Western SD Fan

Interesting listening to Molly tonight. He has no qualms calling out the bad fundamentals that this team is committing. Between this and the general lack of fire in the team. I understand that the manager can't control a lot of things, but you can't tell me that he can't control the fire of a team or how they play fundamental baseball.

As soon as the Dobber is allowed to break out of Toledo. Maybe he has found Tony Packo's Cafe and doesn't want to leave?

After 3 in Omaha, St. Paul ahead 1-0. Abel has 3 IP, 0ER, and 6K's so far in 37 pitches.

That also means I'm watching the Saints game on the TV. Our old friend Dallas Keuchel is pitching for Omaha.

Since the game is on Fox, I have to listen to the game tonight. Good news is that Paul Molitor is the color man, so I hope to listen to a good game, or at least get the privilege of listening to Molly.

If we assume the worst possible scenario for the Twins and the Pohlad ownership conglomerate (including these new minority ownership stakes), here is a possible scenario that plays out. 1. FO trades Joe Ryan in the offseason but keeps Pablo Lopez. Sounds crazy, huh? But the Pohlads need to take the John Fisher master class of payroll management. Spend just enough to not get a grievance from the MLBPA. This means keeping Lopez and spending money on overpriced, underperforming free agents to fill out the roster that they can dump these players again at next year's deadline in order to save the money they were forced to spend. 2. The Pohlads will likely keep the payroll as low as they can go for 2026 with the knowledge that a likely player lockout is coming. If you believe the reports coming from the meeting between Bryce Harper and Manfred, this lockout will be long and drawn out. 3. When the owners finally crush the players in negotiations, they may not get a salary cap, but the owners will eventually get the concessions necessary to supposedly make teams like the Twins, Rays, A's, Royals, etc. more competitive. Of course, this is all a lie to make the owners more money. The post-lockout valuation of the Twins will likely be higher than it is now with a more stable plan to make money. At this point, the Pohlads will put the team back out on the market and cash in as the team will likely be valued closer to $2 Billion. Likely for us fans, we will not sniff a competitive team until 2028 or later. Maybe we will get lucky, and this group of players will form a cohesive team bond and become competitive before this time frame. If that happens, good luck pulling any kind of hope of adding to actually make a playoff run.

1. Never underestimate the power of the Pohlads to sell us fans out for a Klondike bar. While I believe that relocation is unlikely, especially considering the potential locations, nothing is impossible when you get money involved and the willingness to be sold out for a Klondike bar. As much as I wanted out of the Correa contract, we didn't even get the damn Klondike bar as part of the transaction. 2. Looking at the relocation sites mentioned: Portland: As Mike Sixel has mentioned, their largest employer is still working through a soft market. They do have the strongest package as the OR legislature has guaranteed stadium financing through a tax that only goes into effect if they are named as an expansion or relocation team site. My personal perception (likely not rooted in reality) is that the Portland area is still suffering from a corrupt local government, chronic homelessness and drug use, and the potential for riots to return, specifically given some of the current federal policies being enacted. Montreal: This situation hasn't changed since 2003 when MLB purchased the team and forcibly moved them out of Montreal. They still have Stade Olympique as their baseball site. Not happening as long as some new stadium is not in the works. Nashville: Probably the most intriguing of all the sites mentioned. I've always wondered how the Braves would react to a serious bid. You would also have to consider the OG teams of the upper south (St. Louis and Cincinatti). Seems like not too long ago, I heard something that the Nashville relocation group has missed the boat in terms of receiving any public financing. The region has already committed to a Vanderbilt renovation project AND a new stadium for the Titans ($2.1B worth of stadium). I think the public is tapped out on funding sports stadiums for now. Salt Lake City: Not mentioned in the article, but probably the closest of all of the locations to get a real team. City is viewed as safe, has the ability to build a stadium with public support, although I believe that is all in talk and no agreements have been signed at the moment. Ultimately, I believe the Pohlads taking the Twins off the market is just an F_ You to the potential buyers that they didn't bring enough cash to the table to get the deal done. I can also see MLB advising the Pohlads that they can't sell the Twins for less than $1.7B or it will look bad for MLB. I look at this from the lens that when the news of the $400-$450M in debt came to the forefront, MLB quickly came out and said that they would guarantee the loan in order to help get a deal done.

They will have dreams of Tarik Skubal in their heads for tomorrow's game.

