Pohlad Family Greed Killed the 2024 Twins

[Cody Schoenmann]

The Pohlad family asked Twins decision-makers to pick themselves up from their bootstraps and persevere. Understandably, they couldn't. It is vital to extend grace at a time where it is easy to ridicule those who are most accessible.

Throughout the 2024 MLB season, many encouraging trends surfaced. The league-wide strikeout rate decreased, baserunning improved, and pitchers netted a significantly lower ERA than last season. Expansive rule changes implemented by the league office just two seasons ago are working. Despite the on-field product demonstrating signs of sustainable improvement, a more impactful and sobering trend further reared its ugly head: the incessant greed of MLB owners.

In theory, sports and entertainment are supposed to function as a Great Distraction from the way class struggle negatively affects working-class people every waking second of their existence. When one is unable to own the means of their production while having no real sense of ownership, autonomy, or social safety nets, it becomes vital to latch on to something that allows them a sense of stability or, at the very least, an outlet to turn their brain off and relax for a few hours. These outlets are essential when combating the big wheel of adult life that keeps on turning. Yet, many baseball fans have often been forced to confront this sobering reality, making what was supposed to be an “outlet” or method of escapism yet another cog of the machine that adds more and more weight onto their shoulders.

In the past, this emotion was reserved for fans of teams like the Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, or Miami Marlins. These organizations’ front offices have been applauded for coming up with creative avenues to combat this unnecessary burden by investing their minimal resources into player development and scouting programs. This investment has provided them the unique fortune of drafting and developing prospects into serviceable MLB players while simultaneously signing or trading for players deemed “reclamation projects” or "marginal MLB players" and teaching them adjustments and approaches necessary to perform well enough to help them in the short term before shipping them off in trade or watching them walk for more money in free agency. Again, this mode of survival deserves to be applauded. Yet, like a family struggling to scrounge enough money to afford groceries or pay hospital bills, one can only live like this for so long before the walls crumble.

None of these three teams will make the postseason this season, and Oakland’s fan base is being forced to mourn the loss of their once beloved franchise solely due to the greed of owner John Fisher. Minnesota Twins fans have long watched these organizations from a distance, finding themselves fortunate enough to never really know what it felt like to feel emotionally invested in a team whose ownership group was doing everything to work against one's best interest as a fan and community. Yet, this season, this disease surging through MLB headed north to Minnesota like a swarm of cicadas, consuming any sense of optimism left from a magical 2023 campaign that ended in the organization’s first postseason victory in 19 years.

Unsurprisingly, immense anger has manifested within Twins Territory, and those who follow the team are flocking to hold a party accountable for the organization’s rapid decline in on-field performance that began upon the conclusion of the All-Star break. Unfortunately, the bulk of the blame has been directed toward the (mostly) undeserving. Now, it is easy to look at the team's debacle playing out day over day and blame the people who are most accessible. Whenever we witnessed Zebby Matthews, David Festa, or Simeon Woods Richardson implode in the third inning, the camera panned to manager Rocco Baldelli's face. And every time Ronny Henriquez or Louie Varland surrendered another late-inning lead, we were reminded of how the front office invested its few resources into relievers like Jay Jackson, Josh Staumont, or Steven Okert. 

Directing one's anger and frustration toward Baldelli and the front office became even easier when some local media outlets relentlessly claimed that Baldelli and the front office were the reason the season fell apart. Still, for those stuck in that emotionally draining cycle, I ask you to entertain the following hypothetical. 

You live in a school district that is facing budget concerns. The district's state has a $4 billion surplus in funds, but (for whatever reason) none can be given to the district to address the lack of money. In response, the district elects to entertain a referendum in hopes of receiving the funds necessary to retain staff, invest in arts and sports programs, and make sure students and teachers have access to the supplies and resources necessary to thrive and not just survive. Unfortunately, the referendum doesn't pass, causing the school district to make tough decisions.

