Reusse thinks it's all about the money.

[Platoon]

My dad had an answer to many issues involving anything from politics to education to religion. When questioned on why something had happened he often said: "It's all about da money".

 

Reusse seems to have the same opinion on the change at One Twins Way. That it was all about da money! If nothing else it would follow one long time belief about the Pohlad family. They're all about da money! I for one, have often accused them of being only interested in the P&L, not in the products success. And while I have recently thought it could have been a conflict between Pohlad and Ryan over actual team construction, that always begged this question. When exactly did JP develop an interest in evaluating baseball players.

 

I forward this column for our enjoyment, not for another endless series of posts on Reusses ability to have an opinion.

 

http://www.startribune.com/firing-gm-terry-ryan-was-purely-a-business-decision-for-twins/387547431/

[Lonestar]

I wonder how that will translate to eating salaries on trades.

[Ncgo4]

The Pohlad family consider the Twins an investment. A very, very good investment. They spent $44 million to buy the club and another $240 million (or so) on Target Field. The latest estimate is that the club is worth about $900 million. A good investment, indeed!

 

The value of the club will continue to rise no matter what the product looks like. However, even as the value goes up, I expect the Pohlad family is not prepared to face a major negative cash flow situation which could happen of ticket sales fall significantly.

 

In a very odd trade off, an improvement in the second half on field result will throw away any chance of a top 3 or 4 draft pick. At the same time if it results in a major increase in team cash flow (from attendance) it may very well enable the team to make the investments necessary to upgrade the in field talent in the short term.

[Teflon]

The true return on investment on the purchase of a sports franchise is not in the yearly income the team can generate but in the astronomical apprececiation of the franchise's price tag. It's  impossible these days to sell a major sports team for a loss and the ROI after five or six years is typically a triple digit perentage. Time for this totally lacluster ownership group to reap their bonanza. 

[alarp33]

I've been confidently saying for over a month Ryan can't survive this season because of the declining ticket sales.  Come September there might be 7,000 people in the seats.  

 

I agree with Reusse's (educated?) opinion - Rob Antony is not getting this job.  Jim Pohlad may seem more incompetent every time he opens his mouth, but they are still businessmen.  Hiring Antony would bring out the pitchforks, a team in their position can't afford.  

 

Everyone worried about Antony being the man should take a deep sigh of relief.  

[Vanimal46]

Whether firing TR was for financial or pure baseball reasons, either way I'm glad they did it. This offseason is going to be rough for season ticket sales reps. I wouldn't blame anyone for not re-upping their season tickets until things turn around with the team. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

The only bright side is that rough season ticket sales may force ownership to step aside and let the baseball guys make baseball decisions... Mr. Pohlad may not like eating salary on bad signings, but at some point, he may finally recognize that this is his way out of that mess.

[mazeville]

Of course it's about the money. Why would it not be?

 

Looking at the column, it's about "the money" in the exact right way: Pohlad sees the decline in ticket sales. He hears comments from Dave St. Peter about the difficulty the team is having with season ticket renewals. And he decided that the fans wanted to see change at the top. 

 

If this was "about the money" in the sense that TR wanted to spend money and Pohlad did not, then that would be an issue. And I'm not saying that wasn't an issue -- though I doubt it, given that TR has long seemed uncomfortable with the idea of running a team with resources to sign free agents.

 

The Twins as a business are losing customers in a highly competitive market. Any owner with common sense can see you need to make a change to bring customers back. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

I don't get the conspiracy theories flying over Ryan's departure. How many times did we hear Ryan say "The Pohlads are not restricting payroll?" Half a dozen?

 

For now, I'm just going to take the man at his word. Sure, he may have been lying (for what reason, I don't know) but until evidence appears to the contrary, I'm sticking with the most plausible answer.

 

Was this decision correlated to money? Sure, as most decisions are in business... A bad baseball team draws less revenue than a good baseball team. Terry Ryan built a bad baseball team. I don't see a need to look further than that.

