Pohlads Willing to Spend?

[RedBull34]

Apparently the Pohlads approved a higher budget than the FO decided to utilize according to Phil Mackey.

 

[darin617]

Sure, and the moon is made out of cheese.

Or it could be that they have made so much money since they started slashing payroll they have started to feel a little guilty.

Both statements are false of course and it's not like they grew a conscience and realize how bad they are screwing over the fans and turned the team into a cellar dweller so quickly. In other words look for an $85M 2014 payroll...yawn......

[ThePuck]

There's nothing to surprising about that. Seemed to be fairly common knowledge, but it is nice to see a refresher as some Ryan defenders continue to deflect 'blame' (whether or not blame needs to be assigned) from Ryan to the Pohlads when it comes to payroll.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I don't see why it's so hard to believe that Ryan was the one limiting payroll. Everything we know about the guy suggests that he's pretty miserly and is focused on rebuilding the farm system right now. Agree with him or not, his actions have been consistent throughout.

[Rosterman]

Then we should have no problem overpaying, persay, to keep Justin Morneau. Maybe we immediately extend Pelfry and Blackburn. Possibly Ryan was expecting the Twins to hover right at .500 and he could make a big splash by being a buyer rather than a seller?

 

Unless if the Twins had made an outrageous offer to one or two of the high-end starting pitchers, in hindsight Ryan almost looks like a genius that he didn't overpay for any of the other 5 or so that we yelled about him signing.

 

The Twins turned a profiut last seson and carried a decent payroll. Looks like even if the stands are empty in August and September, the pre-sale will turn a profit this year with a vastly underpaid payroll. There will be additional monies coming into 2014 that go where, not to mention 2015 when our last big budget players are totally gone (Doumit and Willingham). By then, Mauer's payroll alone will be what the Twins are spending on the entire 24-man roster below him.

 

This last homestand and roadtrip were a disaster, from getting people enthusiastic about going to the ballpark. A limited amount of homegames in July won't help. Not sure if the Twins can patch anything together to win against anyone but, say, White Sox, Houston...that's it. If we can't even beat Kansas City...or Cleveland...or breakeven, then the ship is sinking.

 

Call it a rebuild and see what you have, and don't play games hoping to buy service time. The Twins, you can't afford to do that right now. You have to make the farm system scream and yell and show soemthing, anything, and you can still continue to restock it (by trading vets for chips, by signing those 26th and 41st players...you got the 40-man space coming up).

[Guest USAFChief]

It's certainly possible...but personally I have a hard time understanding why a GM in Ryan's situation would intentionally withhold significant salary if it's available.

[JB_Iowa]

The thing I find interesting is "MUCH HIGHER" payroll. (my emphasis)

 

Of course, merely keeping payroll at last year's levels would have been about 10% higher (or more).

 

This really doesn't surprise me. I think Bill Smith pushed them higher than they wanted to go but I think most people are surprised by how much Terry Ryan has cut.

[Brock Beauchamp]

It's certainly possible...but personally I have a hard time understanding why a GM in Ryan's situation would intentionally withhold significant salary if it's available.

 

Because he has zero fear in losing his job during a rebuilding period and wants that money for 2014 and beyond. That's my thinking and hopefully it's the case.

[Guest USAFChief]

Because he has zero fear in losing his job during a rebuilding period and wants that money for 2014 and beyond. That's my thinking and hopefully it's the case.

Again, certainly possible. But, if he's "pretty miserly," why should we think he'll change his methods in 2014?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Again, certainly possible. But, if he's "pretty miserly," why should we think he'll change his methods in 2014?

 

That's the catch. Is he so miserly that he refuses to spend money on free agents at all or is this a long term strategy of timing the entry into free agency?

[howieramone1406390264]

Again, certainly possible. But, if he's "pretty miserly," why should we think he'll change his methods in 2014?

Because he hates losing more than you do. Terry Ryan's methods are difficult to quantify. One may even say, they are in the eyes of the beholder.

[Roaddog]

Im hoping he is holding out for when Sano, Rosario , Buxton and others are ready.

[greengoblinrulz]

I 100% believe this as its not in Terry Ryan's DNA to spend money on people he deems unworthy. Problem is that other organizations have deemed our players worthy thru years that Ryan/MN front office were too cheap on.

[JB_Iowa]

There is not one shred of evidence that he is holding money back to spend later. It is absolutely contrary to the Twins business plan.

 

I'll believe it when I see it. (For those of you who think that is what is happening, please try to get Dave St. Peter to say/tweet that budget authority is being carried forward. I haven't heard it yet.)

[Brock Beauchamp]

There is not one shred of evidence that he is holding money back to spend later. It is absolutely contrary to the Twins business plan.

 

I'll believe it when I see it. (For those of you who think that is what is happening, please try to get Dave St. Peter to say/tweet that budget authority is being carried forward. I haven't heard it yet.)

 

I don't think anyone here believes that money is carried over from season to season. But committing money long term today is money that can't be committed to anything else tomorrow.

[drjim]

There's nothing to surprising about that. Seemed to be fairly common knowledge, but it is nice to see a refresher as some Ryan defenders continue to deflect 'blame' (whether or not blame needs to be assigned) from Ryan to the Pohlads when it comes to payroll.

 

I could be mistaken but I don't think Ryan defenders deflect blame to Pohlad.

