mikelink45

Then we need deeper dives into these players. It is a new topic at least even if it is not very exciting.

Yes - whether it is the imminent promotion of a prospect, the rule V player we traded for, a FA, a trade, the qualities in our 40 man or changes in FO - I would like some new material. Not the fault of TD writers, they work with what they have, but I do not read the articles about who we should trade for, who we would sign, because the team shows no inclination to take any of these actions.

And an excellent article - I just want the Twins to give us some new hope and new names for you to write about.

I love McCusker and wish he had had a better chance with the Twins, but he is gone, his story now belongs to someone else. By the way have you noticed that some teams are actually adding, trading, signing players with names we do recognize? It isn't that this was a badly written story, but my point is that the Twins have given us no new names to work with so we explore the past instead of the future.

Has anyone noticed that there are teams making trades and signing free agents while we have to have articles about a DFA player who happens to be very tall?

I hope he is picked up by someone and becomes the next Rooker. I think they treated him really bad - he had no chance to prove himself.

Another off season hope! So does everyone that makes it to the majors. We do not know the real potential - we guess - the team guesses. We all want to see him succeed, but at this point it is just off season wishing.

I hope they are all taken and given a chance to succeed. I always enjoy seeing the players we lose go on to have good careers.

What a team - the big news (or rather the soap opera) is will they or won't they sell the team, who and who isn't buying in to the team ownership, and will they or won't they use the new investment to make the team better of just repair the Pohlad bottom line? I thought I was signed up to read about baseball, but instead it is the disfunction of Billionaires!

These projections are as accurate as if I sat with a die and rolled it over and over and kept track of how many times the numbers were odd or even. This is just something to fill the offseason especially for teams like the twins that seem content to watch the other teams trade and sign. For me as I try to grasp modern baseballs soul I see the bullpen having become the key to success. With our Ryan and Lopez starts we can win the five inning game but unfortunately games go nine. We have young players with potential, but potential doesn't win games. Royce had great potential and started out amazing but now we all question whether he'll regain that form and production at any point so I look at those projections and basically ignore them. If you hadn't written this essay I would have just passed on fan graphs and ESPN and all the other projectors. 2/3 of the way through spring training projection start to have more validity as we see rookies free agents trades shape the team and what it will be during the season. But at least you gave me something to read today

This is no surprise. The team FO and owners have not only left fans feeling frustration - that same message is apparent to players too. Everyone wants to be on a winner (maybe Mike Trout doesn't care but everyone else does) and the unraveling of the team, the delays in ownership sales, the lack of a budget for next year has to have created great uncertainty. I would hate to lose Buxton, but I understand if he wants to go and if Ryan or Lopez goes I think it shoves him out the door.

It is my birthday and you give me this depressing prediction. Let's hope there is a massive shift or we really are looking at a long year and lot's of empty seats.

I am hoping to be surprised

This is not about the contents of the CBA, but the fear that baseball will shoot itself in the foot again - both management and players. The World Series raised the bar for fan interest after covid, TV contracts and other elements have continually eaten away at baseball's once lofty status. To have a strike/lockout after next season is such bad timing that I hope there are some intelligent decision makers on all sides.

This will be interesting and predictions are difficult. Teams with resources will always take advantage of those elements to rise above the less endowed. Climate, reputation, expectations will always be big factors in where players choose to go even with a salary cap. That does not mean I am against a cap, but my feeling is that if teams are just going to save millions from a cap that money should not just go in the owners pocket. It should mean lower ticket prices, more funds for the minor leagues and investment in the community rather than asking the community to build their facilities.

How is it possible? Because this is the Twins and I do not believe in their business model at this point. The last three years have not been about baseball, they have been about paying off the Pohlad debt.

Amazing analogy considering male humans all have nipples. So happy thanksgiving.

True. What would we be paying if they took Ryan? We're paying on Correa. That seems to be the new paradigm and Major League baseball and it makes no sense except to say the contracts they sign are too large to begin with.

Q based on the articles I'm reading on this site falvey is waiting on marching orders and a budget. It can't be all on the front office. And I don't think the argument about the best front office and leadership is all based on dollars. The fact that the Yankees and the dodgers have so much money to spend doesn't necessarily make ownership better. But ownership is responsible for creating the atmosphere around a team that engages the fans and the community

Of course it is and what's wrong with that there are emotional judgments made all the time.

why

And he holds it tight. Here is my thought question for the day - which owners are the worst in MLB? Of course I think the Pohlads are high on the list, but Arte Moreno and the Angels, Bruce Sherman and the Marlins, John Fisher and the A's, and Robert Nutting with the Pirates all seem to be vying for the crown or dunce cap (your choice). Did I miss anyone? How would you list them - I think there are hard choices here. From worst to best of the worse I would go: Fisher Nutting Pohlad Moreno Sherman But I accept any order for them.

I am having a hard time understanding this roster, but I think you have to look at the other TD posting that has Falvey in limbo with no budget, no minority owners, and no direction from the owners. So all Falvey can do is pick up scraps. In some ways he is in an enviable position if ownership ever gives him a green light because, as you point out, there is no shortage of DFA material here. So, like Falvey, we can only wait for minority owners, a budget, and low cost options. Plus we can hope the prospects coming in succeed in a way that our last group hasn't.

Grey is also going to cost 40 M, is a one year contract and has a record of staying healthy and eating innings. But if Boston wants to go after Ryan it won't be deterred by this trade.

From contraction to confusion - the Twins have managed two WS in 38 years. We have gotten periods of hope dashed with frustration. Ownership has offered no solace to the Twins fans from broadcast rights to free agents. “Without a question, the television situation is having an impact on our business. But beyond that, we’re also just trying to right-size our business.” — Joe Pohlad. We were told that we could not play outdoor baseball in MN and needed a dome - good bye Metropolitan Stadium, then we were told that we could not win in the dome (although we did) and we needed a different outdoor stadium - good-bye Humphrey Metro Dome The sportsbusinessjournal has this 2001 quote, Carl (pohlad) believes owning a major market sports franchise that has proven to be around a 10% increase of asset value year over year is quote “a burden for the family” Minnpost had this quote after the firing of Terry Ryan, "“Obviously, we need a general manager willing to make tough, smart baseball decisions,” said Pohlad. “At the same time, we want him to be big and burly, like a lumberjack.” “You know, we’ve taken a lot of potshots over being old-school and ignoring the analytics revolution,” said Pohlad. “And I’ll be honest, some of those are warranted. But if we can find someone who uses sabermetrics, has a base of traditional baseball knowledge, and has immense forearms with wood shavings on them? We’d be very interested.” Joe has tried to confuse us as he accepts the ownership mantle with quotes like this when we traded Correa, “Those were truly primarily baseball decisions. It certainly set us up for more [financial] flexibility, but they were primarily baseball decisions.” And when they pulled the sale and were getting these minority angels to buy in we got this quote, “I don’t think we could have imagined a better outcome than where we landed.” And then I roll my eyes when I read this in Sports Illustrated: “And I would say to those fans: It’s my job and this new ownership group’s new job to do everything we can to set this organization up for success, hopefully in the short- and long-term both," he said. "Our fans are passionate," Pohlad added. "Our fans want to win. We have that in common — we want to win, too. I’d rather have passionate fans than fans who are disengaged." If that is the case Joe, quit doing and saying everything you can to get us disengaged.