FORT MYERS, Fla. —The Twins finalized their position-player group on Monday, optioning Austin Martin to Triple-A and notifying those who had made the team, like Mickey Gasper and DaShawn Keirsey Jr., to pack their bags for St. Louis.

So now, with one day left in camp, there’s just one question remaining: What will come of the eighth bullpen spot?

They have notified both Scott Blewett and Anthony Misiewicz, the only two non-roster invites remaining in big league camp, that they have not made the Opening Day roster. Rule 5 selection Eiberson Castellano, who had the best chance of all to win the spot because of his status, was informed on Sunday that he would not be coming north with the Twins.

With Brock Stewart and Michael Tonkin both set to begin the year on the injured list, the Twins have one opening for a reliever to join Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Cole Sands, Danny Coulombe, Louie Varland, Jorge Alcala and Justin Topa in the bullpen.

Most of the remaining pitchers 40-man roster who have already been optioned are starters, except for Kody Funderburk, a left-hander whom the Twins could opt to bring back. They could also bring back someone who is not on the 40-man roster. Another option is claiming a pitcher on waivers who had been recently cut by another team.

Stewart, who is building back from shoulder surgery, sounded hopeful that he could be back by the second weekend of April and if that’s the case, it’s possible that the Twins will only need an extra reliever for a short period of time.

Ober makes final spring start

The velocity readings still may not be where Bailey Ober wants them to be but the starter feels that he’s getting closer to working out the kinks in his delivery that have been affecting him of late.

“I felt really good throughout the week so I’m glad that I’m making progress on that side,” Ober said. “Now, it’s just trying to get them to game speed and get everything timed up with how fast it moves during the game. … We’re getting there. We saw progress during the week so just got to keep on working and it’ll show up.

Ober had a deload on Monday, throwing just 43 pitches across 3 1/3 innings in anticipation of his first start of the season, which should come Sunday in St. Louis. He gave up a run and struck out two in the outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates, whom the Twins beat 5-1 at Hammond Stadium.

“He looks like the guy that we know. He’s pitching really well and effectively,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. ““He’s just a very successful, good pitcher. Those things carry forward no matter if his mechanics are perfectly in line or not.”

Briefly

The Twins will wrap up spring training on Tuesday, taking on the Colorado Rockies at Hammond Stadium before leaving for St. Louis. The Rockies, who play in the Cactus League, will be in town because they open their season against the Tampa Bay Rays. …  Edouard Julien hit an opposite-field three-run home run on Monday, his second of the spring. … Coulombe, Varland, Alcala, Sands, Jax and Duran each turned in scoreless outings in Monday’s win.

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By ED WHITE

DETROIT (AP) — A judge entered a not-guilty plea Monday for a former Baltimore Ravens and University of Michigan assistant football coach who is charged with hacking into the computer accounts of thousands of college athletes to find intimate images, primarily of women.

Matt Weiss’ appearance in federal court in Detroit was brief and came four days after a 14-page indictment was filed. He’s accused of unauthorized computer access and identity theft from 2015 until early 2023.

Weiss and attorney Douglas Mullkoff waived a public reading of the indictment and later declined to comment during a cold, windy walk to a parking lot.

Separately, a lawsuit seeking class-action status was filed Friday on behalf of a former University of Michigan female gymnast and a former member of the women’s soccer team.

FILE – Michigan co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss watches before an NCAA college football game against Maryland in Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

The university violated its duty “by failing to supervise and monitor Weiss and as a result plaintiffs and thousands of others have had their privacy illegally invaded,” attorney Parker Stinar said in the lawsuit.

The university declined to comment.

Weiss gained access to the databases of more than 100 colleges and universities that were maintained by a third-party vendor, Keffer Development Services, and then downloaded personal information and medical data of more than 150,000 athletes, according to the indictment.

He then got access to the social media, email and cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 athletes, as well as more than 1,300 students or alumni from schools across the country, the indictment states.

“His goal was to obtain private photographs and videos never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners,” according to the indictment.

Weiss spent two seasons with Michigan before he was fired in 2023 for not cooperating with a school investigation. He was co-offensive coordinator in 2022 when the Wolverines were 13-1 and played in the college football playoff.

