“Clean Books” and “Good Books” are Two Different Things. Don’t Make a Trade You’ll Regret.

[Greggory Masterson]

Some good books are clean. Some clean books are good. But just because a team’s book is clean, that doesn’t mean the organization is attractive to buyers.

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Ahead of the impending sale of the Minnesota Twins, many have speculated about what the team can do today to make the organization more attractive to potential buyers. One of the most common ideas that come up is that a new owner would want clean books—no messy contracts, no back payments to aging players, or money retained in trades. Basically, there shouldn’t be money that the new guy has to deal with for the next decade whether they like it or not.

However, when that general idea is extended to mean that a new owner doesn’t want any money tied up, we might be missing the point a bit. One tangible example is some fans’ opinion that a new owner wouldn’t want to sign up for paying Carlos Correa $100 million for the first three years of their regime. In that case, the team should try to flip Correa to present this hypothetical owner with clean books.

This idea makes sense at the most rudimentary level: some big hotshot billionaire is in this business to make money! Don’t sign him up for spending money that he didn’t agree to!

However, that’s probably not exactly how this works. You’re more likely to see the save every penny, please don’t spend my money approach from more tenured, old-school owners—or at least from owners who have owned the team for more than five years. Baltimore and Miami saw $30-$40 million spikes in their first years under new ownership. We’re much more likely to see a new owner focus more on success than an older one. Shoot, John Rubenstein is practically begging the Orioles to spend his money.

Recent reports suggest Justin and Mat Ishbia have emerged as potential buyers of the team, and from their history with the Phoenix Suns, it’s not hard to imagine them taking more of a winning focus than a moneymaking focus. Of course, I could be completely wrong in this imagining, or some other rich person might buy the team, but you can use those brothers as stand-ins for this imaginary owner if you want.

Would a new owner who wants to win now prefer to greenlight moves for the team in his own image? Sure. But there’s a lot that goes into that. Let’s stick with Correa, as an example. Sure, you could flip him for some modest prospect package and have his remaining $92 million off the books for 2026 and beyond. That makes the books cleaner.

Do you know what it doesn’t make cleaner? Anything else.

Congrats, you’ve rid yourself of that pesky All-Star shortstop. Next step? Replace that pesky All-Star shortstop on your own. You’re probably going to need to win a new bidding war. Your 2026 options are Bo Bichette and the ghost of Trevor Story. Oh, you’re okay with just finding a shortstop, and he doesn’t need to be an All-Star? You’ll have the pick of the litter between David Fletcher, Luis Rengifo, and Brooks Lee—a kid who’s already slow at 24. I forget: is quickness important at shortstop?

Just because a book is “clean” doesn’t mean it’s good. There are no albatross contracts on this team. The worst contract, right now, belongs to Christian Vázquez—a one-year, $10-million contract for a high-end backup catcher whom some team would likely pay for 60% of if the team wants to move him. There are no long-term deals here. There’s no Giancarlo Stanton-like contracts or Rafael Devers and Xander Boegarts-esque deals that reach into the 2030s.

The Twins’ closest things to albatross contracts are Correa, Pablo López, and Byron Buxton, the longest of which reaches into 2028. In fact, those three are the only players with guaranteed contracts past 2026, which would, in all practicality, be the new ownership group’s first year.

We’ve already gone over Correa’s deal, but paying an All-Star shortstop in his early thirties that amount of money isn’t the end of the world. He needs to stay healthy, but if that’s your worst long-term contract, you have bigger fish to fry as a new ownership group.

López is only under contract through 2027 and has shown the ability to be an elite pitcher. He’s stayed healthy, and he’s on a relatively team-friendly contract, compared to what pitchers of his caliber are making in free agency right now. A new owner is not getting a López-tier starter for $21.75 million right now. It is more work to get rid of him and replace him.

Buxton, at this point, will likely never be fully healthy for a season. That’s part of the deal. But he’s an All-Star-caliber player when healthy, and the $15 million that he’s making each year through 2028 is not that much money compared to the rest of the league. Ahead of 2025, that’s not even a top-100 contract per year. By 2028, it will be even more insignificant.

