The Twins Product Has Saved the Brand in Recent Weeks

[Ted Schwerzler]

Make Minnesota Baseball Fun Again, right? That was the focus, after the Twins got off to an abysmal 7-13 start. With the way the offseason went, and the television situation looming over their head, the franchise could have been buried by June. Then, they started winning.

Rocco Baldelli’s team came into the 2024 season as favorites to repeat as champions of the American League Central. With the White Sox expected to be among the worst teams in baseball and the Guardians not having done enough to close the gap, one of the best pitching teams in baseball should have had the advantage.

Unfortunately, despite the fruitful 2023 postseason run, the offseason became about slashed payroll, television disputes, and a new Pohlad control person as out of touch as the others had ever been. Nick Nelson recently looked at just how badly the Twins have been killing their brand. Whether mishaps from different departments, statements from Dave St. Peter, or Joe Pohlad doing nothing to separate from his family’s previous frustration inducing decisions, losing only compounded the problems.

In jest, we can suggest that baseball players are weird and a summer sausage saved the season.

---

The greater reality is that the on-field product has become the saving grace for the baseball brand, and the players on the field are once again a much-needed changing of the storylines.

TED: The above is, really, the thesis and thrust of this piece, but it needs to be more clearly stated. You can drive it home better by articulating the surprising simplicity of the product itself salvaging a faltering corporate image, maybe, Or highlight the fact that a baseball team is about the players, not the owners or the financial institution. But just state it in plain and anti-corporate prose, one way or another, to make sure it lands. Obviously, I'm just setting this off with line breaks for your ease of editing. Remove them after you address this.

---

Max Kepler has been the best player in baseball, and Carlos Santana has remembered how to play the game. Ryan Jeffers is trying to tell everyone he might be the best catcher in baseball, and Bailey Ober has suggested himself a Cy Young candidate when not facing the Kansas City Royals.

Sure, it’s great that Minnesota went on a 12-game winning streak, and that they finished a series north of the border having won 17 of their last 20. Similar to the sausage story, though, streaks of extreme positivity only tell part of the story. It’s not as though the Twins are lucking their way to victory, beating only bottom-feeders, or fluking their way through offensive productivity. In present form, not sure what this paragraph adds to the piece. Maybe I'm missing what you're trying to say with it.

While the early-season returns of David Popkins and company's approach showed little promise, the team has since turned a corner and reduced their collective strikeout rate. Twins pitchers are striking out more of the opposition than any of the competition, and while the bullpen depth has been tested, they've remained solid so far.

In addition to the thriving incumbents, the Twins could soon get a healthy Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis, Justin Topa, and Brock Stewart.

---

The players currently in the clubhouse appear galvanized and cohesive, and it’s that product that has revitalized what can be hoped for the rest of the way.

A baseball team is about the personalities on the field as much as it is the results. Early on, the Twins didn’t look to be having fun and the results only made that worse. Now finding ways to keep the game light, and distance from the noise outside of the clubhouse, they have seen results follow on a path that has them right back in the thick of things.

A full summer of Minnesota Twins baseball is in front of fans, and right now it seems like that is something everyone should be excited to partake in.

TED: Again, find your central message and hit it harder in closing. I like the contention that a team's likability and connection to the fan base is about more than wins and losses, but drive it home with more force. 

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[whitsbrain]

...and then the Yankees come to town.

[MinnInPa]

Twins pitchers live in the middle of the plate..and get hammered by good teams like the Yankees ..be smarter boys. You DO NOT give Judge the chance to beat you. Yes, you give him the unintentional walk..every time!!!!! High and tight and low and away on him and Stanton all game long. Twins hitters made Marcus Stroman look like an All Star..and yesterday was no better. 

[MMMordabito]

This piece was probably written to generate clicks, but anyway ...........…

 

Haha ... I'll take a few grams of what you're smokin', because this is complete tunnel vision perspective.

The brand is being destroyed right now, and there's nothing that a sausage or any of these potential star players can do about it.

Casual fans aren't going to make an effort to consume a "great product", if it isn't convenient to consume.

[BH67]

1 hour ago, whitsbrain said:

...and then the Yankees come to town.

And then they left. And three months from now it will look like a speed bump.

[KBJ1]

It's all about product &  brand for mid market teams like the Twins and the Polads are failing miserably at that.

They need to find a way to void their contract with Bally Sports since they lost half or their distribution network and are already bankrupt. The Twins will never see a dime from Bally.

