Twins GFP

I said it at the time and I will say it again: Everyone knew the Twins were not going to spend any money, so they went out and made the cheapest trade possible so ownership could say to the fans "Hey, we made a move. We are trying." That move just goes in line with all of the efforts ownership is making to show the fans the just do not give a s**t about the success of the on-field product

You do understand this is a Minnesota Big 4 Sports Franchise? Letting down fans and choking away championship opportunities is part of the M.O...

You can't run Sands, Duran, and Jax out there every day. You have to get innings from the other guys. They need more success in the BP, but any decision they make will be the proverbial "roll of the dice": questionable veteran, unproven prospect. My bigger issue is the lineup construction. Under no circumstances should Margot be leading off. Especially with Miranda and Castro in the lineup. Farmer batting 6th? For everybody arguing that Rocco uses analytics too much, yesterday's lineup was far away from analytics based.

Santana being productive on offense and stellar on defense? Alex Kiriloff shakes his head in regret and looks for his outfielder's mitt...

I am not a big believer in the theory some losses are better/worse than others, but situationally, this loss was tough. Trailing Cleveland by 2 games, seeing Cleveland lose, than giving up a big lead in 7th, failing to score in the 10th, then losing on a quirky play in the bottom of the 10th.

I agree with this. Look at things another way: Lopez pitched pretty poorly yesterday, yet somehow managed to get through 6 innings without giving up a run. You can make good contact on just about any pitch (see Vlad Guerrero Sr.). You can also wiff on an 85 mph FB down the middle. The luck factor here tends to balance out over time. Today was just not their day.

I want so badly to believe they won't move Vazquez this offseason. However, if current trends continue, saving money will be more important than on-field success.

I love the internet, when you can be condescending and at the same time have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. I am not going to post my resume, but needless to say my business grasp is slightly more than rudimentary. First, using your example, making capital improvements on a property will most assuredly improve the value of said property. You also must not understand the concept of flipping houses, as taking short-term interest only loans or balloon payment while you improve and then sell the house is extremely common. But that is not really germane to this discussion. There are only a few reasons to own a big 4 professional sports team. One is status, another is sentiment, but mainly it is financial. There is basically no other investment where the value of your business is guaranteed to rise, regardless of how you treat it. In the case of the Twins and Pohlad, he got the team on the cheap in '84 for $44 million. They had a few years of success (mainly 87-92), but were otherwise pathetic until 2000, when they were going to be contacted and receive $250 million. The were fantastic for most of the 2001-2020 era, and as of 3/24, Forbes has the current value of the Twins around $1.5 billion. They increased in value when they lost, they increased in value when they won. You are right in the Pohlads run the team like others. They run player payroll mainly as a percentage of income/net income. Like I said, there is an income threshold they do not want to go below. The Dodgers and Yankees bloated TV deals directly translates into those teams spending more on player salary. But that percentage is arbitrary, not fixed. Ownership showed that by pocketing the late TV deal money, instead of re-investing it into the Twins. I have never said that cash flow or net operating income do not matter. I am saying that you need to look at those items in conjunction with your overall return on investment, meaning business value. According to your business acumen, a business that has a neutral or negative, cash flow but the overall value is a net positive every year is a poor investment. That is insane, especially for the uber wealthy that do not require that net income to live off of. Lastly, team owners have a certain degree of civic duty when owning a team. They know this when the join the fraternity. Owners that spend money on the team and fan experience are loved, while cheap owners that look to squeeze every last nickel from the team are hated. Back to baseball....

MiLB contracts with Spring Training invites for veteran pitchers that show some modicum of ability should be handed out like candy.

I would put his games played number due to the high number of injuries the Twins have had, going along with Wallner melting down at the beginning of the year, not to his stellar offensive performance.

Not to go down this rabbit hole again, but there are ZERO owners of professional sports teams that lose money. On the off-chance a team (like the Mets), tries to go negative cash-flow for a season, they will make it up in increasing overall value of the team. The issue is not the Twins losing money. The issue is that there is a profit line the Pohlad's refuse to go below. A line they create that has been exacerbated by the idiotic television/marketing/public announcement decisions they have made over the last 12 months.