And again, those are the only three players on guaranteed contracts after 2026. Actually, I fibbed. They’re the only three contracts on the books after this year. I’m not a billionaire, but that seems pretty palatable. There’s still tons of room to maneuver and style the team as the new guy sees fit. It’s not like the three names tied up are Anthony Rendon, Miguel Cabrera, and Stephen Strasburg. These are good books. There’s a nonzero chance that moving those contracts would make the team less valuable.

The elephant in the room is that it might not matter what the new owners want to do. It’s possible that the Pohlad family might have more of an eye on the money today, wanting to get down to a magical payroll level that preserves their own funds ahead of the sale. That’s a totally different thing, though. They’re not doing that for the sale's profitability or the team's medium-term outlook for a new ownership group, one that would probably prefer not to build from scratch. They’d be doing that for liquidity today, in this fictitious universe that I made up in my head.

Nonetheless, fans shouldn’t be so quick to assume that the best thing for the sale of the franchise is a housecleaning on the active roster. Such efforts might do the opposite. Some good books are clean, but not all clean books are good. The books are only good if they’re setting the team up for success, and the books that have Correa, López and Buxton on them do that better than any realistic set of books without them.

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[Reptevia]

A fair characterization. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

Agreed completely. IF they are trading any of their core, it HAS to be a good baseball move, not just a salary dump. Good article

[TopGunn#22]

EXCELLENT article Gregg.  This, in essence, is what I've been wondering about even before the Ishbia brothers emerged as a potential buyer.  I wonder about it more now that they have, because instead of some, fictitious new owner, there is a tangible, possible, new owner. 

What kind of team do they want?  And how much input would the Pohlad family allow the ishbia brothers to facilitate a sale to their liking?  I don't claim to be a better business person than the Pohlad's.  After all, THEY are the billionaires, not me.  But with the reputation the Ishbia brothers have, they wouldn't want a team with clean books that's been stripped down to a shell of what they expected to own.  The Ishbia brothers didn't mandate that Devin Booker be traded before they could acquire Kevin Durant.

So that leaves us with the off season we're currently suffering through.  Opportunity after opportunity to improve the ballclub has slipped by the current ownership and front office.  How different would our off season to this point if the Ishbia brothers already owned the Twins?

To me, there are two big areas where there are major opportunities to improve the Twins.  To date, the FA market at 1B is down to one impact player.  Pete Alonso.  I have to believe that if the Ishbia brothers were in control right now, they would have signed Alonso and the Twins would have a new 1B and cleanup hitter.  Failing that, a trade for someone like Yandy Diaz would be a good move.  But nobody moves the needle quite like Alonso would at 1B.

The other move would be preparing to make the best pitch I could to Roki Sasaki.  Sasaki represents a tremendous opportunity to add an elite talent at a fraction of the normal cost.  This is why I'm surprised the Pohlad's haven't shown more interest other than Derrick Falvey saying "we have interest."  A player of Sasaki's ability, available for the initial cost would add value to the Twins franchise in a myriad of ways.  From a "Pohlad" point of view, Sasaki would be adding an asset that no other team in MLB could match.  

I don't expect the Ishbia brothers to be ordering the Pohlad's to "do this, or do that."  But I've got to believe if the Ishbia brothers are serious buyers, the Pohlad's would need to realize that dealing Correa, Lopez or Buxton just isn't good business when trying to maximize their sale price.  Yes, they are high priced ballplayers.  But they are also very important assets of the franchise, at salaries that are now considered bargains in the industry.  

So for the Pohlad family, from a business standpoint, entering the season with the current level of apathy that the fanbase has, (which is actually worse than anger) when Target Field is selling 25% of capacity, how attractive is buying this team?  Contrast that with the excitement and anticipation if,  in the next 2 weeks, the Twins signed Pete Alonso and won the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes??

