The Wise One

How many people are going to insist the Twins could have signed Maddon if they only offered more money than the Cubs? In answer to the question did Maddon or his staff make the pitchers better, Garza improved as a Cub and Shilds certainly did not drop off when he went to the Royals. Counter with Kazmir imploded with the Angels but eventually did bounce back. Sorry I didn't look up ever mediocre reliever who got less or more mediocre to use as an example.

If he pitches well with men on base wouldn't he have better than a league average lob%? He is league average.

Alex Meyer says hello and wants to know if he was forgotten about

Maddon's team have one exactly ZERO championships with as great of talent as the Ray's have had. Bochy just won with exactly one decent pitcher. All the teeth nashing by the people here to forget one simple little detail,. If you are a great manager you should win at least one championship with thatgood of talent. Maddon has not won the prize. 0 for 4. Not even in the playoffs with a 2012 team that had one of the best staffs in baseball. Maddon can talk the talk, but his teams haven't done it. There is a disconnect if this guy is a baseball genius god and what his teams have produced.

A few pet peeves. Ageism, there are assuptions made based on what age a person is. Maddon is the latest example Age may be a general indicator of things, might not mean as much with an individual. The convoluted no win situations that people come up with. There are things like spending scenarios. A real good oneis when players have betterseasons elsewhere than they did with the Twins years and multiple systems after being with the Twins as a sign how bad the Twins are at anything. And of course the every popular minor league players being blocked. If you have to say you are sarcastic, you are probably closer to hateful whining.

People on this board have a disconect with the budget and the quality of free agents available for the money

Is he going to sign a 10 year contract? If it is the thought people have to retire at a specific age as you have to retire, that law was changed awhile ago. He has more than enough to retire on now. Is there some other arbitrary age where someone is too senile to hold a job. At his age? What kind of arbitrary analysis is that?

Ruesse is now an expert on baseball attendance? Is there anything he does not know?

Go read the Pioneer Press article on this. Ryan says something about getting a perspective on your club from the outside. He might be gathering such useful information that he might interview the bench or 3b coach from every team. He said the candidates come well prepared to discuss the Twins. If a manager has sucess with the Twins they can look forward to a Gardy type paycheck. Of course they are going to give a good effort.

There are plenty of peole here who can not tell the difference between budget and payroll. Nor do they get the concept that the budget was not spent because Ryan deemed the cost of the player to not be worth the money. Nor does there seem to be an understanding that there are players who can make choices on where they want to play. Part of that choice is not the land of 10000 lakes.

No No No No No No. Another scrap heap player is the last thing the team needs. Emilio can't hit, his career OPS+ is in the disaster category. Why not target someone who can play all facets of the game? You want a utility player than can play all over the field. Hire a center fielder and Santana should bring more to the table than Emilio. Escobar could do anything Emilio can do and hit better.

Question for the techno whizes. If those Roku boxes become more widespread could there be PPV baseball and how much would the price gougers, err owners of baseball teams want per view.

Found this from 04 on MLB.com Note they claim operating losses In each of the last four seasons, the Twins have shown that they can compete in the Metrodome. Why do they need a new ballpark to be competitive? Over the past three seasons (2002-2004), even though the Twins won the American League Central Division, they sustained significant cash losses each year due to the limited revenue opportunities in the Metrodome. As a result of these budgetary constraints, the Twins have been unable to retain some of the long-time players that led them to the division title. With the increasing salaries of their successful, homegrown players, the Twins have been forced to make some difficult player moves in order to pay for these payroll increases, as well as to sign free agents to fill their roster and competitive needs. As a result, players such as Eric Milton and A.J. Pierzynski were traded while LaTroy Hawkins, Corey Koskie and Cristian Guzman signed free-agent contracts with other clubs. As a middle- to low-revenue team, the Twins will always be forced to make some unpopular player moves while operating within their budgetary constraints, even when playing in a new ballpark. However, with the incremental revenues generated by a new ballpark, the Twins should have more operating flexibility to keep their core roster in tact. What has Mr. Pohlad done to help stabilize the baseball franchise in Minnesota? Mr. Pohlad has incurred significant and recurring operating losses to provide Minnesotans with a competitive baseball team. This commitment has resulted in World Series Championships in 1987 and 1991, Divisional Championships in 2002, 2003, and 2004. In the past 16 years, only the New York Yankees have achieved a higher success rate in the American League. This is particularly impressive given the limited resources available to the Twins in the Metrodome. Additionally, Mr. Pohlad has fought during the past decade as an advocate for increased Revenue Sharing for the lower revenue clubs, improved competitive balance, and the need to implement industry-wide financial stability tests. http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/ballpark/new_banter.jsp?content=qa

