bean5302

Carl Pohlad was born in 1915. He moved to California after graduating in 1933 when he was 18. He wasn't in any position of authority at the bank. He was an odd jobs guy who got his start milking cows and driving the bank manager around... He boxed for extra money while going to school at Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington. He was on the football team at Gonzaga which might require hiding his name in an occasional "prize fight" not for a used car salesman being scared for his business reputation, LOL.

Castellano would immediately file a grievance and MLB would take all of 24hrs to conclude their investigation and suspend Falvey for probably 3+ years or so since Eppler's suspension just recently wouldn't have been enough to avoid a blatant use of the Phantom IL.

I think the exercise would probably involve Boras and Lewis projecting Lewis' salary and doing a risk analysis. What does 1 or two years of free agency cost Royce? It costs him prime extension years. This is overly simplistic, but something like: Prime 3 WAR, 4 WAR, 5 WAR+ a30 = 4yrs, 5yrs, 6+yrs a31 = 4yrs, 4yrs, 5+yrs a32 = 3yrs, 4yrs, 4+yrs a33 = 3yrs, 4yrs, 4yrs a34 = 2yrs, 3yrs, 3yrs a35 = 2yr, 2yrs, 3yrs a36 = 1yr, 2yrs, 2yrs Buying out 2 years of free agency with a $70MM contract costs Lewis: +280% < 2 WAR = -45MM (Lewis is ahead) +175% 2 WAR = -30MM (Lewis is ahead) -29% 3 WAR = 28MM total or (2MM + 26MM next contract) -48% WAR = 64MM total or (24MM + 40MM next contract) -62% 5 WAR = 113MM total or (33MM + 80MM next contract) < 2 WAR 2 WAR 3 WAR 4 WAR 5 WAR 6 WAR > 6 WAR 2025 26 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2026 27 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 2027 28 4.5 6 10 12 14 15 18 2028 29 6 8 15 18 20 22 25 Through Arb 15.8 20.3 32.3 38.3 43.3 47.3 55.3 2029 30 5 10 20 28 30 36 40 2030 31 5 10 20 28 30 36 40 2031 32 5 10 20 28 30 36 40 2032 33 5 8 20 28 30 36 40 2033 34 8 16 28 30 36 40 2034 35 6 16 18 30 36 40 2035 36 10 18 30 36 40 2036 37 8 18 16 36 40 2037 38 5 12 16 20 40 2038 39 40 2039 40

Yeah, it's not too sneaky. It's a tongue in cheek reference to the movie "Office Space" in Peter Gibbons' meeting with the "Bob's" haha

You've been corrected I don't know how many times on this. Pohlad milked cows on a farm, and then did odd jobs for a bank. He was promoted to driving the car for the manager who delivered foreclosure letters, and then sometimes delivered the foreclosure letters directly as part of his job during the Great-Depression. Pohald's mom made money to help put food on the table by washing the neighbors' clothes for them because they were dirt poor and having problems putting food on the table. Pohlad was in high school at the time. Like any billionaire, you're going to find plenty of questionable business practices in their history. All of them.

I saw very little different between Smith/Ryan2 regimes and Falvey except Falvey's front office was much worse at drafting/development, at least for the first few years.

Hmmm... I got into baseball because of a girl and a company event.

The only offer an MLB team can make to Sasaki under the rules is a one year, Minor League Baseball contract. Period. They can add up to their full available International Signing Bonus Pool. After signing, Sasaki can be added to the team's 40 man and active 26 man roster. Discussing extensions or any MLB contracts is not allowed under league rules. I don't think any team would dare extend Sasaki before the end of the current year, but if Sasaki plays well in year 1, an extension to buy out arbitration years and maybe 1-2yrs of free agency at a huge value would be accepted. While @chpettit19 believes teams will adhere strictly to not only the black and white rules, but the spirit of the rules, I believe teams will push any gray area they see when you're talking about $100s of millions of dollars based on my own personal experience dealing with potential contracts in the hundreds of millions or billions.

I think a lot depends on whether or not Royce believes in his abilities. He may not be willing to take a discount rate based on his struggles last year. Just like Buxton and Berrios pushed the Twins. I don't think there's a chance Lewis takes an 8yr $70MM contract right now. What's a reasonable projection of Lewis' salary if he turns into a player similar to what we might want to extend (4 WAR+)? a26 2025 - $2MM a27 2026 - $6MM a28 2027 - $10MM a29 2028 - $18MM + QO Buying out 4yrs of free agency for $38MM? Not happening. Lewis will get a 5-7 year deal at AAV of $25MM+ in free agency if he's a 4+WAR player. If Lewis were 2 years younger, I'd suspect he'd be okay agreeing to give up 1-2yrs of free agency, but now? It's going to have to be like a 10yr deal at $150MM IMHO. Colt Keith got 9yrs $82MM as a prospect with a lower ceiling and floor than Lewis.

I think your position is a bit naive. It just means teams will be more careful about how they word it or they'll be more judicious when they choose to tamper. "We really value our players and young core of our team, and we want to keep those players together. We were just thinking about making an offer to a pitcher for 6yrs and $80MM for example." The Braves were breaking all kinds of rules including illegally tampering with players on other teams, and visiting international prospects too early. Stuff which was not only widespread, but far more visible and easier to prove.