Then put all away games on local TV in their extended multi state fan base area in order to build fan support (brand).

Then spend a few $$ and sign a healthy needed pitcher/OF. (Product)

Wasting windows of opportunity by not supporting the product is killing the brand!! Simple as that.

[Linus]

To me the brand is about the club overall not about short term wins and losses. I’m a huge Twins fan and always will be but my respect and love for the club is at an all time low right now. 

[bean5302]

The Twins ownership has invested in the product. People around here are quick to forget about the late offseason (and stunning to the entire MLB) signings of Correa multiple times. Buxton's extension. Josh Donaldson. A big money extension of Pablo Lopez. The kind of contracts the ownership has been green lighting would have been totally unbelievable 10 years ago. The Twins, again, have been running payrolls ranking higher than the lousy fan attendance for years as well. Ownership invested, but the fans didn't show up. Even this year, the Twins are running a payroll ranked well higher than attendance, and at $130MM, which is good for 19th in MLB. Right in that middle 3rd, but fans on this site act like the Pohlad's cut payroll down to $60MM.

Fans aren't showing up again this year. Average attendance is 20,125 right now. After this many home games last year, it was 20,469. The opener this year wasn't a sell out. The weather has been quite a bit better this year as well. Going head to head, 2023 had more attendance in 15 of their first 22 home games. The Yankees day game Thursday (yesterday) was the second highest attendance game of the year. You can bet it was 75% Yankees fans in the seats. 

It's on Dave St. Peter, IMHO. Ownership invested, now it's time to take a look at the results of their investment, and the leadership in charge of marketing and developing the product. I'd fire St. Peter now. I wouldn't wait until the end of the season. There's nothing he can do to make up for his colossal failures by the end of the season.

[Whitey333]

Not much to say about an article so biased and filled with holes it looks like a huge piece of Swiss cheese.  This is still just an average team, with a less than average manager, playing in still a very weak division.  They can't beat the big boys regularly, or much at all.  They thrive on beating the also rans just enough to stay competitive in a non competitive division.  What we saw against the Yankees was an overall putrid display.  The Twins are now 5-6 since winning 12 in a row.  That's probably more realistic of this team.

[Riverbrian]

Because I am blacked out from watching the team. The product can't save the brand at the moment. 

As far as I'm concerned... The Twins are currently in a sealed box with Schrodinger's cat. 

 

[David HK]

Well, until they had to start playing actual major league teams again...

Cleveland series will tell the tale - contenders or pretenders.

[David HK]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

The Twins ownership has invested in the product. People around here are quick to forget about the late offseason (and stunning to the entire MLB) signings of Correa multiple times. Buxton's extension. Josh Donaldson. A big money extension of Pablo Lopez. The kind of contracts the ownership has been green lighting would have been totally unbelievable 10 years ago. The Twins, again, have been running payrolls ranking higher than the lousy fan attendance for years as well. Ownership invested, but the fans didn't show up. Even this year, the Twins are running a payroll ranked well higher than attendance, and at $130MM, which is good for 19th in MLB. Right in that middle 3rd, but fans on this site act like the Pohlad's cut payroll down to $60MM.

Fans aren't showing up again this year. Average attendance is 20,125 right now. After this many home games last year, it was 20,469. The opener this year wasn't a sell out. The weather has been quite a bit better this year as well. Going head to head, 2023 had more attendance in 15 of their first 22 home games. The Yankees day game Thursday (yesterday) was the second highest attendance game of the year. You can bet it was 75% Yankees fans in the seats. 

It's on Dave St. Peter, IMHO. Ownership invested, now it's time to take a look at the results of their investment, and the leadership in charge of marketing and developing the product. I'd fire St. Peter now. I wouldn't wait until the end of the season. There's nothing he can do to make up for his colossal failures by the end of the season.

When you sit on your hands all winter, add "quality" the caliber of Margot, Santana, DeSclafani and Jackson, and continue to reek of flopsweat and fear when the yanks come to town, it should be expected.

Having ownership come right out and say, "We're cutting back, and not getting anyone good, so expect to suck," that doesn't help much, either.

And it's about time to lose the freakin sausage.

 

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

The Twins ownership has invested in the product. People around here are quick to forget about the late offseason (and stunning to the entire MLB) signings of Correa multiple times. Buxton's extension. Josh Donaldson. A big money extension of Pablo Lopez. The kind of contracts the ownership has been green lighting would have been totally unbelievable 10 years ago. The Twins, again, have been running payrolls ranking higher than the lousy fan attendance for years as well. Ownership invested, but the fans didn't show up. Even this year, the Twins are running a payroll ranked well higher than attendance, and at $130MM, which is good for 19th in MLB. Right in that middle 3rd, but fans on this site act like the Pohlad's cut payroll down to $60MM.