Art programs are cut, support staff is laid off, and administrators and teachers must pick themselves up by their bootstraps and persevere. The beginning of the school year goes well, and they even find themselves in a moment of true prosperity. Teachers are doing well, administrators are content, and students are receiving a worthwhile education. However, the second semester came along, and things began to break at the seams. The district-assigned laptops begin to wear down and break. Instead of continuing pre-planned lessons reliant on technology, teachers are forced to quickly turn to pen-and-paper, coming up with assignments on the fly. Student performance suffers as they are less inspired to come to class and perform well, have little to look forward to, and are forced to resort to archaic forms of education.

This unfortunate outcome could have been avoided if the district had received extra funding. Administrators could have invested in better, more reliable laptops. Instead, they were forced to deal with the consequences of being given inadequate resources and no social safety net. As a result, the teacher's ability to manage the classroom and provide worthwhile lessons significantly dipped, resulting in an almost unfeasible end to the school year.

When looking at this hypothetical scenario, who would you blame for the school district's unfortunate end to the school year? Would you blame the administrators and teachers who had to persevere through what was essentially an unnavigable situation? Or would you blame the state with the $4 billion surplus for not investing in the district and letting them wither away while watching from their pedestals where no one can access or critique them? The answer is simple.

It is easier to exercise understanding and forgiveness toward a struggling school district and its teachers and administrators. That said, the same sense of grace should be extended toward Baldelli and the Twins' front office. The amount of money Baldelli and Derek Falvey make in relation to the Pohlad family is comparable to how much a teacher or administrator makes in relation to the lump of cash a state in surplus sits on. The Pohlad family could have allotted the team more money to patch roster holes, just like the state could have given the district more money to avoid the loss of technology necessary for a thriving classroom in the above hypothetical scenario. Instead, the parties in charge hoarded their resources and neglected those they were supposed to support and invest in. 

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[CRF]

BLASPHEMY! How dare you accuse the Pohlad's of being greedy and not wanting to spend more of their hard earned money on the team! Haven't they always proven their commitment to the team, and willingness to spend wads of cash? Oh wait...my bad. Never mind.

[akmanak]

Meh, I think the Pohlad's as a whole do a lot for the community, but I don't believe they really care that much about owning a baseball team. 

Carl Pohlad was never a big fan of the Twins, but his wife Eloise was and I believe that is what drove the additions and subtractions from the team. 

Since she has been gone for quite some time now I really believe none of the owners really care at all about the team. They aren't fans and one of the reasons you hardly ever see them at the games.

They really need to sell the team. They have made a huge profit and should simply walk away, specially if they have no interest in success. 

The only way the ownership sells the team IMO is if you continue to see a drop off in attendance which as many know clearly is what they make the most money on. Fans need to simply stop going and I have no doubt they will put them up for sale. 

 

Off topic, does anyone know the lease agreement with Target Field regarding the Twins?

 

[NotAboutWinning]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

BLASPHEMY! How dare you accuse the Pohlad's of being greedy and not wanting to spend more of their hard earned money on the team! Haven't they always proven their commitment to the team, and willingness to spend wads of cash? Oh wait...my bad. Never mind.

You lost me at "hard earned money"... 🤣🤣🤣

[Blyleven2011]

48 minutes ago, akmanak said:

  Fans need to simply stop going and I have no doubt they will put them up for sale. 

 

I agree with this  ...

STOP SPENDING YOUR HARD EARNNED MONEY ON YHE TWINS and hope they sell ...

They already are losing money by suspending a fan from target field for displaying a sign  , keep it up pohlads and even you won't be able to afford the price of admission  ....

[Cap'n Piranha]

1 hour ago, akmanak said:

Meh, I think the Pohlad's as a whole do a lot for the community, but I don't believe they really care that much about owning a baseball team. 

Carl Pohlad was never a big fan of the Twins, but his wife Eloise was and I believe that is what drove the additions and subtractions from the team. 

