Article: Spending the Twins' Excess Cash

[caninatl04]

They received $50 million from the sale of BamTech last year. They spend roughly 50% on payroll, so $25 million.

They will open somewhere around $25 million less than last year.

Sorry for being dumb, but who is "they"?

[caninatl04]

100 Mil is the Twins sweet spot.  I don't see them going much past that number.  Especially with a team where it is hard to determine what players will step up or stay bad and this team full of those types of players.  Player performance is anyone's best guess so I don't see the FO spending just to spend. 

 

I believe they have a plan but I don't think it includes spending a lot of money this year.  As best I can tell they are still looking for a core.  Until they find that it is hard to move forward with any certainty.  So I don't see them breaking the bank this year but that is just my opinion.

You raise a very interesting point. The assumption is that the White Sox, the Royals and the Tigers will not be very good in '19. But, like the Twins they are, as you wrote, looking to build on a core. The question is whether the Twins' "wait and see" attitude in '19 with a drive for the division in '20 or even '21 will be eclipsed by those three teams as they advance their minor leaguers.

[Mr. Brooks]

Sorry for being dumb, but who is "they"?

They are the Twins, sorry.

[Dman]

 

You raise a very interesting point. The assumption is that the White Sox, the Royals and the Tigers will not be very good in '19. But, like the Twins they are, as you wrote, looking to build on a core. The question is whether the Twins' "wait and see" attitude in '19 with a drive for the division in '20 or even '21 will be eclipsed by those three teams as they advance their minor leaguers.

 

Yeah I think the division gets a lot more competitive in 20 and 21.  Having our young core play poorly and not a lot of young high end pitching talent means we might be waiting for wave two which most likely arrives in 2021 and 2022.  The longer we wait the better our rivals get as well.  The thing is we still have to have a young core before we can plug the weak spots with vets.  I guess I hope our talent and injury luck works out better than the other guys otherwise we will be good but not good enough to make the playoffs.

[Battle ur tail off]

 

You raise a very interesting point. The assumption is that the White Sox, the Royals and the Tigers will not be very good in '19. But, like the Twins they are, as you wrote, looking to build on a core. The question is whether the Twins' "wait and see" attitude in '19 with a drive for the division in '20 or even '21 will be eclipsed by those three teams as they advance their minor leaguers.

 

Almost gua-ran-fricken-teed. You think Chicago is gonna sit on their hands when they are ready? They have a decent season this coming season they will go out and sign or trade for the best pitcher and position player out there. Twins should be stacking up 25-30 year old players with high end talent right now. Instead they are looking dumpster and old boys on 1 year deals. 

 

Like it or not, the Twins are gonna still hinge on Buxton and Sano. Don't expect anything out of the A ball wonder kids either for another 2-3 years either. They just won't be impact players until then if they are at all. You've seen what guys coming up through our system do. It takes a few years for them to get acclimated no matter the talent level. Our Minor league system just hasn't been any good at preparing them. Let's hope at least that part of the organization is changing, if nothing else. 

[Channing1964]

Id like to see us take a run at Marwin Gonzalez. Having him on the roster means you can keep 13 pitchers, Garver, Astudillo, and Austin on the bench.(okay not Astudillo) If Marwin plays every day, and he should, Cron, Sano, Rosario, Kepler, Buxton, Schoop, and Polanco could each get one day off a week. Use the restf of the money for a veteran lefty starter and a proven closer and our payroll is about 120 million.

[Doomtints]

 

I wish everyone would stop assuming Cleveland is starting to backslide.

 

They are "backsliding" but they have a long way to fall to be with the rest of the division. They'll have little trouble next year until the playoffs.

[old nurse]

 

Sorry for being dumb, but who is "they"?

Every major league team got this amount of money

[FargoFanMan]

If we’re not spending cash then why are we not making deals? Adding prospects? Anything? We’re caught in the middle right now which is almost worse than rebuilding. Would the braves want Kepler? They have pitching prospects galore. Kepler and someone for a prospect or two. Maybe Teheran and Wright? Or someone else.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Who’s the face of this franchise right now? Anybody? Who?

  

And the answer is (drum-roll please) Willians Astudillo.

Astudillo is the face *and* the body of the franchise right now. Also, the hair.

[Doomtints]

 

The Twins don't have payroll room to front load that deal.
No BamTech money this year, max payroll mandate is likely $103-106.

You can say there is no salary cap, but we have to deal in reality, not "coulds" or "shoulds". The FO has a hard payroll budget, whether we like it or not.

 

"I don't know how Terry Ryan got the impression he can't spend money. It's just not true. It's never been true."   -- Pohlad at the firing news conference.

 

Baseball is less fun when your favorite team's owner is dishonest.

Edited January 13, 2019 by Doomtints

[Major League Ready]

 

Id like to see us take a run at Marwin Gonzalez. Having him on the roster means you can keep 13 pitchers, Garver, Astudillo, and Austin on the bench.(okay not Astudillo) If Marwin plays every day, and he should, Cron, Sano, Rosario, Kepler, Buxton, Schoop, and Polanco could each get one day off a week. Use the restf of the money for a veteran lefty starter and a proven closer and our payroll is about 120 million.

 

Do you send Cave down in this scenario and use Gonzalez as the 4th outfielder? I would think they would be much more likely to cut Austin, keep Cave and they would need to cut Adrianza as well.

[Channing1964]

Do you send Cave down in this scenario and use Gonzalez as the 4th outfielder? I would think they would be much more likely to cut Austin, keep Cave and they would need to cut Adrianza as well.

Until the need for 13 pitchers rears its ugly head why not have Adrianza, Gonzalez, Garver/Castro and either Cave or Astudillo on the bench. I think we already all know that Austin will be DFA-ed. They should be cool and do it now so he can go to Spring Training fresh. Gonzalez is gonna play every day, so the bench will be in constant state of flexibility.All the possible suitors for him are disappearing fast(Yankees, A's, Mets, Phillies, Nationals)

[Major League Ready]

 

Until the need for 13 pitchers rears its ugly head why not have Adrianza, Gonzalez, Garver/Castro and either Cave or Astudillo on the bench. I think we already all know that Austin will be DFA-ed. They should be cool and do it now so he can go to Spring Training fresh. Gonzalez is gonna play every day, so the bench will be in constant state of flexibility.All the possible suitors for him are disappearing fast(Yankees, A's, Mets, Phillies, Nationals)

 

You are forgetting about Cruz.

[Doomtints]

The Twins will spend their excess cash in the Rule 6 draft, which is when the front offices get together to parse out which expensive bottles of scotch they can get from the Commissioner's stash. Pohlad likes to pick early in the draft as he considers himself a connoisseur, and it is after all a long season.

[ashbury]

The Twins will spend their excess cash in the Rule 6 draft, which is when the front offices get together to parse out which expensive bottles of scotch they can get from the Commissioner's stash. Pohlad likes to pick early in the draft as he considers himself a connoisseur, and it is after all a long season.

There actually is a Rule 6. But it's not a draft, it just explains what is done subsequently to drafting players via Rule 5.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

There actually is a Rule 6. But it's not a draft, it just explains what is done subsequently to drafting players via Rule 5.

And given the performance of most Rule 5 selections, it's not a stretch to imagine that Rule 6 might involve imbibing spirits, at least unofficially.

[Doomtints]

 

There actually is a Rule 6. But it's not a draft, it just explains what is done subsequently to drafting players via Rule 5.

 

Yes but that's not nearly as funny.