This type of thing about "regional ties" always bothers me. First of all, it's always going to work against the Twins because so few MLB players are actually from Minnesota. Everyone's from Latin America, California, Texas and Florida. But frankly it's a poor excuse! How many players want to play in Miami or Tampa because of "regional ties"? Answer: zero. Tampa has a stadium problem and they're considered cheap, and Miami has a baseball culture problem. It's never really about "regional ties", it's always about money and winning. It's a nice way of saying "it's not you, it's me". But as George Costanza knows, deep down it's ALWAYS about you. Houston went from being one of those also-ran type teams into a team that has a reputation as big spenders and major competitors. The Twins haven't made that leap. Like it or not, agents and players see Minnesota as an MLB backwater whose only major contract went out to a hometown boy 12 years ago. The Twins are going to be swimming upstream with all of these free agents until they can somehow change their reputation. The series against the Yankees was another national embarrassment and nobody wants to come here to be a part of that show. I think the Twins are a more attractive landing spot than they were 10 years ago. But we have a long way to go before this team even gets having the reputation of teams like Cleveland, Atlanta, and Philly in the eyes of free agents.