Since she has been gone for quite some time now I really believe none of the owners really care at all about the team. They aren't fans and one of the reasons you hardly ever see them at the games.

They really need to sell the team. They have made a huge profit and should simply walk away, specially if they have no interest in success. 

The only way the ownership sells the team IMO is if you continue to see a drop off in attendance which as many know clearly is what they make the most money on. Fans need to simply stop going and I have no doubt they will put them up for sale. 

 

Off topic, does anyone know the lease agreement with Target Field regarding the Twins?

 

How many games did the Pohlads attend in 2024?  You seem to know it’s not many, and the only way for you to be able to know that is to know how many they attended.  So do enlighten us.

[jmlease1]

Always complicated when you have a mediocre to bad ownership of a team. The "Cheap Pohlads" moniker probably got overused for a while, because we had a stretch recently where they were spending a realistic amount on the team, had landed a marquee free agent, etc. It's come roaring back this season...and it's hard to say that it's not deserved. Because while clearly there's a reckoning coming in baseball for teams reliant on local broadcast revenues...the Twins appear to have gotten ahead of the curve on this and rather than accept losses to contend, they started the "right-sizing" that a lot of teams of their ilk are going to be (probably) going through immediately. And very possibly before they actually had to.

They're almost certainly going to cry poverty in this off-season and claim losses from this season (without actually showing anyone their books, notably), but a) they don't have any credibility on this topic with the fanbase at all, and b) any losses from this season are at least in part self-inflicted. 

The Pohlad family is immensely wealthy, and they have a variety of business interests far beyond the Twins that generate wealth for them. This isn't a family ownership group whose only real source of wealth is the team. They certainly could operate the Twins at an operating loss for several seasons while the team has a roster capable of contending. Especially considering they had many, many years with payroll levels that almost had to have been generating profits on the club (no matter how they might have cooked the books) and the family.

They seem to be choosing not to, and that's out of step with the expectation for pro sports teams, especially ones that have received public subsidies with the Twins have been granted. And that's where this makes fans (rightly) crazy. $20M is an epic amount of money to me, life-changing in ways I can't even comprehend. To the Pohlad family, it's more like a rounding error. For the Twins payroll, $20M could have made a significant difference in the roster, ensuring they had a higher floor or ceiling. Maybe they get off to a better start or a less awful close and make the playoffs. There's no guarantee, but the odds increase a lot.

And if Falvey had that $20M to work with and they had a botch like this, I think it would be a lot easier to say "ya done effed up" to Falvey and told him to move on with Levine, because then clearly the issue would be beyond injuries and also about poor investments in free agents and/or trades. But with so few resources to work with...what did we expect? I didn't expect much from relievers like Staumont, Jackson, or Okert. My hope for this team was based more on improvement from younger players.

I don't disagree that the biggest share of blame goes on ownership for murdering this season. They cut everyone off at the knees for money. 

My hierarchy of failure:

1. Ownership
2. Players
3. Front office
4. manager & coaches

Bad year for ownership. Do they care enough about the fans and opinion to change it?

[thelanges5]

Didn’t hurt just 2024, this will hurt them in future attendance as well. Aaron and John mentioned attendance as a lagging indicator and I would agree. Seems like the FO had a payroll in mind when they extended Buck, signed Correa, extended Lopez and now the Pohlads drop the amount. 
 

Good article from Gregg M a couple days ago about the ripple effects of this “business”‘decision. 

[Cap'n Piranha]

11 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Always complicated when you have a mediocre to bad ownership of a team. The "Cheap Pohlads" moniker probably got overused for a while, because we had a stretch recently where they were spending a realistic amount on the team, had landed a marquee free agent, etc. It's come roaring back this season...and it's hard to say that it's not deserved. Because while clearly there's a reckoning coming in baseball for teams reliant on local broadcast revenues...the Twins appear to have gotten ahead of the curve on this and rather than accept losses to contend, they started the "right-sizing" that a lot of teams of their ilk are going to be (probably) going through immediately. And very possibly before they actually had to.

