Woof Bronzer

Yes, it's odd that you said salary caps don't help small market NBA teams and one of the smallest market teams in pro sports just won an NBA title. You asked if salary caps help smaller market teams...the answer is yes....that doesn't mean a small market team is going to win every year. Surely you know this though...

Uh, what? Carrying water for owners is...weird enough, but no need to make stuff up out of thin air.

This is an odd thing to say in a year where the OKLAHOMA CITY Thunder won the title vs the Indiana Pacers, and the T-Wolves were in the semis for the 2nd straight year. So...yes, a salary cap absolutely helps small market teams in literally every single league that has one. No team in any league is going to be successful if they don't draft and develop well, but that's a totally separate issue than a salary cap.

Falvey is terrible, but the buck stops with the Pohlads. This franchise has won 1 ALDS in the past 3+ decades. The players, FO, and coaches have all changed; the ownership (and losing) hasn't. Nothing will change for the Twins until the Pohlads are gone.

Who hired Derek Falvey? Who promoted him after last year's debacle?

Who hired Derek Falvey? Who promoted him after last year's debacle?

The defining image of the Falvey/Rocco era to me is last September when the Twins needed to beat Miami to stay in the playoff hunt, down to their last out and Correa loafs out a grounder. The throw ends up pulling the 1B off the bag so if Correa would have been running he would have been safe. Would they have gone on to make the playoffs? Almost certainly not. But when the face of the franchise and self-anointed leader and "winner" can't be bothered to give an effort when the season is literally on the line, there is something deeply wrong in the organization.

A lot of posters here seem to be forgetting that this organization cannot develop hitters, and is currently "developing" the concept of a starting pitcher out of the organization altogether. Having a highly rated farm system is irrelevant if you can't turn the prospects into legitimate MLBers.

Billionaires think they can do and say whatever they want without consequence....because they can.

Jim was definitely involved, in fact there's a letter signed by him - I believe it's actually in the baseball HOF strangely enough - blaming fans for not supporting the team enough as a reason for contraction. Here's a direct quote: "when we are posed the question, "why should the Minnesota Twins not be contracted?" we are unable to find a plausible answer." That's how much the Pohlads care about this franchise.

If not for a single judge, the Twins would not exist - not here, not in any other city. I think that is much, much worse then moving a team. And the Pohlads did it out of spite, not business reasons. They wanted to punish the people who didn't just give them whatever they wanted. That's borderline sociopathic.

Saving $30mil in salaries removed a large chunk of the $400 mil debt? The math doesn't work there Bob. Just another hint that the "sale is imminent" rumors are just bs planted by the Pohlads to stir up interest.

The Pohlad family tried to move, then contract the Twins when they didn't get their government handout for a stadium. You cannot get worse than an owner who is literally willing to evaporate the team if they don't get their way.

This is just extremely, extremely false. The hatred for the Pohlads is visceral, and every story and comment mentions them. Again, so very weird to blindly defend a guy you readily admit was lying in his letter by putting for the laughable take that "no one is blaming the Pohlads." I have yet to find a single article, blog, opinion piece, anything at all that claims the FO did this on their own independent of the Pohlads. Just a bizarre thing to claim. Clearly the majority of the activity was Pohlad-driven. But to pretend Falvey is innocent in it is just shockingly naive, and I truly don't understand the point in pretending otherwise. Here's a guy who traded an MLB reliever on a team friendly deal for a 28 year old AAA LH hitting outfielder (the 178th LF hitting outfielder in the organization) because he figured out he could stash him in St Paul for 3 weeks to gain another year of service time with which to put his his incredible .105 batting average to use. Indefensible.

The Varland and Stewart deals were not Pohlad directives, that was purely the FO "finding value". And according to Derek St. Peter's letter the fire sale was his intentional plan to make the team better. It's weird that you keep insisting he had nothing to do with this. Like most things in life it's not black and white.

It's bizarre that Buxton chooses to show loyalty to an organization that has made it crystal clear that the loyalty is not reciprocated. What does that prove? The Pohlads, like all billionaires, don't care about players or loyalty or anything that doesn't involve them hoarding more and more money. Hard to feel too sorry for a guy who chooses to stay with a crappy organization that treats players like crap.

