It’s Christmas. Santa has already come down the chimney and dropped off presents. Wrapping paper that was once wrapped around a gift with precision lives either in the recycling bin or in shards on the floor. Tears, both of joy and of disappointment, have been shed. Meanwhile, the Twins fan waits patiently, periodically looking up the chimney to see if a gift is just stuck along the walls.

It’s something you get used to as a fan of a lower-to-mid-market team. You’re not the rich kid that gets a new car every other holiday season, but you’re also not the family that shops at the food shelf for Christmas Dinner. You’re in the middle, which can be the worst place of all.

Part of being a fan in the middle is talking about payroll, about business, about dollars. This has been a reality for me since LaVelle was writing his annual stories in the early 2000s about not being able to keep the resurgent Twins teams together. Instead of just being excited that a possible Josh Donaldson signing would improve our offense for the next four years, we have to consider how much of his potential $20MM+ salary in 2022 may hold us back from resigning some of our homegrown players.

A couple of years ago this attitude made me start counting down the days until Joe Mauer’s contract was going to be off the books. Would shedding $23MM from the expenses materially change anything in terms of wins and losses? Probably not, but that $23MM could have been better spent in 2018. I dislike having to think that way but it’s a necessity. Right now, the Minnesota Twins have at least $23MM to spend, and probably closer to $30-35MM. Essentially, they could add a Lexus to their fleet and not miss the money

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However, the further away I get from midnight, the less sure I am that Santa Claus is going to come through. I tried to be good all year. I went to the Twins Winter Caravan, I wanted to go to Twinsfest (work duties got in the way), I bought my flex pack and renewed for 2020 even though the prices went up. I did everything a fan is supposed to do. And right now it feels like my financial dedication is being answered with silence. I feel like I’m closer to shopping for an off-brand Martin Perez at the food shelf than walking out my front door to a luxury automobile topped with an oversized red bow.

But I’m in the middle class. I’m resourceful enough to know I don’t need to live off handouts. I’m naïve enough to think I can reach the top of the mountain, if even for just one year. And I’m smart enough to know the intelligent allocation of dollars are the best path to get to the peak.

So that’s what I aim to do here on my blog. I want to explore the money game, the dollars behind the diamond. I want to figure out the best use of $100K, of $10MM. I plan to do some research, a lot of speculation and hopefully some education.

So sit back, enjoy the unseasonable warmth and gather around the fire. Because if the stove’s not hot, at least the fireplace is.