Bball57

I think you are correct in saying that they picked a lane, but I think you incorrectly describe the "plan." This was neither a re-tooling nor a re-build, this was pure and simple a salary dump, let's face facts. What's surprising to me is that, if there is a buyer for the team out there somewhere, as is being reported, that person or group would allow the current front office to dump controllable players like Duran and Jax. Further to that point, to my way of thinking, given the demand for bullpen arms at this trade deadline, getting back for Duran (who is under team control through the 2027 season) the Phillies' 4th and 6th rated prospects does not constitute a great return; receiving two of the Phillies' top three prospects would be much more defendable. I heard a podcast the other day in which I believe it was Patrick Reusse saying that he would have never believed you if you had told him in 2019 that, by the mid-2020s, the Timberwolves would be a fairly well-run franchise and the Twins would be a complete mess. It's a very sad state of affairs for Minnesota baseball fans!

Frankly, the narrative that ownership is severely restricting spending is not correct. The Twins, a mid-market team, sit 18th out of 30 teams in total payroll in 2025. The Tigers’ total payroll is just slightly higher than the Twins’ payroll, and the Twins are spending significantly more than both Kansas City and Cleveland. It isn’t ownership who decided to give Carlos Correa a six-year deal with an AAV of $33.3 million. It isn’t ownership who decided to pay Pablo Lopez $21.75 million this year, next year and the year following. It isn’t ownership who signed Christian Vazquez to a three-year, $10 million AV deal three years ago. in the case of Correa and Lopez, they are contributing professional ball players, no doubt about it. But Correa is not, and never has been, a significant offensive force. Pablo Lopez sports a 56–51 career record with a 3.86 ERA. I’m not quite sure what to say about Vazquez, a backup catcher, but the money spent on him was a complete waste from the get-go. The bottom line is that the front office has signed a number of players to inflated value contracts that significantly restrict the Twins’ ability to do much of anything, including adding the much needed hitting described in this article. To lay all or most of the current problems plaguing the Twins at the feet of ownership is in my opinion unfair and misguided.