PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa made a rare trip away from Fort Myers on Monday, part of a Twins’ lineup stuffed with veterans and other players projected to make the Opening Day roster.

They only played two innings — the game at Charlotte Sports Park against the Tampa Bay Rays was wiped out by rain with the score 1-1 at the time — but their inclusion in the lineup is part of manager Rocco Baldelli’s new initiative to get the vets more playing time this spring.

That means more road trips, something that has been rare in recent years.

“I think it’s just good to get our guys out there and playing together, and out there not only early in spring but not taking two and three days in between some of their first games,” Baldelli said. “I think that’s something that we’ve looked at, identified and want to work towards when making the schedule.”

Buxton traveled for just two road trips last season — once to JetBlue Park, just a few miles down the road in Fort Myers to take on the Red Sox, and another in North Port, the closest spring training city to Fort Myers, to play the Atlanta Braves. The center fielder last journeyed to Port Charlotte in 2022.

Correa, meanwhile, never left Fort Myers last season, venturing over to JetBlue once.

“I’m a soldier,” Correa said. “Whatever Rocco tells me to do, I will do.”

If the Twins were in a more central location among spring training homes, Baldelli said, the veterans would make more trips. But as the southernmost team on the Gulf Coast, the road trips tend to be long, some topping two hours one way.

“Guys go on road trips normally when the road trips aren’t that far,” Baldelli said. “Our location in the state of Florida makes all the road trips pretty far.”

Port Charlotte, around an hour north of Fort Myers, is one of the closer trips, which is why those two — along with Royce Lewis, Christian Vázquez, Ty France and Chris Paddack — were among the group who traveled on the road on Monday.

Lewis provided the Twins’ run, hitting a homer off former Twin Zack Littell to tie the game.

“Every at-bat counts. I have a good approach right now, I’m going to keep sticking with that. Grow off of that,” Lewis said. “It was awesome for me. My mom and sister were here. Their last day here, so I’ve got to take care of business before they leave and I did that.”

Paddack throws two

Paddack took care of business on Monday, too, finishing his two innings of work just as the rain started pouring down in Port Charlotte. The starter, who did not pitch in a game after the all-star break because of an arm injury, opted to make the trip rather than throw live batting practice back at the Twins’ facility.

“I want that adrenaline,” Paddack said. “I want that competition versus someone else more so than our guys. … The biggest thing is I was ready, so I wanted to go ahead and pursue getting on the mound versus Tampa.”

Paddack gave up a solo home run to Danny Jansen, the only blemish on his day. He said he felt he emptied the tank and “really liked” where his stuff was at in his first start of the spring.

Briefly

Simeon Woods Richardson is scheduled to get the start on Tuesday when the Twins host the New York Yankees. … Edouard Julien joked to reporters to after the game to get in print that he had a good day at the plate, prompting laughs from his teammates. The infielder did not get an at-bat before the rains came.

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FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jose Miranda began last season at Triple-A St. Paul, looking to prove himself after a shoulder injury held him back during his 2023 season. He was quickly called up to the majors and did just that, emerging as one of the Twins’ best hitters in the first half of the season.

But he was never the same after a lower back strain that cropped up right before the all-star break. After that, his power and production disappeared almost entirely.

“When I came back in the second half, my moves didn’t feel the same,” Miranda said. “Not putting that as an excuse. I didn’t feel any pain in the second half, but just didn’t feel the same (when) moving.”

Now, as Miranda prepares for the upcoming season, he has two main goals: stay healthy and be in the lineup every day. If he can accomplish the first, be believes the second will follow.

While the Twins signing Ty France altered his path to playing time, there should be plenty of at-bats for Miranda if he holds up his end of the bargain. The Twins plan to play him both at first and third base. And with a rotating designated hitter spot, he’ll have a chance to fill in there, as well.

“Jose is going to be in a position where he’s going to go out there, earn his at-bats, earn his opportunities, like many other guys on our roster,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s a healthy thing for an organization to have motivated guys that are going out there and want to earn their spot and their opportunities and their at-bats.”

Miranda hit .325 with a .888 OPS and nine home runs in 76 games played in the first half of the season. During that time, he matched an MLB record by recording 12 hits in consecutive 12 at-bats. His on-base streak came to an end after 13 consecutive plate appearances, a Twins record and the longest in the majors since 2009.

After the all-star break, his offensive numbers cratered. He did not hit a home run after July 5, and in the final 45 games, had just 10 extra-base hits and six RBIs. Miranda, 26, described his power disappearing like that as “weird.”

“When I’m not producing the way I know I can produce, it makes me a little bit mad, frustrated, but at the same time, I’ve got to understand the game is really hard,” he said. “Hitting is hard, and we go through so many ups and downs. … I’m just working for this year and trying to be consistent the whole year.”

Miranda’s work with hitting coach Matt Borgschulte this spring has been a little bit mechanics-based — he’s trying to get more vertical in his load — and a little bit approach-focused, swinging at pitches in the zone and not getting himself out.

And if he can implement those tweaks as he hopes, the at-bats will follow.

“I’ve always been pleased with what we’ve gotten out of him as a player and how he’s handled everything that has come his way over the years,” Baldelli said. “He’s just going to keep earning those spots like a handful of guys.”

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The Metropolitan Council has announced that it will “explore” abandoning its long-struggling Northstar Commuter Rail Service, which failed to capture strong ridership even before the pandemic. The Met Council said the commuter train from downtown Minneapolis to Big Lake likely will transition to bus service in the coming months.

The train, which launched in November 2009 and makes stops at stations in Elk River, Ramsey, Anoka, Coon Rapids, and Fridley, has long been viewed as a weak link in the metro’s public transit offerings.

Officials hoped 900,000 riders would board the train within its first year alone. Ridership never met projections from the start, and then plummeted from 700,000 to 800,000 annual riders before the pandemic to just 97,000 riders in 2023, according to a recent Minnesota Department of Transportation study.

The Twin Cities-St. Cloud-Fargo/Moorhead Corridor study “makes it clear we can provide more cost-effective transit service in the corridor currently being served by Northstar Commuter Rail,” reads the Met Council announcement, which was issued jointly with MnDOT.

Northstar’s operating cost in 2023 was about $11.6 million, while it recovered little more than $323,000 in revenue at the farebox — a relatively paltry farebox recovery ratio of 2.8%. In 2019, the 50 U.S. transit agencies with the highest operating expenses held an average farebox recovery ratio of 36%, with wide variation, according to the ENO Center for Transportation, though those ratios have dropped since the pandemic as a result of ridership declines in the era of remote work and an increase in fare evasion.

“As the world and consumer demand changes, we must be willing to be flexible and innovative to offer better service while saving dollars,” reads the statement. “We have jointly started the process to explore transitioning to bus service in this corridor.”

The two transportation authorities said they will work with federal partners and rail partners at BNSF Railway, and develop a timeline with projected cost savings.

A House bill introduced by state Rep. Jon Koznick, R-Lakeville, the chair of the Transportation Finance and Policy Committee, has sought permission from the Federal Transit Administration to discontinue Northstar service without repaying federal funds used to launch it, which he described as a “key financial obstacle to ending the line.”

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