Jim Crikket

This was originally posed at Knuckleballsblog.com. I’m not sure any sport has spawned more clichés than baseball. Right now, though, even clichés that are applicable to multiple sports seem to make me think of the Twins. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/cliche.jpg As I’ve been following the the team lately, I keep hearing various clichés in my mind (“look the ball in to your glove, Nishi.” “Make sure of one, Nishi.”). A lot of them come to mind, however, as I reflect on the entirety of the Twins’ season. Plenty of discussion in Twinsville recently has revolved around the fact that the Twins’ record since mid-May has been respectable… even slightly above .500 perhaps, depending upon when you start to measure those games in your cherry-picking exercise. I tend to think that kind of exercise is best reserved for the lonely off-season when you're trying to find hope for the future. However, I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there. (Pardon that obscure Simon & Garfunkel reference. I've been thinking I could probably write an entire post equating being a Twins player to "The Boxer". Another time, perhaps.) The problem with this cherry-picking, of course, is that Major League Baseball has determined that the schedule shall begin in early April and that games played in April and May count toward each team’s overall record. All the games count the same. Which brings me back to clichés and just a few that seem to be appropriate to mention at this time, if for no other reason than to serve as a reminder to us… and the Twins… that the games played next April should perhaps be treated with more respect. It’s a long season. *Sigh* Yeah… there’s still a lot of season left. Especially when the only suspense left by mid August is whether your team is going to end up losing 100 games. Every team will win 54 games and every team will lose 54 games. It’s what you do with the other 54 games that matters. I was tempted to leave this one out. First of all, I don't believe clichés should involve doing math. More than that, though, I’m kind of afraid that someone in the Twins organization might take the “every team will win 54 games” part as a challenge and try to disprove it. You can’t win a Championship in April, but you can lose one. Yeah. This one we’re certainly familiar with, aren’t we? It’s not how you start a season that matters; it’s how you finish it. I call “bull****”. You need to take the first two months of the season to figure out which adjustments need to be made. Isn't this what Spring Training is for? Regardless, it really shouldn’t take you two months to figure out that your starting pitching absolutely sucks and try someone else. There’s plenty of time left, no need to panic. If the Opening Day starting pitcher next year gets pounded and can’t survive 4 innings, I think it will be perfectly acceptable for Twins fans to commence to panic. In fact, if the Opening Day starting pitcher is ANY pitcher already part of the Twins organization today, I don’t think we should even be required to wait until the first pitch of the season is thrown before starting to panic. You can’t rush to judgment. It’s been two years of absolute failure. Unless significant changes are made, concluding that the 2013 Twins are a bad team on or before Opening Day would not be considered "rushing" to anything. You have to take it one game at a time. This is true… but God, that’s often SO painful. Pitching and defense win championships. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn’t. But I think the Twins have adequately demonstrated that bad pitching and bad defense does mean no championships, so maybe Terry Ryan should at least give this cliché a little credence. They’re a better team than their record indicates. I do think the Twins, right now, are a better team than their record indicates, so maybe this cliché is true at times. I don’t think it matters, though, because what IS absolutely true is that a team’s record determines where they fall in the standings. So if you give me a choice between a team that’s better than their record indicates or not as good as their record indicates (see: Orioles... or even perhaps the Twins most of the past decade) I’ll take the latter every time. After all, you play to win the game! (how’s that for a cliché?) They’re still missing a few pieces to the puzzle. Funny thing about puzzles. If you’re missing corner pieces, it’s sometimes tough to even get to the point where you can figure out which other pieces you’re missing. The Twins are missing some corner pieces. There’s a lot of season left. *Sigh* Yeah… it’s a long season. - JC

This was originally posed at Knuckleballsblog.com. I’m not sure any sport has spawned more clichés than baseball. Right now, though, even clichés that are applicable to multiple sports seem to make me think of the Twins. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/cliche.jpg As I’ve been following the the team lately, I keep hearing various clichés in my mind (“look the ball in to your glove, Nishi.” “Make sure of one, Nishi.”). A lot of them come to mind, however, as I reflect on the entirety of the Twins’ season. Plenty of discussion in Twinsville recently has revolved around the fact that the Twins’ record since mid-May has been respectable… even slightly above .500 perhaps, depending upon when you start to measure those games in your cherry-picking exercise. I tend to think that kind of exercise is best reserved for the lonely off-season when you're trying to find hope for the future. However, I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there. (Pardon that obscure Simon & Garfunkel reference. I've been thinking I could probably write an entire post equating being a Twins player to "The Boxer". Another time, perhaps.) The problem with this cherry-picking, of course, is that Major League Baseball has determined that the schedule shall begin in early April and that games played in April and May count toward each team’s overall record. All the games count the same. Which brings me back to clichés and just a few that seem to be appropriate to mention at this time, if for no other reason than to serve as a reminder to us… and the Twins… that the games played next April should perhaps be treated with more respect. It’s a long season. *Sigh* Yeah… there’s still a lot of season left. Especially when the only suspense left by mid August is whether your team is going to end up losing 100 games. Every team will win 54 games and every team will lose 54 games. It’s what you do with the other 54 games that matters. I was tempted to leave this one out. First of all, I don't believe clichés should involve doing math. More than that, though, I’m kind of afraid that someone in the Twins organization might take the “every team will win 54 games” part as a challenge and try to disprove it. You can’t win a Championship in April, but you can lose one. Yeah. This one we’re certainly familiar with, aren’t we? It’s not how you start a season that matters; it’s how you finish it. I call “bull****”. You need to take the first two months of the season to figure out which adjustments need to be made. Isn't this what Spring Training is for? Regardless, it really shouldn’t take you two months to figure out that your starting pitching absolutely sucks and try someone else. There’s plenty of time left, no need to panic. If the Opening Day starting pitcher next year gets pounded and can’t survive 4 innings, I think it will be perfectly acceptable for Twins fans to commence to panic. In fact, if the Opening Day starting pitcher is ANY pitcher already part of the Twins organization today, I don’t think we should even be required to wait until the first pitch of the season is thrown before starting to panic. You can’t rush to judgment. It’s been two years of absolute failure. Unless significant changes are made, concluding that the 2013 Twins are a bad team on or before Opening Day would not be considered "rushing" to anything. You have to take it one game at a time. This is true… but God, that’s often SO painful. Pitching and defense win championships. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn’t. But I think the Twins have adequately demonstrated that bad pitching and bad defense does mean no championships, so maybe Terry Ryan should at least give this cliché a little credence. They’re a better team than their record indicates. I do think the Twins, right now, are a better team than their record indicates, so maybe this cliché is true at times. I don’t think it matters, though, because what IS absolutely true is that a team’s record determines where they fall in the standings. So if you give me a choice between a team that’s better than their record indicates or not as good as their record indicates (see: Orioles... or even perhaps the Twins most of the past decade) I’ll take the latter every time. After all, you play to win the game! (how’s that for a cliché?) They’re still missing a few pieces to the puzzle. Funny thing about puzzles. If you’re missing corner pieces, it’s sometimes tough to even get to the point where you can figure out which other pieces you’re missing. The Twins are missing some corner pieces. There’s a lot of season left. *Sigh* Yeah… it’s a long season. - JC

It's too bad you couldn't fit in a trip to Camden Yards since you're so close to Baltimore. Even at 20 years old, it's still one of my favorite stadiums to watch baseball.