[Mike Sixel]

I agree with Reusse.....but money comes from winning, so it was about winning, really.....

[alskntwnsfn]

I agree with Reusse. There may have been some difference of opinions over how to fix this mess, but the main driver behind TR's firing was plain 'ol customer (dis)satisfaction. Gotta find some way to give your fans hope and keep them engaged, and this was the last lever available. 

[Major League Ready]

 

I agree with Reusse.....but money comes from winning, so it was about winning, really.....

I am with you, Mike.  Of course it's about money but how do you generate more revenue?  Put a much better team on the field.  Geez!   Reusse did not put much thought into that article.

[Monkeypaws]

They should eat the bad salaries - there are so many tax loopholes out there, I'm sure they could find a way to write it off. Give the new GM a clean slate, manager aside.

[Dr. Evil]

I'm glad about the change and hopefully more change to come. Having said that, I do not believe that Terry Ryan was given free reign to spend to his hearts content. For years he was a company guy and said, "I have never been turned down by ownership for money to spend on a player." Well that may be, I don't think for a single moment that Pohlads didn't have an implied spending limit. Yet Terry always stood up and took the heat for not landing prized free agents.

 

Am I glad for this change, yes. But, I do admire Terry Ryan for being a company guy.

 

Most of the heat should fall on the Pohlads for this mess. They need to make real change and bold moves to make me a believer that they truly want a world series contender. Right now I feel like this change is just because of sagging ticket sales. MONEY as Ruesse says.

[Major League Ready]

 

They should eat the bad salaries - there are so many tax loopholes out there, I'm sure they could find a way to write it off. Give the new GM a clean slate, manager aside.

 

They should eat the bad salaries - there are so many tax loopholes out there, I'm sure they could find a way to write it off. Give the new GM a clean slate, manager aside.

I hope they eat those contracts too but it’s really easy to spend another person’s money.  “Tax loopholes are generally tax policies that mitigate taxes paid on profits.  You can’t make a loss magically disappear.  The amount of the loss is decreased by the amount of tax that would have been paid on equivalent profit.  In other words, profit goes down by the amount of the write-off and the tax liability is lessened by the amount of tax that would have been paid on those profits.

 

It sounds like you are hoping they just pretend those mistakes did not happen.  Of course, from a fan’s perspective that would be wonderful.  Just start all over.  Just write off $66M/year (Mauer/Santana/Nolasco/Hughes) for the next two years and go out and replace them as if that expense really did not happen.  In the real world, that is an absolutely preposterous premise.  To put that amount in context.  It is the equivalent of 300+ years salary for 100 average Americans.  They can write them off and replace them but make no mistake these dollars will be included in the allotted budget. They are not going to pretend they are not paying those salaries and spend whatever they were going to budget plus the salaries that have been written off.

 

There is a business case that could be made to pay half of Santana’s salary and hopefully get a prospect back that contributes at the ML level.  However, there is also a case to be made that you accept a deal that is a salary dump.  Nolasco and Perkin’s contracts are up next year.  Those three equate to a FA front of the rotation SP.  To be realistic, there are exactly two such signings by a team outside the top 12 in revenue since the turn of the century.  One of those was Greinke last year and Arizona just signed an enormous TV contract so it’s hardly a parallel scenario.  Regardless, dumping Santana positions to have some financial flexibility in 2017 when they will hopefully be back in contention.  Mauer and Hughes are up at the end of 2018 so they could spend again in 2019. 

[jay]

Hard to say this, but I think he's absolutely correct here:

 

"No matter what is being said, there is zero chance that Rob Antony, now the interim, will become Ryan’s replacement.

 

Pohlad is not going to fire a man that was as personally admired as Terry Ryan as evidence to clientele that the Twins are ready to change, and then maintain the same front office."

[Mike Sixel]

Well....they are spending that money no matter what....the real question is, should they spend it on a player not to play for them, or to take up roster space?

