Pohlad "Willing to spend any amount of money on a current year contract"

[cmb0252]

Outside of Cano and the international guys I don't see a player worth going over 4 years for so there is that. There is a lot of junk, some more expensive than others, so Ryan has plenty to pick from. Nick Nelson pointed out why the Twins will spend this off season days before this came out and he made some pretty good points. Twins are going to spend. The question is how much?

[howieramone1406390264]

I think the Pohlads are good owners, because they rarely get involved. Do we really want to add meddlesome owners to the equation? Ryan has been back all of 22 months, some of the pieces are in place, and now ownership has said they intend to use the checkbook this winter. I'm trying hard to find the downside in all this.

[Kwak]

If the Twins sign a FA that costs their 2nd round draft choice, that player must be substantial. I find it difficult to accept that such a high quality FA can be signed for less than 5 years.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Per mlbtr: Seems to go against folks who say "The Twins won't spend any more money, Pohlad is cheap etc."

He says he wants some 1-2-3-4 year contracts in free agency this year and isn't afraid to spend, and like it or not he is spot on with the "Avoiding 7-8 year contracts"

 

The Twins have never signed any free agent (from outside the organization) to more than a 3 year contract. And I think Willingham is the only one higher than 2 years (unless you count Nishioka). And off the top of my head, I think Correia was the first guaranteed two-year deal in awhile -- Doumit was one year and then resigned, so was Molitor, even Tewksbury was one year with an option.

 

So saying they are willing to sign a guy to a 3-year deal is kinda like Al Newman saying he was willing to hit home runs. At some point, you kinda have to do it (more than once) for people to believe you. And you have to cut out the excuses -- the "team sucks" excuse of the 1990s morphed into the "stadium sucks" excuse of the 2000s and we're back to the "team sucks" for the 2010s.

[Oldgoat_MN]

I'm am surprised at the negativity. Who would want the Twins to be winners more than the Pohlads?

 

And if a player wants an 8 year, $22.5 million per year contract you can offer them a 3 year contract at $30 million/year. If a player was good enough to make that kind of demand they might actually be 'worth' those 3 years.

 

I am going to believe the line. One more year.

 

Go Twins!

[Brandon]

If the Twins signed Tanaka and an offensive SS with decent defense I would consider the offseason a huge success. If they wait one more year to go after free agents so the next core can make their way to the Twins and get their feet wet I am ok with that too. but after that the Twins need to spend money.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I'm am surprised at the negativity. Who would want the Twins to be winners more than the Pohlads?

 

I want my house to be nice too, but I'm still pretty cheap about the place.

[Mike Sixel]

Time to sell season tickets! Didn't Ryan promise to go all out on improving the pitching this year, and didn't it actuall get worse? I will believe it when I see it. Until then, call me a skeptic.

[MichiganTwins]

Is it just me or did the Twins Management say this same exact thing last off season. It may have been Terry Ryan who said it though. I'm not sure who you can get on this kind of deal who will help the team even get to .500 next season.

I think the reason they say this is to explain why they don't get the better free agents. Like Anibal Sanchez last year. Well.... He wouldn't take a two year deal. What can we do?

 

No matter what we offered Sanchez he was not going to be a Minnesota Twins. Never was going to happen. Sorry, but you should give that one up. We can and should still complain about not spending, but we cant bring up Sanchez because it wasnt going to happen, and anyone who still thinks so is not seeing all of the facts.

[MichiganTwins]

I also think this is going to happen because the Pohlads like their money and right now the Twins are not making them money. They will spend.

[Rosterman]

No matter what we offered Sanchez he was not going to be a Minnesota Twins. Never was going to happen. Sorry, but you should give that one up. We can and should still complain about not spending, but we cant bring up Sanchez because it wasnt going to happen, and anyone who still thinks so is not seeing all of the facts.

 

Yes, the player still will need to want to play here.

[ThePuck]

No matter what we offered Sanchez he was not going to be a Minnesota Twins. Never was going to happen. Sorry, but you should give that one up. We can and should still complain about not spending, but we cant bring up Sanchez because it wasnt going to happen, and anyone who still thinks so is not seeing all of the facts.

 

And you know this for absolute sure, how?

[Marta Shearing]

Makes no sense to sign position players. Pitching is the word.

[snepp]

It makes no sense not to make significant upgrades if the right opportunity arises, regardless of position.

[old nurse]

If the Twins sign a FA that costs their 2nd round draft choice, that player must be substantial. I find it difficult to accept that such a high quality FA can be signed for less than 5 years.

Lohse, Soriano, Ortiz, Kuroda, LaRoche, Swisher and Bourn wish you were correct in thinking anyone offered a qualifying offer should get a 5 year contract. Only Hamilton and Upton of the group requiring compensation received 5 year contracts.

[old nurse]

And you know this for absolute sure, how?

 

His negotiations with the Cubs ought to provide a little clue as to his goal og getting what he could out of Detroit to sign with them. What proof do you have that would lead you to say he wanted to pitch for the Twins?

