Pared-down TwinsFest gets a new splash with meet-the-players party

The Twins highlighted their new players and new uniforms this weekend. But TwinsFest itself may have been the newest enterprise on display.

After two years of COVID-19 cancellations, the winter event returned in a stripped-down form, with the Target Field festival limited to just one day rather than three, but a new meet-the-players party added away from the park.

The response?

"Very positive, both from our players and fans," Twins President Dave St. Peter said. "We didn't know what to expect, but I'd say we learned a lot. It's highly likely that this format will repeat again next year."

Saturday's event, which included the usual merchandise vendors, autograph sessions and behind-the-scenes tours, sold out its 6,500-7,000 ticket limit, St. Peter said, raising roughly $150,000 for the team's charity fund. And the team sold roughly 1,000 tickets to the new "TwinsFest Live!" celebration Friday night at the Fillmore, a music venue where the players mingled with fans, served as bartenders, played a "Family Feud"-style game and listened to a rock cover band.

"It's just been amazing to be able to spend time with Twins fans as a person. They know me as a player but they don't know me as a person," shortstop Carlos Correa said. "So to be able to be with them, talk to them, it means a lot to me. Just walking around and getting all the love, it just feels right."

One thing Correa would like to change about the weekend: Being on the losing team of current players in the quiz game, which was won by a team of Twins alumni.

"I hate to lose. I feel like some of our answers were really good," Correa groused. "I still haven't gotten over that one."

The Twins hope he'll get another chance next January, because the Fillmore event attracted a different demographic from the team's usual events.

"We really liked what Friday night brought — different energy, different audience, different vibe. The players really enjoyed it, and our fans seemed to love getting to actually interact with the players," St. Peter said. "It was a younger slice of Twins fans. It wasn't your grandfather's TwinsFest, put it that way."

Pablo Lopez met as many fans as he could this weekend, too, and the righthander said he felt warmly accepted by his new team and teammates. But Luis Arraez, sent to Miami in the trade that brought Lopez to Minnesota, was on people's minds as well.

Correa and Jorge Polanco said their former teammate had experienced conflicting emotions about leaving the only organization he's ever played for, and they have tried counseling him.

"I've talked to Luis every single day since the trade. I just want him to understand how this business works, that it has nothing to do with him," Correa said. "I want him to have a clear mind going to a different team. You build relationships, you build friendships, you learn a lot about yourself going to a different team. So I just walked him through that."

Added Polanco: "We're trying to get him pumped up. We love him. He loves us back. But this is baseball. We want to help him to go there and play for his new team."

Said Twins Chairman Joe Pohlad to a fan lamenting the lack of a baby-blue jersey among the Twins' new look: "The simple answer is, I know people have a passion for powder blues. What makes powder blues special is when you bring them back. You take them away, and then bring them back.

"I felt that if you had them consistently, they would lose their luster. So there might be an opportunity to bring them back in the future on a one-off basis. I don't know when that is, but I see it as a possibility."