As Gregg pointed out, the Twins don't really have a LOT of bad contracts.  Yes, Correa needs to stay healthy, but he's a good baseball player.  Lopez and Buxton are bargains for what they could provide.  And there are some potentially very good players coming within the next couple years. 

The only major expenses in the future are what Ryan, Ober and Lewis could cost as well as Duran and Jax.  But if each of those players produce according to their perceived ceiling then things are going quite well for the Twins.  I'm not sure I understand how spinning off real assets, or failing to plug a major hole at 1B with Pete Alonso makes the Twins more attractive to the Ishbia brothers or any other possible owner.  The Pohlad's should be looking to strategically invest in the Twins to reach their desired sale price.  

 

[In My La Z boy]

The Ishbia bros or any other buyer is buying for the future. This will be a long term investment. Present circumstances won't matter. A buyer will buy for his own potential development regardless of current condition. Current revenues and expenses will have a say in purchase price, but it is really about potential development as we've seen with the Wilf's and others. Purchase price will be about development and scarcity. There are only 30 of these teams. It's a scarce and exclusive group.

[Fatbat]

Its a young team with 3 core contract guys. I would think a new owner would want some sort of foundation to build on.  If the Pohlads sell out and try to dump a contract, as a buyer, I would pay less for the franchise.  Just my opinion but the books seem lean but then if I was a billionaire buyer, I would invest in a winner not a skeleton of a franchise. 

[old nurse]

The notion that having contracts on the books is a bad thing is a false premise. Having bad contracts on the books is a bad thing for a mid market team regardless if there is a sale or not. A long term contract is a risk reward kind of thing.  Correa’s contract is through his age 34 season.  That is not an unreasonable length of time. There is always the risk for injury. Trevor Story has had his share of structural injuries Wrist fracture, elbow then labrum in each of the last three years. Those are unforeseeable occurrences. .  That is part of the risk of baseball, not bad contracts Stanton has also been part of injuries affecting his career. Bad contract is paying a corner outfielder 75 million without having a recent great reason, the Cano contract that was to be into his 40’s when the aging curve for middle infielders are done by 35 

The absence of contracts of players that are going to be part of the core going forward actually costs the new owner money. They can depreciate the contracts over time. Unlike the depreciation on the team, there is no paying later when the team is sold. The maximal tax rate is what? 30% ? On 100 million 30 million gets paid by the taxpayer.  

[thelanges5]

Yes, yes, 100 times yes! This all makes too much sense. This sale cannot happen soon enough. The younger Pohlads don’t give me confidence that they know how to run a business.

[tony&rodney]

For now, the Twins ARE the big spenders in their division. The books are about as clean as possible with a reasonable amount of resources within the organization. New ownership will be looking to increase the profile and public appeal of their purchase through media exposure, attendance, and any other opportunities. At this time there are about 20 MLB teams operating in roughly the same economic neighborhood. A new owner is not likely to thrust the Twins into the upper atmosphere in terms of expenditures. Perhaps the largest difference may be an owner or ownership group that has an active interest in their team. 

[bean5302]

Pretty dramatic again. It's been directly communicated the Twins do not expect to cut payroll. So $130MM is the expected target, but they may actually be expanding payroll. We're just about into January and the Twins are running a $140MM payroll at the moment. There has been some clarification on a couple players.

Correa - Not one single team has come calling for Correa. Zero. No conversations. Period. The Twins would need a potential trade partner to start exploring this hypothetical scenario to begin with. There is only one team I can think of, and that's the Nationals.

Lopez - The Twins are actively listening to offers for Pablo Lopez, but have not indicated a willingness to move him.

The Pohlads have not yet sold the team, and it takes months and months for any such transaction to actually finalize. Any major moves which would seriously hurt the team's competitiveness and those moves would potentially hurt revenue and profit for the current ownership while also being counter to the statements the front office has made about keeping payroll the same. The Pohlad family has not typically done the opposite of what they say they're going to do.

[Jocko87]

I been sayin...

This is a business discussion, not a baseball discussion.