 

If they ate it all this year, that would be a tough pill to swallow, profit wise.....but would free up roster space and money for future years.

 

If they ate it over the term of the contract (does any such deal exist?), it would be pretty much the same as paying the player......but would not free up money to sign others.....but would clear a player off the roster they don't want.

 

If they DFA the player, they eat the money, free up a roster space, and get back a tiny bit of money this year.

 

If they keep the player, they spend the money and take up a roster space with a guy they don't want.

 

There may be other options.....but which would anyone here choose? Remember, you do want to make money.....

[Loosey]

Money talks. . . 

 

And there are usually two ways to improve the the operation margins on a P&L, Cut costs or increase sales or a combination of the two.

 

Sometimes in order to increase sales costs need to go up, In the Twins case that could be payroll. 

 

I hope that Pohlad is going in the direction of hoping to increase sales, because that will mean he cares that the team is winning because winning in baseball usually correlates to increases sales.

[d-mac]

The great thing about the free market is that if a business puts out a crap product and their customers are unsatisfied profit margins go down and eventually become losses. Put out a quality product and satisfy customers, revenue goes up, profit margins go up. Simple. Businesses are punished for putting out crap that nobody wants.

 

Fans are unsatisfied with a crappy on field product, revenue is declining. I've been saying this for a while now, firing TR had to be done. It's not only the smart baseball decision, but business decision as well.

[Kwak]

About the money?

 

"Ryan's departure had nothing to do with a dispute with Pohlad over how the Twins should proceed to fix this mess. It was based strictly on Pohlad reaching the conclusion that Terry was not the baseball man to do the fixin'."

 

Pulling "it's all about the money" is typical media misdirection--use an incorrect statement to serve as a teaser to get people to read the article--and believe that incorrect statement! The actual article simply states that Pohlad didn't believe Ryan was the guy to fix this mess.

[alarp33]

 

 

 

Pulling "it's all about the money" is typical media misdirection--use an incorrect statement to serve as a teaser to get people to read the article--and believe that incorrect statement! The actual article simply states that Pohlad didn't believe Ryan was the guy to fix this mess.

 

This is a message board, not "media".  I'm sure the person who started this thread used "all about the money" because the backbone to the article had to do with Target Field financials and how that is leading to the Pohlad's wanting change quicker than when in the Dome

[alarp33]

 

The best way to improve the Twins bottom line is to convince Joe Mauer to wave is no trade clause and somehow end up in Boston or New York. Every time in history that a or one player makes 33% of the Twins payroll they have been a horrible team on the field. I don't see it happening but the best move the Twins could make is somehow convincing Joe Mauer to waive that no trade clause and hopefully there still is a buyer out there for him. Boston still has somewhat of an opening at first base and there short porch to right would be really good for Joe Mauers swing. It is really the only logical place he could go that would help him, and the Twins. Again doubt it happens but it is a nice pipe dream. 

 

Get over it. Seriously.  Mauer is not going anywhere.  These posts are not constructive in the least. Mauer is the least of this teams problems. 

 

BTW, the Payroll was $112 million, he makes $23.  Not sure where you got 33% from.  

 

[Mike Sixel]

 

The great thing about the free market is that if a business puts out a crap product and their customers are unsatisfied profit margins go down and eventually become losses. Put out a quality product and satisfy customers, revenue goes up, profit margins go up. Simple. Businesses are punished for putting out crap that nobody wants.

 

Fans are unsatisfied with a crappy on field product, revenue is declining. I've been saying this for a while now, firing TR had to be done. It's not only the smart baseball decision, but business decision as well.

 

It's about 10%* a free market for baseball, but more so if you include all entertainment options....

 

*a made up number, taking into account the Saints, Gophers, and the MLB monopoly....