SO sorry the bacon promotion was a dud! I had such high hopes! Terry Ryan sure gets around. Keep an eye out... I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you see him again as your trip continues. He was here in Cedar Rapids in June when Beloit was in town. I approached him after the game, a bit nervously as well, but he couldn't have been more gracious. He was the one who was asking me questions and keeping the conversation going several minutes. You obviously have to respect the guy and not interrupt his work, but I sensed he genuinely enjoys talking baseball with fans. I've seen him do the same thing at times during Spring Training. Drive safe on your way up the coast! Maybe Gibson will be in Rochester by the time you get up there!

I didn't include it in the post because frankly it was too long already, but I did look in to the possible SAL options for the Twins. You never know what's going on in the minds of some team owners, but I don't see much available down there. There are 8 teams with expiring PDCs. Asheville's been with the Rockies for 18 years and I didn't see any hints of dissatisfaction, though their attendance isn't great by SAL standards. Greensboro has hosted the Marlins for 10 years, gets good attendance and has been competitive... not much reason for change. Hagerstown is a Nationals affiliate and being in MD, I can't see that changing. Lakewood is tied at the hip with the Phillies (and going to NJ wouldn't exactly get the Twins affiliate closer to Ft Myers anyway). The CEO of the ownership group that owns Savannah grew up near Shea and is a Mets fan, so seems unlikely he'd make a switch. That leaves Hickory NC, which has been a Rangers affiliate for 4 years, Augusta GA, which the Giants have threatened to leave due to inability to get new ballpark/facilities (and why would Minn want to get in another of those situations?), and Lexington KY, which has been an Astros affiliate since the team was formed in 2001. Lexington might make sense for the Twins, given its proximity to Elizabethton, but they draw well and I saw no indication of any dissatisfaction with their current situation.

I appreciate this kind of research because it's the kind of thing I wonder about but not enough to research it myself. But here's the follow-up question I generally have... don't most teams have similarly uneaven offenses? Or at least most teams that aren't the Yankees? Maybe since the teams the Twins have to contend with primarily are within their own division, what do the other divisional rivals' positional ranks look like? Also, am I wrong to feel that, assuming you are bound to be ranked near the bottom in SOME positions, I'd rather it be 2B and SS than most other positions? Sure the team OPS at those positions is bad, but how much worse is it than average for that position? Point being, I'd rather be 29th at 2B than 29th at 1B, where there'd likely be a significant spread.

Shanewahl, that's what I keep hearing. Any idea WHY it's considered such a terrible place for baseball? Is it the obvious... the fact that it's damn HOT all summer long there? Population-wise, it should support a team. Are the facilities bad? I guess I just haven't ever read much specific about it other than no MLB team really wants to have their AAA team there. Head First, I thought 2 weeks was remarkably little time, too. I can just imagine a bell going off and suddenly phones are ringing all over the place. I know internal discussions are going on behind closed doors well before September, but still... a lot of MiLB teams are run by BODs and 2 weeks isn't very long to give any Board to decide anything! Giving Bud Selig less than 2 weeks to approve termination requests isn't very long, either. I'm pretty sure Bud takes naps longer than that, at times.

A bacon promotion in Florida? Wow... wouldn't have expected that. I've never heard of one of those and you would certainly think that if bacon promotions were prevalent anywhere, it would be here in Iowa! Make sure you let us know how that works out! I've seen so many minor league promotions that I really think it would be fun to somehow document all of the best promotions that various minor league teams come up with. In fact, you should start a list of all the promotions and in-game "contests" you witness on your trip!

Great article, again! My sense has been that the FSL attendance, in general, isn't what you typically see in much of the rest of the country. I've been to a couple of FSL games over the years at the Yankees' ballpark in Tampa and both times I was struck by how sparse the crowd was compared to all of the minor league games I've seen in various other communities further north. Hopefully, when you get back up north to New Britain, you'll see more fan interest. Cool that you got to see Pavstache's rehab start, though.

I'm going to admit that I based the "Twins own Elizabethton" comment on one source, Ballpark Digest. I've found them to be pretty reliable with their facts, but you never know. They have a nifty rundown on all of the affiliation agreements at this site: http://ballparkdigest.com/200905261902/minor-league-baseball/news/affiliate-dance-2012 Note, for Elizabethton, they indicate the affiliation agreement is "In perpetuity; owned by Twins" I would imagine it's quite possible that the parks department houses their offices and even contracts to do administrative work for the team, but that doesn't necessarily mean the city owns the team. Then again, Ballpark Digest may have that one wrong. Since I was focusing on the full-season affiliates, I didn't bother trying to find a confirmation one way or the other. Yes, I was lazy.

Thanks, HF. That picture actually doesn't do the line justice. I arrived just before the gates opened and it took over half an hour from the time I got in line before I was inside the gate. With room for just two people to take tickets, progress was slow. I was in line when I saw the Tweets about Valencia being traded, however, so I was able to have some interesting conversations with other Twins fans nearby when that news broke. At least it kind of helped pass the time