They're almost certainly going to cry poverty in this off-season and claim losses from this season (without actually showing anyone their books, notably), but a) they don't have any credibility on this topic with the fanbase at all, and b) any losses from this season are at least in part self-inflicted. 

The Pohlad family is immensely wealthy, and they have a variety of business interests far beyond the Twins that generate wealth for them. This isn't a family ownership group whose only real source of wealth is the team. They certainly could operate the Twins at an operating loss for several seasons while the team has a roster capable of contending. Especially considering they had many, many years with payroll levels that almost had to have been generating profits on the club (no matter how they might have cooked the books) and the family.

They seem to be choosing not to, and that's out of step with the expectation for pro sports teams, especially ones that have received public subsidies with the Twins have been granted. And that's where this makes fans (rightly) crazy. $20M is an epic amount of money to me, life-changing in ways I can't even comprehend. To the Pohlad family, it's more like a rounding error. For the Twins payroll, $20M could have made a significant difference in the roster, ensuring they had a higher floor or ceiling. Maybe they get off to a better start or a less awful close and make the playoffs. There's no guarantee, but the odds increase a lot.

And if Falvey had that $20M to work with and they had a botch like this, I think it would be a lot easier to say "ya done effed up" to Falvey and told him to move on with Levine, because then clearly the issue would be beyond injuries and also about poor investments in free agents and/or trades. But with so few resources to work with...what did we expect? I didn't expect much from relievers like Staumont, Jackson, or Okert. My hope for this team was based more on improvement from younger players.

I don't disagree that the biggest share of blame goes on ownership for murdering this season. They cut everyone off at the knees for money. 

My hierarchy of failure:

1. Ownership
2. Players
3. Front office
4. manager & coaches

Bad year for ownership. Do they care enough about the fans and opinion to change it?

Disagree more money clearly improved playoff odds.  Who would the Twins, in the months before the season have started, signed for $20M for this season only, that would have invariably improved their odds?  Remember that $20M is basically what the Twins paid for JA Happ + Joey Gallo in the not too recent past.  It wouldn’t have been enough for Jordan Montgomery (and interestingly, had the D-Backs just pocketed that $25M, they may have made the playoffs, instead of finishing one win short, since Montgomery pitched to a 6.43 ERA).

I’m tired of the incessant whining about cut payroll by people (Gleeman is the largest culprit, as he seems incapable anymore of talking about the Twins without wailing about spending cuts) who won’t discuss specific actual practical things the Twins could have done between November 2023 and July 2024 with $30M that would have without a doubt helped.  Hopefully someone on this thread will propose some, but I think most, when challenged, will have a hard time meeting the qualifications—players costing less than $30M for 2024 only.

[tony&rodney]

We certainly do not know what Falvey would have done with an additional $10-40M in funding for player salaries. It is a wild assumption to believe he would have made decisions that improved the roster; he may or may not have.

We do know that the Twins had a higher payroll than the three teams that finished above them in the AL Central in 2024.

While I do wish the Pohlad family were intensely involved and interested in all things Twins, it is fair to say that the team we saw this year is a direct reflection of Falvey's ideas, which primarily involves hitting above defense.

It is completely understandable that people are disappointed that the Twins (Pohlad's) cut payroll back in 2024, but this point has been discussed ad naseum. It is time to move on to other topics.

[Cap'n Piranha]

57 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I agree with this  ...

STOP SPENDING YOUR HARD EARNNED MONEY ON YHE TWINS and hope they sell ...

They already are losing money by suspending a fan from target field for displaying a sign  , keep it up pohlads and even you won't be able to afford the price of admission  ....

The Pohlads have made clear they won’t defecit spend on the Twins, and not wanting to lose money on a business is hardly a sign of moral turpitude.  Further decreasing the Twins revenue guarantees only one thing—the Twins payroll will continue to decrease.  So by all means, continue to act in ways that ensure the exact opposite outcome of what you profess to want.