He had previously spent more than a decade with the NFL’s Ravens in various coaching roles.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Rocco Baldelli is so often the bearer of bad news, the one to let players know that they have been sent down to the minor leagues or cut.

Monday, he got to deliver some good news, letting a pair of players — utilityman Mickey Gasper and outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. — know that they were making the Opening Day roster out of camp for the first time in their careers as the Twins finalized their position-player group.

“Making an Opening Day roster, it’s important to players. It’s important to every guy that has ever played that’s been in a spring training,” Baldelli said. “Being able to tell those guys that, that’s one of the joys of doing this job.”

Gasper, 29, got the news he had been waiting for a day after he was gashed while trying to make a play by Twins minor leaguer Brandon Winokur. The cut required six stitches, but Gasper said he knew pretty quickly that the cut wasn’t something too serious.

His parents were in town and saw him get injured — he texted them from a team trainer’s phone to let them know the cut was “no big deal” — and later celebrated his good news with him.

“You go into spring training every year wanting to show what you’ve got and make a team, and this time it happened,” Gasper said. “I made it, one of the 30 MLB teams in the world. When you put it in perspective like that, it’s exciting. (It) keeps that fire in me going, just to go out and show what I’ve got.”

For Keirsey, 27, the feeling was almost like he heard he had gotten called up to the big leagues for the first time, something which happened last September. Keirsey has played in just six major league games.

“It was just that nervous, anxious feeling of knowing a decision has to be made. So when he called me in there and I heard that, I just took a big, big sigh of relief,” Keirsey said. “Excitement came after.”

The Twins chose Keirsey, a superior defender, over Austin Martin, taking their third left-handed outfielder. Martin was officially optioned to Triple-A on Monday, receiving the news right after Keirsey.

Keirsey joins an outfield group that includes Byron Buxton, Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach and Harrison Bader and figures to be used as a potential defensive replacement and pinch runner.

“DaShawn is an excellent defender at all three spots. He’s an excellent baserunner,” Baldelli said. “He has some really nice strengths to help us win games.”

Gasper plays first, second and catches. He was brought into the organization this winter, and notified of the trade between the Twins and Boston Red Sox on Christmas Eve after he had sat down to dinner with his family.

The switch hitter has just 13 games of major league experience and is still looking for his first career hit. But he has a .392 on-base percentage in the minor leagues and last year hit .328 between Double and Triple-A.

He joins Carlos Correa, Ty France, Willi Castro, Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda in the infield with Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez behind the plate. Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee will begin the year on the injured list.

“I thought I could make the team when I got here,” Gasper said. “That’s always something, you’ve got to come in confident. Even in a room of great players, you’ve got to believe in yourself that you’re one of those great players. I knew that if I went out and gave it everything I had and tried not to waste a day, good things could happen.”

Mickey Gasper #11 of the Minnesota Twins poses for a portrait at Lee Health Sports Complex during the Minnesota Twins Photo Day on Feb. 21, 2025 at the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
DaShawn Keirsey Jr. #21 of the Minnesota Twins poses for a portrait at Lee Health Sports Complex during the Minnesota Twins Photo Day on Feb. 21, 2025 at the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

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An alternative

Since the Trump administration seems unconcerned with national boundaries, I think this might be a good time to consider Minnesota becoming Canada’s 11th province. The State of Hockey joins the land of hockey. Similar accents and climate. I have long felt an affinity for our northern cousins.

Most of the oil and gas from Alberta transverses Minnesota by pipeline. If the U.S. objects we could just cut off the crude. Or maybe just cut it off, then demand secession (See, I am learning.).

Canada is a better values fit for Minnesota anyway. They welcome immigrants. They don’t seem interested in persecuting trans people. Heck, they even have universal health.

Maybe we could be “Minnetoba.”

John Vaughn, Stillwater

 

After paying in all these years, yes, we are entitled

Rather than saying “Social Security” some government and quasi-government individuals tend refer to “entitlement programs” in an effort to obfuscate or misdirect public attention from precisely what it is, and what they are planning to change, gut, or otherwise eviscerate.

But it needs to be rigidly understood, that indeed, those of us who have spent a lifetime of employment, paying through direct and employer contributions, roughly 15% of our income, into a trust fund, are truly entitled to these Social Security benefits.

