NYCTK

It was a monkey off the back. But this idea that it was a great team is ridiculous. It was a great stepping stone. But management decided to just jump off it. People have memories of the series, but they're on par with game 163. It was a win to get into the playoffs, not really a playoff win.

Everyone's at fault. Nearly everyone but Jax basically.

Well, they aren't paid to put together a roster, and the guys that are failed miserably.

What does Santana have to do with the gaping hole in CF? Compare him to Margot. How'd that go?

Twins run like a business...a terrible, terrible business that was inherited by some moron nepo baby that doesn't understand the industry. But thanks to a legalized monopolization, they literally cannot fail.

Wanted to follow up on this. According to Aaron Gleeman, the Twins were projecting 2.2-2.3 million this season. This would put this about 300,000 below their projected attendance, and let's be a it kinder and say the average marginal revenue on each head is quite a bit lower, maybe $50. That's $15 million in revenue.

Ironically, the White Sox outdrew the Twins this week.

Could have been a billion more if they didn't suck ass: St Louis Cardinals - $2.55 B Not only do they run it like a business, they run it poorly.

He'd be a LOT harder to move. Whereas Pablo's contract isn't bad, just a pretty decent slightly below market contract that a lot of teams would happily take on, Correa's is an overpay. I don't think anyone thinks he'd get $130 mil / 4 years on the open market today.

Talent, period. I don't know how else they brought in Manuel Margot to play CF on a major league baseball team. And how they managed to keep him around long after they determined he couldn't play CF. I just...I don't get it. Fire them. Seriously. How they managed to completely screw the pooch on the 2 most glaring holes, 4th OF (aka starting CF) and SP, and in a way that everyone knew was obvious. They're no smarter than a random poster on this website. And that's not a compliment to any of you.

If everything is broke, don't try to fix it. - Rocco probably

The Yankees could use a 3B/2B, and the Braves could use a SS. I bet this is explored.

Well...a lot changed with the Mets besides just the Manager. But he's been such a good find for them. From Bench coach to Manager of the Year? I just go back to the Mets owner commitment to winning. Last season, they were only 50-55, 7 games out, when they decided it wasn't their year and sold off anything that wasn't bolted down. This season, they weren't quite convinced it's their year so they didn't sell their farm but were still able to bring in 3 bullpen arms, an OF, and a SP. Can you imagine the Twins bringing in 3 BP arms and a SP? For next to nothing!

Against a Toronto Blue Jays team that also didn't win 90 games. It was fun, but lets not pretend as if we beat an actual contender. The expanded playoffs have lowered some people's expectations so much.

This is sadly correct. Lopez's contract is 3 years $65 mil. Not bad at all. But not really far off what he would get in free agency. Sonny Gray got 3 yrs $75 mil and was arguably the better pitcher each of the last two seasons So...that $10 million difference isn't all that indefensible.

While the MLB farm system power ranking might be a consolation, I tend to think they're overrating the Twins top end of the system. Compare their ranking to Fangraphs. Fangraphs is trying to do what we all do, looking for the players that can become true stars, because ultimately, no one cares about graduating an Austin Martin, a AAAA player. https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/farm-system-rankings/2024-in-season-prospect-list Walker Jenkins is truly exciting. Emmanuel Rodriguez looks like he could be a pretty darn good player, but a star? Time will tell. David Festa, while no longer a prospect, does look like a legitimate pitcher for years to come. Keaschall and others look intriguing, but the height of the system is really dictated by Walker. If he becomes a bust, like so many do, this is a pretty run of the mill farm system. Some schmuck on Bleacher Report shouldn't be listened to too much, but he just ranked them 22nd. If it were truly a great farm system, no one would be placing them that low. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10136313-final-mlb-farm-system-rankings-of-the-2024-season

Well, he played more games in CF than SS when he was in the Toronto system and talent evaluators have long considered him too inadequate to play SS, and the Twins put a kibosh on him playing OF moved him back to SS...only to bring him up to the majors as an OF.