Fans aren't showing up again this year. Average attendance is 20,125 right now. After this many home games last year, it was 20,469. The opener this year wasn't a sell out. The weather has been quite a bit better this year as well. Going head to head, 2023 had more attendance in 15 of their first 22 home games. The Yankees day game Thursday (yesterday) was the second highest attendance game of the year. You can bet it was 75% Yankees fans in the seats. 

It's on Dave St. Peter, IMHO. Ownership invested, now it's time to take a look at the results of their investment, and the leadership in charge of marketing and developing the product. I'd fire St. Peter now. I wouldn't wait until the end of the season. There's nothing he can do to make up for his colossal failures by the end of the season.

It's almost like throwing cold water on their fans excitement cooled down fan excitement. Pohlads right-sized and now it looks like the fans are right-sizing. If the Pohlads want to hide behind their employees they shouldn't go on the radio and add to the PR disaster they already had on their hands.

I agree the Pohlads have spent more total dollars recently, but 19th in MLB is not impressive for a team coming off an ALDS appearance. What were they ranked last year? The Pohlads deserve criticism even if the main problem is St Peter. They're the ones continuing to employee St Peter. The Pohlads deserve criticism even if Falvey was the one to break the payroll cut news at the start of the offseason. They're the ones who cut the payroll. The Pohlads deserve criticism for coming out and telling fans they needed to right-size their business. I'd be willing to bet a whole lot of money that the Pohlads were involved heavily in the TV decision. They deserve just as much criticism there as St Peter. He doesn't make these decisions without their input.

It's their team. Their business. Any problem is their problem. "My employees are trash and I haven't fired them in 22 years" doesn't take away their responsibility. Build winning teams and the Twin Cities show up. It's been shown time and time again. The team was 55-53 on August 1st last year. Not sure why anyone would think a crazy number of fans would be showing up for that. They were a 70-65 on September 1st. They were 67-62 on September 1 of 2022. They finished 78-84. They were 73-89 in 2021. Why should fans show up for this? They've had a mediocre product and gotten mediocre attendance from their customers.

They hadn't won a playoff game in nearly 2 decades. They finally did. They finally got the fans excited. And then both the Pohlads themselves and their employees immediately destroyed fan excitement. They deserve all the bad press. They didn't have to cut payroll a single dollar if they didn't want to. Blaming St Peter is a cop out. The Pohlads made those decisions. The Pohlads continue to employee everyone you could possibly want to blame. It starts and ends at the top. Making the decision to cut payroll when they were finally giving their fans something to be excited about is 100% on them. Whether it was the right business decision or not, it was the absolute worst PR decision. And they're the ones who made it.

[bean5302]

2 hours ago, David HK said:

When you sit on your hands all winter, add "quality" the caliber of Margot, Santana, DeSclafani and Jackson, and continue to reek of flopsweat and fear when the yanks come to town, it should be expected.

Having ownership come right out and say, "We're cutting back, and not getting anyone good, so expect to suck," that doesn't help much, either.

And it's about time to lose the freakin sausage.

 

Ownership did not sign those guys. The Twins have been losing money and investing in higher and higher payrolls. 

Margot $4MM
Desclafani $4MM
Santana $5.25MM
Farmer $6MM
$19.25MM in redundant players.

The front office had plenty of free cash to work with. If they needed to dig deeper, Kepler and Vazquez could have been moved and that would have saved another $20MM.

[USAFChief]

Is there some reason I'm reading editorial notes in this piece?

[DJL44]

6 hours ago, whitsbrain said:

...and then the Yankees come to town.

Nothing is more "on-brand" for the Twins than getting swept by the Yankees at home

[Loops]

Attendance is down because baseball, like all major league sports, is just getting too expensive for the average fan to afford. To bring a family to a game on the weekend after tickets, food, parking, etc costs more than most are willing to spend. Especially with inflation raising the cost of everything else in life. You have to choose where to spend your money. Yes, owners have to pay player's huge salaries. Yes, there are other team expenses. And yes, I do believe even though owners are millionaires, baseball is a business and it should be profitable. It helps to put people in the seats even with expense if your team is winning all the time. But the Twins are not. You can argue they should spend to get better talent and therefore attract more fans. That is a gamble. As I said, it is still expensive to go to a game. You can make the game more "fun" for a fan. Make it more of a family fun day. Not everyone loves baseball but giveaways, gimmicks of some kind, kind of along the lines of what a lot of minor league teams do to draw fans would help. Broadcast the games themselves as a marketing tool. There are a number of things that can and should be done. Carrying on with the status quo will get the "contraction" word started up again. While I don't think anyone really wants to see the Twins disappear, something needs to change so that the average fan can come and see them and support them and feel like it is "their" team.