You mean the guy we forced out of the rotation in September, wasn't allowed to start in the playoffs, and we didn't want to bring back despite needing the rotation depth? While Maeda might have liked his time in Minnesota, the end of his tenue wasn't exactly rosy.

Royce Lewis is my favorite Twins player. I would 100% advocate against extending him right now. He just hasn't proven he can be great. The same way I really disliked the Buxton extension the Twins should never have gotten themselves into. 1. Long track record of major injuries. 2. Athleticism which has been severely impacted by those injuries. Dropping from a probable 70+ grade speed guy to a 40 grade speed guy. That has to rebound before I extend him. 3. Performance. Lewis had major struggles in the 2nd half of last year. I think it's just a combination of leg injuries robbing his strength and speed, and that Lewis will rebound in 2025, but an extension now is too risky. 4. Ownership change. Locking up players to long term contracts before selling the team doesn't make sense as it reduces the new owners' flexibility. Rosters don't matter, but I bet large, long term guaranteed contracts do. 5. Chemistry. As of the end of the season, signs point to Lewis being angry with the Twins and not super happy with his team mates. Unless these issues have been cleared up, smashing Lewis together with long term team mates might not be a great idea.

Honestly, an epic rap battle between Twins players throughout the season would be hilarious. Might need to hire a professional company to stage it dress up style like "Epic Rap Battles of History" Let the fans vote via their MLB Ballpark apps. Have local artists submit their scripts and give those artists credit for the tongue in cheek raps. Almost none of these satirical ideas are truly crazy, haha. Or I might be more crazy than suspected? Jim Jeffries - "That's the thing about crazy people. They don't know they're crazy. That's what makes them crazy!"

I'd keep SWR in AAA to get a look at Castellano in the rotation for a few starts if the rule 5'er pitches well in Spring Training. The fact Paddack hasn't been shipped out is negligence on Falvey's part. He's doing it again. Guy does not understand the Twins' position or how to budget.

I'm waiting for the first bait-n-switch international signing to push the boundaries of collusion in regard to the broken international signing stuff with Japan. Step 1) Sign sub-25 year old Japanese star player to MiLB contract (as required). Step 2) Hypothetically... hahhaha, believe me, this is a "hypothetical" what.. if you, say, make the team out of of Spring Training might you be amicable to an extension to x years and y dollars? This is absolutely happening, btw. I guarantee extensions are being hinted at during discussions. Just whether or not there's a gentleman's agreement formally being made, and how quickly the move happens, you know?

Correa is a great shortstop. Teams are interested, but few are going to be interested taking on his entire contract, even if there is surplus value. There's nothing in Derek Falvey's answer which alludes to any significant discussions on Correa or the team actively shopping him. Reports on Correa being traded are wispy, lack any teams involved or even confirmation there is more than a check-in level of activity. Here's what it looks like when the Twins were actively looking to move cornerstone players at the deadline in 2021. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/07/byron-buxton-trade-rumors-twins-phillies.html Do the Twins regret signing Correa? I doubt it. He's a big part of the reason they won their first playoff game and series in 20 years. They probably regret the structure of the contract.

They'd all suck. That's how it would change. I absolutely abhor the concept of the "Golden At Bat." It's pretty rare for me to feel so strongly negative about rule changes. Ghost runner. Probably mildly prefer it to not exist? Don't really care. Bigger bases. Seems like a good idea. Pitch clock. Absolutely love it. Ban extreme shifts. Strongly supportive. Universal DH. Supportive. Golden at bat. Seething, intense, even irrational abhorrence.