This was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com. Over the past month or more, I’ve alluded a few times to the fact that the Twins’ Player Development Contracts (PDC) with a number of their minor league affiliates were set to expire after the current season. In fact, all four of their PDCs with their “full-season” affiliates (A, Advanced A, AA and AAA) were expiring. Nobody really expects their Advanced A team, the Ft. Myers Miracle, to shop around for a new affiliation, given that the team calls the Twins’ Spring Training facility its home. While there was plenty of doubt in the air about the Twins’ relationship with their AA affiliate in New Britain CT, the two parties announced a two-year extension to their working agreement recently. That leaves their AAA team in Rochester NY and their Class A team in Beloit WI still up in the air. I’ve wondered enough about this issue that it caused me to ask a few questions of people who are more familiar than I was with how the affiliation process works. (It didn’t take much searching to find people who knew more than I did.) Between asking some questions and a little bit of online investigation, I found a few answers that I thought I would share here. Q: Why don’t the Twins have a AAA affiliate closer to Minnesota? A: The two AAA leagues are primarily eastern (International League) and western (Pacific Coast League) groupings with relatively few locations in the Midwest. Those that are nearby either already have strong, long time relationships with other Midwest MLB teams (Des Moines with the Cubs and Omaha with the Royals) or their PDC is not expiring (Indianapolis with the Pirates) until 2014. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RedWingsLogo.jpg Q: So why would the Twins want out of Rochester? A: They probably don’t. Most of what’s being written about this relationship indicates that it’s Rochester that may want to explore other options. The Twins have fielded pretty bad teams there the past couple of years and attendance has dropped off significantly. However, the Red Wings are on a roll at the moment and are on the fringes of a Wild Card spot, so the question is whether it’s too little, too late, to salvage the relationship. Q: Beloit is pretty close to the Twin Cities and they’ve had some decent teams there, so why change that affiliation? A: The primary reasons for even considering a switch involve the facilities in Beloit. Pohlman Field may be considered quaint or even a nostalgic throwback to the days of town team or low minor league baseball by some. But to those who deal with the business side of baseball, the facilities in Beloit, from the clubhouses to the training facilities to the seating areas to the field itself, are simply not up to modern standards for full-season minor league baseball. Ten other MWL communities still have not come to extension agreements with their existing MLB partners, so it should come as no surprise that the Twins are in no hurry to ink an extension with Beloit. Q: Why won’t teams like the Twins or their current affiliates just come out and say, “we’re interested in looking in to another affiliation”? A: Existing PDCs do not expire until September 30 and any public comments before then could be (and most likely would be) considered “tampering” with existing contractual relationships, subjecting teams to six figure fines. Teams in existing relationships can renew those deals for an additional two or four year period at any time, but no discussions with or about potential new partners can take place before certain dates specified in MLB Rule 56. Q: When will the Twins decide who their affiliates will be next season? A: Any time between the end of the season (both Rochester and Beloit regular seasons end September 3) and September 11, teams can notify either the MLB Commissioner or the MiLB President (and ONLY those people… they can’t publicly state that they’ve provided such notice) that they do not wish to renew their existing agreement. If the Commissioner approves the termination notices*, he notifies the parties involved by September 15. Only once a team gets a termination approval notice from the Commissioner can it begin negotiations with other potential affiliation partners. That means everyone needs to find a new partner between September 16th and the 30th. Those teams who don’t come to an agreement on their own in that period of time will have their affiliations assigned by the Commissioner by October 7. *Yes, Bud Selig can employ his “best interests of baseball” powers to disallow termination requests. If Bud decides, for example, that the Twins remaining affiliated with Beloit is what is in the best interests of baseball, he can turn down the Twins’ request to terminate that PDC and require that it be extended two more years. Would he do so? It would be wrong, but he’s from Wisconsin, after all, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first thing he’s done wrong as Commissioner. Q: Why don’t the Twins just offer to help Beloit remodel their stadium or even help with the costs of building a new one? http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SnappersLogo-300x225.gif A: I think the only way the Twins could do that would be to actually purchase the Beloit Baseball Club from the current owner (which, I believe, is the community itself). A few MLB teams do own minor league affiliates (in fact, I think the Twins own their Elizabethton rookie league team), but this is still relatively rare. In this situation, the MLB Rule applicable to PDCs prohibits MLB teams from promising benefits beyond that of a standard PDC contract. That being the case, it would seem that MLB teams would not be permitted to offer inducements, nor could MiLB clubs ask MLB teams to contribute funding beyond what’s allowed in a standard PDC (travel costs, salaries and benefits for players, coaches, instructional staff and trainers, for example). Q: Why don’t the Twins affiliate with the St. Paul Saints for their Class A team? A: During the off-season, I heard some chatter suggesting the Twins should partner with the St. Paul Saints in their effort to get a new stadium built in St. Paul and then make the Saints their Class A affiliate. Not that the Twins ever expressed interest in such an arrangement publicly, but the same rule mentioned above would apparently preclude the Twins from funding the Saints’ new stadium and making St. Paul an affiliate unless the Twins actually purchased ownership of the team. There are also minimum boundary requirements in the rules that preclude a MiLB team from playing too close to a MLB team’s home territory (which would certainly apply to St. Paul). There appears to be some wiggle room there if the MLB team agrees, which they certainly could do if they’re the affiliate of that team. But there are other obstacles. For example, MiLB teams must provide an off day for players any time they travel more than 500 miles for a road series, unless they fly the team to that location (which you just don’t do at Class A). St. Paul is so far outside the current MWL footprint that this would make scheduling extremely difficult. MLB teams get off days regularly… MiLB players get very, very few. Finally, even if those issues could be addressed, the Twins don’t get to decide which communities get affiliated MiLB teams (the Saints are currently an Independent team, meaning they are not part of the “affiliated” MiLB system). Unless a current MiLB franchise can no longer operate financially in a manner that it can meet the terms of their PDC and other rules, existing teams appear to be guaranteed a PDC. So, for example, unless Beloit can’t meet its obligations, in terms of providing the minimum facilities required, pay for travel or other expenses that they’re responsible for, or they decide to sell their franchise, they will likely have a PDC with someone next season. Even if they’re sold, it appears the new owners would have to give 18 months notice prior to relocating. In other words, the Saints will probably be remaining independent for the foreseeable future and Beloit will continue to have a MWL team for at least one more season and likely longer. Q: When will we know who the Twins’ affiliates will be in 2013? A: If the Twins are going to switch affiliations, we may not hear anything official until October. However, if we haven’t heard about a renewal of an existing PDC by September 1, it’s probably safe to assume there’s going to be a change in affiliations at that Class. If either the Twins or their existing affiliates elect to “go in to the pool” and explore new options, they will get a list of potential locations available for new affiliations on September 15. That would not preclude teams from also negotiating with their existing affiliates during the late September negotiating period, but renewals at that point are rather rare. Q: If the Twins don’t renew their PDCs with Rochester and/or Beloit, who are they likely to affiliate with? A: I’m admittedly biased, but the truth is Cedar Rapids would be a very good fit as the Twins’ Class A affiliate and, trust me, I’m not the only person who feels that way. CR is the closest MWL city to the Twin Cities geographically and an affiliation would benefit both organizations. CR would get an affiliation with a nearby MLB team that has a significant existing local fan base and the Twins would get an opportunity to get a stronger foothold in Eastern Iowa, where neither their TV nor radio rights holders are currently carried. If that dynamic can be changed, it could have a positive effect on future Twins media rights fees. Cedar Rapids’ stadium is 11 years old and provides relatively modern facilities for players and field management. In addition, I was told once that Kernels players may also have access to the Perfect Game facilities across the street from the ballpark. However, CR has been affiliated with the Angels for 20 years and the Angels would like to renew, so there’s still a chance they announce a renewal before September 1. If that happens, Clinton IA (currently a Mariners affiliate) might be another option for the Twins. AAA is a cloudier situation. Earlier in the year, the prevailing theory seemed to be that the Blue Jays (who desperately want out of Las Vegas) would affiliate with Buffalo. The Mets, who currently are in Buffalo, would partner up with Rochester and leave the Twins to find a new AAA home. That still could happen or, if Buffalo and the Mets renew, the Jays could simply move to Rochester. Because so few International League PDCs are up for renewal (none of the IL South or West division teams’ PDCs are expiring), a renewal with Rochester is likely the only chance the Twins have of staying in that league. The three locations I hear most often discussed for a possible Twins move are Oklahoma City, Nashville and Las Vegas. OKC is currently an Astros affiliate and Nashville is tied to the Brewers. If those teams don’t announce a renewal before September, they might be landing spots for the Twins. Otherwise, the Twins could be “assigned” to Las Vegas. The sad fact is, with the poor AAA teams the Twins have fielded lately, they won’t have affiliates in line begging to partner up. I think I’ve finally run out of things to say on this subject, at least until there’s something more “official” coming out of one of the affected communities. If you have any related questions, just leave them in the comment section and I’ll try to find answers. - JC

