chi-town twins fan

Thanks for this intelligent analysis, John. One thing I've been thinking about that I haven't seen anyone discuss yet is what motivates the Pohlads' thinking on cutting payroll. Of course, it's the money, but I think it's more than that. The question is, which community do they value? It's clearly not the community of Twins' fans, but rather that of their fellow owners: they'd rather show their loyalty to that group by slicing payroll than seek the approval of the team's fans. It's a continuation of what Carl did back in the bad old days of contraction: the Pohlads seem quite willing to sacrifice the fan base to earn status among the small community of MLB owners (and it's not even all of the owners: the playoffs this year are heavily loaded with teams whose owners were willing to buck the trend and spend extra money).

Nice piece of writing, Nick. Thanks!

Terrific piece! I gotta say, that given the one-two punch combination here (Berrios, then Buxton), I have to suspect that the logjam here lies on the side of ownership/front office. As a lifelong Twins' fan, this really feels like a make-or-break moment for me.

I don't know how you missed this one: Garlick stinks up the joint.

Tanner English also made a heckuva diving catch tonight in center field for the Kernels.