Seems like the dumbest question ever but it’s a great place to start. What does the World Series champion do that we don’t? 

Something I love to reference when it comes to the Twins is the “dark years”. It was those years that ruined the pinstripe cream uniforms. I can’t look at those uniforms without thinking about how much of a disaster this organization was from 2011-2016. We are feeling the effects of those decisions right now, bad scouting, and a lukewarm feeling toward competing or rebuilding. There was no clear plan- we showed up to the offseason/winter meetings like I show up to Taco Bell at 2 am: Unprepared, unorganized, and hoping someone else makes the decision for me. 

In that ‘11-’16 window, we signed Ricky Nolasco, ByungHo Park, Carl Pavano, Ryan Doumit, Josh Willingham, Jamey Carroll, Phil Hughes, Kevin Correia, Kurt Suzuki, Mike Pelfrey, and Torii Hunter. As you can see some of these contracts were more productive than others. I highlight these signings because it shows how insanely random the old regime was. Are we rebuilding? Are we signing proven veterans to compete? I don’t think anyone knew. Pair that with poor scouting and bringing in first-round picks- Alex Wimmers, Levi Michael, Travis Harrison (supplemental- didn’t sign), Hudson Boyd (supplemental- didn’t sign), Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios, Luke Bard, Kohl Stewart, Nick Gordon, Tyler Jay. Of those 10 picks (4 being top 5 picks), it is obvious which 3 of those picks have even scratched the surface of their ability in that time.  Hindsight is always 20/20 but it’s a tough look.

Let us look at the Houston Astros who had a very similar window of poor talent and some high picks, but they committed to being terrible for a couple of years. There was no doubt from 2010-2014 the Astros were bought in on a rebuild and getting young talent in the door. The greatest separator between these two teams is organizational direction and development. That’s it. Over those drafts, their 1st round picks were Delino DeShields Jr., Mike Foltynewicz, Michael Kvasnicka (go gophers), George Springer, Carlos Correa, Mark Appel, Brady Aiken, and Alex Bregman. They had 5 of 8 first-round picks become players of value at the MLB level even for a flash in the pan. Foltynewicz got them Evan Gattis who was a big-time offensive producer as a catcher and a key piece in their clubhouse for the ’17 World Series run. Brady Aiken and Mark Appel were well known… no need to feed a fed horse. DeShields was let go in the rule 5 and was then part of the Emmanuel Clase to Cleveland trade that netted the Rangers Corey Kluber… whoops.  

We all can see the Astros are flush with talent in 2022 but their decisions as a front office didn’t always seem like a slam dunk. They offered Correa what was a fair contract at the time and said OK bye when he declined. They shed one tear for their franchise shortstop and in their next breath, won a World Series. They paid Altuve and Verlander a combined 54 million and after that their next highest-paid player was McCullers at just shy of 16 million. The Altuve contract is 7 years 163 million, which expires in 2024 at his age 34 season. Right when most players start dramatically losing value, especially as a middle infielder. Alex Bregman's salary was 11 million and will bump up starting this year to 28.5 million for this year and next then he is also a free agent at 32. The money that is spent is calculated and our front office follows a similar model. The moves the Twins are making may not be popular but they will likely prove to be wise. The substantial difference is how we operated 10-12 years ago. We did not commit to being terrible or great, we wavered between bad and decent, with poor player development.   

The extreme end of the spectrum is the Dodgers. They have been riding a huge payroll and trading for and locking up every team’s team’s favorite player for what feels like the last decade. People love to call this BS that they just go and buy the best players. That’s not entirely true, they scout and identify talent better than any other team in the league. They have the freedom with their budget, but they typically trade for players using the internal talent they have acquired in the draft or internationally. The Angels throw money around and have given out comical contracts, remember the Marlins in 2012 Marlins? AKA- Jose Reyes and the boys. We all thought they bought and sold their way to being relevant again and that was a disaster. You can’t just throw money at organizations and expect the roster to get better because those players are the best at that time. You must scout active players better than that and that’s why the Dodgers are different and will continue to be different. 

It was not that long ago the Twins were lost. We have a palatable direction now. We trust in what our scouting department is giving us. We are not going to mortgage our future on panic-signing dudes just to meet some ambiguous spending quota. I’m guilty as anyone of thinking the roster stinks but that is an illusion created by the 2022 second half. The MLB roster is good, this roster will challenge Cleveland in its current state. The roster was comically beaten down by injury. Our IL last year could have competed for the Central, remember that conversation?  

Paying a free agent, specifically a shortstop, for 10+ years is one of the stupidest things you can do. We have seen, hammer pants, trickle-down economics, Twix declaring to have a left and a right, people taking Elon Musk seriously, and even friends and family ordering a large french fry with a diet coke… Paying a shortstop 30 million when he’s 40 years old is dumber than all those things. There are much better uses of the US dollar for every franchise. Not many teams are winning titles with those contracts on their roster from the FA market. Our biggest problem is licking our wounds from the previous regime. I’m far from ready to call for anyone’s head in the front office. The bandwagon has bucked some people off, but I would encourage everyone to hang on because the Twins are headed in the right direction. We are just behind on the timeline of other well-run organizations but not too far to where we can’t compete.