By the way, enough revenue loss also doesn’t guarantee a sale by the Pohlads.  But what it might do is prompt a relocation.  Seems odd to me that baseball fans think a winning strategy to get their team to spend more money is to make their market a less desirable place for a baseball team to operate.  But hey, it’s your nose and your face, cut away if you so wish.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Once again I will state: Pohlads spent spent $130 million on players payroll in 2024: How much did the 4 American League teams who are still in the playoffs spend in 2024 in payroll? Yankees - $330 million, Cleveland - $106 million, Kansas City - $122 million and Detroit - $98 million. The allegedly "cheap Pohlads" outspent on players salaries 3 of the remaining AL playoff teams, plus more than the Baltimore Orioles, who also made the playoffs.  Was the Twins' failure to be in the 2024 playoffs the fault of a Twins payroll that was higher than 4 other AL teams which did make the playoffs in 2024?  Or was it the fault of the players who failed to win enough games? Or management (manager and coaches) who failed to effectively lead, teach, direct and motivate these Twins players? Or the FO, which chose the specific players to whom a $130 million dollars was paid? Or injuries? Or  fate? Or Minnesota nice? Or predestination? 

[Major League Ready]

2 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Disagree more money clearly improved playoff odds.  Who would the Twins, in the months before the season have started, signed for $20M for this season only, that would have invariably improved their odds?  Remember that $20M is basically what the Twins paid for JA Happ + Joey Gallo in the not too recent past.  It wouldn’t have been enough for Jordan Montgomery (and interestingly, had the D-Backs just pocketed that $25M, they may have made the playoffs, instead of finishing one win short, since Montgomery pitched to a 6.43 ERA).

I’m tired of the incessant whining about cut payroll by people (Gleeman is the largest culprit, as he seems incapable anymore of talking about the Twins without wailing about spending cuts) who won’t discuss specific actual practical things the Twins could have done between November 2023 and July 2024 with $30M that would have without a doubt helped.  Hopefully someone on this thread will propose some, but I think most, when challenged, will have a hard time meeting the qualifications—players costing less than $30M for 2024 only.

What if the restriction was not $30M for this year only?  Perhaps my memory is faulty, but my recollection is that the most popular choices for spending were Jordan Montgomery and Rhys Hoskins.  Most people were not interested in the $12-15m type pitchers that actually ended up being very good.

[Cap'n Piranha]

26 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

What if the restriction was not $30M for this year only?  Perhaps my memory is faulty, but my recollection is that the most popular choices for spending were Jordan Montgomery and Rhys Hoskins.  Most people were not interested in the $12-15m type pitchers that actually ended up being very good.

With the uncertainty around TV revenue, I highly doubt multi-year commitments would have been greenlit, even if Falvey was allowed to remain flat on payroll.

Jordan Montgomery (as already discussed) had a terrible ERA (FIP was better), but only 0.6 WAR.  Hoskins had 0.1 WAR and a 100 wRC+ (Santana was 3 and 114); that is Santana was a better defender, by far, and a better hitter.  So it’s pretty safe to say that had the Twins signed either of those players, despite a higher payroll, the team might have been even worse, and would have been only slightly better—not enough to make the playoffs—had they been better.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

There is a lot of hand-wringing going on about whether the Twins spending $30M more on payroll would have gotten them in the playoffs.  There is no way we can know that it definitely would have or wouldn't have.  At the end of the day, the implosion by multiple players sealed the team's fate. 

What is uncertain is who the Twins would have or could have signed for those additional dollars.  There are certainly options out there that would have turned out poorly, however, there were also some that would have turned out well.  Plus, you can never know if a player who performed one way for a different club may have performed for the Twins -- again, not knowable.  What I do know for certain is that the odds of improved performance most certainly go up with payroll going up on an annualized basis.  Maybe not this year.  Maybe not every year.  But certainly the odds move in a favorable direction.  I'll certainly take that bet over the alternative.