[Linus]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Ownership did not sign those guys. The Twins have been losing money and investing in higher and higher payrolls. 

Margot $4MM
Desclafani $4MM
Santana $5.25MM
Farmer $6MM
$19.25MM in redundant players.

The front office had plenty of free cash to work with. If they needed to dig deeper, Kepler and Vazquez could have been moved and that would have saved another $20MM.

Gleeman tweeted about a month ago that Forbes is reporting the Twins made $19 million last year. 

[bean5302]

16 minutes ago, Linus said:

Gleeman tweeted about a month ago that Forbes is reporting the Twins made $19 million last year. 

That's interesting news. I wish the article Gleeman linked as a source actually had mentioned the Twins. Statista has been updated with Twins revenue for 2023 and it's identical to 2022, but it's showing a dramatically higher number for 2024 (not sure how it got there.)
https://www.forbes.com/teams/minnesota-twins/?sh=46b664683bae

Athlon sports added some information. 
https://athlonsports.com/mlb/minnesota-twins/inside-twins/news/how-profitable-the-twins-were-in-2023-compared-to-other-teams#:~:text=Perhaps the more notable figure,the Twins did last year.

I'm not sure if the revenue sharing or playoff revenue pushed the Twins over the top. If true, the Pohlad's really do share a larger portion of the blame. Certainly won't help optics at all with a rightly enraged fanbase.

[bean5302]

4 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

... The team was 55-53 on August 1st last year. Not sure why anyone would think a crazy number of fans would be showing up for that. They were a 70-65 on September 1st. They were 67-62 on September 1 of 2022. They finished 78-84. They were 73-89 in 2021. Why should fans show up for this? They've had a mediocre product and gotten mediocre attendance from their customers.

They hadn't won a playoff game in nearly 2 decades. They finally did. They finally got the fans excited. And then both the Pohlads themselves and their employees immediately destroyed fan excitement. They deserve all the bad press. They didn't have to cut payroll a single dollar if they didn't want to. Blaming St Peter is a cop out. The Pohlads made those decisions. The Pohlads continue to employee everyone you could possibly want to blame. It starts and ends at the top....

The Rockies attendance is excellent at a 30 year old stadium with more brutal weather for a month of the season than even here. They lose 100 games a year. They haven't been considered anything more than playoff afterthoughts since 2008, rarely making it and are currently arguably the worst team in baseball. The ticket prices are higher than Target Field. Maybe they just have better fans? But, if it's your prerogative to "punish" the Twins' ownership for not meeting an endless series of criteria (excuses) so that you or other people would be willing to grace Target Field with your presence, you can do that. Your call. I'll continue to consider you a Fairweather Johnson fan. "I like the Braves in '95!"

Certainly the ownership bares responsibility for the product, but Dave St. Peter is the executive who is utterly failing to meet expectations. Ownership's responsibility is to can him and find somebody who can do the job better.

 

[Linus]

20 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

That's interesting news. I wish the article Gleeman linked as a source actually had mentioned the Twins. Statista has been updated with Twins revenue for 2023 and it's identical to 2022, but it's showing a dramatically higher number for 2024 (not sure how it got there.)
https://www.forbes.com/teams/minnesota-twins/?sh=46b664683bae

Athlon sports added some information. 
https://athlonsports.com/mlb/minnesota-twins/inside-twins/news/how-profitable-the-twins-were-in-2023-compared-to-other-teams#:~:text=Perhaps the more notable figure,the Twins did last year.

I'm not sure if the revenue sharing or playoff revenue pushed the Twins over the top. If true, the Pohlad's really do share a larger portion of the blame. Certainly won't help optics at all with a rightly enraged fanbase.

