USAFChief

That is an opinion, not a fact. An opinion that ignores 2014's $92, 2013's $82m, and basically every year in TF with the possible exception of 2011. And even that year barely made the 50 percent level, if that. Give them a pass if you want. I will scream bloody murder until there aren't legitimate reasons to.

What you're missing is, the Dodgers got three great years from Grienke on a contract they couldn't have gotten if it was originally just for three years. They can take whatever was left on Grienke's deal and spend it again on younger player(s). Any team would have loved that 3 yr deal. I doubt they're terribly broken up over not having to pay for the next three years.

But there's the rub. This isn't just about this offseason. And for the record, it's not unrealistic to think that when ownership committed to financing part of the costs of TF, they would actually follow through.

I agree these are off the top of your head, I do not agree they are not debateable: 1. If we assume a 10% inflation rate, in order for other payroll costs to go up $5-6M over 2009 (last yr in the dome), other payroll would have been $50-60M in 2009. That's...high. Way too high. That would be most of their "other" expenses in 2009. Some quick, back of the napkin calculations (guesses)--extremely generous ones at that--puts other payroll in the range of $20M. And by generous, I mean generous...I estimated no employees at less than $50K per year, for example, and have 20 at $150K or more (including $2M each for TR and DSP). So a more reasonable estimate (and 10 percent over the past 6 yrs is in itself generous) is $2M more than 2009. I'm not sure what you mean by "additional personnel to run documented beefed up operations", but let's go with it. $2m more. Although, to be fair, they were in the Dominican before 2009, they've been in Ft Myers forever, so that's a pretty nebulous additional $2M. That would be 20 extra employees at $100K each. 2. In 2009, the Twins paid the 22nd pick (Gibson) $1.85M. In 2015, the 22nd pick cost Detroit $2.15m. Rule 4 draft costs are capped now, so an argument can be made the Twins have LOWER cost risks for the draft now than they did in 2009. For example, Stephen Strasburg cost the Nats $15M in 2009, number one pick Dansby Swanson cost the D'backs $6.5M in 2015. We'll say, generously, the Twins can expect to be exposed to an additional $1M on average per year, although again, I think that's generous. As for adding international FA's, there is now a cap, based (like the draft) on your W/L record the previous year. In 2015, the Twins, with the 6th most money to spend, had just under $4M. They spent more than that in 2009. So add $1M per year. Again...generous. 3. Operating costs for TF are tough to estimate. I think you're high, but I really can't find any confirmation one way or the other. The Twins themselves, in lobbying for a new park, estimated "in excess of $10M". http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/ballpark/new_banter.jsp?content=qa Let's split the difference...$15M annually. Take away the costs the Twins were paying in the dome anyway...office furniture, phones, internet, office supplies, etc etc etc. We'll say $2M. I can't find what the Metrodome lease cost the Twins in rent, so I'll say zero. Make it $13M. 4. This year the Twins will spend $5M on renovations...the most they've ever spent. http://ballparkdigest.com/2015/10/26/cf-improvement-on-tap-for-target-field/ So it hasn't been "$5M every year, some years more." It's been less every year. In fact, it looks like they've spent around $11M total on renovations, or less than $2M per year. And most, if not all, the renovations have been designed to increase revenue. So I'll give you $2M per here, but in reality, they probably MADE money on the deal. 5. The Twins opened their Domican Academy in 2004, so I'll need more than your word for it their expenses have increased greatly in the last 6 years. I'm not sure how they could be spending a million more, but I'll give you a million. The Twins have been holding spring training in Ft Myers forever, I'm not sure where you're getting huge increased costs. According to this: http://ballparkdigest.com/2015/10/26/cf-improvement-on-tap-for-target-field/ the entire cost of renovations was paid by Lee County. The Twins are operating a dorm now, but surely they decided that was cheaper than rent/per diem. Call it a wash. Total, $1M Add it all up, with very generous estimates, and I come up with $21M. If I was conservative, more like $12-15M. That leaves a lot of space.

With all due respect, Jim, I haven't gotten a single answer (that makes sense.) ""Dominican Academy" this and "Ft Myers" that, and "international spending" and "operating costs" aren't explanations. They are poor excuses that don't come close to adding up. Those things existed in the dome, and didn't change much if at all, or were one off expenses that still don't come close to accounting for the missing millions. I have, however, supplied the answer...they didn't put any of their own money into stadium construction.

I will. I've thown out $150M in payroll before, and I'll throw out $150M now. I still want to know why $60-70M over and above MLB payroll was fine in the dome, but the team needs $110M+ now.

I'm skeptical, on several fronts: Twins scouts were the only ones to pick up on this? With LH relief always in demand, Oakland lets Abad go for nothing? No other team offers more than a minor league deal? 2015 is an outlier, but less so than 2014, Abad's only really good year. He started tipping pitches over the 2014-15 offseason? He hasn't been dominant, even against lefties, in his career. He's allowed a .700+ OPS against LH hitters. Less than 8 K/9 overall. Also, nitpic (or maybe not)... I'd put more stock in the article's clips if they were from the same game, preferably the same hitter. Pitchers sometimes change motions over time.