Much has also been made of the teams with lower payrolls doing well in this year's playoffs.  Young teams with lots of players under team control tend to be that way.  If they want to keep those teams together long term, they will have higher payrolls also.  It's a function of where in the cycle of young/old they are, unless the young players aren't any good and they don't retain them, in which case they can replenish with more young players.  If you have a low payroll and a bad team, nobody gives you much credit.  This year, embrace the exception. 

[Jocko87]

Yup, ol Carl OPS .600 for the last two months.  Cause greed. 

Let's have some editorial standards please.

Click bait ********.

[BSLinPA]

 😂...... why am i not surprised??

[Maybe Next Year]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Once again I will state: Pohlads spent spent $130 million on players payroll in 2024: How much did the 4 American League teams who are still in the playoffs spend in 2024 in payroll? Yankees - $330 million, Cleveland - $106 million, Kansas City - $122 million and Detroit - $98 million. The allegedly "cheap Pohlads" outspent on players salaries 3 of the remaining AL playoff teams, plus more than the Baltimore Orioles, who also made the playoffs.  Was the Twins' failure to be in the 2024 playoffs the fault of a Twins payroll that was higher than 4 other AL teams which did make the playoffs in 2024?  Or was it the fault of the players who failed to win enough games? Or management (manager and coaches) who failed to effectively lead, teach, direct and motivate these Twins players? Or the FO, which chose the specific players to whom a $130 million dollars was paid? Or injuries? Or  fate? Or Minnesota nice? Or predestination? 

I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m so darn sick of the “cheap” Pohlad battle cry. How about looking to the front office for all the horrible trades and washed up players they picked up. How about looking at a manager who has no baseball sense and has no idea how to develop and get the best out of his young players because he is so focused on analytics. 

[Cap'n Piranha]

36 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Yup, ol Carl OPS .600 for the last two months.  Cause greed. 

Let's have some editorial standards please.

Click bait ********.

Agree with your topline.

Disagree with your bottom two.  I’m glad Twins Daily is a place where people can offer viewpoints from across the spectrum, no matter how much I personally disagree with the content.

[mrcharlie]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Once again I will state: Pohlads spent spent $130 million on players payroll in 2024: How much did the 4 American League teams who are still in the playoffs spend in 2024 in payroll? Yankees - $330 million, Cleveland - $106 million, Kansas City - $122 million and Detroit - $98 million. The allegedly "cheap Pohlads" outspent on players salaries 3 of the remaining AL playoff teams, plus more than the Baltimore Orioles, who also made the playoffs.  Was the Twins' failure to be in the 2024 playoffs the fault of a Twins payroll that was higher than 4 other AL teams which did make the playoffs in 2024?  Or was it the fault of the players who failed to win enough games? Or management (manager and coaches) who failed to effectively lead, teach, direct and motivate these Twins players? Or the FO, which chose the specific players to whom a $130 million dollars was paid? Or injuries? Or  fate? Or Minnesota nice? Or predestination? 

Twins failure due to...                                               Poor performances of players, injuries, lacking affective leadership, winning culture (ie: Minnesota nice).

[Cap'n Piranha]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

Didn’t hurt just 2024, this will hurt them in future attendance as well. Aaron and John mentioned attendance as a lagging indicator and I would agree. Seems like the FO had a payroll in mind when they extended Buck, signed Correa, extended Lopez and now the Pohlads drop the amount. 
 

Good article from Gregg M a couple days ago about the ripple effects of this “business”‘decision. 

Aaron and John are so caught up in payroll they’re becoming borderline unlistenable.  I find it interesting that they blame payroll cuts for the entirety of the attendance drop, without considering any other factors, such as death of fans, physical inability to continue attending, changes in financial situations, relocation outside of the state, etc.

Every contract gets discussed with the Pohlads.  Every one.  Even if they weren’t, if Falvey is operating years into the future with no line of sight to possible pullbacks in revenue, he’s awful at his job, and should be gone.