[tobi0040]

We will never really know the exact reason. The reality is it was probably some combination of needing to make a change for the fans sake and let’s face it, Terry had a pretty decent reputation when he was brought in to turn the ship around and he hasn’t done it. And he was not running the team like a rebuilding team should be run.

 

I have been pretty vocal about needing a pretty drastic change in the GM role. A bright outsider from a good system who will fundamentally disrupt the organization. Question everything. Evaluate everyone and determine if you are going to be on the new team, etc. But there is another big benefit to someone new, the new guy has not signed or drafted any of the current players or worked alongside any of the FO staff. We need some fresh, unbiased analysis about both players and personnel. I have seen this happen in business with great results.

[Don Walcott]

The free market for sports in Minnesota will be getting a bit more competitive with a new MLS team in a couple of years.  This will compete more directly with the Twins than any of the other sports teams.  The Twins will have to turn things around to attract fans who will have other options during the summer.

 

Regardless of the competition, the Pohlads know that the value of their franchise and the potential profits from the franchise are directly related to how well the team does.  We've had enough bad seasons recently to begin to actually erode the fan base below what would have previously been considered a base line for support.  I hope they recognize that they need some substantial change in this organization to accomplish their goals as well as the goals of the fans.

[HitInAPinch]

 

Get over it. Seriously.  Mauer is not going anywhere.  These mindless posts are not constructive in the least. Mauer is the least of this teams problems. 

 

BTW, the Payroll was $112 million, he makes $23.  Not sure where you got 33% from.  

If [and this is a  B I G if] the Twins were to attempt anything with Mauer, it would be a package for Mauer to retire.  Spread out payments over a series of years, with a bump beyond whatever is left on his contract.

 

I just can't see Joe accepting that, either....

[Loosey]

I know everything is an assumption and you know what happens when you assume. 

 

But If it were about the money (getting people in to the stadium) I wonder if Terry Ryan was wanting to stay the course, no major trades, move some pieces to get A-ball prospects that will be here in 3-4 years and Pohlad wants to make a splash of some sort, generate some excitement and get people to Target Field in a shorter time frame.  Trading Santana, Plouffe, Nolasco etc might not net lots in a return, but if Pohlad were to say we are going to reinvest those salaries plus more back into free agents to improve the team, I could see that move the needle a little quicker.

 

Again ASSuME.

[d-mac]

 

It's about 10%* a free market for baseball, but more so if you include all entertainment options....

 

*a made up number, taking into account the Saints, Gophers, and the MLB monopoly....

 

There are enough competing options for entertainment dollars and interest. It's pretty easy for a casual fan to go someplace else for entertainment (sports or otherwise) or to simply flip the channel and change the radio station, plenty of substitutes. Different story for us on this board since we live and die with baseball and there are no good competing substitutes for Major League Baseball. So in a way we are captive customers, but the casual fan is not, and they produce the majority of teams' revenues. 

[old nurse]

How many times has Ryan brought up Ploanco and the manager did not play him?  Kepler the same thing earlier this year. Chargois, 1 game. Berios did not get the chance to refine at the major league level. I am starting to think that Ryan wanted to do a total teardown. Pohlad said somewhere that he did not want to do what Atlanta had done. When he took over in the 90's he was patching with aging free agents. He went with the kids when he could. He spent the last few years patching with free agents. I think he wanted to go with the kids. Molitor doesn't manage like a manager wanting to develop the kids. Ryan 'rarely trades his kids for experienced talent. Who wins the power struggle? The manager that has the backing of the owner.  I get the feeling that the next GM will have ties to Molitor. When the GM makes trades at the behest of the manager, bad things can happen. Lohse for nothing, Hardy for nothing, Capps as your closer. ....

[old nurse]

On the likeability comment by Pohlad consider one of the signees by Epstien said the reason he signed with the club is that Epstien sold him on the chance to be a part of history to get the Cubs to win the World Series. Everybody likes Epstien. Pohlad wants a likeable salesman, which Ryan would never be.