English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Minneapolis, MN

As the Twins continue to attempt to process what went wrong during a stunning collapse that left them sitting at home for this year's postseason, we can begin to look ahead to 2025. Four assistant coaches and GM Thad Levine are already gone. The roster will also look different, even if ownership's self-imposed payroll restrictions make it unlikely that the Twins add any big names this offseason.

One place to start is to look at five players who have probably appeared in a Minnesota uniform for the final time, starting with one of the franchise's longest-tenured players.

Max Kepler (FA)

Originally part of the Twins' 2009 international signing class that also included Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sano, Kepler's 15-year run with the organization has almost certainly come to an end. He made his MLB debut in September 2015, a few months after Byron Buxton, the Twins' longest-tenured player at the big-league level. He's played in 1,072 regular season games for Minnesota, and his 161 home runs are 13th on the franchise leaderboard.

But Kepler, who never made an All-Star team, struggled to sustain success at the plate during his decade-long Twins tenure. He had an outstanding 2019, hitting 36 home runs, and was also quite good in 2023, which led the team to exercise its $10 million club option for this season. But outside of those two years, Kepler's OPS+ was in the 90s (100 is the league average) in the other six seasons where he played at least 100 games, including a career-low 91 this year. Now a free agent, he'll sign a prove-it deal elsewhere as the Twins move forward with guys like Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, and Emmanuel Rodriguez in their corner outfield plans.

Carlos Santana (FA)

Santana was everything the Twins hoped he would be when they signed him to a one-year deal last offseason. He led the team in home runs (23) and RBI (71) while playing Gold Glove-level defense at first base. But Santana is also a free agent who turns 39 next April and seems unlikely to be back for a second season in Minnesota. The Twins could use Jose Miranda at first base or look elsewhere at that position.

Manuel Margot (mutual option)

No hitter summed up the Twins' offseason futility more than Margot, who had a nightmarish season after being acquired via trade in February. He posted a dreadful .626 OPS in 129 games and went a shocking 0-for-30 in 35 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter, the most hitless at-bats in those situations anyone has ever had in a season. The Twins will not hesitate for a second to decline his $12 million option.

Kyle Farmer (mutual option)

The Twins will also undoubtedly decline their half of a $6.25 million option for Farmer in 2025, as he was one of several hitters who offered very little this past season. Farmer had a solid 2023 for the Twins, who then brought him back in free agency, but he hit just .214 with a .647 OPS this year. A strong late-season push won't be enough to keep him in Minnesota's future.

Caleb Thielbar (FA)

Thielbar fell off in a massive way this season after being a reliable piece of the Twins' bullpen for the last few years. The Northfield, MN native had a 3.21 ERA between 2020-23, but he had a 5.32 ERA and nearly a 1.6 WHIP in a horrific 2024. Thielbar, who originally pitched for the Twins from 2013-15 before being out of the big leagues for a while, may look to get another opportunity elsewhere. He turns 38 in January.

3 others who could be gone

— Christian Vazquez: The Twins’ worst hitter this year and one of the least productive regulars in all of baseball, Vazquez is owed $10 million in the final year of his contract. Minnesota would have to eat a big chunk of that money to move him in a trade. — Alex Kirilloff: A former top prospect who simply hasn’t been able to stay healthy at all. He’s one of many Twins players who will be subject to the arbitration process. — Chris Paddack: Made 17 subpar starts for the Twins this season after being hurt for all of 2023. Owed $7.5 million this year, he’s in a similar boat as Vazquez as a trade candidate without much value.

MINNEAPOLIS — There are roughly 100,000 lead pipes that bring water into Minnesota homes, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

Now, there is a statewide effort to replace every single one.

On Thursday, contract workers replaced pipes, known as service lines, that bring water into the homes of Minneapolis' Midtown Phillips neighborhood.

The reason: Those pipes are made of lead.

"Some of them date back to the 1890s," said John Howes, senior professional engineer for Minneapolis Waterworks.

The toxic metal is known to cause all sorts of serious health problems, like brain damage and even death.

This year, the city of Minneapolis is replacing about 300 lead service lines. In total, there are roughly 39,000 service lines across the city containing lead.

The plan is to replace all of those pipes within 10 years, Howes said.

Right now, the city of Minneapolis is prioritizing lead pipe replacement in older, more marginalized neighborhoods of north and south Minneapolis.

Work is done at no cost to residents, thanks to a combination of state and federal funds totaling just over $500 million over five years.

However, the entire project is expected to cost double that at roughly $1 billion. A spokesperson for the health department said there needs to be additional state and federal support to pay for the entirety of the project across the state.

"It's a federal initiative to get the lead out across the country," said Howes.

In Minneapolis, Howes said lead pipes are not an immediate health issue, at least in Minneapolis, thanks to an additive which helps prevent lead from getting into the water.

"We add orthophosphate to the water, which is a corrosion inhibitor," said Howes.

Peter Melling said he had no idea he had lead pipe leading to his Midtown Phillips home. Through the project, Melling recently had his line replaced with copper pipe.