You can also argue that payroll spending didn’t actually get the fans to show up in a meaningful way.  From 2020 to 2023 the Twins paid significant money for Josh Donaldson, Byron Buxton, and Carlos Correa (twice) while trading for proven players like Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle, and Pablo Lopez who also increased payroll.  They still didn’t break 2M in attendance in 2023, which is significantly down from 2019 (almost 2.3M fans) despite running a payroll more than 25% higher.  If I’m the Pohlads, what I learned is that the fans don’t care if I increase spend on the team (at least not enough to also increase spend), so why run deficits?

[S Bart]

2 hours ago, Minderbinder said:

Simple solution, Cody.  Get Minnesotans to float a public bond issue to buy the Twins from the Pohlads and turn day-to-day baseball operations over to the Minneapolis City Council.  That would give you a respectable analogy.

Thanks for the dose of DFL-Pravda with my morning coffee.  No owners = no baseball.  Deal with it.

Well, I believe that a GOFUNDME page might work. I am willing to donate $1.00.

Considering the profit that the Pohlads are making (see link), maybe I will think twice about the donation. The largest payment portion of the Target Field stadium which was built for the team to remain in Minnesota came from the public.

Minnesota Twins franchise value 2024 | Statista

It is interesting that the team value has increased over the last 20 years (see link above).   A company that promotes themselves as a community product through advertising via goodwill gestures. places the state's name on their uniforms, has the owner as MC for new uniform modeling shows at the Mall of America for the public, ..etc..etc.. and then refuses to spend money on the product is pretty lame when they are pulling in such a good profit. 

I also find it hilarious that they threw out a fan from the stadium who had a sign mentioning negativity towards the owner. I have been to Fenway and other stadiums (including a Vikings game) when a person has put such negativity present via signage but have never heard of someone kicked out after buying a ticket.

I will put forth one point about ownership by the public via the link below. It would be great if it was feasible but one must remember that the owners make money and would be unwilling to do so as well as the public funding being realistic (my guess is that ticket sales and profits will decline in 2025 unless they don't do something major to upright the Twins' ship.) If the Pohlads sold the team, they could look back on it as having been a profit-making investment and there would be interested parties available to purchase the team. There would be no need to go the public route.

Democracy at the Ballpark: Looking Towards a Fan-Owned Future – Society for American Baseball Research (sabr.org)

Note to person making this comment...maybe your time would be better spent viewing the Youtube cat videos or Truth Social postings with your cup of morning coffee if you find TD columns to be too disturbing. Just a suggestion...but feel free to comment as you wish...that is why TD exists.

THANKS FOR YOUR EFFORTS TD!

Edited October 5, 2024 by S Bart
sp

[Morland]

When I heard that Pohlad was robbed of some jewelry last fall that suddenly explained everything. He had to cut the Twins budget by $30 million to make up for his lost jewelry. Perfectly understandable.

[KirbyDome89]

2 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Disagree more money clearly improved playoff odds.  Who would the Twins, in the months before the season have started, signed for $20M for this season only, that would have invariably improved their odds?  Remember that $20M is basically what the Twins paid for JA Happ + Joey Gallo in the not too recent past.  It wouldn’t have been enough for Jordan Montgomery (and interestingly, had the D-Backs just pocketed that $25M, they may have made the playoffs, instead of finishing one win short, since Montgomery pitched to a 6.43 ERA).

I’m tired of the incessant whining about cut payroll by people (Gleeman is the largest culprit, as he seems incapable anymore of talking about the Twins without wailing about spending cuts) who won’t discuss specific actual practical things the Twins could have done between November 2023 and July 2024 with $30M that would have without a doubt helped.  Hopefully someone on this thread will propose some, but I think most, when challenged, will have a hard time meeting the qualifications—players costing less than $30M for 2024 only.