This was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com. Over the past month or more, I’ve alluded a few times to the fact that the Twins’ Player Development Contracts (PDC) with a number of their minor league affiliates were set to expire after the current season. In fact, all four of their PDCs with their “full-season” affiliates (A, Advanced A, AA and AAA) were expiring. Nobody really expects their Advanced A team, the Ft. Myers Miracle, to shop around for a new affiliation, given that the team calls the Twins’ Spring Training facility its home. While there was plenty of doubt in the air about the Twins’ relationship with their AA affiliate in New Britain CT, the two parties announced a two-year extension to their working agreement recently. That leaves their AAA team in Rochester NY and their Class A team in Beloit WI still up in the air. I’ve wondered enough about this issue that it caused me to ask a few questions of people who are more familiar than I was with how the affiliation process works. (It didn’t take much searching to find people who knew more than I did.) Between asking some questions and a little bit of online investigation, I found a few answers that I thought I would share here. Q: Why don’t the Twins have a AAA affiliate closer to Minnesota? A: The two AAA leagues are primarily eastern (International League) and western (Pacific Coast League) groupings with relatively few locations in the Midwest. Those that are nearby either already have strong, long time relationships with other Midwest MLB teams (Des Moines with the Cubs and Omaha with the Royals) or their PDC is not expiring (Indianapolis with the Pirates) until 2014. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RedWingsLogo.jpg Q: So why would the Twins want out of Rochester? A: They probably don’t. Most of what’s being written about this relationship indicates that it’s Rochester that may want to explore other options. The Twins have fielded pretty bad teams there the past couple of years and attendance has dropped off significantly. However, the Red Wings are on a roll at the moment and are on the fringes of a Wild Card spot, so the question is whether it’s too little, too late, to salvage the relationship. Q: Beloit is pretty close to the Twin Cities and they’ve had some decent teams there, so why change that affiliation? A: The primary reasons for even considering a switch involve the facilities in Beloit. Pohlman Field may be considered quaint or even a nostalgic throwback to the days of town team or low minor league baseball by some. But to those who deal with the business side of baseball, the facilities in Beloit, from the clubhouses to the training facilities to the seating areas to the field itself, are simply not up to modern standards for full-season minor league baseball. Ten other MWL communities still have not come to extension agreements with their existing MLB partners, so it should come as no surprise that the Twins are in no hurry to ink an extension with Beloit. Q: Why won’t teams like the Twins or their current affiliates just come out and say, “we’re interested in looking in to another affiliation”? A: Existing PDCs do not expire until September 30 and any public comments before then could be (and most likely would be) considered “tampering” with existing contractual relationships, subjecting teams to six figure fines. Teams in existing relationships can renew those deals for an additional two or four year period at any time, but no discussions with or about potential new partners can take place before certain dates specified in MLB Rule 56. Q: When will the Twins decide who their affiliates will be next season? A: Any time between the end of the season (both Rochester and Beloit regular seasons end September 3) and September 11, teams can notify either the MLB Commissioner or the MiLB President (and ONLY those people… they can’t publicly state that they’ve provided such notice) that they do not wish to renew their existing agreement. If the Commissioner approves the termination notices*, he notifies the parties involved by September 15. Only once a team gets a termination approval notice from the Commissioner can it begin negotiations with other potential affiliation partners. That means everyone needs to find a new partner between September 16th and the 30th. Those teams who don’t come to an agreement on their own in that period of time will have their affiliations assigned by the Commissioner by October 7. *Yes, Bud Selig can employ his “best interests of baseball” powers to disallow termination requests. If Bud decides, for example, that the Twins remaining affiliated with Beloit is what is in the best interests of baseball, he can turn down the Twins’ request to terminate that PDC and require that it be extended two more years. Would he do so? It would be wrong, but he’s from Wisconsin, after all, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first thing he’s done wrong as Commissioner. Q: Why don’t the Twins just offer to help Beloit remodel their stadium or even help with the costs of building a new one? http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SnappersLogo-300x225.gif A: I think the only way the Twins could do that would be to actually purchase the Beloit Baseball Club from the current owner (which, I believe, is the community itself). A few MLB teams do own minor league affiliates (in fact, I think the Twins own their Elizabethton rookie league team), but this is still relatively rare. In this situation, the MLB Rule applicable to PDCs prohibits MLB teams from promising benefits beyond that of a standard PDC contract. That being the case, it would seem that MLB teams would not be permitted to offer inducements, nor could MiLB clubs ask MLB teams to contribute funding beyond what’s allowed in a standard PDC (travel costs, salaries and benefits for players, coaches, instructional staff and trainers, for example). Q: Why don’t the Twins affiliate with the St. Paul Saints for their Class A team? A: During the off-season, I heard some chatter suggesting the Twins should partner with the St. Paul Saints in their effort to get a new stadium built in St. Paul and then make the Saints their Class A affiliate. Not that the Twins ever expressed interest in such an arrangement publicly, but the same rule mentioned above would apparently preclude the Twins from funding the Saints’ new stadium and making St. Paul an affiliate unless the Twins actually purchased ownership of the team. There are also minimum boundary requirements in the rules that preclude a MiLB team from playing too close to a MLB team’s home territory (which would certainly apply to St. Paul). There appears to be some wiggle room there if the MLB team agrees, which they certainly could do if they’re the affiliate of that team. But there are other obstacles. For example, MiLB teams must provide an off day for players any time they travel more than 500 miles for a road series, unless they fly the team to that location (which you just don’t do at Class A). St. Paul is so far outside the current MWL footprint that this would make scheduling extremely difficult. MLB teams get off days regularly… MiLB players get very, very few. Finally, even if those issues could be addressed, the Twins don’t get to decide which communities get affiliated MiLB teams (the Saints are currently an Independent team, meaning they are not part of the “affiliated” MiLB system). Unless a current MiLB franchise can no longer operate financially in a manner that it can meet the terms of their PDC and other rules, existing teams appear to be guaranteed a PDC. So, for example, unless Beloit can’t meet its obligations, in terms of providing the minimum facilities required, pay for travel or other expenses that they’re responsible for, or they decide to sell their franchise, they will likely have a PDC with someone next season. Even if they’re sold, it appears the new owners would have to give 18 months notice prior to relocating. In other words, the Saints will probably be remaining independent for the foreseeable future and Beloit will continue to have a MWL team for at least one more season and likely longer. Q: When will we know who the Twins’ affiliates will be in 2013? A: If the Twins are going to switch affiliations, we may not hear anything official until October. However, if we haven’t heard about a renewal of an existing PDC by September 1, it’s probably safe to assume there’s going to be a change in affiliations at that Class. If either the Twins or their existing affiliates elect to “go in to the pool” and explore new options, they will get a list of potential locations available for new affiliations on September 15. That would not preclude teams from also negotiating with their existing affiliates during the late September negotiating period, but renewals at that point are rather rare. Q: If the Twins don’t renew their PDCs with Rochester and/or Beloit, who are they likely to affiliate with? A: I’m admittedly biased, but the truth is Cedar Rapids would be a very good fit as the Twins’ Class A affiliate and, trust me, I’m not the only person who feels that way. CR is the closest MWL city to the Twin Cities geographically and an affiliation would benefit both organizations. CR would get an affiliation with a nearby MLB team that has a significant existing local fan base and the Twins would get an opportunity to get a stronger foothold in Eastern Iowa, where neither their TV nor radio rights holders are currently carried. If that dynamic can be changed, it could have a positive effect on future Twins media rights fees. Cedar Rapids’ stadium is 11 years old and provides relatively modern facilities for players and field management. In addition, I was told once that Kernels players may also have access to the Perfect Game facilities across the street from the ballpark. However, CR has been affiliated with the Angels for 20 years and the Angels would like to renew, so there’s still a chance they announce a renewal before September 1. If that happens, Clinton IA (currently a Mariners affiliate) might be another option for the Twins. AAA is a cloudier situation. Earlier in the year, the prevailing theory seemed to be that the Blue Jays (who desperately want out of Las Vegas) would affiliate with Buffalo. The Mets, who currently are in Buffalo, would partner up with Rochester and leave the Twins to find a new AAA home. That still could happen or, if Buffalo and the Mets renew, the Jays could simply move to Rochester. Because so few International League PDCs are up for renewal (none of the IL South or West division teams’ PDCs are expiring), a renewal with Rochester is likely the only chance the Twins have of staying in that league. The three locations I hear most often discussed for a possible Twins move are Oklahoma City, Nashville and Las Vegas. OKC is currently an Astros affiliate and Nashville is tied to the Brewers. If those teams don’t announce a renewal before September, they might be landing spots for the Twins. Otherwise, the Twins could be “assigned” to Las Vegas. The sad fact is, with the poor AAA teams the Twins have fielded lately, they won’t have affiliates in line begging to partner up. I think I’ve finally run out of things to say on this subject, at least until there’s something more “official” coming out of one of the affected communities. If you have any related questions, just leave them in the comment section and I’ll try to find answers. - JC