[TheLeviathan]

Personally, I hope the Pohlads do become more involved in the spending on players. It may be the only way we see Terry pushed off the cliff to actually do it.

[Kwak]

Makes no sense to sign position players. Pitching is the word.

 

This past homestand has illustrated: poor fielding, little hitting, and even less scoring. Basically an upgrade is needed at every position.

[beckmt]

This past homestand has illustrated: poor fielding, little hitting, and even less scoring. Basically an upgrade is needed at every position.

Do not think that is the case. Missing Mauer does not help and all and Joe will make the rest of the hitters around him better. Were Joe is going to play will determine where money will be spent. Twins do not need outfielders on a major upgrade, probably need a firstbaseman and possible third base. They also need an approach change for the bulk of Twins hitters are not homerun hitters, so making contact with the ball should be stressed, the two strike approach is very bad. Still hope the Twins spend almost all of their money on pitching.

[OldTwinky]

If you take these guys at their word, good luck. Ownership and the Twins front office have done nothing but lie for as long as I can remember. There's always some constraint that makes this scenario or that scenario unfetchable. Yet teams in similar market and even smaller markets seem to make these same scenario's possible. Judge them on their actions and results. Many of you will point to all the division titles as varification that the Twins Way can be really successful. I don't see it that way. All those division championships led to total embarrassment at the hands of the AL east in the playoffs. All because TR didn't want to mortgage the future to bring in a rental player like Cliff Lee. REALLY you are talking about the future from 2009 so that would be right about NOW. Well it's a good thing we didn't trade prospects back then because then the team would be really bad right now........see where I'm going?

[Guest USAFChief]

Do not think that is the case. Missing Mauer does not help and all and Joe will make the rest of the hitters around him better. Were Joe is going to play will determine where money will be spent. Twins do not need outfielders on a major upgrade, probably need a firstbaseman and possible third base. They also need an approach change for the bulk of Twins hitters are not homerun hitters, so making contact with the ball should be stressed, the two strike approach is very bad. Still hope the Twins spend almost all of their money on pitching.

This is an organization so bereft of major league talent that Brian Dozier--Brian Dozier!--has been the 3-hole hitter a dozen times. Think about that. Missing Mauer makes a difference, but he's only one hitter, and on a good team he's not hitting third anyway.

 

Hopefully there is some talent on the way from the minors, but lets not kid ourselves. Starting pitching is need 1, but there are more needs than that. its risky at best to think the minor leagues are going to supply everything else needed and I think "risky" is too generous.

[ThePuck]

What proof do you have that would lead you to say he wanted to pitch for the Twins?

 

I don't have any proof...but then, I didn't even say that he wanted to pitch for the Twins. Additionally, I haven't claimed that a whole group of people aren't seeing all the facts when making my claim without showing any facts, either. I want his facts that he knows for sure exist that so many others aren't seeing.

[Alex]

If the Twins sign a FA that costs their 2nd round draft choice, that player must be substantial. I find it difficult to accept that such a high quality FA can be signed for less than 5 years.

 

If the player is getting a qualifying offer, he probably is substantial and, as mentioned, the fact that they are attached to a draft pick becomes part of the game and, at least last year, lowered the haul that most of them got.

 

I'd argue that people are overvaluing prospects. A 2nd Rd pick has something like of 49% chance of even making the majors. That's a 51% chance that they'll never see the big league field. I'm not sure what the chance they become a valuable player is but that's much lower.

 

The Twins have a well stocked farm system and a lot of extra cash. I think giving up a 2nd round pick for a reliable, proven major leaguer at this point is worth the chance. I'm not saying they throw the money away, but at this point, I'd have no problem with it.

 

If they get better, to the point where their first round pick is unprotected because they've moved down a few spots, this opportunity is lost (and frankly, I hope that's the case soon).

[Mike Sixel]

The Twins are bottom 5 in runs scored.....I think signing some hitters and fielders would certainly help this team.

[howieramone1406390264]

The Twins are bottom 5 in runs scored.....I think signing some hitters and fielders would certainly help this team.

I would wait for the position player cavalry to arrive in 2014 and spend most of our gold on 2 starting pitchers better than anything we currently have. That said, if the right SS falls our way, such as Castro of the lovable losers, it would be hard to turn down.

[LaBombo]

This is an organization so bereft of major league talent that Brian Dozier--Brian Dozier!--has been the 3-hole hitter a dozen times. Think about that. Missing Mauer makes a difference, but he's only one hitter, and on a good team he's not hitting third anyway.

Yeah. Watched the Twins trot out Marty Cordova as the cleanup hitter in Tiger Stadium in 1997, when he batted .246/.305/.434. Ranks right up there with .240/.309/.417 in the three spot.

 

The 1997 Twins.

 

Sigh.

 

Not sure which was more depressing, seeing the Twins field a roster like that, or the walk to the stadium through a neighborhood that would have given the bad end of Beirut a run for its money.