ORLANDO — Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings have come and gone and on Wednesday, Twins officials packed up to leave the Florida sunshine for the Minnesota snow after what general manager Jeremy Zoll described as “a productive few days.”

The Twins landed the No. 3 pick in the 2026 draft — they had the second-best odds to end up with the first pick but could have slipped all the way to No. 8 in the lottery— made a selection in the Rule 5 draft and a subsequent trade, and laid down some groundwork as they try to retool their roster for next season.

“We felt really good to have the conversations we did and build on the initial conversations from the (general manager) meetings to now,” Zoll said. Added clarity gleaned this week, he added, would allow the Twins to “advance the ball in some conversations.”

When the offseason began, there were questions about the Twins’ plans to enhance their roster, and whether that would include retaining or trading star pitchers Pablo López and Joe Ryan, and all-star center fielder Byron Buxton. Team leaders said this week all three would remain on the team while Zoll and team president Derek Falvey add pieces to the roster.

The Twins had a chance Wednesday to add another potential reliever to the mix after clearing a roster spot by placing outfielder Carson McCusker on unconditional waivers (he is headed to Asia to continue his playing career). Instead, the team selected catcher Daniel Susac from the Athletics in the Rule 5.

Susac was promptly traded to the San Francisco Giants for 17-year-old catcher Miguel Carabello, who hit .264 with a .874 OPS in 41 games in the Dominican Summer League last year. They also received cash considerations in the trade.

“We looked at all the available guys, worked through some different options, had some really good conversations on how it might all fit together,” Zoll said. “As we evaluated different opportunities, the ability to make a trade here and acquire someone at the lower levels, (someone) that we think could really grow into something, felt like a more appealing opportunity as we tried to assess best ways to attack our 40 man and plan for building out the rest of the bullpen and the roster.”

Picking a reliever in the Rule 5 draft would have required the Twins to keep him on the active roster all season, something which inhibits flexibility. Instead, the Twins will use other avenues to build out their bullpen, a top priority after five relievers were shipped away at last season’s trade deadline.

“I think it was a productive few days for us,” said Zoll, who also mentioned the team’s desire to add “another bat or two with some thump” this offseason.

“There’s still a lot of feeling-out to be done. There’s still a lot of gauging of markets to try to understand when things may or not move,” Zoll said. He added that recent free-agent player movement — Kyle Schwarber staying Philadelphia, Pete Alonso’s move to Baltimore — “usually creates some trickle down impact on the market.”

GRAFTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia National Guard member who was fatally shot last month in the nation’s capital was laid to rest with full military honors in a private ceremony.

Spc. Sarah Beckstrom’s funeral took place Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a statement.

“The ceremony was deeply moving and reflected the strength, grace, and love of a remarkable young woman and the family and friends who surrounded her,” Morrisey said.

Related Articles

Botulism outbreak sickens more than 50 babies and expands to all ByHeart products

NASA loses contact with its Maven spacecraft orbiting Mars for the past decade

Trump says the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela

Foreigners allowed to travel to the US without a visa could soon face new social media screening

MacKenzie Scott has given $26B to nonprofits since 2019. Here’s what she supported in 2025

Beckstrom graduated with honors from Webster County High School in 2023 and joined the National Guard several weeks later. She served in the 863rd Military Police Company.

Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House on Nov. 26. She died the next day.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty.

Morrisey has said Wolfe, who remains in a hospital in Washington, is slowly healing and his family expects he will be in acute care for another few weeks.

The St. Paul City Council plans to ask the state board that sets standards for officers and licenses them to “conduct a thorough investigation” of officers’ use of force during a recent federal immigration operation.

A resolution to be introduced at the council’s Wednesday afternoon meeting also says the council will conduct an analysis, including a public discussion, of the city’s ordinance adopted in 2004 “that establishes a clear line of separation between the actions of local law enforcement and those of federal immigration authorities.”

Finally, the council will direct the city’s Office of Financial Services to audit all St. Paul police costs for personnel, equipment and supplies during the Nov. 25 ICE action in Payne-Phalen, says the resolution, which is subject to change at the council meeting.

Community members: Officers used force on people protesting, observing

The council action is happening because community members reported they witnessed St. Paul officers “using force on residents who were exercising their First Amendment rights to observe and protest an action undertaken by federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”),” the resolution says.

On the morning of Nov. 25, federal deportation officers were conducting an operation in St. Paul to arrest an undocumented person who’d previously been removed from the United States and who had re-entered unlawfully, according to a probable cause statement signed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer and filed with a criminal complaint in federal court.

ICE ultimately arrested two men in the 600 block of East Rose Avenue. One is charged in federal court with assaulting and impeding a federal officer by allegedly striking the officer’s vehicle with his own, and improper entry to the U.S. He has entered a plea of not guilty.

