Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Dave Borton

Verified Member
  • Posts

    1,750
  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Dave Borton

  1. Assistant General Manager. Strictly a 'throw-away line' for public consumption. You can't take them seriously. Cutting payroll? Let's start w/what we don't know. Falvey's contract. I can assure you there are incentive clauses in there which award bonuses based on how the Twins finish w/X base total payroll. A whole matrix of payroll and margins so that the budget is on his back if he wants to earn a bonus. The Twins want to make XX% margin on their invested capital. If they can shave payroll based on a foundation of lots of $750K min salary players, so much the better for Pohlad and Falvey. They will still draw 23,000 a game, be confident of arm wrestling Detroit for the Division title, bump concessions a bit, increase the cost of concessions, and sneak up the cost of the XX sections and voila, they make a higher percentage margin than they did last year. Regardless, I expect some alley cruising looking for pitchers this winter with Kepler and Polanco in the back seat, as they seek to replace Gray , Maeda, et al. I hope I have to eat those words. No Bally? I think that has been over-pitched as an inevitable decrease in revenue. I am not convinced. No books, no belief.
  2. "The Angels netted some $10 million to $20 million a year in revenue from Ohtani-related in-stadium and on-air advertising. With the Dodgers, one industry expert suggested Ohtani could be worth two or three times as much." https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2023-12-09/shohei-ohtani-dodgers-agreement-angels The article also talked about Ohtani's idea to make the contract contain unprecedented deferred comp (many years beyond the 10 yr contract) to avoid busting the luxury tax for the Dodgers and likewise, tax advantages for Ohtani. Ohtani can now buy that cabin up nort' of Tokyo and fish for some walleye with cormorants https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2426.html#:~:text=Ukai is a traditional fishing,official patronage from the emperor.
  3. Owners cry poor but most are multi-billionaires. Without open books, there is no idea of margins, revenues beyond expenses so the FO can tell any folk tale of "poor us; we're broke." If it wasn't lucrative, owners would dump franchises left and right. That doesn't happen. Billionaires buy clubs for ego and appreciation, just like your home appreciates. The Dodgers have just captured all of Asian ball attention. MLB will launch/expand its rights w/Nippon Broadcasting. 17 hrs time difference so there's a bit of challenge. Merchandising. Stuff will fly off the shelves (to wit: Taylor Swift's boyfriend jerseys). Everyone in the SW wears Dodger stuff, particularly Latino population. More corporate sponsors, hike the cost of advertising any place in Dodger Stadium, concessions, TV and radio advertising rates will go up and, TV contract revenue, ballpark seats can be bumped in price. Dodger Stadium already packs 'em in, leading MLB at 47,000 per game. While it will hold 9,000 more, those seats are bad but they will sell more. Couldn't get me there in a car. Horrible, horrible. Bus, yes, but the traffic/parking is maddening. Will be curious to follow avg attendance next year. MLB ain't broke by any means. $700MM was a bargain and the Guggenheim Baseball Management Group knows it. So much for Dave Roberts derailing the train.
  4. I can get my head around $1M. But 700 of them? I would get headaches owning that much.
  5. In listening to a podcast, heard an interesting sales pitch that Toronto had used. If signing with the Jays, Ohtani would own a country. Having seen rabid Toronto hockey and baseball fans, might well be accurate. B.C. folks flood Mariners park, we are inundated with " 'eh?" speakers when Jays are in town. Might be appealing to Mr. O.
  6. Clubs are building accelerated contracts to coincide with other contracts coming off. As an example, you could build a contract extension for Lewis which starts at $2MM/yr, goes to $4MM next year, $8MM 3rd yr, etc., with any accelerator you need to get to total contract amount needed based to reach the mutual amount.
  7. Excellent writing with data sets to back it up.
  8. All the stats are good. But they are only a snapshot. We have a diminishing percentage of the ballplayers compared to say, 1970, 1990, 2010, etc. My point was baseball popularity is on the wane here at home and in part, MLB leadership (or lack thereof) and ownership are responsible for that.
