Western SD Fan

The A's pitcher has channeled the ghost of Jamie Moyer. Easy throwing crafty lefty that shouldn't stymie hitters, but here we are.

Definitely a good problem to have. You can play the hot hand nightly and gives Rocco better quality pinch-hitters. Bader is hitting out of his skis compared to his career numbers so maybe we ride with Bader until he cools off and goes back to the hitter we all expected him to be.

How does Peter think about 3 run games?

How will this bill potentially affect a future sale of the Twins? In my hour worth of research, I read about six articles about the bill and came to this one being the most honest and had the least bias. That link will be here: Costly loss for sports team owners embedded in Trump tax bill | Fortune In reading this article I found: This deduction was intended for intangible assets. For sports teams, these things include items like Goodwill, team logos, team branding, reputation, brand recognition, intellectual rights, radio and TV rights, etc. The current deduction allows these assets to be deducted up to 100%, amortized over 15 years. The administration originally wanted this deduction to be reduced to 0%, or eliminated, but settled on 50% to get the bill through Congress. Other provisions the administration considered was not allowing tax-exempt bonds for stadium buildouts. For example, had the MN Legislature hypothetically created a tax-exempt bond to pay for the requested upkeep or upgrades of US Bank Stadium by the Vikings, it could have been possible that those bonds would not have been given tax-exempt status. This provision was already dropped in the bill that passed the House. The deduction was originally put into legislation as part of the 2004 tax bill sponsored by then President George W. Bush, who was a former part-owner of the Texas Rangers before becoming President. This reduction only applies to owners who purchase teams after the law takes effect. Varying experts opine on both sides of the argument that this could create a disincentive to purchasing sports teams or very little effect will be shown due to the fact that there are only so many sports franchises. Opinions/Observations: A Newsweek article covering this topic also wrote that the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that reducing this deduction would raise up to $991 million over 10 years. As we can all likely agree, that's barely a rounding error in federal budgets so it's possible this doesn't make it to the final bill if it creates too much of a sticking point with Senators. The Math: For discussion, let's use the Forbes valuation of the Twins of $1.5 billion and assume that 50% of this valuation are comprised of intangible assets as referred to above. I'm likely low on my percentage, but it makes the number easy. That's leaves us $750 million to be amortized at 50% ($375 million) over 15 years, resulting in a yearly deduction of $25 million instead of the $50 million the current law would give them. Tax accounting for sports franchises are incredibly complex so this could very well be off by millions, but this is an exercise to give some perspective. Timing: We still do not know when this bill will actually take effect, if passed. For reference, most tax bills have an effective date of January 1st, but what year will be the question. If it is retroactive to January 1, 2025, the new owners will be subject to the new law, regardless of when the bill is passed or the sale is finally finished. If the law takes effect January 1, 2026, then a new owner will have incentive to get the sale done before 2026 so they can still take advantage of the old laws. As much as we are concerned about how this law will affect whether the Pohlads will actually sell, this law could actually INCREASE the value of the Twins as potential buyers could become more motivated to buy as to take advantage of the old law prior to it changing in 2026. Opinion: This will be another issue which will have to be negotiated through if the bill passes with this provision in it. I'm reasonably certain that the Pohlads and the interested buyers already have developed contingency plans on how they think this affects the value of the team. I'm also certain that all involved parties have contacts, lobbyists, etc. working on this provision and probably know in real time where this provision stands on making it through the final bill where we are just guessing with a couple short news articles. Ultimately, I do believe that the Pohlads, as a group, are finished having their name dragged through the media and will likely sell regardless of this law passing. It just complicates the negotiations. Writing was never a strength of mine. I hope that this will jumpstart the thread back towards the subject at hand and further the discussion.

For context, I have been riding the trade Paddack wagon since the offseason. I finally got off a few stops ago when he started going through this current stretch of excellent pitching. I don't fully trust in the combination of Festa, SWR, and Matthews. Matthews gave us a Herculean start on Friday keeping us in the game in order for us to come back for the win. Festa is building back up from arm fatigue. SWR is improving in St. Paul, but I'm not sure he's at the point he can replace Paddack at the moment in the rotation. None of these 3 have been able to consistently get past the 5th inning. We have been nervous all season about bullpen usage, especially now since it seems we can't trust two of our pitchers in the bullpen. Trading someone who has been saving bullpen arms seems illogical. Let's go all out with rampant speculation and suggest that we can get somewhere close to a similar package for Paddack that the Blue Jays got for Kikuchi. Even if we can get that type of a package, that is three young players/prospects that will be blocked in St. Paul since we already have a robust list of AAA/AAAA players that people are asking for to be brought up to the ML roster with more waiting in the wings. I agree with a previous poster that I don't see a team giving up a middle of the order bat for Paddack and also believe that any trade partner will want us to take on the salary, which we are unsure at this point what ownership will allow for spending.

Agree. They're playing at a band box of a ballpark against a below average pitching staff. If he doesn't start the majority of the games in this series, he should have been moved so he could get some at bats, rest, or whatever he needs to get better out of the limelight. For his sake as much as the teams. The fact that he didn't start tonight brings up more questions about him and not less.

You really start to wonder why you have a lefty in the bullpen when you can't use him like a traditional lefty.