Bad Excuse. Every team has injuries and the Twins were almost entirely expected. Even Joe Ryan, while not completely expected, a SP pitcher missing a third of the season is not a surprise. Another Bad Excuse. Every team has inexperienced players counted on to contribute. Bingo. Twin Cities media is soft on the team, and the Twins employed commentators are constantly blowing smoke up the fan's asses, so I don't blame you or anyone else for repeating their tired excuses. You yourself recognize them as tired excuses. But they'll be repeated through spring training, and then for years to come.

This is so true. He has decent speed and good bat skills, but he's really a very poor baseball player. He''ll be lucky if he gets to 1000 PAs in his career. No one's looking for a backup infielder with poor defense and baserunning. Furthermore, how the Twins organization moved him out of the OF in the minors, clearly recognizing he was bad out there, only to bring him up to the majors and use him almost exclusively as an OF is beyond me. Complete organizational incompetence.

Yes and no. The Twins aren't a small market team. They're a mid market team run by business people with a small market mindset that only care about the bottom line, no interest in the product on the field. This is not unique to the Twins, but it feels like their risk averse attitude has permeated the culture of the entire organization. The Twin Cities would be most fittingly compared to the mid-markets of Denver, Seattle, San Diego, or even Detroit (now that it is such a dwindling market this generation). No one in considers these small markets. Year by year, the Twins payroll don't differ all that much from this group, but what sets the Twins apart, is they will never go for it. In a vacuum, the payroll this year isn't insulting. But the reason it was such a slap in the face to everyone is they rightfully thought this is a window and the time to invest. Small and Mid Market teams have smaller windows of opportunity, but they come and go fairly frequently, depending on the baseball people in charge. The reason the Rays are viewed so highly is because they're seemingly always opening up new narrow windows. But when one of these windows arises, these teams have to pounce. The Tigers have gone for it (though those days may be done now that their own nepo baby is in charge). The Mariners have gone for it (and failed, but their fans reward them by showing up). The Padres have gone for it so much that the other billionaires got upset because it was making them all look bad. The Minnesota Twins have never really gone for it. The Josh Donaldson signing is the closest I think think of, but COVID kinda killed that and otherwise they've never really extended themselves past a risk averse mindset in order to try to provide anything more than an 86 win team. Just enough to tell their fanbase that "hey, we tried!" and try to convince people that squeaking into the playoffs is enough to be a contender. This is a mindset of the owners, and this is what I how I see the mindset of the front office. No one thought this was a legit contender in the offseason even if we foolishly thought they were favorites for the AL Central. What well-run organizations will do is retool or ramp up. Twins don't do that. They love to strive for 86 wins and hope they can recapture the impossibility of the '87 Twins.

I'll say, that evil comment is a bit hyperbolic, and directed less at the current Pohlads, who are just loser nepo babies, than their father and more directly at Fisher (and some other very public billionaires). More pointedly, a good billionaire is basically an oxymoron.

Yet still significantly better than Manuel Margot.

Why are we loyal to these businesses? It's very interesting to think about, especially in light of the atrocity committed in Oakland today. We're all beholden to billionaires, often evil men, that almost never give a damn about their community, either local or broader fanbase, outside of how much money they can squeeze from it. We stay because of the past, because of visiting the games as a child with our father or sister, or whomever. We have deep emotional ties to something that we can't control and doesn't care about us in the least. It's hard to leave it behind. Sometimes it's the only thing tying us to our past selves. I think I might finally be done. I'll give it the offseason before I know I guess. Maybe I'll still check in, but not only do I think I'll stop supporting them, I think I'm going to try to convince my dad to as well. Not done with baseball of course. I'll always love baseball. But done with the Pohlads. Done with the Twins. Game 163 will forever be one of my greatest memories, but that seems like it was a fluke that quite literally cannot happen again. And I don't think I have the fortitude to wait to see.

This is the baseball Gods striking down upon the twins for wearing their pants above their knees. Not gonna lie, that baserunning by Satana was so bad it was hilarious. I've watched it like 8 times and can't stop laughing. 15 year vet looking like an absolute fool.

Honestly, I blame the losers for wearing their pants above the knees. Gfto with that crap. You look like jokes and you played to match.