  9. Well here is one. Have yet to see 1 football, basketball or hockey game. I do go to a Gophers volleyball game with my daughter on occasion. I checked the Gophers-Badgers after the game since my buds in WI bust my cajones and I want to feel the ax coming at them. I have let go of other sports, one by one, since my high school sports involvement showed I definitely needed grades since my prowess on the court and fields wasn't going to command a full-boat ride to a Div I athletic scholarship (winks). "Hot stove?" Not radiating much heat this Winter. I check MLB, the wires, and TD daily. When there is a signing of significance, I scour the contract. My interest in ball is as much from the business side as in the game. The NFL and NBA have taken their games and marketed to future generations. Kids don't play ball anymore. The best athletes? They are on 100-yd fields and wooden courts. 30% of the ballplayers under contract come from other countries. Why? Promotion, MLB didn't read the train's time schedule 50 years ago and the train left without her. MLB misses that same train every year. <Color me sad>.
  10. He11 would be an interminable debate between the two. Allen would have to convince Atteberry that he wasn't a homer and Atteberry would have to convince Allen that he didn't talk too much after memorizing Baseball-Reference. They couldn't come out until they mutually agreed on who won.
  11. When Twins play Bosox, I switch over to Boston's booth to listen to Joe Castiglione's when he is in the radio booth.
  12. Ask me how I feel about the incessant chattering Atteberry taking over the play-by-play on radio. Provus deserved the promotion. Well earned. At the same time, it's obvious that the Twins didn't do a small consumer (test group) survey re: Atteberry in the booth. Thank goodness for the radio stream from opponents' booths on MLB.
  13. The lad is just too erratic. Bottom of the 9th, Pagan enters in relief. My butt is biting the recliner... No longer. Phew, can now get the recliner reupholstered.
  14. Loved the "early shower." Couldn't resist chuckling. You can think "I wanted to be a Card a year ago" but you don't verbalize it after the fact. Good heavens, Sonny. Went to Busch Stadium about 4 years ago on an Amtrak ball crawl through the Midwest. They were playing the Pirates on a Tues night. Lousy opponent and there were 40,000 rabid fans there. They have a following that can't be beat.
  15. Last year, when he pitched for the Dodgers, I would go to bed w/his game on and root against him for the same reason. Very bad clubhouse demeanor reported.
  16. Shoot, resurrect Satchel Paige while we are at it. Re: remaining a Twin. Sonny played coy last Fall. “Going into this thing. I wanted to be a Cardinal,” Gray said at his introductory news conference at Busch Stadium. “That started probably a little over a year ago. https://www.mlb.com/news/sonny-gray-cardinals-deal
  17. I believe 2028 per MLB. https://www.mlb.com/athletics/las-vegas-ballpark Yes! One more excuse to extend our Winter vacation in Mexico/Arizona into a Spring vacation as well.
  18. It is an interesting fanbase who will attend games, even with this new $113MM total payroll. Will be nearly sold-out every game. Short-sighted IMO but maybe their minor league system is jelling. I don't know as I don't follow up on the NL.
  19. Getting ahold of guys who can take the ball every 5 days. Pitching roster has been decimated.
  20. From one bird club to another, the Cards now. $12MM. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38953041/sources-p-kyle-gibson-cardinals-agree-1-year-12m-deal
  21. From one bird club to another, the Cards now. $12MM. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38953041/sources-p-kyle-gibson-cardinals-agree-1-year-12m-deal View full rumor
  22. Bad pennies always come home. Lance Lynn appears to be heading back to Cards on a 1-yr deal. https://www.mlb.com/news/lance-lynn-cardinals-deal
  23. Teachers union filing suit to stop public funding involved in $$1.5BB stadium. "With Major League Baseball owners poised to approve [approved] the relocation of the Oakland Athletics, a Nevada teachers’ union said Tuesday it plans to file a lawsuit that could halt some or all of the $380 million in public funding awarded to the A’s for construction of a new ballpark in Las Vegas." https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-11-14/athletics-vegas-teachers
  24. The owners approved the move, 30-0. What a mess. Lease expires at end of '24. New ballpark won't be ready until '28. New park will have a "partially retractable roof" (don't ask me what that is). AAA stadium holds 8,000. It they move in there, revenues will equal the 'tank team' it put on the field this year. Where will the AAA franchise end up (Pacific Coast League). Fischer has said that the A's will become the LV Athletics. Ever been to Vegas in the summer? Gorgeous weather for a desert Gila monster. Smallest media market of all existing MLB clubs; revenue and coverage will be marginal. Population similar to Milwaukee but then there are the tourists. Really, "Oh, let's go to Vegas to see a crap team play on a Tuesday night when the temps dip from 102 to 82 to 72." Not sure what Fisher was thinking. Nashville chomping at the bit. https://www.mlb.com/news/owners-approve-a-s-relocation-to-las-vegas
  25. Understood. It is just that I see such high praise and unchecked enthusiasm for Lee here on TD that I worry the expectations are up on the living room ceiling.
×
×
  • Create New...