JADBP

Damn! That’s a good question. Think of Spanky (from the gang) jumping up and down waving his hands wildly and screaming with that squeaky voice “Pick me! Pick ME!” the old man said OK, but DO NOT SCREW THIS UP! Then he did!

Very very interesting comments. Yes, the Twin’s way is broken. I think someone in the family has finally stood up at the Pohlad thanksgiving table and shouted and screamed until he finally got through….”you keep trying the same ******** over and over and you just keep failing!” He finally got through to the uncles. But what does this mean? Bad people or bad process? It’s BOTH! So he’s gotta take the time to figure out who the bad apples are and cull them and bring in new people with new processes. My guess is that he already has an idea of who to replace. I doubt they would dump Shelton but the FO is likely on the super high burner…

I’m just soooo glad to see Joey gone! now Falvey….

I don't dislike the signing...we HAD to do something to get some thump out of 1B. We will never get that out of Clemens or Keaschall and I am pretty sure that Julien will never be back, unless he rides in on a pink Unicorn. Here is an interesting question: Bell is not the long term answer, so who do we start training in on 1B so he can take over in a couple of years? We keep drafting highly rated SS's (Lewis, Lee, Culpepper, Houston, Winokur, Young, and likely another SS in 2026 draft, and don't forget Noah Miller, Cavaco, Austin Martin, Will Holland, etc) on the basis that they are such good athletes that we can move them anywhere on the field. But we never do! So, if we have all of these great athletes, which of them would you move to 1B? Honestly, I think the only one that really fits at 1B/3B is Lewis--he has the bat/power skills. But, we just spent a couple of years trying to teach him 3B now, so let's not mess with that....anyone else? Emma or Gabriel? They have hit tool, but might be too useful in the OF (I am looking forward to an OF of Emma, Gabby and Jenkins). Larnach and Wallner...and maybe only Wallner??? Could he convert to a good 1B man? The no-speed plays, but the K's do not. Sabato has been in AAA for five years now, and for good reason. So, it seems like we need to draft or trade for a long term 1Bman and use guys like Bell/Clemens/Keaschall until he is ready. We are stuck with Bell. Could we come up with a package for any one of these guys?? We have ZERO future at 1B as it stands right now (other than, uhhhh.....Sabato, not gonna happen).

Love the comment. I am not surprised by Popkins, though I wanted him out too. I regret my earlier comments. As a retired businessman and executive, I can say this; A leaders fundamental job is to: 1) set goals, expectations, and directions for the enterprise 2) Communicate/teach/coach and support those who will implement #1 above. 3) Get the hell out of the way. some might add strategic analysis but that is usually done at lower levels. Upper management finalizes by choosing direction (#1). The Twins are a tough case as a mid-market franchise with limited income, massive (unsustainable) debt, and disinterested or distracted ownership. So the owners decide to cash out…until they realize that the franchise is worth less than they thought (again, massive debt). So, the franchise leadership tries a bunch of stuff. Better players? Sure, let’s get some (but they are expensive). That didn’t work. Dang, then let’s tear it down and start over. Again, the fans exploded! Oops Let’s try something else, Let’s Swap coaches! Still no love, Target Field is gonna be empty! Hey—just kidding—no rebuild. We have a strong base of good players. Maybe Twins OWNERSHIP and MANAGEMENT needs to be replaced! They can’t get out of their own way! I get the feeling that Falvey commands everyone how they should do their jobs. I hate that. If true, it has been a horrible failure

Royce can be fine if he learns to close up his batting holes.

Sorry to say, GOOD BYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE. I don’t see LAD forcing Ohtani to play all over the infield or subbing him out in the 4th inning when an LHP enters the game. When they do, then I will know that Rocco is actually having an influence on the team. Otherwise, this is probably just a mercy hire—his best buddy is a top guy there.

