Article: $200 Million is the New $100 Million

[whydidnt]

One thread complains about not spending enough and the other complains about who they spent on.  Confusing.

 

 

Not really confusing to me at all. How about spend more money, but also spend wiser, so you get more for what you spend. Sorry, but spending $10.5 million dollars on a 39 year old OF this year is not a wise investment, any more than re-signing Mike Pelfrey to a 2 year $12M dollar deal was last year. I am of the belief that not only aren't they spending enough, they often don't do a good job deciding who to pay. I don't want them to spend just to spend. I want them to make good baseball decisions, but not let money be the primary limiting factor to those decisions, which is what has happened for 3 straight off-seasons. 

[James]

You just set a Twins Daily double negative record and I think you lost your own point in it. You can do nothing and hope to get better but it's far less likely than actually trying to add assets to get better.

My point about the Twins adding payroll was meant for those complaining that they hadn't added payroll had gotten what they wanted. That is all.

 

The Twins could have,in theory,traded for a pitcher that makes league minimum and improved the team and winning more games without increasing they payroll.

 

What if,the 2015 Twins lose 90 games again? Does that mean they didn't add enough payroll, or that does that mean it payroll isn't as highly correlated to wins as you are claiming?

 

As a Twins fan, I don't care what the payroll is, I just want the team to win. I agree with you that it is all about adding assets (talent), but assets are added in many ways in baseball. Not just spending money on free agents.

[Mike Sixel]

And not just through the draft.....but through all channels. Which, they seem to be doing now. Don't love all the decisions. ......but at least they are trying. Now we need to judge the outcomes.

[ashbury]

Now we need to judge the outcomes.

Or... enjoy some baseball.

[TheLeviathan]

As a Twins fan, I don't care what the payroll is, I just want the team to win. I agree with you that it is all about adding assets (talent), but assets are added in many ways in baseball. Not just spending money on free agents.

 

I agree, but I would suggest teams that add assets through all means have that reflect in their payroll eventually.  Usually sooner rather than later. 

[Rosterman]

Okay, I think would ticks some people off is that when the Twins look at that big pile of money on the desk they think debt reduction, payoff the mortgage rather than invest in putting a team on the field. The fans coming to see baseball outdoors ran its course, now you need product.

 

And maybe you have to bite into your profit percentage to play the game.

 

If you lose by investing badly (or your division has done better than you), then you cry when people don't come and see games, but you do make moves so you can keep your ticket prices stable.But if you win, then you can raise ticket prices and spend more money, because you do have more coming in.

 

At some point the Twins investment in Target Field will be paid off and all they will have is operating costs and some sort of split on improvements. The Taxpayer gets their note paid off in 30 years or so. Maybe f we paid off our note faster, than sales tax could go down in the metro area.

 

Kudos to the Twins for opening the purse this season. Hopefully they won't eat $20 million in disabled list stuff like they did the majority of last year (counting lackluster play from Mauer and Noalsco rally being injured et al). I'm sure they were looking at the sales department and the trouble they were having getting advance ticket sales going and knew they had to do something. Lose $20 million in overall sales in 2015 or spend $20 million and charge up the base a bit.

 

Yes, you can spend a lot of money and still get beat. It's a funny game. But don't even hint that you are paying off your own note, or spending it on stuff people don't associate with on-the-field stuff.

[kab21]

The one argument that is not valid at all is people complaining that "The Pohlads are operating the Twins as a business."  I really hate to break this to those people, but the Twins are, in fact, a business.  In fact, all 30 MLB teams are, in fact, businesses.  If you expect the owners to run their teams as anything other than a business, then your setting yourself up to be disappointed. 

 

You have greatly oversimplified the business.  Yearly revenue and payroll is a small part of the Twins baseball business equation.  The Pohlad's are making out huge simply by owning the Twins.  Baseball franchises are skyrocketing in value.  Off the field revenue is skyrocketing.  Payrolls all over the MLB are skyrocketing.  I completely understand why payroll dropped the last couple of seasons but there is a lot of money that could be spent on payroll and not damage the bottom line of the business.