, and experts say the coastal creature likely followed a school of fish into the brackish waters separated from the open sea by barrier islands. He was nicknamed for the sailing instructor who first spotted him off the Venetian lagoon fishing town of Chioggia.

Mimmo follows the pattern of a so-called social loner, typically a young male dolphin that breaks away from the pod for food or for social reasons and then comes into contact with the human world, said Sandro Mazzariol, a CERT veterinarian.

“Around 100 cases have been documented around the world in which these animals are absolutely at ease and remain healthy despite not interacting with their peers,’’ Mazzariol said in a Facebook video post.

Dolphins sightings in Venice are rare but not unheard of, Mazzariol said.

The most recent incident involved a pair of striped dolphins spotted in February 2021 that were quickly guided back to the open sea with acoustic devices. They never returned.

Mimmo has been closely monitored during his lagoon sojourn, and has been reported in good health and nutrition as he feasts on a diet befitting any Venetian tourist: mullet, sea bass and sea bream. His behavior also has been deemed normal, including his playful aerial flips.

The University of Padua team has been going out weekly to check on the animal, and they get regular updates from citizens who share sightings, including photos and videos.

Authorities are warning citizens and boaters not to feed or interact with the dolphin, which is a criminal offense. Dolphins are protected under Italian, EU and international law. But the fact that Mimmo’s fame is spreading is part of the problem.

“The dolphin has become an attraction. Boats stopping to watch him can stress the animal,’’ Pietroluongo said.

Gophers true freshman running back Tre Berry has left the U football team, the Pioneer Press confirmed Tuesday night.

Berry’s actions in recent weeks led to his exit from the program, a source said. He was on the team’s roster for the Michigan State win on Nov. 1, but was off it before the Oregon loss on Nov. 14.

Berry was a late addition to the Gophers 2025 recruiting class; he filled the spot vacated when Shane Marshall flipped to Georgia Tech on national signing day last December.

The 5-foot-10, 200-pound native of Montgomery, Ala., was redshirting this season and did not appear in any games for the U this fall.

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