[Einstein]

I believe this report, I think at this point it's more about Ryan's ego than about having the cash to spend. It seems as though Ryan finds it to be a bigger challenge to him personally to build a winner on the cheap than to build a winner by spending money and that's the approach he's going to sink or swim with.

[Mike Sixel]

I still contend he resigned because he could not stomach spending that much money on Mauer.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I seem to remember this last offseason that people said payroll wasn't an issue. This implies that it wasn't, but that Ryan didn't spend it as it wouldn't aid in the rebuilding.

 

What I really hope is that he's going to take that money he saved and blow it at that Cuban Free agent Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez. If the money is there, why not blow it on a piece that could be a significant part of the rebuilding?

[Brock Beauchamp]

That'd be nice. Give it to the Cuban. I'm down with that.

[TheLeviathan]

Hard for me to be real confident in future spending until Ryan at least hands out one deal that is more than 3 years. I would take ANY contract over 3 years this offseason and consider it a huge win for the future, because it at least would show a willingness. I'm that desperate for something to grasp on to for hope that FA isn't limited to nickels and dimes.

[ashbury]

It's certainly possible...but personally I have a hard time understanding why a GM in Ryan's situation would intentionally withhold significant salary if it's available.

 

One theory: if the roster he constructed had been able to stay at the margins of the pennant race, he could have made a trade-deadline deal that involved taking on someone else's payroll headache by using the cash instead of giving up a meaningful prospect.

 

As the standings look now, this isn't likely to play out of course. Cash can be used at a deadline deal to cover the remaining salary of someone like Morneau in order to get a better prospect in return, but that's still not going to increase the payroll. I don't know what other uses for cash could help the team - spending fully on rule-4 draftees and other signings of youngsters count against the cash that goes into the owners' pockets at the end of the season, and maybe we're not accounting for this properly.

[TheLeviathan]

One theory: if the roster he constructed had been able to stay at the margins of the pennant race, he could have made a trade-deadline deal that involved taking on someone else's payroll headache by using the cash instead of giving up a meaningful prospect.

 

I was trying to find the interview, but I'm pretty sure that was one of the things Ryan cited as part of his justification.

 

Of course, saving cash for when you plan to contend in July with this roster could bring another kind of indictment of Ryan's work this season: awful evaluation of capacity to contend.

[ashbury]

Because he hates losing more than you do.

 

Sometimes a moderator will delete a post summarily. Here, I'll just say, no reason to make it personal to another poster. Thanks.

[ThePuck]

I could be mistaken but I don't think Ryan defenders deflect blame to Pohlad.

 

I believe you are mistaken, because I've seen plenty of people throughout different forums, to include here, who blame the Pohlads for not giving Ryan the money to spend. That Ryan is basically building a team with the orders to continue to cut payroll.

 

Of course, not all Ryan defenders do, but I'm not saying all do.

[Joe A. Preusser]

Money well spent is money well spent. Why would Ryan spend money on free agents last offseason that he didn't think were worth what they were asking/getting? You build a franchise powerhouse not by spending money like water or simply because it's there, but by making good decision after good decision. Whether the payroll is there or not is irrelevant. Disagree with his assessment of worth and value if you want (I do on occasion) but at least give the guy credit for trying to make every decision a good one. You can't say the same for Bill Smith, or for many, many other GMs for that matter.

[cmb0252]

Money well spent is money well spent. Why would Ryan spend money on free agents last offseason that he didn't think were worth what they were asking/getting? You build a franchise powerhouse not by spending money like water or simply because it's there, but by making good decision after good decision. Whether the payroll is there or not is irrelevant. Disagree with his assessment of worth and value if you want (I do on occasion) but at least give the guy credit for trying to make every decision a good one. You can't say the same for Bill Smith, or for many, many other GMs for that matter.

 

Agreed. Nicely said.

[TheLeviathan]

Disagree with his assessment of worth and value if you want (I do on occasion) but at least give the guy credit for trying to make every decision a good one. You can't say the same for Bill Smith, or for many, many other GMs for that matter.

 

It's funny, when someone says something like this to defend Ryan, we have people line up to like it, but let's look at that claim: Do you really think Smith was "not trying" to make good decisions? You think he was indifferent somehow about whether his moves were good ones or not?

 

And to your larger point, part of the problem with being afraid to make mistakes is that it also means you are afraid to take risks. I, for one, think taking risks comes with the position. I'm not sure Ryan has ever accepted that when it comes to contracts.

[ThePuck]

Agreed. Nicely said.

 

Problem is, that quality FAs are always going to require an 'overspend' which means it's no longer an overspend, but what the market actually is. If you wanna praise him for not 'overspending', either in years or money, you might as well say that you're happy if he never signs a true quality FA.

[cmb0252]

Problem is, that quality FAs are always going to require an 'overspend' which means it's no longer an overspend, but what the market actually is. If you wanna praise him for not 'overspending', either in years or money, you might as well say that you're happy if he never signs a true quality FA.

 

This is a huge jump. You do know the Twins are currently really bad and have been for 3 years now? Free agents aren't coming here unless you grossly over pay them which is never a good idea, especially when you are rebuilding. Reports came out this off season saying we couldn't give our money away. I rather Ryan be smart with FA signings till our younger talent is ready. Over spending on average talent at best is never a good business move.