Blame Game: Who Gets the Most Blame for the Twins’ Poor Start?

Great comments by all.  Blaming the schedule is ridiculous.  Is anyone blaming the schedule now that we are playing the absolutely dreadful White Sox?  Blaming the fact you are playing better teams shows how far the team is from being a top team.  I put most of it on the ownership and FO.  The ownership for cutting payroll by so much and doing such an unprofessional job in handling it.  I blame the FO for coming up with new excuses for inept play.  Yes the players need to play better.  But the FO put the team together. They share in the responsibility.  Of course players like playing here, especially the veterans.  There's very little pressure on them by the media and especially the management to perform.  The fact that we may soon reach .500 by beating up on the AA White Sox shouldn't mask the many problems with this team.

As a business owner, I know crap rolls downhill, so ownership is at the top of this list. To me, it starts their and it ends their. 

1)  Ownership cutting payroll even before they knew how the TV issue would be resolved;

2) FO for LOUSY decisions on how to spend the available funds.  Farmer, Santana,  and Margot.  DeScal trade.  No meaningfull SP additions, only subtractions.

3) Batters are underperforming, especially with RISP.  Pathetic.

The poor performance this year is on the FO, owners, coaching staff, and players. Not in that order. Injuries happen, should be expected. They’ll get both Lewis and Correa back, so it’s not the end of the season. The schedule is always a gamble. The old saying “ it’s not who you play, it’s when you play them” proves true over a long season. Especially with the new balanced schedule. 
I blame the coaching staff more than anything. Players are going to go through slumps, that’s part of the game. But all the players going through at the same time?! This has happened two years in a row now, so it’s not a one time phenomena. I also look at how the manager reacts during team slumps. I don’t see Rocco trying anything different to give the team a jolt or squeeze out a run, batting order looks the same, same station-to-station play, etc.  What’s the definition of insanity? 
Rocco doesn’t have the skills, personality, or baseball knowledge to work with a player to get them out of a slump. Definitely not at the same level as Kelly or even Gardenhire. Not in the same league as Bochy, Baker, or Francona. If the manager needs an all star roster to win, then fire Rocco and I’ll take the job. The owners can save the salary, I’ll take the job just for the season tickets. 

This is the third year in a row that the Twin’s are plagued by injuries. When does “bad luck” become a trend?

Meanwhile you have Emmanuel Rodriguez in Wichita lighting the world on fire every night.  You want to change things up? Promote him and cut Margo. That would send a message. 

12 hours ago, Reptevia said:

This is the third year in a row that the Twin’s are plagued by injuries. When does “bad luck” become a trend?

Show me a team not plagued by injuries??   Massive injuries specifically of pitchers.  I think this is part of the reason,  Twins are really cutting back on starter innings especially early on.  Easy them into it.  

As to overall strategy,  what the front office is doing leads to ultimate results on whether the team is successful.  As to where our farm ranks,  personal as of right now I think ours is slightly above average, would rank in the 13 to 14 range.  I fully expect it to continue to improve and have a fully stocked cupboard within a year.  Fully expect in the 5-10 range unless we are trade players away.  

22 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

From least to most I think you hit the order on the head perfectly.  Players gotta play!

It really is on the players but injuries certainly didn’t help. The owners lowering payroll after a playoff run last year makes me wonder if they are really in this to win or make money. I wouldn’t mind new more aggressive ownership.

1 minute ago, Sparky55 said:

It really is on the players but injuries certainly didn’t help. The owners lowering payroll after a playoff run last year makes me wonder if they are really in this to win or make money. I wouldn’t mind new more aggressive ownership.

There is really nothing to wonder about.  Ownership has been upfront that money drives 98% of their decisions.  That is why you are seeing hand-wringing over $500k decisions right now.  They are not willing to make necessary moves to make the team better.

One thing I wonder about:  When someone smarter than me runs a cost analysis on this team, what do the ratios of wins vs. payroll vs. attendance show?  Does winning the division increase income enough to offset a 10-15% increase in payroll?  How does that effect attendance?  My guess is there is a sweet spot where the Twins are competitive (but not great) with a mid-level payroll that generates enough attendance to make money.  Which means we as fans accept high-mediocre teams at an acceptable rate by ownership.

22 hours ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

Dang 20 games in and already the blame game LOL.  Injuries have been the biggest issue and its not even an option.  

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.  Ownership knew a new TV deal was needed and didn't get it done until VERY late...and it's not a new deal.  The appears to have lead to cutting payroll.  Management made the decision to get a deeper bullpen and not acquire much for our departing starting pitchers.  This was a gigantic mistake.  The best relievers on the Twins thus far are all holdovers from last year.  They acquire DeScalfini as a possible 5th starter (I still favor that trade) but he was probably no more than a 50/50 proposition to come back from his injury plagued season.  And that left Varland who has not shown he is a starter and would have made a nice reliever.  Consequently, my opinion is the front office should have targeted one or two middle rotation starters either via free agency or trade.  And let's not even discuss how awful the decision was to sign Santana when we could have had Solano back.  Ownership and Falvine are the primary blame; and no it's not too soon to judge.  I remain hopeful that the Twins will turn it around with players returning from injury.  However, the injuries do not explain the off season blunders.