It is not a Ponzi scheme. In fact, according to internet research, there is clever little “sleight of hand” by our government, since 1983, that allows the Treasury to “borrow” from the Social Security trust fund. So far $1.7 trillion dollars has been “borrowed” and replaced with, what I assume, is a substantial stack of IOUs.

You know in days of old when a profligate king found he had over-borrowed, it was far easier for him to get rid of the creditor than to satisfy his debt. Just so, I suspect today that this so-called cost cutting is an attempt to somehow avoid honoring those IOUs. Social Security is an ENTITLEMENT. Don’t mess with it.

Bob Emery, Mendota Heights

 

Stand up for rule of law

Before 2010, when Cititzens United struck down caps on “independent” campaign contributions, I knew how to teach campaign finance to high school students. There were limits on campaign contributions. Those limits meant candidates built broad coalitions to get elected. Those limits protected against corruption. I retired in 2012.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) went after the Department of Education the first week in March. While not a surprise, this assault goes beyond schemes to use tax dollars for private and religious education. Funding for the Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences comes from Congress. The House of Representatives has constitutional authority for appropriations. Not an unelected billionaire.

The second week in March, DOGE targeted Social Security. Field offices, the workforce, and telephone services that 40% of elderly beneficiaries rely on came under attack. When Elon Musk failed to show up to testify, at a Ways and Means committee hearing, Connecticut Rep. John Larson was enraged. His righteous anger was for all Americans. For constituents who expect elected officials to do the work of the people, to honor the Constitution, and to abide by the rule of law. Stunned committee members sat silent as Larson lambasted the effort to gut Social Security as a precursor to privatization. Social Security is an entitlement duly authorized by the legislative branch. It is not the province of a predatory, unelected billionaire to put an end to an Act of Congress.

On March 16th, President Trump defied a court order to recall two planes bound for Venezuela with migrants being deported illegally. Joyce Vance wrote for The Contrarian, “We are inevitably headed to a confrontation between a president who has rejected the rule of law and a judge sworn to enforce it. We are in an exceedingly dangerous moment for democracy.”

My concern for public education and Social Security pales next to my concern for the rule of law. We must stand up to treasonous overreach and disregard for the rule of law.

Nance Purcell, Stillwater. The writer is a retired civics teacher.

 

Lessor of three evils

Ukraine should cut their losses and make a deal now.  They have courageously fought against a more powerful nation, but they will not win a much-prolonged conflict. NATO is not willing to put troops on the ground, and NATO cannot fund an ongoing war indefinitely. The U.S. provides most of the NATO support, and Trump has promised to prevent forever wars. Without US support, Russia would eventually take all of Ukraine.

Russia had previously taken Crimea and Georgia without much resistance from the West. It is unrealistic for Ukraine to take those areas back, and Russia now occupies land between these two areas. Ukraine will probably need to cede those areas to save the rest of their country by making a deal. Accepting the minerals deal with the U.S. would provide some security for Ukraine due to the joint venture.

It is difficult to cede anything to Russia, but without profound military action by NATO, Ukraine is left with few options. Continuing the war will cost more lives and put Ukraine in an even worse bargaining position.

So, America has three options: fund an ongoing war indefinitely, put U.S. troops on the ground to push Russia back to original borders, or broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine to end the war now.  The deal is the lesser of three evils.

Dennis A. Helander, White Bear Lake

 

Appeasement

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Those are the famous words of George Santayana, a renowned Spanish philosopher. After the spectacle that we witnessed in the Oval Office last week between President Trump and President Zelensky those words take on a greater importance than ever.

It appears obvious that President Trump and most of the Republican Party either can’t remember or maybe never took the time to study history. When Hitler and the Nazis began to swallow up Europe the response from Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, was one of appeasement. The Munich Agreement of 1938, signed by Chamberlain, gave Germany permission to take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in an attempt to appease Hitler. Today President Trump’s appeasement plan gives Russia permission to take Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk and other Ukrainian provinces in an attempt to appease Putin. Chamberlain’s appeasement led to WW II. Let’s hope Trump’s appeasement doesn’t lead to WW III.

Dennis Fendt, Oakdale

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