I haven’t gotten into discussions about profit and loss because the only way to know is to have access to audited financial statements of Twins baseball LLC and related subsidiaries. I will say that I find it implausible that the Pohlads are losing money or even accepting a poor return on their investment which has to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 

[NotAboutWinning]

If you are wealthy enough to own a professional sports team, it is not a business, it is a luxury. It is the entrance fee to a world of privilege and prestige none of us can imagine. Profit and loss are not relevant in this context. You don’t buy a Picasso and then report yearly P&L on it. If you want a revenue stream, sell the team and buy more banks!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Is there some reason I'm reading editorial notes in this piece?

lol dont tell me you’re not intrigued at the inner workings of the site 

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

The Rockies attendance is excellent at a 30 year old stadium with more brutal weather for a month of the season than even here. They lose 100 games a year. They haven't been considered anything more than playoff afterthoughts since 2008, rarely making it and are currently arguably the worst team in baseball. The ticket prices are higher than Target Field. Maybe they just have better fans? But, if it's your prerogative to "punish" the Twins' ownership for not meeting an endless series of criteria (excuses) so that you or other people would be willing to grace Target Field with your presence, you can do that. Your call. I'll continue to consider you a Fairweather Johnson fan. "I like the Braves in '95!"

Certainly the ownership bares responsibility for the product, but Dave St. Peter is the executive who is utterly failing to meet expectations. Ownership's responsibility is to can him and find somebody who can do the job better.

 

You can consider me whatever type of fan you want. We're just going to have to agree to disagree that my willingness to spend significant amounts of money on a mediocre product defines who I am as a fan. As fans we have 1 way to "vote" on how the team is doing and that's with our money. My vote is that a bunch of teams that struggle to stay above .500 in a horrible division aren't good enough. You feel different and that's all good. No complaints here. But you are definitely the type of fan the Pohlads love. One that will give them their money no matter what their product looks like. I choose to spend money on quality products.

Yeah, you're just never going to sell me on the idea that it's the employee's fault but not the owner who keeps the employee employed. Dave St Peter has been the president of the Twins for 22 years. How many years do they have to employ him before it's their fault and not his that the Twins are failing to meet expectations?

[D.C Twins]

9 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Because I am blacked out from watching the team. The product can't save the brand at the moment. 

As far as I'm concerned... The Twins are currently in a sealed box with Schrodinger's cat. 

 

This...this....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand..... THIS!

[bean5302]

4 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

If you are wealthy enough to own a professional sports team, it is not a business, it is a luxury. It is the entrance fee to a world of privilege and prestige none of us can imagine. Profit and loss are not relevant in this context. You don’t buy a Picasso and then report yearly P&L on it. If you want a revenue stream, sell the team and buy more banks!

A Picasso doesn't come with $100MM of operating expenses per year. The Milwaukee Brewers owner has an estimated net worth of $400MM. The Brewers could easily bankrupt him if run irresponsibly.

[NotAboutWinning]

7 hours ago, bean5302 said:

A Picasso doesn't come with $100MM of operating expenses per year. The Milwaukee Brewers owner has an estimated net worth of $400MM. The Brewers could easily bankrupt him if run irresponsibly.

There is some creative accounting going on there. The Brewers franchise is estimated to be worth $1.6 billion. Unless the owner has $1.2 billion in debt and no other assets, they do not have a net worth of $400 million. If that is the case, they should not be an MLB owner.

[Peter]

If there’s anything I hate more then twins losing it’s fair weather fans🤮💩👎 you need and must support the twins as well Vikings/gophers/twolves/wild win or lose. Asides from last nights robbery from 💩umpires(which will be gone after mlb goes robotic next year or 2) going to games are awesome!!! It’s not about entertainment!!! It’s about the teams winning!!! Winning is fun losing sucks!!! Support your teams win or lose no matter what!!! They need our support!!!!

[Taildragger8791]

Attendance will only get worse as the Twins become more “out of sight, out of mind” due to lack of distribution. I haven’t been able to see more than a handful of games on tv in 2 years. My young kids have very little awareness of the Twins or baseball. Am I expected to spend $200 to take the family to the park so my kids can watch players they don’t know or care about?

Attendance is also tamped down by 20 years of mediocre teams that just skate along in a bad division most years. Last year was finally a breakthrough and ownership crapped all over it with their attitude towards payroll and bungling of the TV deal.

[Guest]

Yeah, it was a fun three weeks.  Baseball is a game that always invites dreamers.  But their record this year against teams like the Dodgers, Guards and Yanks illustrates the gap the Twins must bridge to realize their dreams. 

Generally speaking, I'm more comfortable with "greedy billionaires" than the greedy crowd that runs the city.  If only downtown Minneapolis would again become a nice place to visit, I wouldn't miss a home game....