I have very high confidence that Royce can shine as a Twin. The first step was to get rid of Rocco and the nonsensical bullcrap that Royce has had to put up with!!! Like: “Hey Royce, go play 2B today. Oh, and go buy a 1Bman glove too! You’re batting bottom of the order today but might slot you in at #4 tomorrow. One more thing, Royce … can you pitch? “ Rocco was a NUTCASE with Royce.

I am pretty sure that Buster Posey called up Falvey before the draft and said “Hey Buddy, you owe me one…how’s about you draft that Susac guy and flip him our way? Pick some loser off our low A or lower. We’ll cover the fees…. It’s just like the Louie Varland trade, which made absolutely zero sense (wish I could have used a number a lot lower than Zero there!). But you are right…Falvey seems to have some perverse addiction to trades. I can only guess it is his narcissistic side coming out. It must make him FEEL powerful, smart, maybe even beloved, But in actuality, he’s being suckered by other teams to agree to these inane trades. Maybe he believes we’re gonna love him even more. I think he needs to double check the “Do you approve of the job Falvey is doing ….” polls here on TD!!!

Lots of chatter here! Yuup it’s hard to say changing the coaches is worth 10 wins! But Rocco had lost the trust of the team and when that happens he HAS to go. I am not saying that Shelton would be that much better but if he is different, that could lead to many wins. There is plenty of talent in the team but it was misused and abused. Pulling lefties in the 4th inning, moving players from position to position, poor training and preparation, crazy usage of RPs, and running Margot out there hoping for at l ast a single hit. Rocco stubbornly refused to learn from his errors. Only when the handwriting was on the wall (he was getting fired) did he try something different (stealing bases). So let’s all hope that Shelly is just DIFFERENT!!!

I agree....if I were the Mets, I would AT LEAST have Maddon on speed dial as a highly paid consultant, if not head coach or full time adviser. Is Carlos Mendoza really the answer there (an 86 win team)? They are still searching for answers...when they just be paying for answers. Oh well....

I agree....a 5 win player is fairly rare. But 5 win managers are extremely rare. I really think there are probably only 2-3 managers out there than can take a woefully bad team and make them shine...like a Maddon. Dave Roberts in LAD (even with WS wins) is not one, because the owner loads up the team with massive talent and he just keeps them all running in the same general direction and keeps out of the way. But talent is not the only ingredient...look at the Mets! So, what is wrong here? Its a whole ecosystem, players, managers, coaches, facilities, belief, management, ownership, the whole shebang. Since the Twins have two strikes against us already (ownership (Huge #1!)) and maybe management, the coaches and players might never get to the promised land.

Well teams just don't play managers the types of salaries that top level player talent command. You will never find a $35 million manager in MLB (maybe decades from now).... just because teams can get away with it.

LOL.....Well, I can't imagine that Shelton is worth 10 wins, but maybe Baldelli was -5 and Shelton is +5? I can well remember several games that Baldelli just simply blew by his constant substitutions and having players play out of the position that they spent five years learning.

interesting thought....what is the Baldelli switcheroo worth? 2-3 wins? 4-5 wins? 6-10 wins or even more? Less? Any thoughts, fandom?

“At some point, for almost every major league athlete, one begins to crave a role on a team that is competitive. That ship sailed when the Twins failed to properly evaluate their roster and make proactive moves following the 2023 season”. NO! That ship sailed after the ignorant Twins ran up nearly $500,000,000.00 in debt on the team!!!

Interesting way to look at it. Here’s another interesting approach: if we had made all of these trades minus one—the Varland trade—would we be more likely to declare the deadline fire sale as a WIN? I maintain that the Varland trade was both misguided and unnecessary. The return does not match the upside of Varland. At the high end, he could become the next Joe Ryan in the Twins system. At the low end he’s a #3 in the rotation. I think we could have done better trading the immensely unhappy Ryan for a massive haul.

DREAM ON! He won't be dropped for nothing. We should all jump at the chance to get Spencer Steer back in the Twins org. He hits bombs and is an outstanding 1Bman. When is the last time we had that? Hrbek or Big Papi? He is ARB eligible and won't be a Free Agent until 2029. What's not to like? But I highly doubt that we can work out a package that wouldn't dig deep into our prospects. He'd be expensive. Maybe Larnach plus a prospect.... The Reds have uber prospect Sal Stewart up now (and learning 1B) as well as Sam Basallo at 1B so Steer might be dispensable to the Reds....