Pretty clear Falvey's new role is Dave St Peter 2.0. His job is no longer about baseball, but making the Pohlads richer and carrying water for them in front of fans. The more I think about the deadline the more convinced I am that the Pohlads aren't selling, but are rather shifting their approach to be a White Sox or As level team with joke payrolls not even trying to win.

Yeah there's obviously no plan here. I hope the Pohlads are paying Falvey handsomely to debase himself like this. A GM with a shred of self respect and professional pride would have quit yesterday, a la Terry Ryan when he was given an absurd cost cutting target. Falvey doubled down, and now seems to embrace the Dave St Peter role of lickin' boots and alienatin' fans.

The "plan" is becoming clearer: insult the intelligence of fans with smarmy holier-than-thou messaging, and just flat out lie about what happened and what they're going to do next, which is lose a ton of games. Full text of Falvey's letter below for those who haven't seen it. Absolute screaming joke of an organization. "This week, we made a clear and deliberate decision to strengthen the next chapter of championship-caliber baseball for the Minnesota Twins. "We didn't make surface moves. We acted with purpose. That meant adding players who can help now, deepening our talent pipeline for 2026 and beyond, and reinforcing the foundation for long-term success. "This wasn't about patchwork or small adjustments. It was about holding ourselves to the standard we expect. The season so far hasn't met that mark. We knew it was time to respond. "We've bolstered our pitching. We added arms ready to contribute now, along with others on the cusp of breaking through. The rotation has gained depth, and the minor league system behind it has become even more robust, with emerging talent pushing the group forward. "On the position player side, we brought in impact potential. Players with the tools to grow into everyday contributors and raise the overall ceiling of the roster. The foundation is getting stronger, and we believe the next wave is starting to take shape. "We know moves like this spark reactions. That's natural. It reflects how much you care. "That's why we're positioning the Twins to compete at a higher level, not just in the short term, but in a way that can endure the ups and downs of a long season. That's the kind of team you deserve. "The mission hasn't changed. We're here to build a team that can win a World Series. "This is the next push. "Thank you for your support. It's your passion that drives us every day."

Prospects are lottery tickets. Neither guy they got are top 100 players. You don't know how prospects will turn out. Austin Martin was a "legit" cant-miss prospect. Total bust. I'm not shedding a tear for Varland, and I support the fire sale. I'm just questioning why they would make this move if they truly plan to compete in 2027 like you said. I don't think there is a plan. Falvey was told to cut a ton of money and this is him winging it the best he can.

It could turn out to be a terrible trade, you have no idea. Trading proven MLB talent on team friendly deals for lottery tickets if you are trying to compete just doesn't make sense to me.

The 2031 thing came from trading Varland, who is locked up thru 2030. Why make that deal if you are looking at 2027?

I don't know either, but remember, Joe Pohlad has run 2 businesses prior to the Twins and he ran them both into the ground. (Make it 3 for 3 I guess.) The Pohlads have probably cost themselves half a billion dollars over the past 2 years with how they've mismanaged this team - maybe a billion if you factor in the massive debt they tried to shelter with the Twins after mismanaging their other businesses. Point being, these guys are just terrible businessmen. They are fundamentally incapable of taking the long view, they only care about short term profits, an approach that will come to bite any business in the butt eventually. Maybe we're trying to make sense out of something that makes no sense. They're just incompetent and short-sighted, nothing more, nothing less.

I don't like Falvey, I want him gone too. The Pohlads obviously like him, because he does what they want and makes them money. A self respecting GM would have quit yesterday, because the Pohlads ensured the team will be worse which will reflect on him. This is what Terry Ryan did the first time around. But for some reason Falvey stayed. I suspect we'll learn why soon - either the Pohlads aren't selling and he just secured his job for the foreseeable future ("see, I can take orders, I can cut costs") or maybe he is going to receive some golden parachute when a new owner takes over so he's just hanging on long enough to cash in. Who knows. As long as the Pohlads are here, so is Falvey.

Burning it down doesn't help Falvey though. It only helps the Pohlads. You think Falvey is planning for, what, 2031 as the next window? There's almost no chance he's still here in 6 years.