Every Major League road trip either Ned Colletti, Kim Ng or myself accompany the team. Last week it was my turn as I made the trip to Minneapolis for our three-game series with the Twins. I looked forward to this trip for selfish reasons, as I pitched for the Twins 1986-1990 and made many friends as well as meeting my wife Mary Jo, who is from Richfield, Mn.

The most important job on a Major League trip is to keep Ned informed as much as possible on anything that is affecting the club. The first thing I try to do is to make contact with the opposing GM to let him know that I am with the team. Twins GM Terry Ryan and I go back a long ways to when I was a Twin and he was the team’s scouting director, so our conversation was very easy and to the point. We went over both our clubs, our needs and who was available for trade. Terry is one of the best GMs in the business, yet you might not find a more modest or more accommodating man in the industry. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and the organization he has built.

I also took the time to speak with Twins manager and my ex-teammate, Ron Gardenhire. Before batting practice I will check in with Grady to see how things are with him and to discuss any issues concerning the team. Sometimes the conversation may last only a few minutes depending on how things are going.

Being on the road also gives me more time to get feedback from our coaches about the young players that we’re transitioning into the big leagues.

On this particular trip, we consummated the deal with Tampa Bay where we acquired Mark Hendrickson and Toby Hall for Dionner Navarro and Jae Seo. On the morning that Grady and I received word from Ned that the trade was official, we both went to Jae’s hotel room to give him the news. Sometimes this can be very shocking to a player. However, Jae took the news well and we wished him the best.

I then spoke to Director of Public Relations Josh Rawitch to let him know that Jae had been informed. He then let us know when the trade will be announced publicly. The next call is to Mitch Poole, our clubhouse manager, to let him know that the trade is official and when he can expect the new players to report. Also, we make sure to speak with Team Travel Manager Scott Akasaki so that all arrangements can be made to get the players from both teams to the cities where they will be playing.

After each game, I check with our trainer Stan Johnston as to how the team came out of the game, health wise. I will then check with Grady to make sure everything is ok on his end before calling Ned to get him up to date.                      

Unfortunately, this did not turn out to be one of the club’s better road trips as we walked headlong into an extremely hot Twins team.