"Surprised a little bit, but also not surprised. There's lead everywhere in the older city neighborhoods," said Melling.

One thousand more pipes will get replaced next year in Minneapolis, with work just getting started, Howes said.

"I'm glad they're doing it. I'm glad they were able to get the funding to do it, and I'm glad that a lot of my neighbors are getting it done," said Melling.

Water providers around the state will select homes to start work, so there isn't a process for signing up.

You can see if you have a lead service line here.

Minneapolis and St. Paul keep track of lead service lines, as well.

Making the most of a summer-like fall weather

It was the warmest and driest September ever recorded in Minnesota, and the mild fall weather has created plenty of ways to spend some free time outside.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - It was a warm, dry September in Minnesota, marking the first September the Twin Cities has seen the average temperature eclipse the 70-degree mark.

Fall trending warmer, drier

Warm, dry September in Twin Cities

It was a warm and dry September in the Twin Cities. This comes as fall months are trending warmer and drier for the region. FOX 9's Cody Matz explains.

September 2024 is the second consecutive September the Twin Cities has experienced the warmest on record as the fall months continue to trend warmer and drier over the past few decades.

That rings true this year for rainfall as well. The Twin Cities has seen less than a tenth of an inch of rain over the last 30 days, which is also a record.

Looking at the Upper Midwest, much of the region was well below average, with several climate districts from northeast Nebraska through central Minnesota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan experiencing the driest September on record.

Most of the Upper Midwest climate districts were in the top 10 driest, dating back to the late 1800s.

Warm spell in Minnesota in September

READ MORE: Minnesota weather: A very warm and dry September

September started a little cool in Minnesota, but a warm air mass took over by Sept. 9 or Sept. 10. This led to high temperatures in the 80s on most days for much of Minnesota for much of the rest of the month, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Climate Journal published on Sept. 24.

Between Sept. 9 and Sept. 21, almost all reporting weather stations recorded at least six days with a high temperature of at least 80 degrees. The highest temperature recorded during that time was 92 degrees in Granite Falls, with only a few other communities in southwestern Minnesota hitting 90 degrees, the Climate Journal notes.

"The air temperatures during this warm spell would have been above normal in the middle of July in most areas. And though these temperatures are not the highest of 2024, the large departures from normal over a relatively long period make this the largest warm spell since June 1," the Climate Journal said.

That put September on track to be among the warmest on record for Minnesota.

The sun fired off another massive solar flare early Thursday morning, further increasing the chances of seeing the northern lights.

William Bornhoft, Patch Staff

MINNESOTA — The sun fired off another massive solar flare early Thursday morning, further increasing the chances of seeing the colorful northern lights in Minnesota on Thursday, Friday, and into the weekend.

Thursday’s strong X9.0 solar flare, the strongest of the current solar cycle, followed Tuesday’s X7.1 solar flare, increasing the chances the aurora borealis could dip far into the nation’s midsection, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

Minnesota weather conditions look favorable for aurora chasers.

Find out what's happening in Minneapoliswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The chances of seeing northern lights generally increase around the fall equinox, when the sun produces a surplus of geomagnetic storms — almost twice the annual average — but this fall and the coming year should be especially spectacular as Solar Cycle 25 reaches its peak, which NOAA predicts will occur from November through March 2026.

The ethereal curtains of pink, purple, green and yellow light have been seen in multiple U.S. locations over the past several months. The Space Weather Prediction Center’s aurora dashboard is a good site to bookmark for aurora chasers. In general, the best times to see the northern lights are within an hour or two of midnight.

Geomagnetic storms start with the explosions, or solar flares, of superheated gasses that can be as powerful as a billion hydrogen bombs.

When this happens, the electron- and proton-charged magnetic particles hurtling toward our planet in a coronal mass ejection, or CME, can temporarily disrupt Earth’s magnetic fields, sending the oval aurora south of its Arctic home, but also potentially disrupting satellite systems and GPS and radio communications.

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Country club revenue has soared in the wake of the pandemic, along with dues and membership costs.

But a Business Journals analysis of IRS forms for nonprofit country clubs shows assets have also been rising at Minnesota's clubs as well.

That includes Edina's Interlachen Country Club, which reported the largest asset base of the 23 Minnesota clubs in the analysis. Interlachen reported $38.6 million in assets in 2022, the latest year available, up 25% from the $30.9 million it reported in 2020. During that time frame, the club completed a $9.5 million clubhouse renovation.

In total, the median asset size for Minnesota clubs analyzed grew from $2.2 million to $2.6 million in the same time period, a 20% increase, though still behind the national average of $4.22 million. And the combined amount of assets held by Minnesota clubs rose to $158.8 million in 2022, up from $128.8 million in 2020.

While experts say asset value isn’t always an exact indicator of club wealth or health, and that clubs often value or depreciate assets differently, industry analysts agree that, in good times, club assets should go up as clubs reinvest in themselves to attract more members and satisfy the ones they have.

That has been the case for Interlachen, which just reopened after a years-long $30 million development project that touched every part of the club.

View Slideshow 18 photos

Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minnesota.

