Former Twins pitcher LaTroy Hawkins, who retired following the 2015 season, is going to return to the club as a special assistant, according to club sources.
Hawkins was a special instructor during spring training earlier this year, and is expected to do the same in 2017. But the 21-year major league veteran will have other duties during the regular season.
A seventh-round pick in 1991, Hawkins spent the first nine years of his career with Twins, going 44-57 with a 5.05 ERA. He was much more successful as a reliever, amassing 127 saves as a closer and also was a reliable reliever. He ended up appearing in a whopping 1,024 games with 11 different teams, and was a great chemistry guy wherever he went.
Hawkins' had expressed an interest in joining the club in some capacity once his playing days ended. His chances appeared to take a hit when Terry Ryan was fired as General Manager during last season. But Hawkins has been able to connect with new Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine.
Falvey and Levine, on the job less than three weeks, are in the process of expanding the baseball operations department. They also have to find a new hitting coach, first base coach and settle on minor league staff. During a conference call with season tickets holders on Thursday, they acknowledged they have been in discussions with other clubs about trades, and are looking at free agents.
The offseason is heating up as the winter meetings, Dec. 5-8 in Washington, D.C., approach.
Sign up for our Twins newsletter to get all of the updates sent to you daily.
La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