I believe we are going to find out in real time. He was warming up in the bullpen.

Only 11 pitches for Topa. Maybe a multi-inning candidate?

Get a couple more runs in. Try to make this game Fundy-proof.

This is the situation where I would like somebody be able to go multiple innings and potentially save Duran.

Go all out and ask for it be played in St. John's, Newfoundland in Newfie Time so everyone is off a half hour.

If you were watching the game, Ryan was always asking for new baseballs, shifting around on the mounds, and just never seemed comfortable tonight. I'd say that he nursed the game to where it is now, bared down when he absolutely had to have it, and gritted through 5 innings. Not the best performance, but one you like to see that he didn't give up and just implode.

Let's assume all of the first two paragraphs are true. What business do they have in an article reporting on a page of the bill that could affect the sale of the Twins? That isn't me trying to check someone's politics. My conversation in this thread has been clear that politics shouldn't have been introduced into the article and has thus ruined the article of its potential value of a robust discussion among fans.

It does look like that Alcala just needs a change of scenery. I was hoping he would improve as they had finally figured out how they were going to use him, unlike in 2024, where his usage was so erratic that it was tough to know what they expected out of him. I don't see anyone trading for him at this point so we will just have to lose him to waivers. I've said this for a while now, but the piece we seem to be missing in the bullpen is an arm who can go multiple innings of consistent relief pitching. Maybe that is Adams, could be McCaughan or even Dobnak. Or a short-term trade piece when the day comes. I was thinking that would been one of either Varland or Sands. Coulombe has filled that role in the past but would be unlikely to want to push it considering that he is coming off of an IL stint.

Trolls and troll-adjacent always need to be fed. Easiest way not to feed the trolls is to avoid creating content that attracts the trolls. Unfortunately, the way the article was written was not anti-troll friendly and that begins and ends with the author pressing submit. Don't blame the trolls when they arrive. Hopefully this will be a lesson learned for the editors to be better as a robust discussion about how this would affect the sale of the Twins would have been nice.

President Trump’s signature legislative plan, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” has passed the House and arrived at the Senate. The bill, which runs over 1,000 pages, generally comes down to broad tax cuts for the top earners in America by raising taxes on the poorest, alongside cutting 13.7 million Americans off health insurance. Radically sweeping in scope, the bill includes a ban on any regulation of artificial intelligence, neuters the judiciary’s power to limit abuses by the executive branch, and removes the requirement for citizens to register gun silencers. The bill projects to increase the federal deficit by $4.6 trillion over the next decade. Most of the bill heavily favors the ultra-wealthy, but right where the Pohlad family needs a break most, it might bite them hardest. Specifically, the bill includes a dangerous poison pill for new sports owners and their tax bills. There. Fixed the article. Gives the reader the reference to the legislation they need and why it's important to us as readers of a non-political baseball forum. Now to discuss the actual implications of this part of the bill. Agree with the previous posters who have suggested that this will be huge as part of the next CBA, will do nothing in terms of cutting ticket prices, and will likely affect the negotiations of the sale of the franchise. One thing this article does not address is the timing of this piece of the bill. Is this bill effective in 2025 or 2026? We likely won't know until it is actually passed as this type of language almost always changes during this part of the process. If the law affects tax year 2025, then it doesn't matter when the bill is passed vs when the team is sold as the owners (whether new or old) will have to deal with the effects of the bill, unless Congress gets really nuts and has an effective date during the 2025 year (happened before in tax legislation) thus splitting the year into two sets of laws. If this law is effective starting in 2026, a new owner could potentially create a corporate year for the Twins that starts in 2025 but extends into 2026 and still get to use the old law for one year, which may soften the sting of this legislation for the first year. That gives the potential sale a chance to get to October or November to be finalized. I'm not a CPA, a tax lawyer, or a lawyer in general so take this with the authority it deserves.

Right now, it seems the Twins do not know what they really have. This has been another reason for advocating for Lewis to be sent down ASAP, so they know what they are going to have in him going forward, or at least by the deadline. I don't see them trading for a 1B unless France completely tanks and starts making Lewis' at bats look competent as we know this FO loves them some low-paid veterans with something to prove.

Someone should have just let Milton have his stapler.......

Alert! Alert! Quit throwing to Cal Raleigh! Hit him! Walk him! Anything but throw to him! Alert! Alert!

I believe his parents told him to pursue baseball as they said medical school will always be there when you're done. I think he did alright with his choices.

You could make an argument for Emmy Rodriguez if you want a more speedster-type player to use as a pinch runner.

At least for today, we will not know whether this exercise in thought will bear out any fruit as the Twins have made a roster move. Wallner has been activated and Keirsey Jr has been sent back to St. Paul. Twins' Matt Wallner: Officially activated off IL - CBSSports.com

This isn't just a Zebby occurrence. This is becoming a league-wide phenomenon. I've seen a lot of clips this season where pitchers are getting squeezed. Commentators have suggested that it is the result of the buffer zone being moved in from 2" to 0.75". Since the buffer zone is part of their grading on how they are calling behind the plate, I can see more umps squeezing that strike call if they are not sure whether it is in the buffer zone.

This may be true. The part that got to me was that he slowed down to a jog like he quit on the play. That's what bothered me the most was the lack of hustle.