There is one and ONLY ONE plan this off-season: Cut Costs!!! True story: when an unprofitable company, no matter how rich the owners are, owes the bank $500 million, something’s gotta give. The banks have been putting immense pressure on the Pohlads to make good on the loan. There is no other way this could have went. Period. They suckered some “investors” to buy some equity in the team to keep the banks from foreclosing on the team. The other problem that the Pohlads have is that a large portion of their family wealth has been in commercial real estate. That industry took an immense hit during Covid and it still has not recovered. Like all real estate investors/managers/owners, they are most likely sitting on a lot of unprofitable inventory. Some large commercial buildings in Minnesota have sold for a fraction (5-10%!) of their pre-COVID value. The Pohlads have been in financial hell for a few years now (hence the $500 million in loans against the Twins and their attempts to sell the team). So while we can dream of competing, it just is not going to happen. With the almost certain strike/lockout in 2027, the Pohlads will be losing $$$ every day (no revenue but continued expenses). They need to put away as much $$ as possible or else the Team will just go bankrupt some time in 2027. They should have already but they chose the alternative: sell off the Team. But, they inanely thought new owners would pay $1.5 Billion for the team while taking on the debt . . . AND at the same time allow baby Joe to still run the team! So these idiots have no choice but to tank the payroll and save as much as possible. I will wave a gracious goodbye to Buck, Lopez and Ryan. Probably 2-3 others like Larnach, Wallner or Jeffers. This will be a AAAA team next year. What the idiot owners don’t seem to understand, is that if the team loses 3 outta 4 games with AAAA skill level, the fans will abandon the Twins. Revenue will tank and there will be little money to sock away. They will wish they had sold the team. They can’t fix this.

OH NO....it IS an indictment of the ownership! I am definitely NOT giving Falvey a pass, he sucks, but Ownership has also heavily contributed to the mess of a team! They are the idiots that ran up $500 million in debt on the team--making it both unsellable and perennially uncompetitive. The inept ownership moves have forced the limited budgets that Falvey has to work with. That said, Falvey has had three strikes against him for some time and is at least half the problem: 1) Poor trading moves have clearly overshadowed his few good trades. 2) Some alarmingly bad free agent signings. 3) Unconscionably horrible strategy for a small-market team.

Molitor

Actually I am a little disappointed that Miranda didn't pan out with the Twins...he showed promise. I wish him luck elsewhere. On the other hand, how is Julien still in on the 40-man team? Do they think they can turn him around? By his standards, he sucked in AAA. 3 HR all year. Are they keeping him around just in case of a Keashall injury? Don't they have Clemons for that? Or do they plan on Clemons as a full time 1Bman? I can't see them keeping Julien other than as a project and he could be taking up a valuable 40-man position soon.

What Free Agent would want to come to the Twins S### Show? I am sure there are some desperate suckers out there somewhere but I have to believe that any player we would want on the team (meaning they are good) would be able to find a better landing spot.

I agree 100% on Rocco as I’ve said before. Sorry the wording was confusing. Got it now. Again, sorry!

No sorry I should have been far less unkind. We agree fully on both Falvey and Baldelli. What I disagree with is that Smith “got it right” as Twins GM. He did not. As I pointed out, he made far more bad trades than good ones and the damage he did as GM hurt the org for 2-3 years after he left. He never got close to the GM chair again. He was a pure admin guy with little to no baseball skill. I am sure he is a fine administrator. But, as Falvey shows, GMs today have far more responsibility/control/power over how the on-field team is run. I’m not saying Falvey is good at it, but I am saying that Smith had little understanding of baseball-related decisions (strategy, training, team formation, trade asset values, etc). He went on to finish his career in ADMIN. I apologize, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just jumped on Smith.