First of all, the car dealer and independent salesperson will have a contract that would presumably spell out what is and isn't allowed/expected in terms of repair referrals or other peripheral activites. The PDC is very specific about what the limits are in terms of MLB/MiLB team responsibilies. Thus there is no "respecting the contract" issue. Each party has responsibilities that begin and end with the terms of the PDC. Period. You also seem to think that the "loyalty" only goes one way... that the MiLB team owes its loyalty to the MLB because they cover labor costs. But the local team has NO say in who gets assigned to their team and the MLB team is also getting the benefit of having someone else provide the venue, traveling expenses, etc., for their players to play. Where would the Twins send Sano and Rosario to play if they didn't have affiliates? They'd have to buy and operate minor league teams and ballparks themselves and deal with trying to make those operations at least break even. It is a two-way street that both parties sign up for. They both know where each party's responsibilities begin and end... exactly as spelled out in the standard PDC which is dictated my Major League Baseball. The MLB team gets a place to have their talent play baseball using facilities that meet minimum standards (again, specified by MLB rules). The local team gets talent to perform at their venue. The MLB team gets to move players in and out as they see fit, regardless of effect on the quality of play on the field. The local team gets the right to package and market baseball in whatever manner necessary to make ends meet.

I don't understand the "not respecting their contract" thing at all. The contract is the Player Development Contract which simply dictates who's responsible for which expenses, etc. The MLB affiliate does nothing but provide players, coaches and trainers and pay their salaries and certain other minimal operational expenses (part of bats/balls, travel over certain levels, etc.). If fans don't show up, the local ownership loses money. The MLB team has no business risk whatsoever under the contract. If the MLB team wants to dictate what the local club does for promotions or what merchandise they sell or which players are "honored" in some manner, they need to buy and run their own minor league clubs. Not many do that, however, because that WOULD present a business risk. Minor league clubs and their staffs rely on local revenue streams to make a living and have absolutely no say in the make up of their rosters or the personalities of the coaches assigned. Local clubs that can't at least break even can't maintain facilities at acceptable levels and will eventually risk losing their teams. Expecting them to pledge loyalty to a MLB organization that doesn't have any financial skin in the game is absurd.

Originally published at Knuckleballsblog.com I drove up to Beloit over the weekend to catch a couple of baseball games between the Twins' Class A affiliate, the Snappers, and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The Rattlers and Snappers finished first and second, respectively, in the first-half standings of the Midwest League's Western Division, so I anticipated that they would play some decent baseball. They did. If you want to read a lot about the games themselves, I'm going to refer you to the daily reports being posted by Seth Stohs over at Twins Daily. Seth and Travis Aune were in Beloit the past few days, as well, and I got to spend some time with them. I also met Jeremy Nygaard and his brother Jed on Saturday. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk a little baseball with the group and appreciated their willingness to let an old man like me tag along with them for a day and a half. For my part, I'm going to simply post a whole bunch of pictures I took and let it go at that. Except for this one thing... I've mentioned from time to time rumors that the Twins and my own local MWL team, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, might consider entering in to a Player Development Contract starting next year. That's all they are, at this point, just rumors. Neither party is allowed to discuss the possibility or make any comment on the topic until September. As I think I've also posted before, I think the odds are about 50-50. I'm aware that some others think the odds are a bit greater. Of course, in Beloit there is some concern. They don't want to lose the Twins. I don't blame them. They were abandoned by the Brewers a few years ago and nobody likes being told, "we don't want to be your MLB affiliate anymore." The Beloit staff don't deserve to go through that. They are hard working people who put on a good show at Pohlman Field. The word you hear is that they don't draw well in Beloit. I suppose that may be true, but I saw a good crowd on Saturday night and an even much better crowd on Sunday. Fireworks Saturday night and a Prince Fielder "BobbleArm" promotion Sunday probably helped, but all minor league teams rely on promotions to draw crowds. It was fun to see the hard work of the Snapper staff rewarded by appreciative crowds. The problem is the stadium, not the Snappers operation or the fans themselves. Pohlman Field is beyond outdated. I've heard it said that it's the "worst" facility among the 16 teams in the MWL. I've only been to three of them, so I can't speak to how accurate that is. I know it's tough to come up with funds to build new ballparks or even remodel old ones to bring them up to acceptable standards. I don't know if Beloit will ever solve that problem. I hope they do. But professional baseball is a business. A dozen years ago, Cedar Rapids faced losing its team if it didn't replace their old stadium. The same choice has faced a number of other MWL communities over the past 20 years. Some, like CR, built new ballparks. Some, like Davenport, remodeled old ones. Others determined that they simply could not raise the funds to do so and gave up their franchises to other communities that were able to provide appropriate facilities. I felt bad for some of those cities and I don't wish to see that kind of thing happen to Beloit. Whether the Twins stay there or elect to move their affiliation elsewhere, I hope Beloit can find a way to survive and eventually thrive as a member of the league. So here are the pictures. Several of them, actually. I was going to just post a few but then I decided there's no reason to hold back. We don't pay for blog space by the inch around here. - JC http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PohlmanFieldOffice.jpg This building serves as both the entrance to the ballpark as well as home to the team's administrative offices http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/BeloitLine.jpg Don't tell the people lined up long before gates opened Sunday that the Snappers can't draw a crowd http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FielderBobbleArm.jpg Here's what the crowd was hoping for. The first 500 fans got Prince Fielder "Bobblearm" figures http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PohlmanSunday2.jpg The Sunday crowd at Pohlman Field http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/InsidePohlmanField.jpg The concourse area inside the gate, but outside the stadium itself. Yes, it did rain hard on Saturday, but the staff got the field ready well before scheduled game time. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PlayersConcourse.jpg The players walk through the concourse behind the stands to get from their locker rooms to the dugouts, giving fans lots of opportunities for autographs http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/HighFive.jpg Young fans exchange high fives with Snappers players as they walk from their outfield pregame stretching to their dugout http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Wheeler12b.jpg Saturday's starting pitcher Jason Wheeler gave up 2 runs in the first inning, then went on to strike out 10 hitters in eight innings of work. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PradaWatkins12b.jpg Manager Nelson Prada and Hitting Coach Tommy Watkins http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Hurlbut12e.jpg David Hurlbut went six innings Sunday, giving up just one run on two hits, while striking out five Rattlers http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Leachman12m.jpg Drew Leachman had supporters from Alabama on hand Saturday night. Made my little drive seem pretty insignificant http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Rodriguez12a.jpg Catcher Jairo Rodriguez had warm duty on Sunday afternoon http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vargas12c.jpg 1B Kennys Vargas' solo HR accounted for the only Snapper run on Saturday night. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Rosario12b.jpg Eddie Rosario seems to be more comfortable at 2B than when I saw him in CR early in the season. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Sano12nHR1.jpg Sunday, it was Miguel Sano's turn to "go yard"