New owners of anything are delighted to take on long term spend if the terms are in their favor.  Carlos Correa gets cheaper every year going forward. Replacement cost being what it is, not trading Correa, Buxton or Lopez would be a condition of my continuing interest in the purchase.

[Doctor Gast]

Thanks Gregg for another interesting article. The Ishbia Bros. are interested in the team and the way it stands with the core. If the core is compromised that might affect the sale of the team. Correa, Lopez & Buxton are reasonable salaries with players who are difficult to replace. To make a team competitive you have to focus up the middle & pitching. Catching with the addition of Vazquez has helped us to reach the lower part of the middle of the pack. For years I've advocated for upgrading our catching not only for now but mainly for the future. You said to get rid of Vazquez we'd have to pay down 60% of his salary so we save $4M to move him. After moving him we'll end up on the bottom. How easy would it be to replace him for $4M? Very difficult & we'd end up an inferior product & save nothing!

There are players that we can easily replace for less, But Falvey's Fire Sale, wait & see approach, no FO isn't coming to us with great deals to help us solve our problems. They are coming to us with players they want to unload with bargain basement prices. Falvey has to come up with creative deals & go out there and sell them. Very quickly other teams' rosters will be filled & our opportunity will be closed. Here comes the scary part. They may be able to trade Castro at a discount & not be able to replace him. But here we save only $6+M which still leaves us short & a weaker team. Plus Falvey has an addiction to dabble in the FA. To support his habit & meet budget, he'll end up trading Lopez. Destroying any hope of making the postseason & maybe even jeopardizing the hope of selling the team.

[DocBauer]

Greg, a thorough and well thought article that I agree 100% with. However, i do believe it's somewhat unwarranted as I don't believe that current ownership is mandating the removal of any of the Twins most expensive contracts to "clear their books". And as @bean5302sstated, the Pohlad's aren't known to say one thing and then do the opposite. Not that i can ever recall anyway. Plus, let's be honest, it would be hard to move Correa and Buxton and their no trade clause contracts anyway. 

Hypothetically, were I the Ishbia's, I'd actually be thrilled the way the books look right now. In fact, I'd be pretty thrilled with just about the entirety of the franchise. 

1] I've got a leader in Falvey that's done a pretty good job with a somewhat limited payroll...decent and slightly escalating before 2024...and a FO that seems to be respected by players and agents. And yes, no messy long term deals that could cripple future payroll.

2] One of the best ballparks in MLB.

3] A pretty solid team in place right now, relatively young,  with a lot of potential, even with a few holes that we'd all like to see addressed.

4] A quality scouting department and a MILB system that ranks in the top 5-7 depending on what ranking system by whom you wish to give the most credence to. And while the talent seems to be a little top and bottom heavy with questionable talent depth at the AA level, there's some exciting talent close, and some tantalizing options a few years away.

5] If I have faith in MYSELF as the new owners...and I'm certain they do...I can see the opportunity present in the future of MLB streaming options as well as MY ability to excite and win back a fanbase that's been too often taken for granted...if not ignored...to take this franchise up to another level. In fact, when this team has been in contention in the past, the fans have been almost rabid in their support. 

No hyperbole. That's how I see this organization. 

WERE I said buyer, I'd be more than a little pissed if the Twins were to trade away the talented players mentioned in a cost cutting move. I WANT Correa and Buxton and Lopez to keep my new team strong, and let's face it, not only are those guys really good when on the field, they're also "admission to see" types as well. But again, I don't see that being an issue. Other than payroll issues...again, mostly in 2024 and now for 2025 in RECENT history...ownership has largely been hands off, letting Falvey run the team. (Though he's certainly been handcuffed at times, no doubt). And Falvey hasn't been prone to selling off any part of the team in radical moves. He's always attempted to make smart baseball moves without selling off the future. 