41 minutes ago, Jeff K said:

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.  Ownership knew a new TV deal was needed and didn't get it done until VERY late...and it's not a new deal.  The appears to have lead to cutting payroll.  Management made the decision to get a deeper bullpen and not acquire much for our departing starting pitchers.  This was a gigantic mistake.  The best relievers on the Twins thus far are all holdovers from last year.  They acquire DeScalfini as a possible 5th starter (I still favor that trade) but he was probably no more than a 50/50 proposition to come back from his injury plagued season.  And that left Varland who has not shown he is a starter and would have made a nice reliever.  Consequently, my opinion is the front office should have targeted one or two middle rotation starters either via free agency or trade.  And let's not even discuss how awful the decision was to sign Santana when we could have had Solano back.  Ownership and Falvine are the primary blame; and no it's not too soon to judge.  I remain hopeful that the Twins will turn it around with players returning from injury.  However, the injuries do not explain the off season blunders.

This isn't just a Twins issue,  that there are major issues with their revenue model will continue to be an issue.  I still think Desclafani was a mandatory add in by Seattle,  I think the elbow was shot and everyone knew it.  Its just the Twins were willing to gamble and see how long the rubber bands would last (as shown not long).  

14 hours ago, Reptevia said:

This is the third year in a row that the Twin’s are plagued by injuries. When does “bad luck” become a trend?

If you believe luck, it is a curse that never goes away.

1 hour ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

This isn't just a Twins issue,  that there are major issues with their revenue model will continue to be an issue.  I still think Desclafani was a mandatory add in by Seattle,  I think the elbow was shot and everyone knew it.  Its just the Twins were willing to gamble and see how long the rubber bands would last (as shown not long).  

I get the revenue model is flawed as evidenced by the numerous teams that shrank their payroll.  And I think you are correct about DeScalfini as a throw in.  I like the trade.  Polanco was, at best, an average fielding 2nd baseman with a diminished ability to stay on the field.  But this reinforces my beef with Falvine.  They did virtually nothing to replace the lost starters.  Our starting depth is in the minors and not quite ready (except SWR we hope).  Mid rotation starter(s) ought to have been the goal.  None of the new relievers have had a significant impact on the team.  Our best relievers are from last years team.

1 minute ago, Jeff K said:

I get the revenue model is flawed as evidenced by the numerous teams that shrank their payroll.  And I think you are correct about DeScalfini as a throw in.  I like the trade.  Polanco was, at best, an average fielding 2nd baseman with a diminished ability to stay on the field.  But this reinforces my beef with Falvine.  They did virtually nothing to replace the lost starters.  Our starting depth is in the minors and not quite ready (except SWR we hope).  Mid rotation starter(s) ought to have been the goal.  None of the new relievers have had a significant impact on the team.  Our best relievers are from last years team.

With what money, or what trade?   Varland up to this point hasn't worked out.  I think Paddack had a good outing.  Lets see if he can get on track.  SWR is being given an opportunity, will see what happens.  

Oh, there is blame aplenty to go around.  It all starts with ownership.  The idea $30 million needed to be cut from the salary budget when there was no great mystery the Pohlad's were NOT going to be $55 million in the hole for the 2024 season is laughable.  They KNEW there were going to get a pretty hefty sum from Balley for 2024.  These things don't just suddenly happen.  They got $48 million.  Cutting $30 million wasn't necessary.

I'm not against dealing aging players to give younger, up and coming players a chance.  With Julien, Brooks Lee and even Austin Martin in the pipeline there was no need to keep Polanco.  So this brings me to the FO.  This FO has always been either a home run or a strikeout.  Much like their hitters.  They either push all the right buttons with veteran pickups, like last year with the exception of Gallo (which made zero sense from the beginning--adding a LH bat when the team craved a RH bat).  Or they push all the wrong buttons like Margot and Santana, or every veteran they brought in for the bullpen, also keeping an aging Theilbar when Funderburk is the obvious successor, to hanging on to an expensive utility guy like Farmer.

The hitters need to hit.  But I watch their approach and I wonder "are they being coached to this" or do they just have no plan or sense of situational hitting.  The Twins are incredibly frustrating to watch while batting.  I go back to the ownership and FO.  They needed to fill the void left by Sonny Gray's exit and essentially chose not to.  They deemed DeSclafani the replacement and then went with Varland as the #5 SP.  Cleveland, Detroit and KC all WORKED to get better and it shows so far.  If ownership imposed a "salary cap" for lack of a better term and the need for a veteran SP was acute, the answer was right there all along and actually still is.

