MN Brian

So while the contract is signed & valid at that point, it appears that there is still some wiggle room in that it is not guaranteed and a player may be cut with a smaller payout. Does that sound correct? https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39708783/jd-davis-released-giants-beating-team-arbitration

I think it is worse then what is stated here. Isn't that the ticket sales number not actual attendance? I expect that this year the difference between the two was very significant. For instance, I had the $229 Twins pass so I presume I counted as 80 of the 1.7million ticket sales. But I had no expectation of attending 80 games, ended up around 20-25 (still a great value). I believe that there were around 10k season tickets (someone speak up if they know the actual number). On many of the nights I was there, it was clearly much less than 50% of season tickets were being used. They even added a program to bribe season ticket holders into ensuring their tickets were used by crediting them a % of the ticket to next years season ticket. If season ticket holders either can't sell or can't be bothered to sell/give their unused tickets it clearly indicates a high level of apathy. That won't be turned around fast, as you noted it takes sustained success. Everything points towards 2027 being another step down from 2026 for attendance. With the right actions, maybe the Twins can turn it around for 2028 but I feel that much of the story for 2027 attendance has already been written.

Doesn't it seem like #10 should be "Will Jeremy Zoll keep his job?"? Personally I feel that Tom will want to choose his team, not inherit it from his brother. Business leaders typically give themselves 6-12 months to learn the ropes, then choose their team.

An interesting first observation is that the league (minus the Twins) had 5.12 average platoon advantage hitters in the starting line-up, whereas the Twins had 5.64. Confirming the feeling that the Twins are above the norm in their approach.

@Riverbrian If you liked the last data dump, I think you'll love this one =) I haven't done a sanity check yet, but all the previous ones looked good so I'm reasonably confident Claude knows what it is doing. The attached CSV has all games for all teams for 10 years (2016 to 2025 inclusive). It include 2 entries for each game to capture the perspective from both teams - 45k+ lines. It includes the season ERA for the opposing starter as a basic means for identifying the quality of the starter. Depending on your spreadsheet skills, this should allow you to slice and dice the data pretty extensively. Note: I did see that if the team name has changed (such as the Athletics), their data is under more than 1 team name. Something to watch out for. all_teams_vs_pitcher_hand_games.csv

The python script can be run against any team, one at a time. I had Claude add in the L/R/S count for the batters in the starting line-up -- I haven't done a sanity check on that data but it seems reasonable. The data can be run for any time period other than this year, this example data set is 2016-2025 inclusive, so 10 years total. twins_vs_pitcher_hand_games (version 2).csv

@Riverbrian - I'm a newbie when it comes to sourcing baseball stats, so fully possible that I have made a newbie mistake here =) I asked Claude to write a python script to scrape the baseball stats to determine the data that you are looking at: the Twins (or another club's) game record and runs scored against the handedness of the opposing starting pitcher. The data seems good - I cross checked a half dozen data points from the spreadsheet against Baseball Reference game box scores and the pitcher, handedness, win/loss, & run scored were all accurate. Unfortunately it won't include this years results until the year has ended. The game by game log is in the CSV file. Does this help? Personally I understand the hypothesis but am unsure of how you see this data supporting it. Would it be by comparing 2 different teams on opposite sides of the spectrum? twins_vs_pitcher_hand_games.csv

So if we only have a half season due to a lockout, and Joe Ryan is only a half season pitcher, doesn't that indicate it might be a perfect match?

Based on my experience in business we were always looking to develop the team aspects =) Humans, in business or sport, are not automatons. They are humans and if you fail to treat them, or their coworkers, as such then you leave an awful lot of production opportunity on the table. That's not to say don't focus on production, but just not exclusively. Always include the human perspective in the business (or sport) decisions.

Maybe it's not the standard, but it's not that unusual (Jose Conseco? Mark McGwire?). Certainly not the norm however. But the main point being that nothing of this nature gets implemented without mistakes. That's not to say that most testing is not accurate or that the testing shouldn't be done. But it is to say that it would be crushing as an individual if you devoted your life to a sport only to have your reputation dirtied by a bad test, or by an accurate test that did not capture intent.

Found this on the Phillies Nation site and found it interesting in terms of the background on Kepler’s PED suspension. He acknowledged being responsible but not guilty, which is an interesting positioning. If true, it's a sad by-product of the need to crack down on PED use. Of course, no way to know if there was an intent to take PEDs or not. https://philliesnation.com/2026/09/philadelphia-phillies-arizona-diamondbacks-max-kepler-ped-suspension-september-3-2026-mlb-update/

Dang! Look at Dobby with the flashy ERA!

No, but I heard it runs great!

No current Twins player is more recognized by the general public. That public recognition is well deserved and it means that he has more value to the Twins than just his playing performance. He has marketing value that means his overall value to the Twins (performance + marketing) is greater than we would ever get in return in a trade. So my answer is that while a great trade for younger prospects might make sense for the long term playing performance of the baseball team, it won't make business sense unless Buxton chooses to torch the marketing value by requesting a trade. At least I hope so!

Am I the only one bothered by the fact that the Lansing Lugnuts logo is a bolt, not a lugnut?