Article: VIDEO: Dave St. Peter Answers Your Questions

[Parker Hageman]

Last week, we asked you to submit questions for Minnesota Twins President Dave St. Peter. Watch him answer those in the video below.For more from St. Peter, be sure to listen to this week's No Juice Podcast.

 

 

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[h2oface]

Speak up, Dave.

[twinssouth]

Great job guys, video was terrific but had a hard time hearing Dave. How come no Maddon question? Would of loved to hear that answer.

[Parker Hageman]

How come no Maddon question? Would of loved to hear that answer.

 

 

The interview was conducted a day or two prior to the news of Maddon opting out of his Rays contract broke. 

[jay]

Have the Twins ever exceeded the 50-52% of revenues for payroll guidance in the last 15 years?

"Yes, often."  [with emphasis]

 

Roughly where do the Twins rank among other MLB teams in their ability to generate revenue?  How different would this be without Target Field?

"It would be greatly different.  In the Metrodome, we were certainly I would say if not the bottom 2 or 3, certainly bottom 5.  I would have compared ourselves in the Metrodome to, say, the Tampa Bay situation, the Oakland situation or the Miami Marlins, certainly before they moved in to Marlins Park.  At this point, we're probably going to be somewhere middle of the pack to lower middle of the pack, I'd say.  In Target Field in 2010, we outperformed our market.  I'd like to think if we're competitive on the field, we can continue to outperform our market.  I think in terms of baseball teams, we're about 19th when you include the 2 NY teams, the 2 Chicago teams, the 2 LA teams, so, you know, we're performing a little bit below that right now and I think we should be outperforming our market.  The reason we're not performing at that level is, frankly, because the team is not cooperating and our attendance has fallen below the league average, which about 2.5M people."

[Parker Hageman]

Thanks for transcribing, Jay. If you want to continue with the entirety, I'd definitely post it for all to see. 

[Mike Sixel]

He was very good and patient. Don't agree having Bartlett on the roster, with Kubel and Guerrier, had no effect on the season. Bad roster decisions matter.

[Parker Hageman]

  

[Seth Stohs]

My assumption is that if the Twins payroll is 50% of revenues, a large chunk of the other 50% is things like salaries for front office, and the hundreds/thousands of non-player personnel (scouts, accountants, sales staff, marketing group, etc.). I assume all of those people get paid too. I assume that travel (for the team personnel, but also scouts, etc.) get included in there. 

[twinssouth]

OK, that explains it, thanks. Oh, the beer looked great.  I was getting thirsty watching it

[jay]

His answers leave me confident that we can expect the Twins' payroll to more commonly rank closer to 17-20 than 24 with the flexibility to go higher when they are winning more, "outperform" the TC market and need to retain homegrown talent (that last one was answered later). 

 

I think he pretty clearly dispels some notions we've seen around here about consistently not spending their stated payroll capacity and the impact of Target Field.

 

Thanks for taking the laser eye beams, guys.

[USAFChief]

My assumption is that if the Twins payroll is 50% of revenues, a large chunk of the other 50% is things like salaries for front office, and the hundreds/thousands of non-player personnel (scouts, accountants, sales staff, marketing group, etc.). I assume all of those people get paid too. I assume that travel (for the team personnel, but also scouts, etc.) get included in there.

 

And my assumption is, they had roughly the same other expenses in the dome. So why the sudden need for a lot more money in the "other" column?

 

TF mortgage payments,maybe?

[Parker Hageman]

And my assumption is, they had roughly the same other expenses in the dome. So why the sudden need for a lot more money in the "other" column?

 

 

I'm forgetting if he said this in the video or our podcast portion (both are different so listen/watch both!) but St. Peter mentioned that they put other monies into the facilities in Florida, a new facility in the DR in the works and a few other upgrades. That's where *some* of the other 50% goes, I guess.

[JB_Iowa]

And my assumption is, they had roughly the same other expenses in the dome. So why the sudden need for a lot more money in the "other" column?

