For the last game of the 2019 regular season, with the American League Central title well in tow, Rocco Baldelli handed over the managerial reins to utilityman Ehire Adrianza for the day. After he was done playing, Adrianza said at the time he would like to stick in the game in some capacity.

“Maybe coach, maybe front office guy,” Adrianza said back in September 2019. “Something like that.”

After a finishing a career that spanned parts of 12 major league seasons, Adrianza retired after the 2024 season. He found a new home back with the Twins this offseason, taking a job as an assistant, player development.

Adrianza, who played four seasons in Minnesota, joins a player development department that will be headed for the third year by Drew MacPhail. Frankie Padulo will be the organization’s assistant director of player development, Brian Maloney the director of minor league and high performance operations and Tommy Bergjans the director of minor league pitching development.

Kevin Morgan will be the Twins’ field coordinator once more with Edgar Varela, who was once the major league hitting coach, serving as the coordinator of instruction.

Nat Ballenberg will be the Twins’ pitching coordinator, working alongside assistant pitching coordinator Bobby Hearn. Bryce Berg will be the team’s hitting coordinator and Ryan Smith the Twins’ assistant hitting coordinator. Tucker Frawley will coordinate the catchers and Mike Quade the outfielders.

For the fifth straight year, Toby Gardenhire will manage the Triple-A Saints. He will be joined by pitching coaches Carlos Hernandez and Jonas Lovin and hitting coaches Shawn Schlecter, a Burnsville native, and Danny Marcuzzo, who will be a hitting and development coach.

— Betsy Helfand

Young collector nabs rare Skenes card

An 11-year-old collector in Los Angeles has scooped up a one-of-a-kind baseball card featuring National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.

Topps announced that the card, which features the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher’s autograph and a patch from a game-worn jersey, had been found.

The collector could get a massive haul if willing to trade it to the Pirates, who have put together a package that includes 30 years’ worth of season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park in exchange for the card.

The card could hold pretty high value elsewhere considering the potentially bright future ahead for the 22-year-old Skenes.

Skiing

Lakeville’s Moltzan takes podium at World Cup

Lakeville native Paula Moltzan had never finished on the podium of a giant slalom at a World Cup event. That trend looked unlikely to reverse itself Tuesday in Italy. Moltzan was in 10th place.

But Moltzan threw down the second-fastest second-run time Tuesday. That, paired with a few falls from racers in front of her in the standings, lifted the 30 year old to a bronze medal.

“I just wanted to give it my all and see what would happen,” Moltzan said. “I think sitting in 10th after first run, well it’s a tough place to move up from. And so when I had the green light at the end, I was like, I’m going to move up a couple.”

It was a similar story for Alice Robinson of New Zealand, whose electric second run lifted her to the title after two of the biggest stars failed to finish.

With overall leader Federica Brignone and Olympic champion Sara Hector out of the running, there was a new face on the top step of the GS podium for the first time this season after Robinson finished 0.56 seconds ahead of Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami and 0.94 ahead of Moltzan.

Hector, who led the discipline standings, left third to last and lost her balance near the top, crashing straight into a gate and sliding into the side-netting. The Swedish skier let out a yell of annoyance but was on her feet quickly.

There were even bigger gasps of shock when first-run leader Brignone skied out at almost the same point.

Moltzan is now seventh in the GS standings and 14th overall, making her the top American in each respect.

Professional athletes

Unclear whether 4 men linked to athlete thefts

Four men from Chile were indicted in what the Ohio attorney general called a string of burglaries at multimillion-dollar homes, but he declined to say whether professional athletes were the targets.

The four were arrested earlier this month in Ohio after being found in an SUV along with an LSU shirt and a Cincinnati Bengals hat. Both were believed to be stolen from a house near Cincinnati on Dec. 9, according to an affidavit.

The burglary in December came on the same day Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow’s home was broken into while he and the Bengals were playing in Dallas. Court documents don’t directly say whether the four men were linked to that break-in or list the address of Burrow, who played in college at LSU.

The documents also don’t state whether the men are connected to a string of burglaries at the homes of prominent NFL, NHL and NBA players, including Minnesota’s Mike Conley Jr.

Briefly

NBA >> Victor Wembanyama presented two new outdoor courts to his hometown of Le Chesnay, about 12 miles west of Paris, while in town for Paris games against the Pacers.

Olympics >> The U.S. Center for SafeSport will add a morals clause to its code of conduct, and the CEO will start interviewing job candidates herself in the wake of the arrest of a former investigator who was charged with rape and other sex crimes.

College football >> Ohio State was No. 1 in the final Associated Press Top 25 college football poll of the season after beating Notre Dame for its first national championship since 2014.

— From news services