Twins personnel comment on Wes’s departure and what he meant to them

The Athletic story

Carlos Correa
“He told me that he had a great opportunity for himself and his family at LSU,” Correa said. “It’s mixed feelings. I love the guy. … You’re sad, but at the same time, you’re happy that he has such a great opportunity to coach at one of the best college programs in baseball. He deserves it.”

Chris Archer
“(Johnson) definitely has a way of getting you to believe in yourself, even when times are tough,” Archer said. “The last couple years for me from a baseball standpoint, physically especially, have been tough. He really helped re-instill confidence in me every day. …

“He’s been very transparent about his priorities the three months I’ve known him. So yeah, I respect it because if he went against his priorities, it would be going against what makes him happy and his word. I trust Wes. It sucks because I want him around. But I’m also happy for him because he’s doing what’s best for him and his family.”


Emilio Pagan on team meeting with Wes after the news broke:

“It was typical Wes,” reliever Emilio Pagán said. “He was high energy, ‘Let’s go get this series.’ All business. I think there’s some emotions there he was trying to hide obviously. There’s emotions on our end we’re probably hiding, obviously. As happy as I am to see him go, I’m going to be sad, too. Anytime there’s change, there’s mixed emotions. But it’d be selfish of us to be upset.”


Sonny Gray
“If you know me at all, letting people in and getting into relationships in that respect, I put my guard up a lot,” Gray said. “Wes is someone who was in. I was mad at him a lot today. I was happy for him a lot today. I used every emotion and everything that kind of was going through and kind of used it to pour it into the game. But overall I’m happy for him if this is what he wants and this is something that is going to be best for him and his family moving forward. I hope nothing but the best for him. I’m going to miss him. I’m going to miss him a lot.”