Originally published at Knuckleballsblog.com I drove up to Beloit over the weekend to catch a couple of baseball games between the Twins' Class A affiliate, the Snappers, and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The Rattlers and Snappers finished first and second, respectively, in the first-half standings of the Midwest League's Western Division, so I anticipated that they would play some decent baseball. They did. If you want to read a lot about the games themselves, I'm going to refer you to the daily reports being posted by Seth Stohs over at Twins Daily. Seth and Travis Aune were in Beloit the past few days, as well, and I got to spend some time with them. I also met Jeremy Nygaard and his brother Jed on Saturday. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk a little baseball with the group and appreciated their willingness to let an old man like me tag along with them for a day and a half. For my part, I'm going to simply post a whole bunch of pictures I took and let it go at that. Except for this one thing... I've mentioned from time to time rumors that the Twins and my own local MWL team, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, might consider entering in to a Player Development Contract starting next year. That's all they are, at this point, just rumors. Neither party is allowed to discuss the possibility or make any comment on the topic until September. As I think I've also posted before, I think the odds are about 50-50. I'm aware that some others think the odds are a bit greater. Of course, in Beloit there is some concern. They don't want to lose the Twins. I don't blame them. They were abandoned by the Brewers a few years ago and nobody likes being told, "we don't want to be your MLB affiliate anymore." The Beloit staff don't deserve to go through that. They are hard working people who put on a good show at Pohlman Field. The word you hear is that they don't draw well in Beloit. I suppose that may be true, but I saw a good crowd on Saturday night and an even much better crowd on Sunday. Fireworks Saturday night and a Prince Fielder "BobbleArm" promotion Sunday probably helped, but all minor league teams rely on promotions to draw crowds. It was fun to see the hard work of the Snapper staff rewarded by appreciative crowds. The problem is the stadium, not the Snappers operation or the fans themselves. Pohlman Field is beyond outdated. I've heard it said that it's the "worst" facility among the 16 teams in the MWL. I've only been to three of them, so I can't speak to how accurate that is. I know it's tough to come up with funds to build new ballparks or even remodel old ones to bring them up to acceptable standards. I don't know if Beloit will ever solve that problem. I hope they do. But professional baseball is a business. A dozen years ago, Cedar Rapids faced losing its team if it didn't replace their old stadium. The same choice has faced a number of other MWL communities over the past 20 years. Some, like CR, built new ballparks. Some, like Davenport, remodeled old ones. Others determined that they simply could not raise the funds to do so and gave up their franchises to other communities that were able to provide appropriate facilities. I felt bad for some of those cities and I don't wish to see that kind of thing happen to Beloit. Whether the Twins stay there or elect to move their affiliation elsewhere, I hope Beloit can find a way to survive and eventually thrive as a member of the league. So here are the pictures. Several of them, actually. I was going to just post a few but then I decided there's no reason to hold back. We don't pay for blog space by the inch around here. - JC http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PohlmanFieldOffice.jpg This building serves as both the entrance to the ballpark as well as home to the team's administrative offices http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/BeloitLine.jpg Don't tell the people lined up long before gates opened Sunday that the Snappers can't draw a crowd http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FielderBobbleArm.jpg Here's what the crowd was hoping for. The first 500 fans got Prince Fielder "Bobblearm" figures http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PohlmanSunday2.jpg The Sunday crowd at Pohlman Field http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/InsidePohlmanField.jpg The concourse area inside the gate, but outside the stadium itself. Yes, it did rain hard on Saturday, but the staff got the field ready well before scheduled game time. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PlayersConcourse.jpg The players walk through the concourse behind the stands to get from their locker rooms to the dugouts, giving fans lots of opportunities for autographs http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/HighFive.jpg Young fans exchange high fives with Snappers players as they walk from their outfield pregame stretching to their dugout http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Wheeler12b.jpg Saturday's starting pitcher Jason Wheeler gave up 2 runs in the first inning, then went on to strike out 10 hitters in eight innings of work. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PradaWatkins12b.jpg Manager Nelson Prada and Hitting Coach Tommy Watkins http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Hurlbut12e.jpg David Hurlbut went six innings Sunday, giving up just one run on two hits, while striking out five Rattlers http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Leachman12m.jpg Drew Leachman had supporters from Alabama on hand Saturday night. Made my little drive seem pretty insignificant http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Rodriguez12a.jpg Catcher Jairo Rodriguez had warm duty on Sunday afternoon http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vargas12c.jpg 1B Kennys Vargas' solo HR accounted for the only Snapper run on Saturday night. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Rosario12b.jpg Eddie Rosario seems to be more comfortable at 2B than when I saw him in CR early in the season. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Sano12nHR1.jpg Sunday, it was Miguel Sano's turn to "go yard"

I'm really enjoying your reports and look forward to those that follow. I also admire your decision making skills! I'd have been the guy cussing himself out for sticking around for the washed out twin bill. Travel safe!

I totally agree a FA needs to be signed to lead the rotation. When we do our "offseason blueprints" I'll no doubt include a FA to lead the rotation (as pretty much all of us did last year). Maybe TR will sign one this year, but I'm not going to expect it until it happens. If it does happen, I'll just be pleasantly surprised. Until then, I expect the rotation to look very, very familiar.

Well I can say I'm glad my elementary education major of a daughter doesn't read this site. She'd be using this to "prove" to her dad that she needs a new iPad... and if dad buys one of those for anyone, it will be for himself! Welcome to blogdom, Scott

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you stopping by and thanks for the kind words.

Great piece! As a kid, our vacation at least every other year was to Cody WY where a sizable group of my relatives had moved to. If we took the train, that meant having someone pick us up in Billings. Now that I think about it, the only time I've flown out there to see relatives, we flew in to Billings, too. I do love that part of the country. I admit, however, that I never even recognized that they played baseball out there. It seems like all my relatives ever wanted to do was go to the rodeo! Enjoy the trip!