Oh good. We start in a rain delay. Now Cory Provus gets the unenviable task of trying to pour a semi-tanker's worth of thin, watered down ranch dressing on a Schitt sandwich that is the news that the Pohlads will retain ownership of the team.

Here is why this is a worse gut punch than even the threat of contraction nearly 25 years ago: The 2001 season was a surprising rebirth for the Twins as a youth movement made a surprising run for 2nd place finish in the division and flirted with winning the division for a little while. They just drafted Joe Mauer, who would become the future face of the franchise. Once the contraction plan was defeated, it came down to supplementing an emerging young core to develop a playoff team. Compare to 2025. They just blew up the team that the FO created to make a playoff run. The youth movement is so disjointed because none of these players have really played together coming up through the minors like the 2001 team. The FO obsession with bringing in fringe veterans to soak up spots that should have been used by our prospects to let them sink, swim, or identify that they should be traded for players that could have complimented any potential playoff run. The 2001 team developed a permanent chip on their shoulder to prove the Pohlads, MLB, and everyone else that they deserved to exist and gave some exciting years and provided hope of a way out of a dark chapter in Twins history. Fans, legislators, and eventually a judge, led the charge in saving the Twins from their fateful demise. The 2025 team has created fan interest that has cratered into near apathy. I do fully expect them to trade Lopez and Ryan in the offseason. But all of the decisions make sense now that they were pulling the team off the market. They re-upped Baldelli, gave Falvey all power over baseball operations. sold the entire team off to slash payroll, and now just ride this out through at least the lockout to see if a new CBA will make them more profitable. As it currently stands, the only hope many of fans had left was that the team was up for sale. Now that hope is gone. One final comment being the contrarian on why I think owning the TB Rays will be more exciting than the Twins at the current moment. Sure, the Rays are currently playing at a bad stadium until their equally bad stadium (Tropicana Field) is repaired and they can return to there. A new Rays owner will have the goodwill necessary to try to revitalize the franchise. They can negotiate with Tampa on the Ybor City site, which may include new weapon that owners crave now: developable real estate outside the stadium complex. This real estate, when properly developed, will be worth more than the team itself and maybe even help fund the team. One of the main complaints about attendance in the TB area has always been that the team is in St. Petersburg, not Tampa proper. So a team that should have better attendance in Tampa, a new ownership in place, and a proper complex similar to Battery Park in Atlanta, it's not hard to see that there is a brighter future in Tampa than Minnesota. Just think if the revenues come in and a new owner is willing to raise payroll by $15-30 million, in Tampa, you'd think they hit the lottery.

I do. Manure shoveling is still an art.

Jim Henson says they can. In fact, can we get Statler and Waldorf to cover tomorrow night's game? Definitely an improvement over the Morneau-isms tonight.

I mean. It does feel like this team has been wandering in a desert for 40 years. Wait, wrong book, that's Exodus, not Genesis.

I would have said the Replacements, but that gives a feel-good connotation when the Hollywood story suggests that they learn to play and gel as a team and eventually get to a winning form. I don't see any Hollywood ending in this story.

Someone please explain to me why Clemens is positioned so far inside the RF wall. We always hear about the famous short porch of Yankee Stadium's RF. You would think that they would position their fielder a little bit farther back so those balls don't go over his head.

I wish I would have been. It would have been a great thread to contribute for tomorrow. Alas, as much as I am willing to endure watching this game until the end. I'm not rewatching it in order to record all of the great Morneau observations espoused during the game.

He possesses those skills? Your observation skills are right up there with Justin Morneau. 😉

Morneau: "The Twins have gone after it the last couple of years." The rest of us with eyeballs: Justin, go back to making maple syrup or vodka or whatever retirement business you do, because the power of observation is not in the cards for you.

I'm sure there is a Canadian joke waiting to be unleashed here........

Pre-deadline: this pitcher would have been out an inning ago when it looked like he was getting fatigued. Post-deadline: leave him out there to die. he'll sink or swim.

It all just looks tepid. Like the team as just given up and waiting to leave NY. Every other team, being down 5-1, you could look at say there could be some fight and come back in this team. Not when playing NY.

I wouldn't bring Pablo back unless you're showcasing him for a potential offseason trade. Why risk another injury for a 90 loss team?

C'Mon Jazz. Please steal home. I want Gasper to look befuddled when you land in his lap.

So am I. But it is reassuring to hear it from someone who doesn't follow the team and asks why we are crazy.

I agree. I don't see the Yankees as a playoff team. They seem to be closer to the 2024 version of the Twins. Hot start and a slow decent into madness.