 

TF mortgage payments,maybe?

 

 

 

It's also been pretty widely reported at times in the past that the Twins' operating expenses for TF are higher than their responsibility in the Dome but, of course, we never see actual numbers.

[Willihammer]

LOL
 
Turn captions on @2:40

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JeogSBoMM8M#t=160

[Parker Hageman]

LOL

 

Turn captions on @2:40

 

 

I did a spittake. 

[ashbury]

Turn captions on @2:40

You have too much free time.   But, I LOLed.  Would LOL again.

[USAFChief]

LOL

 

Turn captions on @2:40

 

Welp, that explains Parker and DSP.

 

But Dan Anderson doesn't strike me as a 60's dropout type.

[Willihammer]

Re: 25th man roster tweet.

 

"No I don't regret that tweet. Its the 25th man on the roster. The Manager wanted Jason Bartlett, he got Jason Bartlett. And the fact that Jason came north with the team frankly did not have a significant impact on the success or lack of success of the 2014 Twins."

[h2oface]

I don't believe St. Pete (and really have a hard time even calling him that .... how about Street Pete) about the payroll and spending at all.  I sure would have loved to have some kind of question about the manager choices, process, and how long we can expect Terry Ryan to continue to be GM.  It was fun to listen to though. Soft, but fun.  I have a hard time trusting anyone that doesn't speak up. Plus... he almost always is looking down, and doesn't make eye contact.  I mean the man is in charge of the marketing - sell it, David. 

[Parker Hageman]

loved to have some kind of question about the manager choices, process, and how long we can expect Terry Ryan to continue to be GM.

 

 

Again, the questions were provided by everyone in the forums. You had the chance to provide that type of question, and it does not look like you did (there were plenty of good questions in the article section left only after we recorded).

 

I'd recommend both listening to the podcast version of this show which we asked different questions (http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/podcasts/no-juice-podcast-27-dave-st-peter-r3169) or purchasing the Offseason Handbook in which Terry Ryan talked about the process of hiring a manager (http://twinsdaily.com/store/product/4-2015-minnesota-twins-offseason-handbook/) .

 

In terms of payroll and spending, I don't know what more you want from the front office. We're never going to get everything. In multiple conversations with different people within the organization, I don't have any reason to believe they are lying/misleading anyone. 

 

Also:

 

Soft, but fun.

 

 

#TWSS

[Rosterman]

Again, the questions were provided by everyone in the forums. You had the chance to provide that type of question, and it does not look like you did (there were plenty of good questions in the article section left only after we recorded).

 

I'd recommend both listening to the podcast version of this show which we asked different questions (http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/podcasts/no-juice-podcast-27-dave-st-peter-r3169) or purchasing the Offseason Handbook in which Terry Ryan talked about the process of hiring a manager (http://twinsdaily.com/store/product/4-2015-minnesota-twins-offseason-handbook/) .

 

In terms of payroll and spending, I don't know what more you want from the front office. We're never going to get everything. In multiple conversations with different people within the organization, I don't have any reason to believe they are lying/misleading anyone. 

 

Also:

 

 

#TWSS

I don't totally disagree with this concept, but the team does have to spend and take all the chances possible if they want to out-perform in the TC Market. They have to want my ticket purchase, my ear for the radio, my eyes on the television, my need to wear the logo on a hat and a player name on my back. What do they have to do to outperform in the TC Market. They have to win, they have to spin a favorable image, they have to make eye contact, they have to shake hands and get people out into the community more now than ever. There is a pretty diehard base of 10-13,000 season ticket holders. But where did the other 12,000 go and why. How do you get them back. 

 

Oh, and yes, the Twins do spend some of their kept 50% on bettering the organization as a whole - minor league facilities, more money on draft picks and such. They can only make so much profit without having to pay more on profits. Anything they can spend internally is a tax blessing, and some even increases the bottom-line worth of the organization.