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com I’m not one to usually say, “I told you so,” but… yeah… I did tell you so. I told you to prepare to be disappointed at the trade deadline so it comes as no surprise to me that most Twins fans seemed to come away from the July 31 non-waiver deadline disappointed in the lack of moves by the Twins. Many of us do understand why the roster remained intact, except for the trade of Francisco Liriano. The new CBA dampened enthusiasm for players who will be free agents at the end of the season. Justin Morneau’s contract is too big to get other teams excited about trading something of value for him. Other teams are understandably hoarding their top “high ceiling” young starting pitchers and weren’t willing to part with them for any of the Twins players Terry Ryan had to offer. Logically, we know there will remain interest in those same players this off-season. But even knowing and understanding all of that, there’s disappointment all over Twinsville. I’m disappointed in the aftermath of the deadline, too. But not necessarily for the same reasons others are. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TerryRyan-251x300.jpg Terry Ryan Some people are disappointed that Ryan didn’t just take the best offer on the table for a player like Denard Span, for whom the Twins arguably have a suitable replacement for already in Ben Revere. Some felt Josh Willingham, who at age 33 is having the best year of his career, will never be more valuable than he is now and should have been traded for the best deal offered, simply for that reason. I don’t happen to agree with either of these positions, so I’m not disappointed that Span and Willingham are still Twins. In fact, when the deadline passed Tuesday with no deals by the Twins, I wasn’t really disappointed at all. No, my disappointment came a little later. Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN posted a couple articles with quotes from Terry Ryan in the aftermath of Tuesday’s trade deadline and it was Ryan’s comments, taken all together, that provide the groundwork for my disappointment. "There's a lot of players on this ballclub that people would like to have on their team. I don't think there's any question about that. I don't think there's any shock that people putting up the numbers on this ballclub would be desirable for other organizations. If you're going to do something with that you'd like to think that you're getting equity back. We didn't see it." "Everything that we do here right now probably includes some sort of pitching. In particular, starting pitching. I think we've shown some resiliency in that bullpen out there. "It is difficult to come out with starting pitching, especially the younger controllable-type guys that organizations covet, where they have control. That's exactly the types of people we were looking to bring back in any sort of deal, and we just couldn't get what we were looking for today." "We have holes. And some of it is pitching. And some of it is not. There are other areas we need to address.” "Some of it will be injury. Some of it would be chemistry and some of it is execution. We've cracked in a few areas this year." So much there to digest, isn’t there? Yet, I can’t see anything there I disagree with at all. There certainly was no shortage of players other teams were interested in having. It’s also good to see the Twins recognize their biggest problem, whether short term or long term, is their rotation. They needed good young high-ceiling pitchers in any deal and apparently didn’t get that kind of talent offered. Ryan is also correct in saying that pitching is not the only hole they have to fill. The middle infield remains less productive than you would like it to be, for example. They certainly have “cracked” in more than one area over the course of the season. But then there were these additional quotes. "As you know, I don't worry too much about the payroll. We had all kinds of money this year and we didn't get it done. It's not a payroll issue. It's personnel and making sure we put the right people in the right place.” "I'm not banking on free agency, to be honest. If you keep banking on free agency, you'll end up chasing your tail. This is not going to be a free agency approach. This is going to be no shortcuts and doing the job the way it's supposed to be done. And that's usually that's with young, development, scouting and picking the right people." Sigh. If he had just said, “It’s not just a payroll issue,” and, “I’m not banking strictly on free agency,” I’d have felt a little better because I do agree that you can’t, “keep banking on free agency.” But he didn’t. So, taking his words exactly as quoted, we all have to be disappointed, because Terry Ryan is just wrong. It is partially about payroll and free agency is a perfectly legitimate “shortcut” to fielding a better baseball team than you currently have. Shortcuts are not necessarily mutually exclusive from, “doing the job the way it’s supposed to be done.” Have you ever been to San Francisco and decided to take a little day trip across the bay to Sausalito? It’s not very far away and there are multiple ways to get there. The most direct route is by boat, but of course that costs you some cash. If you have the cash, I think it’s the best option. If you are on a budget, you can drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Then again, that’s a toll bridge, so even traveling that way comes with a cost, too. Both are shortcuts, though, because you do have another option. You can travel east a ways then north a longer ways, then west a ways, then south a ways and get to Sausalito that way. Not many people do that, because people recognize their time has value, too, and it takes a lot of extra time to get where you want to go that way (and if you're directionally challenged, you may take a wrong turn and never get exactly where you wanted to go). There was a time, during Terry Ryan’s first tour of duty as GM, when the Twins had no alternative to taking the long way toward building a competitive team. They simply couldn’t afford the free agency shortcut. They had no choice but to flip veteran players for prospects as soon as they got expensive and then develop those prospects and hope they turned in to good Big Leaguers. They had moderate success doing that, too. But they don’t have to do that now. Not exclusively, anyway. Is developing from within still the best way to fill out most of your roster? Abso-friggin-lutely, it is. But utilizing free agency to augment that process… to fill those “holes” Ryan referred to… in order to maintain a level of competitiveness, is not wrong just because it’s an option you didn’t have five years ago. I would have hoped that their experience with Josh Willingham would have demonstrated that to the Twins front office. If the Twins had traded off most of their veterans Tuesday, I’d have been disappointed. I’m in the group of fans that believes the line up is capable of competing within their division in 2013 if they fix the rotation. That said, if they'd gone the route of trading off the veterans, I’d have at least understood that Terry Ryan has a plan and I’m just going to have to be more patient to see how it unfolds. But he didn’t do that. The result is that he seems to be caught in between… not embracing the new “shortcut” available to him to get the team back on track quicker through free agency, but also not fully executing the old “flip veterans for top prospects” method of building a competitive team over a longer period of time, either. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Mauer-Morneau-2-300x261.jpg This is not what Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau signed up for (Photo: AP/Tom Olmscheid) It’s that purgatory in between that appears to indicate a lack of any real plan that disappoints me more than anything else today. Then again, it's the same disappointment I felt last year when the Twins made no attempt to improve their rotation through free agency, so this isn't exactly new disappointment. I would think it would have to be disappointing Joe Mauer and the other veteran players, as well. These guys are here because they felt they would have a legitimate chance to play for a winner in Minnesota and it’s hard to see how that will happen for anyone who’s already approaching or past his 30th birthday if the Twins are unwilling to tap the free agent market for serious rotation help. If the "free agency approach" is not an option, it seems to me that the right thing for Terry Ryan to do would be to call those guys together… Mauer, Morneau, Span, Willingham, Doumit, Perkins… and say, “Guys, here’s the plan. We’re not going to spend money for top free agent pitching, so we’re probably going to continue to struggle with the rotation. That means we’re probably going to have to win a lot of 8-7 games to even come close to being a .500 team for the next couple of years. That’s not what any of you signed up for. We’d like to give our fans some familiar faces to root for and our young pitchers some semblance of offensive support, so unless we get bowled over by an offer, we’d like to keep most of you around. But if you would prefer, we will see what we can get for you on the trade market this off-season. We won’t give anyone away for a handful of magic beans, but if we can get legitimate prospects in return, we’ll try to give you a better shot to play for a contender. Talk to your agents and have them give me a call. Either way, thank you for what you’ve given the organization already and no hard feelings.” When he’s done with that chat and after he hears back from their agents, he could communicate something similar to the fan base. Would there be disappointment? Yes. But the honesty would be refreshing, everyone would know what to expect and at least there would be some rational hope for the future. As it is now, all we’ve got is the disappointment, even if we can't all agree on why we're disappointed. - JC P.S. To be fair, Jim Pohlad sounded at least slightly more positive about the Twins participation in the free agent market in this Pioneer Press article. The money quote: "We will definitely look at the free-agent market," Pohlad said Tuesday, July 31. "We probably won't sign the most expensive free-agent pitcher that there is. Terry (Ryan, general manager) is committed to doing everything (to improve the team)." Pohlad said the Twins, who are 12 games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox, will be able to afford some free agents. The Twins' payroll this season is about $100 million. "We're happy at the level (of payroll) we're at right now," the Twins CEO said.