They are already rolling the dice with some of the names we have seen because they have no other options. Remember this as the Twins refused to spend money offseason through trade deadline to pick up any pitching of consequence and you see Festa/Varland/Matthews start a pivotal game 4 in the postseason (assuming the Twins get that far).

No, No. No. Stop reverting back to these articles and discussions that are complete fantasy. Never mind the waiver process and availability of players... THE TWINS ARE NOT GOING TO SPEND ANY MONEY!!!!!

Insurance? Using your parlance, I would think the Twins have already blown past their deductible. 🤕

I agree with this. It's not like Hill would be holding out for a better situation. That being said, signing him only makes sense (other than costing basically nothing) if the organization considers him a better option than whatever is left internally. The Twins have already cycled through what, 5 pitching prospects this year? (Not including Winder and Dobnak). The Twins need SP help, he could easily be that guy. I think if Cole Sands was not as effective as he has been, Hill could fill that role pretty easily.

It took nine comments before the first negative Falvey remark? That might be some sort of record..

If there was ever a click-bait title on an article, this is it. I can see it now.,, Future articles to come include: Jorge Alcala has a career Fielding % of 1.000. Should he move to shortstop? Matt Wallner has a career ERA of 0.00. Is he the Twins future SP1? Manuel Margot is a career .287 hitter on Mondays (true!). Why aren't the Twins capitalizing?

I follow the belief you want your best hitters at the top. Considering each spot in the batting order is worth 9-10 more PA over a full season (leadoff gets 10 more PA than 2nd spot, 2nd gets 10 more than 3rd, etc...) The lineup should look something like: Lewis Buxton Correa Wallner Miranda Then (somewhat interchangeable) Castro Jeffers Larnach Santana Those top 5 are head and shoulders above the rest so far. They should always be in the top spots when playing.

As bad as he was offensively, I am not 100% against having him back with the big club, especially with the injury situation on that side of the infield. Established vet, the ability to play multiple positions (currently of need), who is liked in the clubhouse is necessary. Farmer is sunk cost. Give him a few weeks to see if he can regain his previous form while Correa, Lee, et al get healthy.

Castro will be a really interesting case study this offseason to see where the Twins stand financially... I think they should look to extend him, but nothing too crazy. Something like 2/18 with a third year team option of $12m. Best of both worlds contract. That being said, back to reality. They Twins will let him go to arbitration next year. 90% chance he will not be a Twin in 2026.

Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Terry Mulholland... Some guys are just built differently, their bodies can take more abuse. (Mulholland famously said he only needed 7 warm up pitches) The pitching motion itself is destructive. It puts undue stress on everything. With the focus on increased velocity and spin rates, pitchers bodies are under more and more stress. Tommy John surgery is now the norm, not the exception. I think we are approaching the apex of the cost/benefit of increased speed over endurance, especially factoring in dollar investment into each pitcher. Complete games are basically unheard now. 7 innings from a SP is a luxury, with 5 innings closer to the norm. Teams that do not have multiple "2 inning" RP can't survive. Baseball knows changes are coming. Forcing teams to identify pitchers vs position players. Looking at the Twins, where most everyone on the roster can play 2+ positions, it only makes sense to see guys that could potentially do both (think Drew Butera) could force revisions to that rule.

Look... I am happy the Twins are in the playoff hunt, but gotta be realistic here: Overall Twins are 62-48. Against CHW, COL, and OAK (3 of the 4 worst teams) they are combined 20-3. (Means 42-45 against everyone else) Against BAL, NYY, CLE they are a combined 0-14. Hard to get real excited about sweeping the White Sox. The Twins need to take 6 of 7 from CLE and KCR starting Friday or the division is done for the Twins.

85 games played so far out of 110. Puts him on pace for 125 for the season. That number could potentially rise if the team is still fighting for a playoff spot in September. Whatever the secret sauce is in treating Buxton, lets hope it continues. He has been fun to watch this year, especially on the offensive side (not so much the automatic strikeout as in years past).

Stu, What happened to your satire? I clicked on your article and got truth. I am extremely disappointed this week...

I agree with this assessment. The sad part is that he was directly/indirectly responsible for a lot of the positive growth and change in the NBA. Change, while always difficult, is not always bad.