After Interlachen, Edina Country Club recorded the second-highest asset total at $21.3 million, up from $16.2 million in 2020.

Three Carpenter, the general manager at Edina Country Club, said a $5 million renovation to the club's dining hall during that time period drove that growth. Assets have continued to rise since 2022, and the club is always thinking of ways to reinvest in itself, he added.

"The club has worked hard to be able to put money back into the club each year," Carpenter said.

Rochester Golf and Country Club ($18.5 million), Wayzata Country Club ($18.3 million) and Oak Ridge Country Club ($13.8 million) round out the top five.

Rollie Carlson, managing director for the Upper Midwest Chapter of the Club Management Association of America, said the asset growth being experienced at the state's country clubs is a positive.

"When assets grow, it means clubs are either adding new things, or updating the current property," he said. "Capital planning and proper deployment of capital has a strong impact on improved assets."

Wayzata Country Club saw its assets increase from $12.2 million to $18.5 from 2020 to 2022. Then in 2023, it announced a $15 million golf course renovation project.

Other recent examples of capital investment at local club's include Windsong Farm Golf Club in Wayzata, which is building a second course, Eden Prairie's Bearpath Golf and Country Club, which is undergoing a $7 million golf course renovation, and The Club at Golden Valley investing $4 million in multiple parts of the club. Since these clubs are not nonprofits, their asset sizes are not publicly available.

RELATED: How much does that country club cost in 2024?

Times were different for country clubs before the pandemic. At the median level, the asset base among clubs nationally fell from $4.12 million in 2018 to $3.93 million in 2019. In 2020, as the pandemic took hold, that number dropped further, to $3.71 million.

Assets bounced back in 2021 and 2022, however, as a surge in golf enthusiasm and a reinvigorated interest in private clubs packed waitlists and sent membership dues and initiation fees soaring. Median club assets rose to $3.92 million in 2021 and then rose again, to $4.22 million, in 2022.

Among all clubs in the dataset, totals assets stood at $6.68 billion in 2019. That number more than doubled by 2022, to $14.41 billion.

Not all of that is club growth. Some older clubs closed during the measured period, while newer, more capitalized clubs opened — Michael Jordan’s new club, The Grove XXIII, among them. At other clubs, some of their value is baked into their land, often hundreds of acres of property near populated centers.

But as club operators use a once-in-a-generation renewed interest in golf and a rush to join country clubs as a chance to raise initiation fees and dues, they have an opportunity reinvest that money back into their clubs. That raises a club's value — and assets — and allows the club to create a solid financial cycle.

“If you are charging high joining fees and are charging substantial dues, it almost necessitates that, 'Here is a correlation to the balance sheet,'” said Kevin Kenny, a shareholder specializing in real estate development, private clubs and hospitality at law firm Gunster. “That there is a high-value asset means you are getting back what you are putting in in return.”

Higher assets can be beneficial if the club is looking to lenders for financing, Kenny said. After the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, banks did not want to lend to country clubs. Lenders today may look where they weren’t looking before.

Country clubs for years put off having assessments done on their liabilities and assets. Now that many clubs can afford those repairs and investments, they're changing that approach — and that is paying off in higher recorded assets, Kenny said.

“A number of clubs needed to do assessments but weren’t willing to because they didn’t want to run off their members,” Kenny said. “I think that some of that mindset has changed.”

SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Country Clubs

Chris Davis, a director at Club Benchmarking, which offers country club data and club assessments and improvement plans, said while not all clubs count assets the same way, it generally stands that good times bring higher assets as clubs reinvest in themselves. That includes not just new amenities, but also the kind of classic maintenance that is all-too-easy to set aside during hard times: irrigation systems, parking lots and other often-invisible systems that keep clubs operating well and at high levels of performance.

All too often, clubs do not have a schedule for needed capital maintenance. That means the club does not set aside money to both maintain and improve upon what it has.

“It’s very widespread,” Davis said. “Roughly 75% of the industry does not have a proper forward-looking capital plan.”

Club Benchmarking data shows that a club at the 50th percentile among clubs (based on a dataset of more than 300 clubs) would have seen assets grow about 27% from 2019 to 2023.

Davis measures the health of a country club by taking the capital available for improvements minus the depreciation. If it's positive, that's viewed as a sign the club is doing the right things.

Net worth over time also should be growing by what Davis recommends to be about 3.6%. The median club saw net worth grow 3.1% over the last year.

Ultimately, investing in a club drives up assets, but there's also a matter of fairness at play, Davis said. Members should be putting money into the club to maintain it for both themselves and for future members — not to run out the clock.

"There are members that say they support the club, but they want to spend as little as possible until they leave the club in one form or another," Davis said. "And it will deteriorate."

He stressed it is the same situation with so-called “zombie” debt, which is loan debt that cannot be traced back to its original expense. While it is sometimes appropriate to borrow money to build a new asset, that loan should be paid off before additional loans are taken out. Often, clubs simply roll over old debt into new debt over and over again.

“The issue is that you are passing the obligation onto the next generation of members, and you are paying a penalty on that,” Davis said. “And you can’t even identify what the loan is for.”

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