Interesting Article

[Coobelz]

From MLB trade rumors.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/01/twins-front-office-discusses-spending-plans.html

 

Sums up what many on this site have discussed. Thought it was a pretty thorough and interesting analysis.

[gunnarthor]

I think as the Twins flail about and finish in the 82ish win total again it's good for us to all remember that ownership choose not to support the team even after years of low payroll. I hope no one shows up to TF this year.

 

I loathe the Pohlads.

[Doomtints]

Lip service.

 

1. They are doing a hell of a lot of one-year deals for a team trying to build.
2. They are not locking up any of the core homegrown players to longer deals, which again doesn't seem like building.

 

The way this team being managed right now is just nonsense. Agree or disagree with Ryan, Smith, and Antony, at least you could see where they were coming from and they were making moves that fit with their respective stated plans. The strategy for this group seems like it changes daily, they're all over the place. Calling them outright dishonest about their plans might not be a stretch, as uncomfortable and volatile saying such a thing would be. In spite of what they say, they just don't seem to have a vision. They seem to be trying to fit random players together and hope for the best, all while hitting the reset button every year.

[Brandon]

I wonder if the payroll flexibility is more of a hedge against a players strike when the current bargaining agreement is up in a few years.  There are more and more signs pointing to a work stoppage and I think teams may be keeping payroll low in anticipation of the strike.  (especially lower revenue teams).  Note I do think this is moving us even more in the direction of a strike.  but it would be more beneficial to ownership if there are no contracts on the books as a work stoppage will dampen the revenue from the game for a few years once it is resolved and also They do not know the parameters of the new conditions that will result from a new players agreement.  (There could be more expenses outside of payroll as a result of a new agreement).  I mean the Twins are not the only team cutting back on payroll.  or the only team looking at short term contracts.  

[Doomtints]

 

I wonder if the payroll flexibility is more of a hedge against a players strike when the current bargaining agreement is up in a few years.  There are more and more signs pointing to a work stoppage and I think teams may be keeping payroll low in anticipation of the strike.  (especially lower revenue teams).  Note I do think this is moving us even more in the direction of a strike.  but it would be more beneficial to ownership if there are no contracts on the books as a work stoppage will dampen the revenue from the game for a few years once it is resolved and also They do not know the parameters of the new conditions that will result from a new players agreement.  (There could be more expenses outside of payroll as a result of a new agreement).  I mean the Twins are not the only team cutting back on payroll.  or the only team looking at short term contracts.  

 

We had better hope this doesn't happen. Nationwide it took fans ~2 years to get over it and start watching baseball again after the last one. I myself didn't follow baseball again until 2000, and I was very reluctant about starting to follow it again. I went from a hardcore baseball fan to a non-fan, and I imagine the casual fans of the day didn't come back in Twins Territory until the Twins started doing interesting things again.

 

It wasn't really the Metrodome that almost caused the Twins to fold, it was the lost revenue and fans from that stupid strike.

[TheLeviathan]

 

We had better hope this doesn't happen. Nationwide it took fans ~2 years to get over it and start watching baseball again after the last one. I myself didn't follow baseball again until 2000, and I was very reluctant about starting to follow it again. I went from a hardcore baseball fan to a non-fan, and I imagine the casual fans of the day didn't come back in Twins Territory until the Twins started doing interesting things again.

 

It wasn't really the Metrodome that almost caused the Twins to fold, it was the lost revenue and fans from that stupid strike.

 

I wonder if there are adjectives hyperbolic enough to describe how bad the strike will impact baseball.  They need to figure this out and they very clearly aren't even trying.

[S.]

How exactly does one "open the window to contend" when you don't do anything to build a team that can contend? Are they trying to pretend that if we have a good year, they're going to go out the next year and spend $200M because the window is open? If that was the case, wouldn't they have spent some money in 2018 since we looked decent in 2017 even with our mediocre roster? How do they expect this window to stay wide open if your roster is built of cast-offs and one year deals? Even if we exceed expectations this year and make it to the playoffs where we're swept in the first round, you can't build on that when half your 2019 roster is going to be gone in 2020. 

 

In all honesty, why the hell do Falvey and Levine even open their mouths? Every time they make any sort of statement, they just make themselves look more like Terry Ryan 2.0, while trying to pretend they're something different. The Pohlads and the entire FO can **** off, because clearly all they care about is maximizing their profit and they have 0 intentions of fielding a legitimately competitive team. And their PR guys must be trash too because even they can't help Falvine spin it. And by legitimately competitive, I mean a team that has even the slightest chance of surviving a playoff round. Not a team that has a minuscule chance of maybe winning the weakest division in baseball in decades, if everything goes right for us and simultaneously everything goes wrong for Cleveland, and then getting mashed by an actually decent team.

 

I love baseball, but this organization is a joke and we all got ****ing swindled with our tax dollars paying for Target Field. 

[Doomtints]

 

How exactly does one "open the window to contend" when you don't do anything to build a team that can contend?

 

Exactly, the "We'll spend money once we have a player full of superstars already" script is circular nonsense.

 

If they are making the best out of having a cheap boss, that's something we would understand, and truthfully that's probably what it is. The two of them pretending it's something different and that this is part of a master plan, well....

 

And I honestly don't think these guys know how to improve on the margins. They need one or two OBP guys to complement the current team.

[Old Twins Cap]

Lot's of angry Twins' fans. And questions about Twins' brass.

 

As far as Falvey and Levine, at least they are invoking accountability.

 

Molitor, Morrison and Dozier are gone. They traded Lynn and got prospects for Escobar, Pressly and others.  Buxton got his season shortened.  Sano is on a leash.  They got MLB regulars ready to fill-in as needed, like Schoop, Torreyes, Pineda.

 

Complain about spending all you want, I need to understand that when performance doesn't measure up, or a contract is expiring, there will be certain steps taken to enhance the team's future.

 

That's the beginning of a culture I can believe in.

 

[S.]

 

Complain about spending all you want, I need to understand that when performance doesn't measure up, or a contract is expiring, there will be certain steps taken to enhance the team's future.

Performance didn't measure up last year. How come we didn't take any steps to enhance this team's future? Signing players that got DFA'd from their previous teams to one year contracts is not enhancing the team's future.

[beckmt]

Saw article on Mlbtraderumors

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/01/al-notes-tigers-castellanos-twins-rangers.html

Interesting note on the Twins trying to lock up long term pieces, if this is true, at least it seem like they have a plan to see what they have long term and then start to fill the holes or plan to fill the holes.

Most of the the players in saw I would sign, though would like to see Gibson signed for only at most 3 years. Do not expect the Boris reped players to sign, so it will be interesting to see if any of them sign

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Saw article on Mlbtraderumors

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/01/al-notes-tigers-castellanos-twins-rangers.html

Interesting note on the Twins trying to lock up long term pieces, if this is true, at least it seem like they have a plan to see what they have long term and then start to fill the holes or plan to fill the holes.

Most of the the players in saw I would sign, though would like to see Gibson signed for only at most 3 years. Do not expect the Boris reped players to sign, so it will be interesting to see if any of them sign

please give credit to Betsy Helfand. She did the work and was nice enough to go to the meltdown.

 

https://www.twincities.com/2019/01/27/twins-gm-thad-levine-talks-mega-free-agents-extensions/