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Macro - Change is a comin. New ownership will probably want their guys in key positions. St. Peter, Falvey down to Rocco are all currently in a state of limbo. Good or bad, it is the way of things. New owners may be "bad", but they will be different. Remains to be seen how that effects the organization. Micro - Any discussion of spending $$ this offseason effectively comes to a halt. No large contracts, no long contracts. Also, no major changes either. Until a purchase becomes public (meaning it is close), the team is currently in a holding pattern. My POV: There is zero chance the Twins will be moved. Between existing contracts, Pohlad legacy, and alternate city options, this is not going to happen. I personally would love to see a Cuban-type jump in, but the baseball old-boys network would never approve a sale to this type of owner.

Proof that the Pohlads read Twins Daily.

Not taking it personally 👍 As you said, it came as a surprise. The Tigers were an anomaly. Got extremely hot at the right time and carried it into the playoffs. If the Twins traded Correa specifically, or started moving their core, it could get ugly

Correa is more than just the player on the field, more than just the clubhouse leader, he represents the Twins efforts to win. Fan Perception. We talk a lot about the Twins tanking to some degree by lowering payroll and not re-investing in salary of the team. But as long as there is the core of Correa, Buxton, Lewis, Lopez, and Ryan, there is the belief this team can be competitive. If the Twins move Correa, they might as well trade everyone. They would set this franchise back 3-5 years and lose whatever fan goodwill is left. Correa demanding a trade might change that narrative a bit, but I can't see that happening in the near future.

Call me cautious, but I would be totally fine with another year of Santana at $5m. I am not 100% sold that Miranda is "fixed" and Santana provides indirect insurance for another Lewis injury at 3B. Many comments about Martin, Lee, Kiersey, Julien, et. al getting long leashes and defined roles. A reminder that they did not perform very well when given the opportunity last season. Expecting them to serviceable next year could be setting this team up for another major failure. Lewis, Correa, and Buxton each playing 135 games would go a long way towards covering up other offense problems this team has.

Thank you for putting me in my place. Your positive communication towards me is a beacon for all.

I asked this elsewhere, and I will ask it again here: As a group, where do the Twins catchers rank amongst teams in the major categories? I would bet they are top 10 compared to other teams in most of the big stats. Doesn't seem like a great reason to break up a pairing that seems to work well within the system and has been healthy (not easy at this position).

This is a salary dump trade done by a team looking to rebuild. It would be very sad to see the Twins do this. With all this talk of how "unwieldly" the Twins catching situation is, I think the balance has been decent, with production and health. Does anyone know where the Twins (as a group) rank regarding overall catching stats by team? I would think they were top ten in the major categories. Doesn't sound like a great reason to break them up yet...

I wonder if the Pohlads realize that now their "TV" revenue will be largely dependent on how they take care of the on-field product? Continuing to take the fans for granted will not work under this new structure.

This and the Joe Pohlad interview saying they weren't going to sign any big names. I am kind of surprised these were not on this list considering the huge impact they had in multiple ways for the team.

The discussion here is really about replacement value: If player X is non-tendered, would you be able to replace his value for less money. Guys like Kiriloff are cheap, have had some MLB success, and still in the "prove it" mode. Duran will most assuredly outplay his contract, even if he isn't "elite". Same can be said for Topa. Remember we are talking about 1-year contracts here. Castro will be a very interesting case. He has probably earned the $6m contract for next year, but with the Twins penny-pinching, it is hard to say what they will do. If Castro is non-tendered, or signed and traded for prospects, methinks it would be an ominous sign for the coming season.

Rebuilding is nonsense. They have 3-4 solid to very solid SP, quality+ starters at arguably 5-6 of the field positions, depth at the end off the BP. What more of a core do you need to build from? Though I have zero expectation this will happen, this team needs to find a way to add at 2B, OF, and another SP this offseason. The younger guys (Festa, Lee, Martin, Matthews) showed this year they are not yet ready to carry the load, they need to be backups so they can be put in better positions to succeed.

This may not be a popular opinion, but I am of the belief owners of big 4 sports team have a certain degree of civic duty to the cities and areas they play in. Virtually every team is subsidized in some fashion by the local tax payers (think stadiums and arenas), I also believe perception is a HUGE part of this. We, as fans, want to know that ownership cares about the outcome of the outcome of their teams as much as they do. Reinvesting a portion of the TV revenue, making a reasonably cost move at trade deadline, other fan-friendly moves would have probably gone a long way towards rebuilding fan interest and faith. It isn't always about winning the WS. Don't publicly complain about a million here or there when you are swimming in billions. It may be a solid reasoning, but we as fans do not want to hear it. My biggest issue, the one I have been screaming about since last year, is just hold true to form. When you say you are going to spend a % of income on salary, then you don't follow through, you deserve to get bashed. $30m in tv revenue pocketed instead of $14m (or whatever the % is) reinvested would have killed a lot of this conversation. Perceived effort matters.

And in other news of the obvious: Water is wet!