Nobody "whining," about payroll was looking to kick the "right size," can down the road. You're actually strengthening the "cheap Pohlad," position by highlighting the ridiculousness of the constrained spending in your scenario. Now turn that difficulty up; rather than spending the excess $30M on one year rentals, slash your budget by $30M and acquire useful players on one year deals. This team spent the offseason turning Polanco's modest $10M salary into spare parts, acquiring an OF castoff, signing a 38 year old 1B, and filling out the bullpen with journeymen. Then they sat on their hands for the second straight trade deadline. Payroll played no "practical," part in those decisions? I mean.....

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Cody Schoenmann said:

You know, “Pravda” is just the Russian word for “truth.” 

What I know is that the historical meaning of "pravda" refers to the pre-revolutionary Russian judicial code, to wit, justice.  And I admit to tiring of naive justice complaints against "greed" in sports.

Players greed for $100:  C4 and Buck didn't approach management and offer to restructure their contracts, Ohtani-style, so management would have more headroom to sign the sort of talent to which Twins fans believe they're entitled.  Greedy players?

Fans greed for $200:  where's the groundswell of support for fans to pony up, say, $200/year for an NFL-style season TV package?  Game attendance?  Since Target Field opened attendance has steadily declined despite the fact that during that timespan the Twins have been as competitive as any other team in our division.  Best?  No.  Worst?  No.  But competitive.  Greedy fans?

Hey, I was over-the-top suggesting the Minneapolis City Council could manage the team.  They'd be too busy measuring player demographics.  An 81-81 season would be perfection for them.  Buy the Twins with a state bond issuance and turn management over to the Minnesota Public Utility Commission.  At least we'd lead the league in EV-charging stations and solar panels while capping player salaries below replacement value.

Twins fans clearly have fallen out of love with the Twins.  Pohlad should move the team or sell it to out-of-town money.  Greedy?  More like common economic sense.

[gman]

Anybody taking bets on whether or not prices go up next year? Baseball has long ago priced themselves out of the range of the average fan who would probably prefer to attend more games but can't afford to. Owners and players never, ever take that into consideration. So cheer for what you get if you want to.

Kudo's to the blogger of this page for knowing what is happening to the school districts and budgets.

 

[David Maro]

This whole thing started long ago when Falvey and Levine wanted to make a slash signing Donaldson.He is and was one of the worst signing of all times.After dumping him for a bad defensive catcher and a 3rd baseman who did surprise people.They bring in a SS from a team that cheated to get a championship.Who then ops out of the contract to get more money.To turn around and sign for more money with said team after failing 2 physicals.Now they are stuck with said player for 4 more years and his bad feet.And don't forget about a broken down CF who everyone gets all excited to see play 100 games of 162 game season.Looking at the team payroll that is 40% of the money available.So why is Falvey still aloud to stay,he should have been shown the door long ago.

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

You know Pravda was the name of the official newspaper of the Soviet party, the same group that murdered tens of millions of its own citizens.

Now I'm confused.  Is someone on this board murdering millions of citizens?

[Beast]

It’s not really greed.  The old adage “you have to spend money to make money,” is true.  They’re in the midst of negotiating new TV deals and coming off peak fan excitement.  The best thing they could’ve done to position the franchise for future financial success was to field a team capable of a deep playoff run (aka, ponying up some cash).

The “right sizing” is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If they generated more fan excitement, they could afford more.  If you’re unwilling to bite the bullet at some point to build a foundation for sustained success, your business plan is basically hoping to win the lottery.

It’s not greed.  It’s incompetence and a lack of vision.  Its cowardice.  If they want to make money with no risk, sell the team and go into banking.

[BillyBallLives]

4 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Further decreasing the Twins revenue guarantees only one thing—the Twins payroll will continue to decrease.  So by all means, continue to act in ways that ensure the exact opposite outcome of what you profess to want.

By the way, enough revenue loss also doesn’t guarantee a sale by the Pohlads.

So, just following your logic, if the USA produces inferior automobiles, I should keep buying them? 

To do anything else will guarantee an even more inferior automobile?