The Twins make a profit and people are upset? Hear of Steak and Ale? No profit. Bankrupt.No more Steak and Ale. Pohlads have a lot of money. The Twins could lose money and the Pohlads might not notice for a while. Their model is to not lose money. Get over it. The team makes money. Pohlad is not going to sell an apreciating cash cow until long range forecasting says they will not make money. Figure out when cable/satelite TV is dead because that is how long they are going to own the Twins.

From comments made in the book about the 91 season I read a while ago I wouldn't say it is hubris when the players and writer made it sound like no one worked harder on the little things than those guys. More aptly it should have been called the Tom Kelly way. His guys bought into it, those that came to the team had to. I kind of thought that the early Kelly group of guys were work hard, play hard, live large kind of guys. The culture changed. Not that this is about anything you wrote, but as long as I am here. The statistical analysis will not show leadership qualities. As mentioned elsewhere, leadership has to come from those that produce. That is part of baseball culture that the Twins forgot about at the begining of the season. The long man out of the bullpen or the 4th outfielder isn't going to be your leader. So while looking at how good of player is paramount, there does have to be some vocal people. A team loaded with followers and lead by example types I do not think will produce as well as a better mix of personalities.

You had me until you listed Julio Franco as strength and coditioning. Hard to take the statements after that seiously

So who do you emulate from St Louis? Jockety who kind of presided over the start of the whole thing but has not sustained in Cinci, Luhnow who presided over 3 monsterously great drafts and nothing since, or Mozeliak who couldn't draft very well, but does seem to trade well?

Fundamentally sound baseball and playing hard. I would really hope that a team fully embraces that concept. I would hope that any team embraces the concept.

I do not know what some here are talking about as the Twins Way. To relate it to business practice is absurd. . The St Paul newspaper website has this article http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2014/09/29/twinsights-twins-way-still-exist/ It has always refered to the way to play baseball. http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20100122&content_id=7956246&fext=.jsp&c_id=min for an older example lifted from an older article Notes: The Twins retired the No. 10 before the game in honor of former manager Tom Kelly. Kelly led the team to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991, and is the club's all-time leader in managerial wins with 1,140. Kelly was credited with creating the "Twins Way", an emphasis on fundamentals the team has been known for since he took over as manager in 1987. "TK was all about respecting the game of baseball," said Gardenhire, who succeeded Kelly in 2002. "He preached that constantly, on how we take the field, playing hard." Did the team play that way last year? Played hard, but not fundamentally sound Kelly still has the recrod for managing the most Twins wins.

I think the salary would be cloer to 130 million. As you used hindsight, I can use that Tanaka got injured, Volquez pitched terribly in the playoffs, and historically Kazmir pitched poorly in the playoff to say if they were not division champs, likely they would not have made it out of the first round.

Arbitration eligible can get expensive in a hurry for someone who has produced like Donaldson. "Team control" is not what it could be for the arbitration process

The defectors can't go back to Cuba as long as the politics remain the same. They have to go to extraordinary legths to get out of Cuba and make money. I do not think many would show love for the country's politicians. I doubt if anyone under the age of 60 even knows that there was a ballplayers once in Cuba named Oliva, Tiant or Pascual that played for the Twins. They would not come here based on Oliva's playing days. They would appreciate the organization for having someone assesable who went through the same things that they have. If in your life you feel that older people are not paying much mind to what you say, think about your Rolling Stones comment.

If Molitor wants to manage why would he stay in a support role where he was passed over for the role he desires?

Oakland is noted for trading players before they get expensive. Donaldson for Sano and a couple of C grade pitchers.

Did any of the players really ammount to anything more than the same filler you can pick up off a waiver wire. If the Twins can make that kind of trade, like the Tigers did, they could send about 10 prospects. You could probabbly send the Marlins every Twins prospect with the letter P to start their first or last name and come out ahead. NB Polanco, Pinto, Peterson, Pineda, Penilla,and paulson