laloesch

Wow. Falvey sounds exhausted. This is not good. Don't be surprised at all if they Twins sell off (trade) a bunch of players including Lopez and Correa (assuming he will waive his no trade clause). Sounds like the Twins are getting ready to hack back payroll even further, maybe sub 100 million. If what Falvey is quoted as saying is 100% true the Twins will be adding NOBODY at all this offseason. The Twins might as well tear the whole thing down and rebuild.

yep.

Not necessarily. He might be really upset with what the Twins have done this past season.

that will never happen as long as Baldelli is manager it's his modus operandi.

it's a way for him to control the situation if the Twin's get cold feet and think about dumping him. All he has to do is drop his no trade clause should the team approach him with the right offer.

Yeah there's no chance that happens.

I guess i don't get the humor of the piece. Well at least some here did.

what is the purpose of this article?

Yep. I've pointed this out in other posts. Until these three decide they are serious and play 130+ games in unison (barring catastrophic injuries), this team will remain a pretender. You didn't see the Royals lineup struggle with games played. They had 5+ guys that went 130 games or more. That's a pipe dream with Buxton, Correa, and Lewis every season. Until those three (and they aren't the only ones) decide they "really want it," aka "want a playoff run beyond one game" and put in the effort and games during the season, they will continue to come up short. Honestly, it's lack of will, laziness, and apathy. I don't care what anybody here says, it's mostly that. The injury excuse is brought up CONSTANTLY on TD and by the players themselves, yet that didn't stop the Yankees, the Tigers, the Royals, the Guardians, etc. Yet it stops the Twins every single year. Hmmmm.....

My mistake. I got distracted when I typed the previous reply. In college he played six different positions at times and the Bluejays drafted him as an Infielder although I've heard he had quite a bit of experience in the outfielder for the Commodores. With the Twins when he DID play the outfield he as atrocious, how's that? 😉

Well to be fair to the Twins he's an atrocious outfielder and they knew it when they signed him hence why they tried him at different positions.

the fifth inning wall is a problem for him. I'm not saying it's insurmountable, but he needs to overcome that or he will be relegated to long reliever duties. The Twins need to be more aggressive in the minors pushing more innings for the starters once they get to St. Paul. Going 6 or 7 should not be a problem for them by then.

I thought the Correa splurge was ill adviced. I was mostly quiet about the matter here when it happened, but it's really come back to pinch the payroll along with the Buxton extension given what has happened in the last year or so.

I think it's likely that the Pohlads were banking on something getting worked out with Bally and not the disaster that unfolded ultimately and it was a miscalculation, maybe a result of Joe's hands at the helm. It's hard to say. Pablo was and still is a good signing. The Buxton signing while less costly than Correa has been at best a marginal return because he misses 1/3 of the season almost routinely. On a team with increasing payroll's year over year it's bearable, but this sudden return to pinching pennies and cutting payroll is not a good omen and makes the situation tenuous. You have what 2/3 of the team's payroll tied up in 3-4 guys (I don't know the exact numbers)? The point is that it was a bad business decision to change course after signing Pablo, Correa, and Buxton, but that is how this appears to be playing out. It could take several years to work out a sale, and who knows how much revenue the Twins get from MLB with this streaming. Sounds like a net loss either way, so potential for big disaster here.

this post has aged well.

The question to be asked is what happens going forward? If the Pohlads are truly serious about selling the team and it looks like they are, do they go ultra cheap and gut the roster and pocket the savings, or do they just go cheap and not do anything until a new buyer. Knowing them, they'll gut the roster and cut payroll further. They are gonna get 1.5-2billion regardless of on the field product, might as well pocket as much as you can before exiting.

I agree with this and that's why they are getting out. The TV broadcasting issues with Diamond Sports was the final nail in the coffin for them.

idk. This season I interpreted as him being handed the keys (but you have to pay your own insurance, license and registration fees), them watching him over the shoulder from a distance, just to make sure nothing catastrophic happens. 2025 would be him going out on his own, speeding, and the wrapping that beautiful expensive Ferrari around a tree.

And if that is indeed true (i think it is), if they fail to sell the team this offseason, he may wreak that Ferrari next season.