I don't believe all owners put the highest priority on profit. Or rather, some owners measure success first by wins and losses, some by profits and losses. Some will regularly eat into yearly profits if they think it will increase their chances of winning baseball games. So no, it's not a zero sum game. An owner's willingness to spend CAN make a difference.

If the Twins view Taylor Rogers as a bullpen piece, it makes no sense to me to put him in the Rochester rotation. He's 25, repeating AAA. He's not listed among your top 8 Twins starters. Put him in the pen where he can focus on learning to warm quickly, and get used to pitching on back to back days, and then maybe pitching 3 days in a row.

What documented changes to the Dominican Academy? $50M worth? The Ft Myers complex was a one time expense, largely funded by Lee County. They've always had international and draft expenses...and to the best of my knowledge, the Twins have been extra careful NOT to spend more than MLB allowances in both of those areas. If they were pumping an extra $40 into international signings every other year, that would account for some of the money. They're not. And none of those have a single thing to do with a sudden increase of $50M in TV money, anyway, were that to happen tomorrow. There may be minor expense differences in running TF as opposed to the dome. But there can be no possible benign explanation for needing another $50-70M. Not to mention, currently and for at least the last several years, aren't even living up to the "50-55 percent to big league payroll" promise.

This is the EXACT thing that really annoys me. The Twins claimed, under the Metrodome model, that they needed 45-50 percent of revenue to meet other expenses and still generate a moderate profit. I bought that line. $130M in revenue, $65M to big payroll, leaving ~$65M to cover other costs. But they move into TF, generate another ~$100M in revenue, and they STILL need 50 percent to cover other expenses?? Why? And now, if they suddenly got another $50M in TV money, only 50 percent of that is available for player payroll? Why?? Where would the other $25M go? Expenses didn't change ONE CENT. That's just $25M more going into ownership's pocket. I can't quite grasp why people are OK with that.

Imagine if the team actually lived up to their promise to contribute to construction costs and where payroll would be as a result... $150M?

The big mystery* is, why were they able to survive on around $70M covering all expenses, plus a profit, over and above payroll in the dome, but now need ~$120M? If $70M was enough to pay for their minor league system, all other employees, travel costs, marketing, etc etc etc in 2009, why do they need so much more now? None of those other expenses doubled in 2010 with the move to Target Field. *it's not really a mystery...the Pohlads borrowed** the money for their portion of the costs of Target Field, and are using TF revenues to pay off that note. So they haven't actually put a penny of their own money into building TF, even though they "pledged" $150M or whatever it was. That's why payroll isn't $150M, which their income stream would seem to support. **they probably borrowed the money from their own banks. If so, they not only didn't put a penny in, they are actually realizing a profit on the borrowed money via interest paid to themselves.

The overwhelming majority of LH hitters do not hit as well against LH pitching as they do against RH pitching. This was true 100 years ago, is true today, and will likely be true 100 years from now. Having a tough LH reliever, who in addition to being tough, throws LHed, is a tried and true method of reducing the effectiveness of opposing LH hitters late in a game. I agree that spending money on LH pitchers who cannot get ANYbody out makes little sense. I do not agree lacking a decent to good LOOGY wasn't/isn't a need.

One option would be to trade for a centerfielder.

Correct. Just a ban on any and all Muslim immigration: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-muslim-immigration-us_us_5665f75de4b072e9d1c7252b

I guess I don't see why an opt out is such a big negative for a team. One of the reasons many posters here dislike big FA signings is paying for the "decline phase" years at the end of the contract. An opt out seems to me to make that less likely. In fact, were I a GM, I'd sort of hope the player performs well enough to opt out. I got a free agent for a year or three, at a price that already factors in the long term risk, and am then out from under the contract. I'd have had to pay a lot more to get that one to three year deal up front,if I even could.

Pfft. Sez you.

How many times in a year does a batted ball contact the overhang? 10? And why would Rosario be better at dealing with those that do?

RF. But the difference in playing RF and LF is small, if there even is a difference. So ultimately, it's a non factor.

Two years of Lucroy. And if healthy, he's absolutely that good. He's two years removed from finishing fourth in the NL MVP race, forpetesakes.

I don't see much outrage. I do sense disappointment over the seeming lack of urgency in adding quality bullpen options. I also see confusion over losing Zach Jones to rule five in favor of Darnell, then waiving Darnell weeks later.

Second point: agree, but you can minimize the time required for pitching changes. Two warm up pitches, 1 minute from "signal for new pitcher" to "play ball."

Thank you. I can't believe it's taken more than 100 posts for someone to call out this ridiculous "DH is due to racism" theory. Good lord.

you specifically said there wasn't a correlation between payroll and postseason, which isn't true. There is a correlation. ..a fairly strong one.