Should Derek Falvey Be Trusted to Make Trade Decisions on Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran, and Joe Ryan?

[jkcarew]

A very good question worth asking.

My answer: I don’t know.

Still, it will kill me to see yet another year go by without any meaningful action.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

That's funny.  There's not an owner in sports that cares about his customers.  They care about their bottom lines.  And if you had billions of dollars invested in something, you'd care about the same thing.

Econ 101: anyone who doesn't care about his customers will not have a positive bottom line, which will torpedo any chance of owning a sports franchise.

[dxpavelka]

5 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Buy those in the offseason.

Won't do you any good if you battle your way into contention while the bullets are still flying.

 

[dxpavelka]

1 hour ago, Minderbinder said:

Econ 101: anyone who doesn't care about his customers will not have a positive bottom line, which will torpedo any chance of owning a sports franchise.

And yet the vast majority of fan bases of sports franchises feel exactly that way about the ownership of their favorite team.

[rv78]

I wouldn't trust him to change my underwear.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

And yet the vast majority of fan bases of sports franchises feel exactly that way about the ownership of their favorite team.

Data?

[SwainZag]

17 hours ago, JDubs said:

I don't think it's really fair to judge a front office when ownership refuses to spend. You really can't include the at least last two years in evaluating this FO because no one would have been able to cut salary and put out a better team. The reason people always point to the Rays' success is because it's such an outlier -- any other team with penny-pinching ownership pretty much always has a terrible record unless they luck into something. Just imagine where this team could be if they simply kept stable at the 2023 payroll.

Couldn't agree more.  If you have an ownership group who isn't willing to put money into an up and coming team and solely rely on your GM to draft and trade well you are always going to be behind the 8 ball.  The 2023 team finally got over that cusp, won a playoff series and instead of adding.........they slash 25M in payroll.  A GM can only do so much.

[NotAboutWinning]

This becomes more of a moot point each day as more teams are filing in their gaps with trades.

[NYCTK]

16 hours ago, Minderbinder said:

Econ 101: anyone who doesn't care about his customers will not have a positive bottom line, which will torpedo any chance of owning a sports franchise.

Which is why the failsons are trying to sell. 

Always makes me laugh when people come out to defend against people being mean to a billionaire. But to the Pohlad's credit I doubt they were besties with Epstein. 

[joefish]

On 7/26/2025 at 4:25 AM, In My La Z boy said:

Amen! No prospect and no amount of prospects can equal a stud #1 starter under team control for years. Prospects may or may not pan out. Joe has panned out spectacularly and he's on his way. Get Pablo and Ober back, w/Zebby looking awesome last night, I'm saying we have a chance. I am also not in favor of blowing up the bullpen for prospects. 

The team will have many more years to rebuild or retool or whatever. But some of us fans are running out of time.

[In My La Z boy]

17 hours ago, joefish said:

The team will have many more years to rebuild or retool or whatever. But some of us fans are running out of time.

God Bless Friend 🙏 

[Riverbrian]

Trades are typically equal value when made. All front offices have similar metrics to compare and contrast. 

I believe that if they make a deal... it's going to a be a similar deal that any of the 29 other front offices would make.  

So I'm OK with them making deals. 

Where my trust is shaken is the necessary development of the players acquired. There will be an influx of young talent that need to get MLB ready. I don't think we can expect an influx of MLB ready players acquired in the deals we are about to make this week.    

Once again we are at the crux of the problem. Development. I don't think pouring more prospects into a filter that not much is coming out of solves much in the end.   

Handing more oranges to a struggling juggler isn't going to solve the juggling issue.

Just more oranges bruised on the floor. 

 

[jmlease1]

On 7/26/2025 at 1:22 PM, hitterscount said:

Ryan and Gardenhire's teams were 100 times more enjoyable to watch. I don't expect to win the WS every year or even make the playoffs every year. But watching the current product on the field is tough, there are long stretches where they appear to just go through the motions and are even bad at that. 

I have zero hard feelings, just checked out on this season when a manager is rewarded for leading one of the worst teams in baseball since last August. It's not that much to ask for clean, sound fundamental baseball and even some situational awareness. 

Were they? I'd argue that the Ryan/Gardy teams were fun to watch when they were winning (mostly) but watching them implode in the playoffs was as bad as anything going on today. Ryan/Gardy v1 was generally fun to watch, because teams were good, but Ryan/Gardy v2 sucked with those poor teams, which weren't very fundamentally sound, because they weren't GOOD. I mean did anyone say "hey the Twins lost 9-2 last night, but they didn't make any errors or baserunning mistakes so it was fun to watch" between 2011-2015?

