Jocko87

That’s in the off limit discussions about why that chief marketing officer is gone. It was a stated goal at hiring.

Then Ragens and 3 lefties from the pen in KC.

Just looking at the first three series it looks like we will see the new strategy very soon. STL, White Sox and Astros all have 3 lefties in the pen. Should see a lefty starter in Chicago and probably Framber against Houston. It doesn't look like the early season pitching matchups were much consideration on Martin/Kiersey.

But on the bright side, this lineup means he's not hitting for Wallner in the 6th inning. This was kinda what I thought was he quickest way to starts, when one of Wallner or Larnach DHs. That's two starts a week and at least one more for Buxton. It's the best of both worlds for me. I've always thought he was going to play a lot. Kiersey over Martin on the roster kinda kills the platoon discussion-for now.

All signs are pointing to much less pinch hitting this year. Larnach and Wallner will get to see what they can do. Matter of fact, I approve of all the optimistic Wallner and Larnach predictions.

99%. I was and am firmly in the Bader plays a lot camp. If I'm over analyzing today's lineup I have to throw a little roster construction into it as well. My prediction is much, much less early game platoon switch hitting. Bader in the lineup and Kiersey on the bench makes it much harder. It was the reason I thought Martin was a lock to make the roster but I'm happy to be wrong. The LRRLRR lineup helps too. Bader playing a lot is a good thing for several reasons, not the least of them is that we won't be hitting for Wallner and Larnach all the time. The righty on the bench likely hits for Julien when he plays. If a pinch hitter is even needed, more likely Kiersey runs then plays defense.

21 folks have the under on 75. 6 under 70. 🤔 There are question marks, sure, but it's a good reminder how stuck on negative a good percentage of Minnesota fans are. Also appreciate some very high optimism folks over 90+.

By golly, $14m here, $33m there, pretty soon this will add up to real money! It's a heck of a lot more than the $750k they would normally have spent when there was no money. One thing is very clear to me and that is they thought they could spend their way through it and have discovered they cannot. I think they were betting on a post covid bounce and the fans didn't show.

MLB baseball teams are routinely bouncing around the debt limit but you can't see a route for their debt to be baseball related after a couple no revenue seasons and large signings? It's also mostly since 2020, which is 5 years rather than 3, and some before that.

It wasn't payroll? When they didn't do layoffs and have revenue? It's almost as if they have to spend money on things other than free agents. Nevermind they signed Correa twice and Lopez in that time frame. This should answer all the chuckle heads saying they can just borrow on the value to buy players. That's what they did.

Regardless, the CBA limits how much debt they can carry. No idea why it's a misplaced assumption that a baseball operation that didn't layoff anyone while not getting revenue happened to accumulate debt. It would be the obvious answer for exceptions to the debt limit though. MLB wouldn't be likely to approve outside debt over the limit. If they are over the limit. I don't think the money is mixed at all.

I don’t disagree on Joe, but I don’t think Joe is driving this bus. But if the source isn’t a Pohlad, it isn’t hardly worth the effort. Here is another cross check the reporting should have done prior to publication. If we are to believe the numbers presented, which I take as barely directionally correct as Forbes or any other estimates of MLB values, does the $425m debt number even make sense? It might be perfectly accurate, but I need an explanation how MLB allowed them to be nearly double the CBA debt limits, using the commonly estimated 19m EBTIDA for 2023. Or, in true Minnesota style, work the numbers backwards and get to a 53m earnings number and complain about not signing Pete Alonso. Or, most likely, these are all guesses. But good basic questions these reporters should be asking. The real revelation is that if we are to believe the $425m number, what was it before two years of austerity? It certainly wasn’t “right-sized”. Closer to insolvent.

Your term, not mine and I said nothing to indicate as such. My position requires accepting the knowledge that almost nobody outside a select few know anything that's accurate. It's just not a thing for the source to be close enough to the decision maker without being a decision maker. And decision makers don't talk. Falvey and St Peter are not good sources on this deal, please trust me on that. It would also explain every other odd thing we've heard.

I think this is exactly right. I like this move and also hope he’s back in St Paul soon. On favorable terms, of course. He's perfect for the role and can actually get major league hitters out. I bet he gets the 5th inning more than a few times as the starters get fully ramped and I’m ok with that. He’s not going to wet himself and will provide more certain value than several guys who would be pushed out of role for the gig.