If I could rant for just a moment, I'm just not angry at Falvey for not making moves yet. He's handcuffed for 2025. I just get so frustrated, and almost angry at times, when I look at what just a $150M payroll for 2025 might allow Falvey to do. And that would be less than 2023! And I'm not even talking about some FA mega deal! What if WE could have brought in Goldschmidt on a 1yr $14M deal? Then trade Paddack to the Cubs for one of their seemingly too many young RHOF on a minimum contract to augment the OF? We shed $, get a YOUNG OF instead of a rental. Then move Vazquez for the best offloading deal possible and sign a veteran catcher like Elias Diaz for $2M to run a 60/40 split with Jeffers. Perhaps then we trade 2-3 top 30 prospects to someone like the Dodgers for a young catcher ready, or almost ready, to prepare for the future. Perhaps we can then add a LHRP like Chafin or Poche for around $4M to add that missing, proven arm from the port side to complete the pen.

Add and subtract it all up, and you've added a couple veterans and a couple youngsters and the $ lines up to a $150M or less payroll and you haven't traded away TOP players from your team, or decimated your system.

And that's with a payroll less than you had in 2023. 

New ownership can't come soon enough for me. And as I celebrate today being PAYDAY to "fill up" my holiday depleted checking account and PRETEND to be a multi-billionaire looking to buy the Twins, I see a franchise RIPE for the taking knowing I can just run it better and re-invigorate fan interest and embrace the future of earnings potential.

RANT and opinion done.

[Beast]

“Clean books” benefits the seller more then the buyer in most cases.  Easier to sell and can result in mor cash at the time of the sale.

Investment in players is always construed negatively here.  It’s not.  Any potential buyer in their right mind knows the earning potential is greater with a good team in place than trying to build from the ground up.  You don’t have to clean your books unless you’ve entered into bad contracts.

[Jocko87]

1 hour ago, Beast said:

“Clean books” benefits the seller more then the buyer in most cases.  Easier to sell and can result in mor cash at the time of the sale.

Investment in players is always construed negatively here.  It’s not.  Any potential buyer in their right mind knows the earning potential is greater with a good team in place than trying to build from the ground up.  You don’t have to clean your books unless you’ve entered into bad contracts.

This is 1000% correct.  “Dirty” books just represents an issue a buyer will need to address after a sale.  As a debt/mess is passed on, so is the cost to fix that issue (if the buyer is savvy, that is).  The entire point of an escrow period is for the buyer to identify any issues they need to have rectified or be compensated for prior to final closing.

It’s no different than selling a house, just a much grander scale.  Correa is like a very, very nice pool.  Ripping that out would cause the buyer a bit of bother.  As in, I don’t want this house anymore type bother. An Anthony Rendon is like the crumbling, moldy cesspool thing that used to be a pool.  Ripping that out would be looked upon very favorably by a buyer. 

One good or bad player contract won’t do a ton to the overall value of the sale of a sports team so maybe a pool is too large of an example, but good examples are generally exaggerations.  

Ever wonder why franchises always sell for more than the last one? Rest assured that the Orioles sale had the Chris Davis contract was calculated into the price.  That was small enough to be a rounding error but consider the sale of a franchise in financial trouble.  These are the deals where MLB kicks in stadium money or something to entice the higher market price and maintain their values.  It becomes a circle jerk at some point.  

[Greggory Masterson]

2 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Greg, a thorough and well thought article that I agree 100% with. However, i do believe it's somewhat unwarranted as I don't believe that current ownership is mandating the removal of any of the Twins most expensive contracts to "clear their books". And as @bean5302sstated,

I wrote this more in an effort to put fans’ minds at ease, but as I reread it today I’m realizing that it comes off more as a plea to the front office, especially in the title.

[old nurse]

18 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

I been sayin...

This is a business discussion, not a baseball discussion.

New owners of anything are delighted to take on long term spend if the terms are in their favor.  Carlos Correa gets cheaper every year going forward. Replacement cost being what it is, not trading Correa, Buxton or Lopez would be a condition of my continuing interest in the purchase.

The people here do not seem to understand that concept.. the lack of contracts did not appear to make the Royals or Orioles more valuable. 