 I can't wait to see what happens when Lewis and Correa, not to mention Duran, Topa come back.It would be a shame to demote Funderburk and, say, Sands because you can (or even Bowman). When the questionable arms are Thielbar and Jackson. Not to mention Alcala deserves to be a Twin. And there is still Staumont hoping for big league work.

And on offense, better to keep Martin and Miranda than Farmer, Margot or Santana if you had to make a choice. But we can send the young guys down and not eat salary.

The Twins wasted a lot of signing dollars and even tradebait on players that won't be arund in 2025 for sure. Sadly.

Small sample sizes are small sample sizes especially when several of your best players are injured.  Duran will immediately solidify the bullpen,  which hasn't been bad but can put everyone else in their correct roles.  

Miranda, Larnach and Kiriloff all doing well.  Making up for Wallner going MIA.  Martin has held his own,  Kepler and Santana are beginning to warm up.  This team is still set up to do very well this year,  just need to keep hitting well, and continue to get good pitching performances.  

I thought it was silly coming out with this article last week,  thought we should wait until at least this week to see if we can hold our own against poorer competition and then see how we do against better competition when at full strength.  

Chpettit,  you have great baseball knowledge,  but like many on the board focus too much on past mistakes, issues beyond this managements control and in general like to jump on the team when performing poorly.  

After this winning streak,  other than the week in review how many positive articles are out . . . none.  How many negative articles came out last week  . . .      It seems like some enjoy when the team is doing poorly rather than doing well.   

On 4/24/2024 at 4:22 PM, rv78 said:

Your enthusiasm is good to see, however in the 8 years this FO has been in charge they've developed 1 pitcher that has been good enough to crack the rotation and stay there, Ober. We can name numerous players that were in the pipeline a few years ago, just like you are naming the ones there now and none of them made it like we were told they would. Where's Duran?.. now a reliever, how about Balazovic? Or Hendrick or Canterino or Winder just to name a few. Maybe they aren't as good at drafting as you think they are or they'd have more players making an impact verses acquiring injured pitchers (which is a whole nother story) to cover for their mistakes.

Look at how we have drafted over the years,  in reality have we spent any decent draft capital on pitching . . . the answer is no.  Since 2017 here our draft picks in the 1st 3 rounds used on pitching through 2021 (Leach, Enlow, Canterino, Petty, Hajjar, Povich).  We used a 1st round pick on a pitcher in 2021 and turned it into 2 great years of pitching from Sonny Gray  and an additional 1st round pick this year.  We are just now starting to see the team using more early round picks on pitchers.  We have a few options that can be #1 or #2 pitchers but we are building up a pretty good group of arms that can be back end of the rotation starters.   When you look at the total picture what they are doing is really amazing.   I will let the players continue to perform.   I anticipate strong finishes at all levels in the minor leagues this year and the players performances and rankings should go up accordingly.  

On 4/25/2024 at 12:26 PM, TopGunn#22 said:

Oh, there is blame aplenty to go around.  It all starts with ownership.  The idea $30 million needed to be cut from the salary budget when there was no great mystery the Pohlad's were NOT going to be $55 million in the hole for the 2024 season is laughable.  They KNEW there were going to get a pretty hefty sum from Balley for 2024.  These things don't just suddenly happen.  They got $48 million.  Cutting $30 million wasn't necessary.

I'm not against dealing aging players to give younger, up and coming players a chance.  With Julien, Brooks Lee and even Austin Martin in the pipeline there was no need to keep Polanco.  So this brings me to the FO.  This FO has always been either a home run or a strikeout.  Much like their hitters.  They either push all the right buttons with veteran pickups, like last year with the exception of Gallo (which made zero sense from the beginning--adding a LH bat when the team craved a RH bat).  Or they push all the wrong buttons like Margot and Santana, or every veteran they brought in for the bullpen, also keeping an aging Theilbar when Funderburk is the obvious successor, to hanging on to an expensive utility guy like Farmer.

The hitters need to hit.  But I watch their approach and I wonder "are they being coached to this" or do they just have no plan or sense of situational hitting.  The Twins are incredibly frustrating to watch while batting.  I go back to the ownership and FO.  They needed to fill the void left by Sonny Gray's exit and essentially chose not to.  They deemed DeSclafani the replacement and then went with Varland as the #5 SP.  Cleveland, Detroit and KC all WORKED to get better and it shows so far.  If ownership imposed a "salary cap" for lack of a better term and the need for a veteran SP was acute, the answer was right there all along and actually still is.

Would like to see the link confirming what the twins are getting from Bally's.  I have not been able to find any report, just conjecture based on what Cleveland and Texas received which is a totally different scenario.  They had contracts and needed the approval of a bankruptcy judge.  The Twins did not have that leverage in negotiations.  You also ignored the $30M decrease in revenue from the BAM money.  Are you still not aware of the BAM money after all the discussion or are you simply choosing to ignore anything that contradicts your position?

.... You are also comparing this year's starting payroll to last year's ending payroll which of course includes the additional cost to replace injured players.   The current payroll is 129.6M.  The difference is roughly #23M not $30M.