farmerguychris

Love to see stories about guys who never give up. Hoping he takes full advantage of this opportunity and gets to play some great baseball for us.

With more and more proposals starting to come out from MLB and the Players Association, I've been wondering what other Twins fans think about the possibility of a lockout — and potentially losing some of the 2027 season. I'm especially interested in this from the perspective of fans of a small-to-mid-market team like Minnesota. MLB is proposing some pretty major changes, including a salary cap and floor. Their current proposal would put the 2027 cap at about $245 million and the floor at about $171 million. They've also floated changes to the offseason calendar, including much shorter windows for free-agent signings. The Players Association, meanwhile, has made it pretty clear that a salary cap is something they strongly oppose. Obviously, we're a long way from knowing where any of this ends up. But if we're heading toward another owners-vs.-players labor battle, what should we as Twins fans actually be rooting for? Personally, the thing I want most is parity. I think the NFL gets this part mostly right. I like the idea that going into a season, fans of just about every team can reasonably believe that if their organization makes good decisions, drafts well, develops players and manages its roster properly, it has a legitimate opportunity to win. I'd like MLB to get closer to that. Here's one statistic that really puts the current situation into perspective for me: The Cleveland Guardians entered this season with a payroll of roughly $70 million. Shohei Ohtani's contract with the Dodgers has a nominal value of $70 million per season. (Obviously that's complicated by the massive amount of deferred money in his contract, so it isn't literally $70 million being paid to him this year.) Still, think about the basic comparison: one superstar's contract averages approximately what an entire roster costs. I don't think either extreme is particularly healthy for the long term future of baseball. I'd like to see a system where the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, etc. can't simply use enormously deeper pockets than everyone else — but I'd ALSO like to see a system where low-payroll owners can't pocket revenue-sharing money while putting a $60-$80 million roster on the field. That's why, at least in theory, I find a cap AND a meaningful floor interesting. If you're going to limit what the biggest spenders can spend, you should also force the lowest spenders to invest substantially more in their teams. But I also realize it isn't that simple. A huge part of this comes back to revenue. MLB teams don't begin on equal financial footing. Local television revenue has historically varied enormously from market to market, and the collapse/change of the regional sports network model has hit some clubs much harder than others. So if MLB wants NFL-style payroll parity, doesn't it eventually need something closer to NFL-style revenue sharing too? Ultimately, my ideal outcome would be pretty simple: Every fan should be able to enter Opening Day believing their team has a legitimate path to a championship — and that championship shouldn't be something another team can simply buy because its revenue and ownership pockets dwarf everyone else's. Maybe that's unrealistic in baseball. Maybe a salary cap creates more problems than it solves. Maybe the MLBPA is right to fight it. That's part of why I'm starting this thread. I'm also finding it hard to get emotionally invested in choosing between millionaire players and billionaire owners when the people who ultimately lose during a work stoppage are the fans — along with all of the ordinary people whose livelihoods depend on baseball being played. So I'm curious where Twins Daily Users falls on this: 1. Would a salary cap AND floor ultimately be good for the Twins? 2. How should MLB significantly increase revenue sharing between large- and small-market teams as part of any cap/floor system? 3. Do you think MLB should be trying to copy the NFL model when it comes to competitive balance, or is baseball fundamentally too different? 4. And maybe most importantly — do you think we're actually going to lose games in 2027? I'm genuinely interested in hearing both sides, because I suspect this is going to become one of the biggest baseball stories of the next several months. Many of the venues I participate about Twins baseball say it is too early to do any predictions - fair enough, but I would like to know if I'm the only person feeling the way I do. Thoughts anyone?

Maybe a merch section - I bet at least a few of us would like to help promote your site.

Based on so many comments here just today - I guess I better buy my playoff tickets. Seriously - I hope he does amazing things for us.... but he's still just one man.

Your argument has points.... But lets remember - E Rod isn't exactly a chump. He's ranked between #2-#5 of ALL our prospects in the minors. He's already on the 40 man, and he's OUT of minor league options. I daresay its even more important to see what we have in E Rod than what we have in Jenkins because next season we have to decide to either put him in the majors, or risk losing him. I'm not punting on the season, I just think E Rod also has earned his shot and we need to see what we have in him more quickly than we do in Jenkins.

He ain't in the HOF yet - he still can improve and having access to coaches will only help him be the best player he can become.

Sure - why not bring him up when the put Buxton on the IL in the next few days. Prefer this over bringing up Jenkins because I'd like the coaches to be able to work with him next year during a lock out.

Like most rookies - unless he's banging down the door - like Lewis did - bring him up when a position is open - such as due to injury. Like Zoll said - we don't really have a spot for another left handed OF right now. With that said - its only a matter of time until a LH OF gets hurt for us if you know our history.

I think Zoll is right - If he starts hitting like Royce did when he was sent down (what like 8HR in 11 games?) - thats forcing his way up. Until then, our OF is fine.

I get it, but man thats tough. He's learning a new position on the fly, appears to not be complaining about it and he's playing deep so nothing goes over his head.. What did they think would happen when you put a 2nd basemen in CF. Let him gain confidence in right for a year before moving him to the big space of CF - IMO.

I would have called up G. Gonzales. He's already been here once, plays the OF, and is already on the 40 man. Jenkins would have to be added. Another idea- Lets make a call on catcher. Are we trading Jeffers - then lets do it. Might open another spot depending on who we get in return- no need for a 3rd catcher.

Can we find a team to send Jeffers to in exchange for some quality relief pitching that can help the rest of this season AND a young guy in high A ball? Tightrope to walk.

I'd prefer to keep him for the rest of this season, and then if they decide to go a different direction, trade him this winter. One thought however that gives me pause on this plan is that I don't know when a lockout would begin. If its in December, we wouldn't even really have a chance to trade him until labor negotiations are resolved, so that may be a hard time to get fair value for him if everyone is trying to conduct a full off-season in 2 weeks.

Wrong move based on what goal? As fans - our goal is to win games. As owners - thinking their goal is to make/save money.... We'll see which goal is the focus this trade deadline as the team has put themselves in position to justify spending some money.

I disagree.... I believe there won't be a 2027 season.... That reduces the return we'll get for him.