[mikelink45]

Not my money and I do not understand salaries and revenues in the economic region that is MLB.  So my questions are a little different.  Is there some financial crisis in the Pohlad holdings that make them suddenly in need of money?  If not why did they suddenly decide to cut when the promise of winning was in front of them? 

If reputation meant anything the Pohlads should want to go out on top and be local heroes.  They would get their money in a couple years regardless, but to slash the team, disappoint the fans and leave with the money stuffed in their collective pockets makes no sense. 

[JD-TWINS]

Can’t trade away stars/core players and expect to draw interest in a sale. That’s just not happening. Seems most everyone here agrees on this.

Buying an ongoing business in the range of $1.35 - $1.7B isn’t going to be changed by whether a Team spends plus/minus $15-$20M in the upcoming season. The statement the organization/ownership made about not reducing payroll in ‘25 has been construed that the number is fixed……..not sure why that seems to be locked in all TD follower’s opinions? My assumption is that $130M is the committed to, minimum target spend for ‘25. This, to me, doesn’t mean ownership wouldn’t spend $143M (or whatever) if an opportunity to really improve became available through the FO intel. Having an attractive asset on the field with some competitive momentum is a hell of a lot easier to sell than one that isn’t those things but has a projected bottom line of $23M (fictitious example) better w/o any spending past $130M in ‘25.

As the next 2-3 months unfold the buyer’s seriousness should come more into the light…. and hopefully we’ll all be encouraged about the TWIN’s future!

[Mahoning]

A big problem in understanding all this is the lack of financial transparency. The Pohlads say they need to keep the payroll in the $130M range, for business reasons. Maybe so, but how do we know that? We are asked to accept this based on their assertions alone. We are asked to support the team (and the Pohlads) no matter what, but we're not being told the whole story. 

One can see that "keeping the books clean" is a plausible feature of attracting a buyer, but the other side of that is a team with fading public enthusiasm. Wouldn't you rather sell an asset that people like rather than one that inspires indifference?

[dxpavelka]

A cautionary tale of a trade you regret.  Team A trades it's best SP.  A year later, in the throes of a pennant race, Team A trades three prospects for a similar SP.  Newly acquired SP starts 4 games for Team A down the stretch before injury and starts 5 games the following year before injury and never plays for Team A again.  Team A then trades the previous year's first round draft pick for another similar SP and subsequently trades a the league batting champion for another similar SP.  Team A now has a similar SP but doesn't have the three prospects it traded for the first replacement, or the first round pick it traded OR the league batting champion it also traded.  But it does have Edouard Julien who can't play defense and JUST MISSED winning a batting championship with his .199 BA.

 

[saviking]

On 12/27/2024 at 10:32 AM, bean5302 said:

Pretty dramatic again. It's been directly communicated the Twins do not expect to cut payroll. So $130MM is the expected target, but they may actually be expanding payroll. We're just about into January and the Twins are running a $140MM payroll at the moment. There has been some clarification on a couple players.

Correa - Not one single team has come calling for Correa. Zero. No conversations. Period. The Twins would need a potential trade partner to start exploring this hypothetical scenario to begin with. There is only one team I can think of, and that's the Nationals.

Lopez - The Twins are actively listening to offers for Pablo Lopez, but have not indicated a willingness to move him.

The Pohlads have not yet sold the team, and it takes months and months for any such transaction to actually finalize. Any major moves which would seriously hurt the team's competitiveness and those moves would potentially hurt revenue and profit for the current ownership while also being counter to the statements the front office has made about keeping payroll the same. The Pohlad family has not typically done the opposite of what they say they're going to do.

Correa - Not one single team has come calling for Correa. Zero. No conversations. Period. 

Let that sink in ... How quick is Correa? He doesn't run fast on the basis. I would love to see Lee and Correa in a foot race. I wouldn't bet my house on Correa winning ..

[bean5302]

2 minutes ago, saviking said:

Correa - Not one single team has come calling for Correa. Zero. No conversations. Period. 