I agree, but if the reports are true about the internal family strife + the cable tv disaster they are scrambling to unload this team as soon as possible and a partial tear down of high salaries from the payroll could very likely be in the works to make the numbers work for a potential buyer faced with forking over 1.5 billion to 2 billion. The team has been punished financially, attendance and viewership were also impacted by the August collapse, lack of moves by the FO, and the fiasco with Diamond sports. The Twins are in a bit of a pickle. We will never know their finances, but it would not surprise me if they took a big hit again this season, especially in August with the lackluster attendance after they collapsed, along with getting the boot from Diamond sports. A potential buyer may look at that and say, yeah it's nice they have a newer stadium, but the lack of a solid TV contract, and having to rely on MLB to prop them up with streaming is not good for revenues, BUT if they purge some of the high salaries and at least get it down to more profit year over year again, it's more appealing to a potential buyer that will run it more like a business than a hobby, which will likely enlarge the pool of buyers. Hobby team owners will be the smaller pool and the Pohlads probably know this first hand. If a sale doesn't come easily, they may cut further anyways. The Pohlads have never been known to splurge with the team (Correa being the big exception) so fans need to prepare themselves for a year or two of salary dumps, etc. It definitely sucks, I just remember how they behaved in 1997-2001. I could see them doing a full or close to full "strip" of big contracts this offseason (assuming they could pull it off), but that would require agreement from Buxton and Correa to waive those no trade clauses. Vazquez is a net loss anyways and dumping him will require them to include a lot of money to get a deal done, but it would still lower payroll even if it's distasteful. I agree that Buxton, Correa, and Lopez are the most attractive assets..... to a point. The problem with them is the near constant injury issues.

Oh there's obvious direction for the club roster, his contract signed in 2023 is 200 million and six years followed by a certain CF who also signed a contract in 2021 for seven years for 100 million. Neither player has played up to full expectations, stayed healthy, and frankly started in as many games as they should. That is the simple reality and it's punishing the franchise. That said, I fully expect the Twins to further cut payroll this winter and unload as many salaries as they can before they sell the team. Dramatically dropping the payroll, and only keeping the arbitration or pre-arbitration eligible players opens the door to more buyers, who won't have to deal with 100 / 200 million dollar contracts upon immediately buying a team and spending 1.5-2 billion dollars on a franchise that just lost it's television contract and is now being offered a temporary crutch by Major League baseball in the meantime. The Pohlads have to dramatically slash payroll to get this done, it's coming. I would not be surprised at all if both Buxton and Correa are approached this offseason about waiving their no trade clauses. One thing is for certain Lopez will be dealt, along with Margot, Vazquez, Paddack, Farmer, and possibly others with the Twins eating sizeable chunks of their contracts to just get rid of them. This will be done to leverage the team's finances in a sale. The Pohlads aren't stupid, they know this. As we all know through the years despite their happy talk statements about the team it's just a business to them and JOe Pohlad never was in charge, he was just given a responsibility in one of the family businesses. They've been thinking about selling for over a year now and the failed tv contracts with Diamond sports was the final blow and why they are getting out. I expect them to cut payroll sub 100 by next spring if a sale hasn't gone through. They already cut 30 million which is A LOT.

ARoD or Jeter don't have enough money to buy the team. We are talking about a very small group of individuals that can do this.

This is what I fear as well.

if the front office approaches Correa about lifting his no trade clause to certain teams so that he can go to a perennial contender (assuming there are any interested takers) I think he would listen. The writing is on the wall. I honestly think the team will cut payroll down sub 100 million as soon as they can with these tv contract issues knowing the Pohlads. They likely lost another 20 million in TV revenues with what has transpired since season end. Not good. Kepler is as good as gone. Pablo will likely be traded because of his salary bump. It's gonna get ugly. They never should have signed Correa in the first place or Buxton for that matter. Both players are constantly getting hurt and can't stay healthy. After the Giants walked away from Correa in the first negotiations the Twins should have run for the hills learning about his injury history. I think it was a case of "hey we have a second chance to get him, yipeee" and they truly didn't think through the long term implications of such a gargantuan contract if he couldn't stay healthy. Buxton is practically unmovable with his contract and injury history. Moving either player would require the Twins to pay sizeable chunks of what remains of their contracts.

Hahaha I love the humor of this statement. They aren't kids, they are adults playing baseball. I think the pressure is on the Twins franchise (players, management, and ownership) to turn this around and erase the 2024 collapse come the 2025 season. It will not be an easy task considering ownership is very possibly slashing payroll again not know if this new streaming deal will potentially be a hit or a titanic flop (no-one knows at this point). I tend to think it's gonna be a flop of some sorts judging by what they've failed to do in the past, but I hope I'm wrong. Cleveland, Detroit, and KC have no pressure on them. In the case of KC and Detroit they both exceeded expectations and then some, while displaying they have the fire and dedication to go as far as possible. The Twins just.....gave up in late August into September, not good.