If the Pohlad's sold the Twins

[ThePuck]

Wait, you didn't win the powerball jackpot did you?

 

Seriously though, pretty sure there is no way in hell the Pohlads will sell anytime soon. Even though the team isn't performing great, they are still drawing pretty good crowds and turning a decent profit. They own the radio station that is the flagship of the twins radio network, they just dumped a ton of money in renovating the ford center right next to target field, and they play host to the All-Star game next year.

 

They have absolutely zero reasons to sell, and every reason to hang on to the team

 

I agree.

[drjim]

I for one appreciate that they don't make rash changes in management. Yes, sometimes the need for change comes, and that time may be here, but there are too many owners, in this country and abroad, that have such unrealistic expectations for success that they change management so frequently that there is never a chance to build stability, which I think is a key part of building for success.

 

I really agree with this point. Stability is a positive. There comes a point when leaders can become stale and fresh approaches may be warranted but not sure Ryan is there yet.

 

The other positive of the Pohlads is they don't meddle in baseball ops. That is usually a disaster. Hire solid people and get out if the way.

[Mike Sixel]

I generally agree that stability is good, but there are times for change. The changes in the minors were important, imo. Players were coming up that could not do the fundamentals of hitting cutoff guys, running well, etc. It was time for a change, I'm not sure that change was fundamental enough, be we'll see.

 

As for Ryan, I'm not a fan, but I did argue to give him at least this year to see if he could make better decisions. So far, his major decisions have not worked. KC and Pelfrey and Worely are as bad (or worse) as most people thought. Hicks has not been ready. May looks like the guy he was last year, when people started to think he was a reliever. Only Meyer looks like a good decision so far. That's not a good ratio, imo. If they lose 90 games again, how many more years do you give him? If Sano comes up next year, and is great, that is not on Ryan.....he wa acquired by Smith's FO. So how would you judge Ryan, assuming he gets another year?

 

As for the Pohlads, assuming that they are not asking for the budget to be cut, I agree to an extent. Owners should stay out of the operations. But, if Ryan fails, it's partly on their lack of wilingness to makes changes when needed.

 

So, I'd say incomplete for me right now.....

 

*edited for speeling

[James]

But,my thought is that they will not sell the team anytime soon as long as they keep raking in over $100M+ in profits every year.

Yeah... they don't make $100+ Million in profits a year. Forbes estimated that they had an operating income of around $10.4MM last year (which doesn't equal profits, but income before interest they have to pay on loans and taxes). All estimates because we can't get the real numbers because they're not a public company. They are still making a profit on the team though.

MLB Team Values: The Business Of Baseball - Forbes

 

Operating Income (very close to EBIT): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnings_before_interest_and_taxes

 

As far as the Pohlad's selling the team... I'm kind of mixed. We could definitely have worse owners. I don't think there is any reason why they would sell at the moment.

[drjim]

Mike - I think incomplete is about as kind as we can be right now. I'm not especially concerned about the record this year as I had minimal expectations no matter who was signed. I saw this year as the opportunity to see what younger players had and if they could contribute to a future winning team.

 

What I want to see is overall progress in the organization, especially in the minors and so far so good.

 

The second part is how the front office responds to information gathered with midseason trades and offseason moves. That part is quite incomplete.