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com I’m not one to usually say, “I told you so,” but… yeah… I did tell you so. I told you to prepare to be disappointed at the trade deadline so it comes as no surprise to me that most Twins fans seemed to come away from the July 31 non-waiver deadline disappointed in the lack of moves by the Twins. Many of us do understand why the roster remained intact, except for the trade of Francisco Liriano. The new CBA dampened enthusiasm for players who will be free agents at the end of the season. Justin Morneau’s contract is too big to get other teams excited about trading something of value for him. Other teams are understandably hoarding their top “high ceiling” young starting pitchers and weren’t willing to part with them for any of the Twins players Terry Ryan had to offer. Logically, we know there will remain interest in those same players this off-season. But even knowing and understanding all of that, there’s disappointment all over Twinsville. I’m disappointed in the aftermath of the deadline, too. But not necessarily for the same reasons others are. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TerryRyan-251x300.jpg Terry Ryan Some people are disappointed that Ryan didn’t just take the best offer on the table for a player like Denard Span, for whom the Twins arguably have a suitable replacement for already in Ben Revere. Some felt Josh Willingham, who at age 33 is having the best year of his career, will never be more valuable than he is now and should have been traded for the best deal offered, simply for that reason. I don’t happen to agree with either of these positions, so I’m not disappointed that Span and Willingham are still Twins. In fact, when the deadline passed Tuesday with no deals by the Twins, I wasn’t really disappointed at all. No, my disappointment came a little later. Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN posted a couple articles with quotes from Terry Ryan in the aftermath of Tuesday’s trade deadline and it was Ryan’s comments, taken all together, that provide the groundwork for my disappointment. "There's a lot of players on this ballclub that people would like to have on their team. I don't think there's any question about that. I don't think there's any shock that people putting up the numbers on this ballclub would be desirable for other organizations. If you're going to do something with that you'd like to think that you're getting equity back. We didn't see it." "Everything that we do here right now probably includes some sort of pitching. In particular, starting pitching. I think we've shown some resiliency in that bullpen out there. "It is difficult to come out with starting pitching, especially the younger controllable-type guys that organizations covet, where they have control. That's exactly the types of people we were looking to bring back in any sort of deal, and we just couldn't get what we were looking for today." "We have holes. And some of it is pitching. And some of it is not. There are other areas we need to address.” "Some of it will be injury. Some of it would be chemistry and some of it is execution. We've cracked in a few areas this year." So much there to digest, isn’t there? Yet, I can’t see anything there I disagree with at all. There certainly was no shortage of players other teams were interested in having. It’s also good to see the Twins recognize their biggest problem, whether short term or long term, is their rotation. They needed good young high-ceiling pitchers in any deal and apparently didn’t get that kind of talent offered. Ryan is also correct in saying that pitching is not the only hole they have to fill. The middle infield remains less productive than you would like it to be, for example. They certainly have “cracked” in more than one area over the course of the season. But then there were these additional quotes. "As you know, I don't worry too much about the payroll. We had all kinds of money this year and we didn't get it done. It's not a payroll issue. It's personnel and making sure we put the right people in the right place.” "I'm not banking on free agency, to be honest. If you keep banking on free agency, you'll end up chasing your tail. This is not going to be a free agency approach. This is going to be no shortcuts and doing the job the way it's supposed to be done. And that's usually that's with young, development, scouting and picking the right people." Sigh. If he had just said, “It’s not just a payroll issue,” and, “I’m not banking strictly on free agency,” I’d have felt a little better because I do agree that you can’t, “keep banking on free agency.” But he didn’t. So, taking his words exactly as quoted, we all have to be disappointed, because Terry Ryan is just wrong. It is partially about payroll and free agency is a perfectly legitimate “shortcut” to fielding a better baseball team than you currently have. Shortcuts are not necessarily mutually exclusive from, “doing the job the way it’s supposed to be done.” Have you ever been to San Francisco and decided to take a little day trip across the bay to Sausalito? It’s not very far away and there are multiple ways to get there. The most direct route is by boat, but of course that costs you some cash. If you have the cash, I think it’s the best option. If you are on a budget, you can drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Then again, that’s a toll bridge, so even traveling that way comes with a cost, too. Both are shortcuts, though, because you do have another option. You can travel east a ways then north a longer ways, then west a ways, then south a ways and get to Sausalito that way. Not many people do that, because people recognize their time has value, too, and it takes a lot of extra time to get where you want to go that way (and if you're directionally challenged, you may take a wrong turn and never get exactly where you wanted to go). There was a time, during Terry Ryan’s first tour of duty as GM, when the Twins had no alternative to taking the long way toward building a competitive team. They simply couldn’t afford the free agency shortcut. They had no choice but to flip veteran players for prospects as soon as they got expensive and then develop those prospects and hope they turned in to good Big Leaguers. They had moderate success doing that, too. But they don’t have to do that now. Not exclusively, anyway. Is developing from within still the best way to fill out most of your roster? Abso-friggin-lutely, it is. But utilizing free agency to augment that process… to fill those “holes” Ryan referred to… in order to maintain a level of competitiveness, is not wrong just because it’s an option you didn’t have five years ago. I would have hoped that their experience with Josh Willingham would have demonstrated that to the Twins front office. If the Twins had traded off most of their veterans Tuesday, I’d have been disappointed. I’m in the group of fans that believes the line up is capable of competing within their division in 2013 if they fix the rotation. That said, if they'd gone the route of trading off the veterans, I’d have at least understood that Terry Ryan has a plan and I’m just going to have to be more patient to see how it unfolds. But he didn’t do that. The result is that he seems to be caught in between… not embracing the new “shortcut” available to him to get the team back on track quicker through free agency, but also not fully executing the old “flip veterans for top prospects” method of building a competitive team over a longer period of time, either. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Mauer-Morneau-2-300x261.jpg This is not what Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau signed up for (Photo: AP/Tom Olmscheid) It’s that purgatory in between that appears to indicate a lack of any real plan that disappoints me more than anything else today. Then again, it's the same disappointment I felt last year when the Twins made no attempt to improve their rotation through free agency, so this isn't exactly new disappointment. I would think it would have to be disappointing Joe Mauer and the other veteran players, as well. These guys are here because they felt they would have a legitimate chance to play for a winner in Minnesota and it’s hard to see how that will happen for anyone who’s already approaching or past his 30th birthday if the Twins are unwilling to tap the free agent market for serious rotation help. If the "free agency approach" is not an option, it seems to me that the right thing for Terry Ryan to do would be to call those guys together… Mauer, Morneau, Span, Willingham, Doumit, Perkins… and say, “Guys, here’s the plan. We’re not going to spend money for top free agent pitching, so we’re probably going to continue to struggle with the rotation. That means we’re probably going to have to win a lot of 8-7 games to even come close to being a .500 team for the next couple of years. That’s not what any of you signed up for. We’d like to give our fans some familiar faces to root for and our young pitchers some semblance of offensive support, so unless we get bowled over by an offer, we’d like to keep most of you around. But if you would prefer, we will see what we can get for you on the trade market this off-season. We won’t give anyone away for a handful of magic beans, but if we can get legitimate prospects in return, we’ll try to give you a better shot to play for a contender. Talk to your agents and have them give me a call. Either way, thank you for what you’ve given the organization already and no hard feelings.” When he’s done with that chat and after he hears back from their agents, he could communicate something similar to the fan base. Would there be disappointment? Yes. But the honesty would be refreshing, everyone would know what to expect and at least there would be some rational hope for the future. As it is now, all we’ve got is the disappointment, even if we can't all agree on why we're disappointed. - JC P.S. To be fair, Jim Pohlad sounded at least slightly more positive about the Twins participation in the free agent market in this Pioneer Press article. The money quote: "We will definitely look at the free-agent market," Pohlad said Tuesday, July 31. "We probably won't sign the most expensive free-agent pitcher that there is. Terry (Ryan, general manager) is committed to doing everything (to improve the team)." Pohlad said the Twins, who are 12 games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox, will be able to afford some free agents. The Twins' payroll this season is about $100 million. "We're happy at the level (of payroll) we're at right now," the Twins CEO said.

I've had similar expereinces with Mason City... afternoon games aren't generally carried. Living in Cedar Rapids, we're in a similar dead zone. The only MLB radio carried is the ESPN Radio affiliate, which carries many, but not all, of the WSox games. I subscribe to MLB.tv, even though the entire state is subject to blackout for all 6 MLB teams in surrounding states. The upside to that is that it comes with MLB AtBat, which allows me to bring in Twins radio broadcasts on my smartphone (if I'm in out and about) and on the computer (if I'm home). I'm hopeful that the local Class A team in CR might switch from their Angels affiliation to the Twins next year. If that should happen, there's a decent chance we start seeing a bit more media interest in the Twins in eastern Iowa anyway.