Let that sink in ... How quick is Correa? He doesn't run fast on the basis. I would love to see Lee and Correa in a foot race. I wouldn't bet my house on Correa winning ..

Almost nobody in baseball is slower than Brooks Lee. Correa wins easily.

[JD-TWINS]

Do the Twins have espionage moles in the FO? How does anybody know what conversations may have occurred regarding Carlos Correa with any other Teams? I don’t get it - must be missing something.

The Twins not sharing who they might trade for, or exposing any information to the FANS seems to be, not only frustrating for the fans, but also a prudent way to run an organization.

I hadn’t seen any headlines that the D-backs were going to sign Corbin Burnes……..good for them.

Why do so many here think the Team/FO owes the fan base a blue print of how they are going to operate and who they are interested in pursuing? Again, I don’t get it………no other businesses tell their competitors who they would like to hire - what direction they want to take their business. Other than marketing a hopeful future and marketing the assets already in play, the FO doesn't need to share any of the “real information” behind running the Club. Why would they?

[DocBauer]

I've heard rumors they may need liquid cash for their various real estate ventures. Just rumors, but it does make some sense.

[tony&rodney]

The Twins are for sale according to various reports. We don't know why, despite rumors. Sometimes the stuff your dad or grandpa handed down to you just gets old or it isn't as interesting any more or you want to clear some space in your life. There can be a reason but there doesn't need to be a reason. 

The Twins broke a streak of losing postseason games in 2023 and there was some excitement around that among baseball fans in Minnesota. The bosses made a decision that the Twins should be able to compete with a payroll larger similar to their division foes, which angered people and that was somewhat understandable. The front office now had to play along with those finances, which wasn't important because they like the guys they have right now anyways. They must or there would have been a few moves.

Nobody really needs to hear or know what the Twins may or may not be up to this offseason. Stuff can still happen. Right now mlb.com has four teams listed as having "none" under Notable Transactions: St. Louis, San Diego, Seattle, and Minnesota. So if the Twins send SWR, Castro, Julien, and Vazquez to the Padres for Cease and Hoeing, two teams are left. Maybe the Mariners will ship Ford to us for Miranda and Topa, leaving the Cardinals all alone to bask in their glory. It's a long offseason. Best not to expect anything. Don't wait for the team to sell either because you might go crazy.

[Linus]

I think people are overestimating the impact of the potential sale on the Twins moves or lack thereof. The Twins have to continue with business as usual because the sale may never happen or it might take a really long time to complete. The obvious answer is this is who the Twins are at this point. They are going to run with a lower payroll for as long as they own the team. Not because they are trying to entice buyers rather this is the payroll ballpark they are going to work within. Lastly anyone that is going to buy the team for 1.5 billion doesn’t care if you sign a new outfielder for 3 years and $45 million. It’s a rounding error for those people. 

[mikelink45]

I know I have already posted and the questions I raised still reflect my thoughts, but suddenly I am struck with another chunk of baseball history.  

The Red Sox - sold Babe Ruth!  Not news today I know, but

Quote

Harry Frazee needed money to finance NO NO Nannette in the theater

https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/short-stops/the-deal-that-changed-the-game.  Now one of the commentors mentioned Pohlads my need liquidity for Real Estate.  No idea if this is true, but should we sell one of our three stars for them to have cash we might have a new curse in the works. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I know I have already posted and the questions I raised still reflect my thoughts, but suddenly I am struck with another chunk of baseball history.  

The Red Sox - sold Babe Ruth!  Not news today I know, but

https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/short-stops/the-deal-that-changed-the-game.  Now one of the commentors mentioned Pohlads my need liquidity for Real Estate.  No idea if this is true, but should we sell one of our three stars for them to have cash we might have a new curse in the works. 

Might not be allowed now.

Do the Twins have a Babe Ruth?

[sweetmusicviola16]

After Burnes signed with Arizona I'm seeing Pablo headed to Baltimore. They went the rental route but I think they may want more security this time around. Basallo and McDermott coming the Twins way? Just a hunch here.