It's not fun right now because the team is playing poorly. But the Bomba Squad was fun as hell, and the 2023 team was fun as hell too (with a lot of very likable players). 

Twins front office is probably getting swept out with new ownership, so if you want them gone, pray for a sale soon. (I'm fine with this; while I don't think Falvey & Co have been bad and think they got badly undermined by ownership, at the same time they also are going to miss the playoff in 4 out of 5 seasons in an era where it's easier than ever to make the playoffs so it's not like they've earned a guarantee)

[dxpavelka]

On 7/27/2025 at 2:08 AM, Minderbinder said:

Data?

if i have to explain it you'll never understand

 

[Prince Phillip]

Thanks Matt. 
“Trust” may not be the right sentiment here.  But our 3-6 start out of the all star break definitely makes the Twins sellers. But it should be moveable pieces that improve 2026, NOT a rebuild (I.e. do not trade Ryan).  If the FO can package Jax, Bader, Duran,  Julien, etc for a useful arm or 1B, let’s do it.  The core is solid, let’s fill the holes and not settle for adding depth. 
 

[Guest]

On 7/28/2025 at 9:23 AM, NYCTK said:

The Pohlads EARNED their money the old fashioned way. By having a rich daddy that died and then proceeded to run that inherited business into the ground. 

Sure, I would love to have a rich daddy. But why do people just believe that because someone's rich that they're good at their job? Even the one's that are successful are usually only very narrowly competent.

For example, Elon Musk is obviously a very good investor, but he's kind of a ****ing idiot. And a nazi! 

The Pohlads' net worth reportedly increased from a little under $4B ten years ago to about $6B today, approximately 7% annual return.  That's an acceptable return in a ZIRP environment.  So, what's being run into the ground?  And 7% reflects the Pohlads' concentration in banking and real estate, a conservative philosophy that reflects prudent investing.  How do you get from conservative, prudent management to a poor job of managing money?  Perhaps you have some data to share?   I'm amazed to find someone expert at taking apart the portfolio strategies of successful people and concluding they're "usually only very narrowly competent."  I value facts over feels....

[NYCTK]

13 minutes ago, Minderbinder said:

The Pohlads' net worth reportedly increased from a little under $4B ten years ago to about $6B today, approximately 7% annual return.  That's an acceptable return in a ZIRP environment.  So, what's being run into the ground?  And 7% reflects the Pohlads' concentration in banking and real estate, a conservative philosophy that reflects prudent investing.  How do you get from conservative, prudent management to a poor job of managing money?  Perhaps you have some data to share?   I'm amazed to find someone expert at taking apart the portfolio strategies of successful people and concluding they're "usually only very narrowly competent."  I value facts over feels....

Let's say it is 7% That's frankly pathetic, especially considering the rich have made out like ****ing bandits in the Trump Era. Sorry your favorite failsons aren't very good at business. But that is why they're being forced to sell the Twins, so its a blessing! 

Elon is the richest person in the world but has like 20 kids that almost all ****ing hate him. He spreads white genocide lies and other baseless conspiracy theories because he's a ****ing idiot. He tweaked his AI model to mirror his political beliefs after which it became a literal nazi and declared itself Mechahitler. Do you think that's a successful life? 

I just don't understand why people go online to defend people that would literally kill them for a basis point. These people are immoral pieces of **** and they're not going to give you some of their money. 

 

[Guest]

19 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Let's say it is 7% That's frankly pathetic, especially considering the rich have made out like ****ing bandits in the Trump Era. Sorry your favorite failsons aren't very good at business. But that is why they're being forced to sell the Twins, so its a blessing! 

Elon is the richest person in the world but has like 20 kids that almost all ****ing hate him. He spreads white genocide lies and other baseless conspiracy theories because he's a ****ing idiot. He tweaked his AI model to mirror his political beliefs after which it became a literal nazi and declared itself Mechahitler. Do you think that's a successful life? 

I just don't understand why people go online to defend people that would literally kill them for a basis point. These people are immoral pieces of **** and they're not going to give you some of their money. 

 

Thanks for the laughs, sport.

[NYCTK]

8 minutes ago, Minderbinder said:

Thanks for the laughs, sport.

Stop worshipping billionaires.