Maybe, but maybe defaulting to damn Pohlads isn’t always the right answer either. Agree completely that this new report brings nothing but new questions. No offense to the beat writers but they simply aren’t in an area of their expertise. So many basic questions unanswered and I’m not sure I can blame them. This negotiation is a completely different world than most people are familiar with so the best most can do is theorize recklessly. If you get the impression I’m certain about anything that’s probably on me typing too fast. I do feel very strongly that the Joe stays in charge thing is BS, almost like a planted item to find a leaker. For me, it only raises more questions about the broker they hired to run this deal or maybe the relationship with them. Allen and Co are not movers and shakers, they move the movers and shake the shakers. They know how to make deals happen and operate at the highest levels. This is child’s play for them. It would be their job to vet Ishbia and I doubt very much Ishbia pulled a fast one on them. It was a very obvious conflict that they would not miss. Unless we got the new guy. As I suggested in an earlier post in the thread, it’s possible the Pohlads are just ignoring every thing they are told by Allen and Co. Unlikely, but possible. After all, they hired them to advise them through this process. Anything one would want to default blame the Pohlads for, goes through them first. More likely? The sources suck. We know nothing, even with this report. The people Dan Hayes is talking to aren’t named Pohlad, I’d be willing to bet. In a situation like this, if you aren’t in a group of about 4 people, you aren’t a good source. The farther you get from that group the worse the information. Somebody that heard something that might have been talked about just isn’t a good enough source but I’m not sure baseball reporters are business savvy enough to know that. It would also explain a bit of my concern with Allen and Co, most things they do don’t have podcasts and Twins Daily types playing Inspector Gadget. Although, I guess it is possible they are discussing the latest developments in a staff meeting regularly. That’s almost too stupid to consider but just maybe. Anything important is firmly behind closed doors. The Twins are notoriously quiet and Allen is fiduciaries quiet. Who are these sources? Most likely, we know nothing and nothing is truly available to be known.

Certainly. Join me, won’t you?

There have been 5 ABS challenges already and several that could have been challenged. It's just about staying healthy today.

It's the red herring in the story. There is no chance its being discussed seriously in any active negotiation. Joe may want that, but Joe has no standing to get it. His people may have floated it but he's obviously the Pohlad that doesn't want to sell. It ain't his deal. It's not completely unprecedented with the Mark Cuban example, but Joe ain't Mark Cuban and as it turns out, Mark Cuban ain't still actually the point guy. It's a non-story. So what does attendance do after a sale? It's just shy of two million lately so does it go to 3? 2.5? Just on the sale of the team? No chance. The new Gleeman and the Geek just dropped so I'm preparing myself to sit through another hour of ranting about how poorly the team is ran and if by golly if they would just invest we might have something here. (woof, worse than I thought. The guy that can't open a savings account explaining debt servicing is rough) Meanwhile, what these leaks confirm is that they already did all that. Took on heavy debt, made the biggest splash in free agency in team history (twice), signed the biggest contract in team history, traded for and signed a top flight pitcher to the largest pitcher extension in team history, won a division title and a playoff series with a promising young core. And guess what? Attendance did jack diddly squat. Why would they do it again? I hear a lot of folks talking about voting with their wallets but the Pohlads have years of actual data about how the wallets react to what they do or don't do. Even winning two World Series in four years doesn't generate a sustained bump in attendance. It's true there is a ton of competition for summer nights activities in Minnesota, but not much evidence Minnesota fans are moved by much of anything on field or team related for going to the games. I have a strong suspicious that they could have offseasons like 22 and 23 every year and attendance wouldn't meaningfully change. Certainly not enough to cover the costs incurred to keep Twins Daily happy.

I’m really starting to wonder about the relationship with Allen and Co. They’ve done a ton of huge deals in the past, this deal is a rounding error compared with some of the stuff they’ve done. They are one of the biggest movers around and it feels like we got their intern. Maybe it’s the Pohlads not listening to what they are saying but nobody close to the deal should have gotten okie-doked this badly by Ishbia. If you are working this deal you can’t take him that seriously until he divests the White Sox. Allen and Co know this, If you’ve ever worked with a poor real estate agent or a new agent with a good agency this is very familiar. Too many loose ends and false optimism to be getting their top efforts. Frankly, a sub $2b deal probably doesn’t get anywhere near their best attention.

If I'm deciphering this correctly you are saying they have failed to adequately staff the team with options to play second base? Or that Larnach made some sort of misplay that takes him out of contention for reps there? Many valid quibbles with this front office, lack of 2nd base options is on the bottom of the list. Certainly not existential dread.

Looking more and more like Castro will be full time at 2nd base.

Gasper is not impressing at 2nd. Run into Correa one damn time...

Of all the forced fandom narratives the one that gives me the strongest gag reflex is the one where we label any player that has any modicum of success after departure as a mistake by the team. Brett Rooker article in on deck circle.

From the two things can be true at the same time department, the Twins also need to decenter Mickey Gasper from their plans.