As Twins prepare for the season, they’re also readying for the move north

FORT MYERS, FLA. - It’s only three weeks now until the Twin Cities greets the annual migration of a sure sign of summer: Ballplayers.

More than 80 players, coaches and staff members of the Twins and Saints will move into houses, apartments or hotels — temporary but meaningful homes. And that means moving is on the mind of many of the players in Twins camp.

“It can be a lot. Guys with wives and kids, there are a lot of details to work out, especially if you’re new to the area,” said Kody Funderburk, a Saint or Twin for the past three seasons. “A lot of it falls on the wives.”

And other family members. Funderburk’s wife, Alicia, for instance, will leave Florida next week for their home in Connecticut, with a lot more travel ahead of her.

“Movers were really expensive, for some reason. So Alicia and my mother-in-law will pack everything up and drive it to Minneapolis,” Funderburk said. “I think she hired people to help get set up in Minneapolis, but I know it’s a chore.”

But at least the couple has already confirmed where they will live this year, close to their 2024 home in the North Loop neighborhood. Not everyone has done so, which is why there were so many conversations about leases, locations and luxuries in the Twins’ clubhouse this week.

“My wife and I are having a hard time finding a place,” third baseman Royce Lewis said. “We’re both looking, but we haven’t decided yet. We have a few common goals — we like to be outside a lot, and we want to be relatively close” to Target Field.

The Twins help players connect with real estate agents, and they arrange for cars and extra suitcases to be shipped north when the team opens its season in St. Louis on March 27. They recommend furniture rental businesses, movers and even day care providers.

“I try to be a resource,” said Mike Herman, the Twins’ senior director of team travel. “I learned not to try to steer guys to any certain part of town because guys have different needs. Some guys like to live downtown, some guys want to have a home in the suburbs with a backyard. There are more places to live downtown than there used to be, but there are a lot more guys to help get settled now, too, because of St. Paul,” the team’s Class AAA affiliate.

From 2003 to 2019, the Twins’ top minor league team was in Rochester, N.Y., which made settling in much more difficult for players who got called up or sent down during the season. When he was a Twin a decade ago, pitcher Tyler Duffey used to joke that he had gotten to know the flight attendants on Delta Air Lines’ Minneapolis-to-Rochester route.

“I’m so thankful they moved to St. Paul. Think about the Dodgers — their Triple-A [team] is in Oklahoma City!” Funderburk marveled. “I can’t imagine going back and forth a half-dozen times. Living out of a suitcase is a tough life.”

He knows from experience. Funderburk spent the last three months of the 2021 season at Class AA Wichita and didn’t rent an apartment. Instead, he stayed at a hotel, putting his belongings in storage each time the Wind Surge went on the road.

Not everyone considers moving a chore, though.

“It’s not difficult for me at all. It’s very exciting to move around, live in different places,” outfielder Harrison Bader said. “It’s all part of the major league experience. Honestly, I love every ounce of it.”

As a professional for a decade now, Bader said he’s learned to live a streamlined life.

“I’ve been around, so I know how to navigate all that,” Bader said. “I don’t need much. Maybe a couch, a bed, my baseball equipment.”

Almost as difficult as finding and occupying a new home is abandoning it after six months. For shorter terms, the problem may shift to the teams.

“When we picked up Sam Fuld from Oakland [in 2014], he had been renting a house in Walnut Creek, [Calif.,] for $5,000 a month. Under the old [collective bargaining agreement], we were responsible for that house,” Herman recalled. “The [landlord] wouldn’t let him out of the lease, so what am I supposed to do with a house in California? So I would watch the transactions, and every time the A’s got a new player, I would contact them and see if he wanted to live there.”

The landlord finally relented and allowed the Twins to cancel the final two months of Fuld’s lease, an agreement that went into effect on Aug. 1 — the day after the Twins traded Fuld back to Oakland.

Matt Wallner crushed his team-high fourth and fifth home runs of the spring on Friday and also doubled, driving home five of the Twins’ 13 runs in a 13-6 split-squad thrashing of the Rays at Hammond Stadium.

Byron Buxton also had two hits and two RBI as the Twins pounded former Twins righthander Zack Littell for six runs over two innings.

Chris Paddack gave up two runs over four innings, both of the runs driven in by another ex-Twin, catcher Ben Rortvedt, who hit a solo home run and laid down a squeeze bunt.

As for the other split squad, the Twins were shut out 10-0 in a loss to Baltimore in Sarasota. David Festa gave up six runs on seven hits and two walks in 3 ⅓ innings, giving up homers to Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser.

“Obviously, the results aren’t good right now,” said Festa, who owns an 11.91 ERA this spring and lamented how often he fell behind in counts Friday. “I’m frustrated, for sure. Obviously, I want to pitch better. There are some things I need to figure out.”

The Twins totaled only three hits, including two singles from Christian Vázquez.

Staff writer Bobby Nightengale contributed to this report.