Tom Pohlad Is on a Mission to Rebuild Trust. A Critical Juncture Lies Ahead.

[LastOnePicked]

34 minutes ago, Whammy said:

Really, it's probably more that I feel a little sorry for fans that have the same amount of passion for this team than I do, but can't enjoy the good parts because they let the bad parts overwhelm their overall attitude. 

Sure. Just be careful with assumptions.

I hated this season, but I delighted in Royce's brief resurgence, Taj Bradley's improvements, Brooks Lee's steady growth, Walker Jenkins' sweet swing, Emma's infectious energy. I act like I know a lot, but I didn't even think Connor Prielipp would make it to the bigs, much less get better over a whole season.

I'm going to be hard on this ownership and this team because I have seen first-hand what championship baseball can do for a state. Not only that, what championship baseball can do for parent-kid memories. Our Wheaties box is a holy relic at my folks' place. My Dad may not remember much at this point, but he remembers those games we saw together in '87 and '91. He worked overtime to afford those tickets.

It's been too darn long. Period. Any middling mindset or brain-dead baseball move that interferes with building a championship team here should treated like a mortal enemy or a disease to be eradicated from the body. I'm tired of being nice about this bottom-quartile baseball team.

[NYCTK]

57 minutes ago, Whammy said:

Really, it's probably more that I feel a little sorry for fans that have the same amount of passion for this team than I do, but can't enjoy the good parts because they let the bad parts overwhelm their overall attitude. 

If I ever got that way about something, I'd probably just peace the hell out. 
 

This is why I fully endorse adopting an NL team. That way you can reject unearned optimism of one club to look fondly on the future of the other. 

Doesn't work too well if both teams suck, but at least I'm able to be objective about the Twins. Mets are gonna be 2027 World Series Champs though, obviously. 

[Whammy]

24 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

This is why I fully endorse adopting an NL team. That way you can reject unearned optimism of one club to look fondly on the future of the other. 

Doesn't work too well if both teams suck, but at least I'm able to be objective about the Twins. Mets are gonna be 2027 World Series Champs though, obviously. 

That's probably healthy but I'd get too jealous of the "true" fans of a potential NL surrogate team. I'll never be able to enjoy it to the level that they can. 

[Whammy]

21 hours ago, Whammy said:

2) Extend the youth. The doom and gloom lockout talk gives the team a unique opportunity here. Several of them got draft signing bonuses in the last couple years and several of them were pretty large, but for players making $800k per season, the fears of a lockout would make the idea of a $5M signing bonus, as part of an extension, even more appealing that it normally would be. 

 

Quoting myself here, but one other aspect of this that is also sort of related to a possible lockout, we don't know what the arbitration clock will look like with the new CBA. That's definitely one of the items that will be part of the negotiations.

Will that affect guys who have already started their service clock? Maybe only guys that have less than a full year? Who knows. Here's what I do know, the 6+ years of service time for sure isn't getting LONGER.

Buying out a year or two of free agency might look very different 12 months from now. 

Now's the time to set ourselves up for the next 6-7 years.

[Linus]

57 minutes ago, Whammy said:

Quoting myself here, but one other aspect of this that is also sort of related to a possible lockout, we don't know what the arbitration clock will look like with the new CBA. That's definitely one of the items that will be part of the negotiations.

Will that affect guys who have already started their service clock? Maybe only guys that have less than a full year? Who knows. Here's what I do know, the 6+ years of service time for sure isn't getting LONGER.

Buying out a year or two of free agency might look very different 12 months from now. 

Now's the time to set ourselves up for the next 6-7 years.

So is quoting yourself the same as speaking in the third person? 😀