Wow... this is definitely a first. A Griffith apologist. The list of negative things the Griffith family did to the Twins organization is so long I wouldn't even know where to start. I have been around long enough to watch games at the Met... The 87' Twins won the WS with arguably the worst team to win a WS in the two-divsion era. The 1991 Twins won because Scott Erickson had CY worthy season, Jack Morris had a resurgent season, Knoblauch won ROY, and a few others came together. They went from 74 wins to 95 wins, 2 years later they were back to 71 wins. It was a perfect storm. I am not saying the FO is without scrutiny, but you discount the growth this organization has seen since Falvy et. al. came on board. Look at this year. Look what they got out of what they had on the field due to injury and lack of options until everything died at the end. To not be able to do anything to improve on last year is not a FO problem, but an ownership one. As for Miami and Tampa having semi-regular success, it is true. Lightning does strike for these teams before they trade everyone away. Imagine how good those teams would be they could compete financially with ownership groups that cared about the team.. Feel free to blame the FO for everything wrong with the team right now. The last two years ownership gave the FO some financial flexibility to work with, and look how they did. With nothing to work with this year, the wheels fell off. To say ownership has no responsibility here is just flat out wrong.

There is an unspoken ceiling with this team. Unless this team greatly overachieves, has surprises, luck, or all, this team will habitually max out as "good to very good", never great. The only true needle-moving thing that could happen would be a new owner.

You can't make comments like this. There are too many people out there that won't acknowledge the positive steps this FO has made

What exactly do you propose gets written? Another 40 articles about potential trade deadline moves that everyone knew would never happen? How about an in-depth analysis of the potential off-season moves the Twins will make this season (Hint: None) I know... The Festa/Varland/Matthews trifecta of 6+ ERA from the youth. Buxton played 100 games this year. Ober showed promise. Correa (when healthy) earned his contract. Other than that, I got nothin...

I don't think MLB is here due to lack of intelligence or foresight. I think they are here because the richer teams currently have no incentive to change (currently, mind you) as they have the best of both worlds: regular success and large revenue streams. Also, owners have to approve all sales, so they determine who gets to join the club, denying any real change proponents (Mark Cuban...). As long as teams like Tampa, Miami, even Oakland continue to exist and be profitable or increase in value, things will never change on a league-wide scale. I fear the only real change will come when teams are truly losing money AND overall value with contraction a real issue (not a political one like our good friend Bud tried to push). By then it may be too late. The reason you will never see a salary cap has to do with trust, both amongst the owners and between the owners and players. It would require ALL teams to open their books to each other and (to an extent) the MLBPA to ensure that a negotiated cap is "fair". That will never, ever happen. Holy cow is this going to be a depressing offseason...

You have summed up most of the issues here... People forget how the NBA, NFL, and NHL all came about. The NBA and NHL were once basically dead, the NFL had a ton of infighting. It wasn't until each of them determined that pushing the league as a whole was more lucrative then regional marketing. How else would cities like Green Bay and San Antonio have teams that are so popular and financially strong. MLB owners have always looked at today and never looked at tomorrow. This is not new news. As long as NY and LA (along with a few others) refuse to play ball, there will be zero chances of this working out long term. As bad as it is now, the 70% of the teams that generate the smaller incomes will continue to dwindle. Going back to an 8 team would not surprise me in my lifetime.

To follow up on this, how many Ron Washington and Carl Willis types do you see in the coaching ranks? Look no further than the Twins history with Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire. These guys were not "naturals", they had to indoctrinate themselves into every facet of the game, busting their butt just to make it to the majors. They had to learn how squeeze what they could out of their limited talent. They had to learn how to deal with constant negativity, lack of success, and keeping the right mental approaches to keep their spot. It makes perfect sense that these types of guys become solid coaches. The relatability factor is real. Anybody with kids knows you can tell them something until you are blue in the face, but sometimes it takes a different voice, a different approach to finally get them to listen or understand what you are saying. Considering this might be the biggest acquisition of the offseason (players included), the Twins really need to get this one right.

Oh yes... Please hire an analytics driven hitting coach. The comments on this website might start the internet on fire.

Hamilton "The Great Hambino" Porter. Gets my vote! The other team has no answer for his vicious verbal barbs

I am not as down on Rocco as many seem to be. While I understand he is ultimately responsible for the on-field product, a lot went wrong that he wasn't able to directly effect: injuries, actual player performance, younger players vastly stinking, zero support from ownership. I would put him in the C-C+ range. People are screaming for him to be fired, but I am not so sure that whoever ownership brings in will be any better off. Now his coaches are another story. You forgot to give Tommy Watkins an F as well, possibly the most deserved F outside of ownership. Maki may get another year, but I have a hard time seeing how he keeps his job. There is zero growth coming from the staff, with some guys regressing. St. Peter's F was well earned this year too. Unfortunately there is no light at the end of this tunnel until the team negotiates a national vs. regional tv contract, and they hire someone with even the smallest modicum of marketing skills. I would give Pohlad a B, because I am sure the Twins made money this year and that is all he cares about. (hint: this is sarcasm)