 

But, again, Target Field was approved and built to make the Twins more competitive, to push them into and keep them in the upper tier of teams due to quality of play, naming rights, more club seats and suites, advertising control and such. But it sounds like that unless the bodies do come, we can return to Metrodome-like rankings amongst baseball's business. I never did like the Target Field Marketing. But somehow it worked. And combined with the play of the team, if outperformed their expectations.

[Seth Stohs]

LOL

 

Turn captions on @2:40

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JeogSBoMM8M#t=160

 

Never knew that CC was available, but now I will be sure to ALWAYS have it on!!

[jharaldson]

And my assumption is, they had roughly the same other expenses in the dome. So why the sudden need for a lot more money in the "other" column?

 

TF mortgage payments,maybe?

 

During the No Juice portion of this Dave St. Peter mentioned debt servicing multiple times as both part of the other 50% and as part of where some unspent payroll goes, along with Target Field imrovements and Minor League facility improvements.  So yes, part of the budget involves paying off the Pohlad contribution to Target Field based on my understanding of the answers given.

[TheLeviathan]

Man that 25th man response bugged me.  Why can't we make that spot relevant by, you know, putting someone there that COULD help impact the team?

[Thrylos]

Good stuff. 

The most telling response was the only one he got excited about and he actually said that he was inspired to go to work for that reason.  Around minute 21.

 

He said how much the Twins brand meant to him.  Not the people, not winning baseball games, not the organization.  The Brand. (And this is really old school marketing/product management talk to boot)

Another reason the Twins really need a baseball person on top of him, to win.  Let him deal with the Brand.  Let someone else care about winning games.

[h2oface]

In terms of payroll and spending, I don't know what more you want from the front office. We're never going to get everything. In multiple conversations with different people within the organization, I don't have any reason to believe they are lying/misleading anyone. 

 

Once the public and their taxes are used to make a private business work, and they invest together in the stadium....... I expect a lot more from the front office.  The Twins have been accused of not spending money that they promised they would.  Good PR and transparency would make it valid and important journalism to press for "everything", or at least actual evidence of what they say to be true, and not just "we have".

[Seth Stohs]

Good stuff. 

The most telling response was the only one he got excited about and he actually said that he was inspired to go to work for that reason.  Around minute 21.

 

He said how much the Twins brand meant to him.  Not the people, not winning baseball games, not the organization.  The Brand. (And this is really old school marketing/product management talk to boot)

Another reason the Twins really need a baseball person on top of him, to win.  Let him deal with the Brand.  Let someone else care about winning games.

 

He's the President of the Twins, so of course the Brand is what matters to him... He's also a very smart person. He knows that the Brand is better when the team wins baseball games. But he also is in charge of so many other parts besides the on-field stuff. He fully understands that the on-field stuff is the biggest, most important piece. 

 

He deals with the Brand... Terry Ryan deals with the baseball part of that. 

[Mike Sixel]

Ya, Seth is right on this.

[Otto von Ballpark]

My assumption is that if the Twins payroll is 50% of revenues, a large chunk of the other 50% is things like salaries for front office, and the hundreds/thousands of non-player personnel (scouts, accountants, sales staff, marketing group, etc.). I assume all of those people get paid too. I assume that travel (for the team personnel, but also scouts, etc.) get included in there. 

Travel and the salaries of other personnel probably don't amount to anything close to "a large chunk of the other 50%".  How much do you think they make?  Players might make 50%, but they make a TON.

 

Also, "thousands"?  I doubt the Twins personnel rolls are quite THAT numerous.  There are 372 names on the "Front Office" page at the Twins site, and it seems to be a fairly exhaustive list -- a number of them even appear to be part-time employees, so I would guess anyone not on that list is either part-time/seasonal and/or minimum wage.  Only a very small handful on that list would be traveling with the team.  I think they outsource concessions and probably some other things.  Maybe if you count every part-time employee (grounds crew, custodians, etc.), you might get close to a thousand, but by that point you're basically adding exclusively seasonal minimum wage employees, which have about as much effect as minor league player salaries (which I notice you left off your list).