Alrighty. Let's do a fair and honest review. It took me a couple minutes but your "NA" = New Addition? The way you setup the roster list isn't my favorite because it makes it harder to assign positions to incoming players or to keep track of them. For this exercise, we assume Luis Arraez is on the team instead of being unconditionally released and will be at 2B and Brooks Lee moves back to AAA. Ahmed Rosario, Scott Alexander and Elias Diaz are veterans without options so they need to be on the roster if you're offering them more than MiLB contracts (which you are). *Elias Diaz slots into backup catcher replacing the outgoing Christian Vazquez. *Ahmed Rosario will replace the outgoing Willi Castro as a Utility Infielder. *Scott Alexander is listed under the position player NA category, but he should be in the pitcher group. He pushes Kody Funderburk to AAA. *Pete Fairbanks has no options so he pushes Louie Varland back to AAA. *Roki Sasaki replaces the outgoing Chris Paddack in the rotation. I'll assume his signing bonus is our maximum of $7.5MM and is counted against MLB payroll. He cannot initially be signed to a 2yr deal under MLB rules. Roki Sasaki can ONLY be signed to a MiLB contract, period. Afterwards, he can be added to the 40 man and the 26 man. The team will have 6 years of control over him. C: Ryan Jeffers ($4.7MM) 1B: Jose Miranda ($0.8MM) 2B: Luiz Arraez ($14.0MM) 3B: Royce Lewis ($2.3MM) SS: Carlos Correa ($36.0MM) LF: Trevor Larnach ($2.1MM) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.0MM) RF: Matt Wallner ($0.8MM) DH: Edouard Julien ($0.8MM) 4th OF: DaShawn Keirsey ($0.8MM) Utility: Ahmed Rosario ($3.5MM) Utility: Austin Martin ($0.8MM) Position Players = $84.6MM / 25.0 WAR Backup C: Elias Diaz ($3.0MM) SP1: Pablo Lopez ($21.8MM) SP2: Joe Ryan ($3.8MM) SP3: Bailey Ober ($4.3MM) SP4: Roki Sasaki ($0.8MM) + $7.5MM SP5: Simeon Woods Richardson ($0.8MM) Rotation = $39.0MM / 13.0 WAR RP: Jhoan Duran ($3.7M) RP: Brock Stewart ($0.8MM) RP: Griffin Jax ($2.6MM) RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.5MM) RP: Cole Sands ($0.8MM) RP: Justin Topa ($1.3MM) RP: Pete Fairbanks ($3.7MM) RP: Scott Alexander ($2.5MM) Bullpen = $16.9MM / 6.5 WAR Total Payroll $140.5MM So we're over payroll here. If you exclude the $7.5MM for Sasaki's International Signing Bonus (I don't think ownership would be on board with that), we're still at $133MM. I think this is about an 89-90 win team. Now, onto the viability of this deal. Trade 1 - Paddack, Vazquez ($17.5MM), Keaschall, and Morris for Arraez ($14.0MM). San Diego is looking to dump salary, not take salary on. Padres don't need/want Vazquez, but they're probably okay with Paddack for depth. Keaschall and Morris as toss ins make this a huge overpay for the Twins so San Diego would take this deal. Trade 2 - Willi Castro ($6.2MM) for RHP Pete Fairbanks ($3.7MM), AA Catching Prospect Dominic Keegan, and A+ 2B prospect Emilien Pitre. Pitre is a nothing toss in, sure. But Dominic Keegan being listed as Org #13 by MLB.com is probably undervaluing him. BTV lists Dominic Keegan at $8.9MM surplus at the trade deadline, but he absolutely raked afterwards, finishing the season with a .320/.400/.546 OPS .946 wRC+ 179 line with a 10.0% BB to 23.6% K rate in AA. The only question about Keegan is his catching skill. Even if he can't catch, he can still DH or cover 1B. No way the Rays trade him for Castro, even straight up IMHO. Fairbanks for Castro, probably, even if the Rays don't like taking on salary. Signing Roki Sasaki. This is not happing. There's no good reason for Sasaki to sign with the Twins. We can't offer more money than anybody else, we can't offer more endorsement value. Everybody he talks to is on lame duck status so he's not likely to know anybody in the front office or on field coaching management a year from now and the Twins haven't treated other Japanese/KBO signings well at all.

@polanconeverblinks Very first thing I noticed... you traded for Luis Arraez and then DFA'd Arraez and released him because he's not on your roster? I mean, that's some pretty bold hatred of a guy (or a funny error) hahaha @Mike Sixel you don't need to worry. Arraez didn't even make the roster here.

Just ball parking it. Not everybody starts working in their career path at age 18. Some work a retail or service industry job while they figure out what they're going to do or there are some internships which don't exactly pay well, etc. Kinda nit picking 45 vs. 47 years, LOL.

If they all had first showings like Keoni Cavaco maybe? .172/.217/.253 OPS .470 wRC+ 37 in rookie ball with a 4.3% BB rate and a 38.0% K rate would be good enough for me to bet a prospect wasn't going to make it.

20 WAR in a Twins uniform. That's my bar for HoF. Smalley and Coskie are the only ones who make the list here.

No, no, no, that was just miscommunication. Polanco needed the special clubhouse glue to hold his knees together. Lost in the translation. Reminds me of the old Sprint mobile bad communication commercial. "What they said was ship the Enron documents to the feds, but what they heard was rip the Enron documents to shreds. Clearly a case of bad cellular."

The Twins cannot be relocated. They're under a guaranteed lease until 2040 with no option for early termination. A Hennepin County judge struck down a move with just 1 year left on the lease at the Metrodome back in 2000. No judge is going to allow a move with 15 years left on the lease. Furthermore, MLB owners have to approve any move, and owners would not be on board with the Twins moving any time in the near future because the Twins already have a good stadium and situation in Minneapolis. Any place the Twins could potentially get a brand new stadium deal in place with public money is currently also potential expansion location or location a team in a bad stadium position on a short term lease would potentially explore moving to. Moving the Twins to a location which would carve up an existing owner's market. So allowing the Twins to move would hurt future and/or existing MLB owners.

Average US blue collar worker makes $50k a year in current dollars. avg. blue collar 45 years of work = 2.25MM. HVAC industry more like $3MM+ an electrician, more like $4MM+ Studies on household income level "happiness" is reached between $80-100k-ish per year on average as I recall. You're in the ballpark if you're in a blue collar skilled trade. Food industry is the lowest, skilled trades in construction/housing in the middle, with maintaining expensive equipment being the high end. In general from what I've seen.