14 teams are over $200 million payroll next season

[Brandon]

according to this article https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/which-teams-are-slated-to-pay-the-luxury-tax-in-2023.html  

There are 14 teams over $200 million in payroll for next season.  I hope there is a lot of penalties for exceeding the threshold going to lower revenue teams and that they are going to spend the money on their teams so they can keep up. This makes the Twins budget so small in comparison.  There is a growing divide between teams that have means and don't.  At this rate the small market teams are basically farm teams for the big market teams.  I wonder if this will prevent other cities from entertaining the idea of a relocation or expansion teams if new teams get added if they know from the get go that they wont be able to compete financially with the big market teams.  

 

[Mike Sixel]

That's nearly half the league. This myth that the others can't spend is bunk. 100% bunk. 

[chpettit19]

Another 3 teams over 175 million. That's 17 teams over 175 million.

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Another 3 teams over 175 million. That's 17 teams over 175 million.

Seems likey those 17 aren't the issue ...

[SanoMustGo]

Seem to be falling farther and farther behind the rest of the league.  They don't need to have a 250m payroll, but if they can't even get to 150, then it becomes increasingly more difficult to compete.  I feel like the Pohlads are becoming the Cal Griffin of the 2020's.  Not there yet, but moving in that direction.

[tony&rodney]

42 minutes ago, SanoMustGo said:

I feel like the Pohlads are becoming the Cal Griffin of the 2020's. 

The Twins had payrolls above average under Calvin until free agency. The Twins of the 1970s were very slow to adapt to media, amongst other changes. Griffith was the last of his kind, a man who made his living owning a baseball team. 

The Pohlads own a host of businesses and are very savvy. We don't have to worry about the Pohlad family running into any problems owning a baseball team. They can always hire new management if their product becomes too stale for Minnesota. Attendance will be their guide.

[SanoMustGo]

2 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

The Twins had payrolls above average under Calvin until free agency. The Twins of the 1970s were very slow to adapt to media, amongst other changes. Griffith was the last of his kind, a man who made his living owning a baseball team. 

The Pohlads own a host of businesses and are very savvy. We don't have to worry about the Pohlad family running into any problems owning a baseball team. They can always hire new management if their product becomes too stale for Minnesota. Attendance will be their guide.

They are going to have to start spending more money to complete.  Same problem Cal had.  I don't think the Pohlad's are good sports team owners.  They are business people, but they are great owners based on 90's and early 2000's landscapes.  They are out of their element based on how MLB is currently.

[tony&rodney]

3 minutes ago, SanoMustGo said:

They are going to have to start spending more money to complete.  It's no longer the 70's.

I also would like to see the Twins compete for top players, but it has not happened yet. Right?

The Pohlad family has now run the Twins longer than Calvin Griffith owned the franchise after the death of his uncle, fwiw. Until there is a noticeable change in philosophy, the Twins will remain just one of the family businesses. They spend enough but keep control, eschewing the bigger longer contracts.

This leaves us hoping that Falvey can put together a competitive talented team, one that Baldelli manages with great skill. I would argue that the Twins need to complete two or three significant but rational trades before the 2023 season commences and this is possible to do if Falvey can see a path forward. If he cannot, I would hope that Joe Pohlad looks at the 2023 season as a referendum on the current baseball management team.

[Trov]

There is a difference between spending money to spend, and spending it smart.  Look at the Padres, they went out and signed a terrible contract for Eric Hosmer, when they started spending.  Everyone said it was a huge overpay, and then it became a big issue where they traded him off just to get the money off the books, but still paying him.  The Twins reportedly tried to sign CC to more per year than any other team, but yet fans are harping on us being cheap.  Should we just go sign anyone for 27 mil because we were willing to spend it on CC?  No, because if you spend huge on a bad player, you set a floor for the good players when they are FA.  

Fans were upset we did not pivot and spend huge on Swanson, but I have a feeling he will regress a lot back to his norm and be a huge overpay, and over the next few years he SS will point to his deal and what he is doing in comparison on why they need to get paid more than him. 

The Twins can increase their payroll, but that does not mean it will make them a better team.  Reports are we were in on some top guys, but they chose to sign elsewhere.  For CC we were willing to pay more per year than any other team, just not willing to sign him into his 40's. Now the first team backed out, and the second is looking to get a different deal.