The St. Paul Police Department has said in a statement that they were called to assist when “the federal perimeter was broken by protesters. The street was compromised with foot and vehicle traffic, and a dangerous situation was unfolding.”

Police Chief Axel Henry said “reports came out that people were starting to arm themselves with rocks and sticks. … I asked additional officers to come to the scene to make the scene safe for both those who were there to protest those events and for the agents themselves.”

Plan to ask POST Board for investigation

Communities United Against Police Brutality says St. Paul officers violated department policies on police interactions during First Amendment-protected activities, to include protests, including by spraying people in the face with pepper spray when they were not violating the law and shooting pepper ball and other munitions “indiscriminately into the crowd.”

The city council resolution says they will work with the Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training “to conduct a thorough investigation into SPPD’s use of force.”

The POST Board’s website says they are “limited to addressing officer behavior that violates the standards of conduct for peace officers outlined” in Minnesota rules.

Police Chief Henry has said the department is conducting “a full review of the department’s response,” which includes “viewing hundreds of hours of body camera footage, as well as footage being shared by community members.”

Council plans analysis of separation ordinance

The council resolution says the events of Nov. 25 “have created public doubt surrounding the integrity of the city’s separation ordinance and the conduct of SPPD officers.”

That’s prompting the council to say it will conduct an analysis of the city’s separation ordinance “and other legal limitations on city law enforcement as well as on the operations of federal immigration enforcement officers acting within the city of St. Paul.”

The council plans to vote on the resolution Wednesday afternoon. The actions in the resolution will “be initiated immediately following its adoption,” the resolution says.

Related Articles

Snowplow fatally strikes worker in MSP catering company parking lot

Former St. Paul fire station, part of ‘community for generations,’ reopens on West 7th Street

‘They had just gone out for a bit,’ daughter of New Brighton couple killed by drunk driver says at his sentencing

Community group: St. Paul police use of force against protesters violated policy

New Oakdale group home will support youth impacted by sexual exploitation, human trafficking

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra announced a balanced budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 at its annual meeting of members on Tuesday. It marks the orchestra’s 30th balanced budget out of the past 32 years.

The group made a dip into its Rainy Day Fund to achieve the goal. The SPCO created the fund in 2018 as a proactive measure and is currently in the first of a multi-year plan to grow revenues, reduce expenses and cut back on the draw on the fund.

Total operating revenue for the period was $9,688,153, an increase of 7.7 percent over the previous season. Of that total operating revenue, contributed revenue accounted for 58 percent, earned revenue from ticket sales accounted for 19.7 percent and the endowment contributed 22.3 percent. The endowment grew 18.3 percent over the prior year, including contributions and market performance.

The orchestra’s concert membership program saw an increase of 29 percent, while attendance matched that of the previous fiscal year, totaling 68,476 attendees during the 2024-25 season.

“It’s been wonderful to come into an organization with such a strong history of artistic excellence, financial discipline and care for the community,” said president and managing director Jessica Mallow Gulley, who assumed the position in October following her predecessor Jon Limbacher’s retirement. “I applaud all of the excellent work that took place this last year, and previous years, and am looking forward to how we will be able to build off of the strong foundation that the organization has built.”

Related Articles

Headliners announced for third annual Minnesota Yacht Club Festival

Rod Stewart to play the Grandstand in what’s likely his final local concert

Raul Malo, the soulful tenor and frontman of The Mavericks, has died at age 60

Goo Goo Dolls, Toto/Christopher Cross and Avenged Sevenfold to play Shakopee amphitheater

Minnesota’s first Farm Aid raised more than $1.3 million for farmers

Other highlights from the annual meeting include:

Artistic partners: The season featured four returning SPCO artistic partners. Across 22 concerts, the orchestra collaborated with British Baroque specialist Richard Egarr, South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, Hungarian conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy and German violist Tabea Zimmermann.

New works: The SPCO commissioned 12 new works across nine concert programs, including 11 premieres. The orchestra’s Sandbox Composer Residency, first established in the 2022-23 season, aims to support the creation of new music in a long-term, collaborative relationship with composers. Valerie Coleman was the 2024-25 season’s composer-in-residence and, in May, the orchestra premiered her new work written in commemoration of the anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

Digital library: The free digital concert library received 50,874 visits from Minnesota and 136,946 visits worldwide. The library currently hosts 13 video and 44 audio recordings of complete SPCO concerts.

Affordable tickets: Twenty years after the SPCO committed to lower ticket prices, the 2024-25 season saw 29 percent of tickets (19,961) sold for $16 or less. Additionally, 11,132 tickets, 16 percent of the total audience, were distributed free of charge, of which almost 64% went to children and students.