GoMNTwins

I'm seeing a lot about money and market value, but it seems like nobody is talking about the state of the roster around him. If I'm Buxton, I'm waiting out the front office to see if they're serious about contending before I sign anything at this point. If they get to February with no meaningful additions to SP, SS, or the bullpen, he would be well within his rights to opt for free agency after this season and spend his prime age years with a team that will not only pay him, but will show a willingness to field a competitive team. So far the only difference between this off-season and the previous ones under this FO is that none of the updates about the pitchers going off the board include some hand waving by the Twins about being "in on that guy". I know they won't do anything until after the CBA is worked out, we all know they wouldn't do anything until mid-January even without the CBA hurdle, but the lack of urgency they are showing for massive needs is a bit concerning. Not to mention the fact that every player making more than $5M seems to available in the trade market. Buck should absolutely get paid, but he should also try to win. This FO is talking a big game, just like last year...and the year before that...

I listened to the podcast and fully agreed with you about the payroll. It seems suspiciously as if cutting payroll was the intention to begin with, knowing full well they couldn't openly admit it after the reaction they got last year. There's still a chance they'll spend it in future offseasons, but I'm starting to doubt it. It's funny that Target Field was supposed to bring in star players, and the All-Star Game will be all we get in that regard.

I think Gardy should be given his walking papers. Not because he's a bad manager, I just think it's time for new blood throughout the organization, including the people above Gardenhire in the front office. I just think that if Gardenhire is held accountable for Ryan's complete lack of effort and is ultimately let go, it's just going to make Ryan and the Pohlads look bad, worse than they do already.

This just reinforces my belief that the Twins are carrying beepers when the other teams are using smart phones.

We're embarking upon the fourth year in Target Field, and it's safe to say that the veneer has worn off, which is unfortunate to see in such a beautiful ballpark. The last estimate I saw was $79 million, which means we are quickly regressing to Metrodome era numbers, which completely defeats the arguments and justifications Jerry Bell sold on the public, amid threats of contraction and relocation. I'm not going to say that the team wasn't due for a rebuild, but where exactly are the superstars that Target Field was built to attract? Joe Mauer is an excellent player, and I'm happy to see him wearing the the 'TC', but I personally feel a bit cheated that he is the only player signed or extended who exists on that level. It's one thing to save the money to spend on '14 or later, but with a systematic scaling back of spending on the team, and a general unwillingness to sign a starting pitcher that could stick around longer than 2 years to lay a base for the rotation of the future (Jackson and Sanchez come to mind), it's easier to think that the front office is lowering payroll to return to the "Twins way", which is stale and outdated at best. As a Twins fan I do appreciate the frugal nature of building a team through drafting and development, as well as the growing relationship of a player like Cuddyer and a fan base that watched him develop, but not to see them walk after we as a ticket purchasing public gave the organization what they claimed would prevent exactly that. This is getting long, but the general point here is the mounting evidence that we as a fanbase have been misled, and unless we're in for a massive shopping spree in the near future the front office got us to invest in them, the time for them to return the favor is quickly approaching, if it hasn't already passed.

One thing that we all seem to be ignoring here is that Terry Ryan and the Twins FO don't have any shortage of money, and this mentality of budgeting saving and not spending the money big name free agents are worth for the sake of improvement is entirely self-imposed, and to be honest, flies in the face of the argument that deemed Target Field so necessary when they were stomping their feet and banging pots and pans together to get it. They are officially making ridiculous amounts of money off a building the state of Minnesota put up for them, all the while insisting that we need to keep giving them money by using the All-Star Game as a marketing tool to sell season tickets. Kevin Correia is a colossal waste of money, but there's no reason to think that it should hamper their ability to sign a guy like Marcum or Jackson, it's just that they choose not to spend money. They're not too stupid to figure out the White Sox and the Tigers have solid rotations because they were willing to pay for it, they just think we're stupid enough not to figure it out and just assume that injuries are at fault, or some other kind of bad break. When injuries rear their ugly head next year, is Terry Ryan going to accept responsibility for bringing in two pitchers that went under the knife so recently? It's going to be interesting to see excuses and consequences overlap next year, and I can't wait to hear Ryan and St Peter explain it away all over again. It's really time we stop paying money for this.