High Expectations: Are The Twins In Win Now Mode?

Long-term win-now mode.

"Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, and Jose Berrios should solidify the roster for the next decade."

 

More like the next 3-5 years? If these players turn out to be worth signing when they reach free agency, the Twins will (as always) struggle to sign them. 

That will be the next test of the current management; they have proven adept at addressing roster needs and the draft, in the current sample size. Extending and managing young potential stars will be their next challenge.

Isn't it kind of ridiculous that team wouldn't be in "win now mode?" Isn't that the the whole point of the thing?

If only I could show up to my job and choose when I'd like to be in "work now mode."

I was ready to call 2018 another musical chairs season between MLB and AAA, but after they got Odoreater and Lynn, this squad looks very competitive as is, and if just a couple prospects arrive and contribute, we could all be pleasantly surprised. 

"Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, and Jose Berrios should solidify the roster for the next decade."

 

More like the next 3-5 years? If these players turn out to be worth signing when they reach free agency, the Twins will (as always) struggle to sign them.

 

Correct. There is no such thing as a team having several players coming up and sticking around for a decade anymore. Terry Ryan operated under that ridiculously outdated pretense. It's a fools errand to think you can project five years down the road, let alone 8, 9 or 10

If only I could show up to my job and choose when I'd like to be in "work now mode."

"Sorry boss person, I'm starting a rebuilding period right now. I'll be really productive in about 4-5 years with a little luck."

Isn't it kind of ridiculous that team wouldn't be in "win now mode?" Isn't that the the whole point of the thing?

If only I could show up to my job and choose when I'd like to be in "work now mode."

But actually that is what businesses do in the real world. They build and hope to make the owners richer down the road while the personnel endure leaner times hoping to see that same growth and benefit down the road from the better times to come. We hope our loyalty through the leaner times will be rewarded when the business thrives and that we won't get cut when it doesn't thrive right away. Joe Mauer has been in work now mode throughout his career despite enduring bad personal times and team struggles...

When a business owner sees an opportunity, they may push their chips in and risk the future of the company on the big pay day. Baseball (and all sports) is a business and should be run like one much to our dismay

Win now mode? <rolls his eyes>

Um, yes.

But you are implying with that phrase that they have to give up the future for the now. Which, btw, is a complete fallacy today. Only the historical preponderance and absolute ignorance of teams truly giving up way too much long-term for short-term help has this as an either or proposition.

The exploitable inefficiency is that some teams still probably believe this. Terry Ryan's group would. Ramos for Capps is an example of this.

Falvine appears to approach it right. Do everything you can for the "now" that doesn't effect the future in any noticeable way. When they do eventually send out a "real prospect" for shorter-term help (think Nick Gordon), I suspect they will have somewhat soured on the prospect before the league finds out.

Eventually, whatever inefficiencies the Twins are exploiting will cease to exist, and so they'll have to be on top of the others that spring up. Thus far they've benefited from the Pohlad's willingness to spend (e.g. the Garcia/Littell deal, Odorizzi, Lynn), so they may be more handcuffed in the future.

But for now, "win now mode" doesn't make much sense in its implication.

"Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, and Jose Berrios should solidify the roster for the next decade."

 

More like the next 3-5 years? If these players turn out to be worth signing when they reach free agency, the Twins will (as always) struggle to sign them. 

If only the Twins could get a newer stadium, so they can get the revenue required to sign homegrown free agent stars when the time comes.

The Twins are in win NOW and win LATER mode. They added vetarans but they also didn't mortgage the future to do it (either trades or long term potential terrible contracts). They are in a very good place imo. 

Don't confuse that with 'this is a great team' now though. There are many issues with the roster but they are making big progress right now.

It's impossible to say this team is primed for the future. Most of the players we know will be gone in one to two years. 

This is "win now" mode, Twins-style.

The Twins are in win now territory as far as the orginisation goes. Whether that is enough to compete league wide for the big prize is questionable. The pitching is improved thank goodness. But no one in the league is running around muttering "look at that pitching staff, omg". It's a better team than we have had. The offense should be better if the younger players keep on improving with age. There is little room for improvement from Dozier, Mauer, Castro, and EE. They could easily backslide. This is mostly the make or break roster for the Twins. BIG FA acquisitions are still not in our future, and a lot of the immediate talent is already here. We have waited for this talent to arrive, now it's time to see if the wait, was worth it?

It's impossible to say this team is primed for the future. Most of the players we know will be gone in one to two years. 

 

This is "win now" mode, Twins-style.

The Twins have a strong young core with tons of money coming off the books and a FO/ownership that seems willing to spend. This team is primed for the future with the caveat that the young players (and upper level prospects) collectively need to take a step forward. If they go the Andrew Wiggins/Gorgui Dieng route then this won't end well but if we see improvement from the group then they will have a strong team now AND later.

I’ve been looking around for an ace to acquire at the trade deadline this year, and I’m not seeing any. The best chance I see is the Mets going full Marlins mode.

I think the Twins are definitely in a "win 2nd place in the AL Central now," mode. Every team in the division is in a rebuild except the Twins and Cleveland, we could've done some broken field running here but it looks we're going to have to settle for "being competitive" instead. #2 WILD CARD OR BUST!

I changed my "2010 Playoffs" cap to "2017 Playoffs" with some medical tape and a sharpie and I can do it again.