abrdabrfan

Well, when the season gets long and your team is not in the playoff picture, a lot of people stay home. That's why you see half empty stadiums. Those that are there, are there because of their love of the game. They understand that every player can't be at high alert at every moment and maintain their sanity. They understand that players have good days and players have bad days, just like you do at work. Every team has players that are high strung and energetic on every play. Every team also has players that are laid back and don't show a lot of outward emotion, regardless of the situation. The nature of the game is there are going to be teams that are out of the race early. MLB has changed the configuration of the playoffs so that as many teams as possible can stay in the race for as long as possible. I think that has worked. But back to my main point, if you love the game and the action on the field, you aren't tuned into whether every player is as fired up as he should be, and you sure aren't worried about how long the game is, because you are enjoying every minute of it.

Just a few comments regarding the posts in this section. I understand the frustrations of 4 straight bottom end seasons, but we Twins fans who have been around a long time know what happens during a rebuild. We do not have the resources of the Yankees. Imagine if you would what kind of shape the Twins franchise would be in if they had made all the mistakes the Yankees have made. It would take them years to recover. That is why the Twins do not make those kinds of expensive signings. Even the relatively small signing of Nolasco (in comparison to some of the large market signings), could cripple the Twins rebuild if he doesn't turn it around. Even the best baseball minds can't predict when these contracts can blow up. The point I want to make is that the posters here all seem to think they know better than TR what is best for the Twins. What you seem to forget is that there are a 100 or more of some of the best baseball minds in the country are right now gathered together to steer the Twins through another off season, and why should we think that we know more than that group of people about what is best for the Twins. At the very least, we really have no idea what is involved in a lot of the decisions that are made about the baseball operation. Many of those decisions will have long term ramifications that we as outsiders would not even have thought of. Best to leave those decisions to the experts, and hope they make better decisions than the Yankees have.

I'm going to use this post to follow up on because it ties in with a lot of thoughts I have had about this whole thing. Not only going forward, but for what happened last off season. I was not in favor of spending big last season, because I thought the options were not that great (other than I agreed with the Hughes signing). I thought they should have saved their resources and spent this year, finding out what they had in the young players, and then spent this off season supplementing the roster. Now, that being said, most of that would not have worked out anyhow, because of the injuries to the 2 main guys that need to be a part of the future. Which leads me to this off season. Because a lot of things are still up in the air regarding what they really have in the minors, I don't think the timing is right to spend big this off season either, as much as I had hoped that the process would be further along by now. If they had not spent $49 million dollars on Nolasco last year to silence the critics in the fan base, do you suppose that maybe one of the big three aces might be within the payroll boundaries this year? I think Ryan spent that money last year at the request of the owner, because he was tired of losing, too. This coming year, it would be wise to sit back and see where things fall in place with the young guys. Wait it out, because if you spend the money now, which translates into contracts that will still be around in 3 - 4 years (ala Nolasco), you may not have budget available to plug the holes that exist when the young guys start to jell. Along with that, a couple years down the road, money will be needed to extend players like Gibson and Dozier and Arcia as they approach arbitration, and then Buxton and Sano and Meyer and the rest of the next wave. Not saying that there are not some short term solutions out there that could offer up better production for next year in CF or LF for instance, but do you really want to tie up that position with a short timer, or use it to test the young guys that you have and need to make decisions about, such as Parmalee and Hicks and Jordan, and eventually Buxton and maybe even Sano. The starting pitching situation has not been good, but do they really want to bring in more bodies at this point, or find out what they have in house. Can Nolasco turn it around and be what they thought he was? Can Gibson take a step forward? Is Hughes really that good? What are Meyer and May capable of? Can Milone return to his previous form? Are any of the remaining AAAA pitchers capable of filling in rotation spots when injuries arise, as they always do? If you add another expensive addition to this mix, how do you answer these questions? The bottom line is, I think that is probably what the Twins intend to do next year, and they are trying to prepare us for that. And I think I can be happy seeing the next wave of young players take the field and prove what they can do.

The other 50 % does not go to ownership. Does anyone know what the other expenses besides payroll add up to? Until you know that, you have no idea how much money is to the owners, if any at all. Until you know all the day to day operating expenses of doing business, you can't know how much profit there is.