Rundown: Judy From Big Lake, Baldelli-Buxton Meeting and More

  On 11/20/2018 at 10:28 PM, Mike Sixel said:

I was talking about MN.......of course you need to develop players, but you also need to sign FAs and make trades for long term assets, not just rentals, and not just 1 year deals. 

Even the largest markets have recognized the need to build from the farm system and develop players. The fact the Twins have not done a good job of this has absolutely nothing to do with if it is the solution. Do you realize you are suggesting we pursue less effective practices because we did a poor job executing fundamentally better practices. How about if we get better at the most effective practices.

This is depressing.  I guess my Thanksgiving paper on what I am most thankful for will not be Pohlad, Levine, Falvey, the Twins...Way to be a Grinch.  I want to hear that we are going to be smart and we are going to compete..  In fact, if we take the goofy money that Machado and Harper will get and invest it in a lot of secondary FAs we will compete and we will be better.  

The Yankees moved on Paxton - I would have offered Sano and hope that they read all his early press clippings.  

This is a terrible situation - not tanking, not winning, what are we doing?  Oh ya - we are hiring new coaches.  Big deal.  Is there any evidence that coaches really make that difference in MLB?

Thank you Judy, at least one person is refreshing and honest in this winter of our discontent.

Just a few comments to toss out:

1] "Building" IS different than "re-building". And this differential is not just semantics. It's what the new FO talked about from the day they were hired. Yes, maybe they were handcuffed initially by keeping Molitor. But they have not only made changes in FO and milb personnel, but they have also replaced Molitor and most of the previous on the field staff. They have had a couple of good to excellent drafts, and have played with finances to obtain players, have eaten portions of contracts, made smart FA signings that didn't work out the way anyone wanted, and then spun those players to acquire additional prospects/players, (though I'm still upset about Escobar and Pressly).

They HAVE been aggressive in many areas, and thus far, continue to be so. While we may not like every move made, they are not laid back in comfy seats. So I feel "building" is pretty darn accurate.

2] Pohlad may be very, very intelligent. But he is also a very, very poor public speaker. At least off the cuff. The Twins FO didn't sign FA to have a record payroll in 2018 without approval from ownership. But if you have something to say in regard to Mauer's contract being off tbe books...along with others...that you don't feel the $25M is just there to spend because you are looking at extensions, future contracts, the RIGHT FA, a possible BIG mid season trade, etc, then just say so! If you truly believe in the players on hand, the players coming up, and the intelligence in your FO to build the team, then say so! If you can't do that, then get someone to write your material or stay away from public settings.

3] Baldelli is going to meet with Buxton. Tremendous! He should! Where is special consultant Hunter in this. He has nothing to offer?

Can't wait to get food at the new Bald Deli.

The Pohlads have boatloads of money that has been earned off the backs of the unsuspecting

citizens of the Twin Cities, every time they: took a bus, went to a bank, drank a Pepsi or saw the Twins play.

When Carl was alive, he could have opened the purse strings anytime to field a winner for Eloise.

He didn't. Neither will his kid.

The Twins could spend up to the Luxury Tax limit of $206MM without any MLB repercussions.

They won't.

The Pohlad family embraces the "Fred Flintstone" philosophy of business,"You're in the business army now, your only friend is a BUCK and the more BUCKs you've GOT, the more FRIENDS you've GOT."

They prefer to have the business "pay" for itself, when in reality, the operating loss incurred

by spending in excess of revenues, could be offset against earnings in other businesses they own

so that the operating loss of the Twins would DECREASE the overall income tax bill on all their holdings.

While not "free money", those tax savings would DECREASE the fiscal hit of

overspending in proportion to their effective tax rate.

The over spending on the Twins is subsidized by income tax savings.

The way I hope Pohlad meant when he answered the question about Joes salary coming off the books is that they were already upswing that money towards a productive player so it wasn’t more money available…it was the same amount of money that was being used that could now be used differently. That’s what I hope he ment and just said very badly.

I keep reading that the FO was handcuffed by keeping Molitor.  My BS meter rings everytime I read it.  No they were not.  They hired all the coaches around him and now have left many of them go.  They signed Belisle and Giminez and Wilson.  They struck out on the free agents.  They made some good minor league trades, but we lost Escobar.  

Nothing prevented them from making many moves and they made some, but not enough.  Molitor was one piece.  Tell me where the greatness was in the bullpen, tell me where the runs were when we needed them.  A few bunts did not eliminate them, in fact with all the shifts I say bunt like crazy.  

Molitor tried the opener and other strategies, but when your best is Moya or Mejia that is not going to do it.  When you have already burned out Hildenberger do you want him to do the same to Rogers?  Who else do you trust.   

Molitor was not deserving of MOY nor is he deserving of the constant grumbles and blame. 

It is a shame that anyone who owns,or is considering owning, any sports franchise would do so for any other reason than their love of and appreciation of the sport itself. The objective in ownership SHOULD be nothing other than to put the best team on the field they possibly can period. Beating the other teams (and the other owners) should be the driving force and actually making money in the process should be the result, not the objective. Unfortunately, the "bean counters" ( as we used to call accounting when I was in sales) have taken over, not just the Twins but most professional sports teams. If ROI, not W-L, is the primary consideration, said owner(s) should find some other avenue for their endeavors.

Pohlads...please sell the Minnesota Twins to some one or some group who actually loves the game of baseball. (Ditto Dan Snyder, Washington Redskins, football and many others).

  On 11/20/2018 at 11:18 PM, howieramone2 said:

TR said on numerous occasions, anytime he went to the Pohlads with a request he always got it. For those who don't know, we got Sano because we were the only team that would take him, not knowing exactly how old he was at the time. The Pohlads are basically absentee owners. It could be worse.

I find most of his statements to be cryptic.  He's not dumb that's for sure.

  On 11/21/2018 at 12:56 AM, USAFChief said:

We need to get better at all methods of player acquisition. Trades, draft, develop, international talent, and yes, the entire range of free agents, from bargain basement finds to top of the line proven talent.

I am not sure of the definition of top of line talent but here is a list of the bottom half of MLB in terms of revenue.  How many top of the line FAs have these teams signed in say the last 5 years which would equate to 80 years for a single team.  The Dbacks signed Greinke, so there is one.  Of course, they had just signed a 1.5B TV contract but let's ignore that for this exercise.  They did manage to get to the playoffs one year and had a 500 record during Greinke's tenure and now he is a detriment for the next 3 years but we can ignore that too.

Show me examples of "top of the line" FAs have these teams signed over the past 5 years. That would indicate to me that it is a viable strategy and it's the Twins organization that is the problem. We need to define top of the line. I take that to mean the top 3-5 in total contract dollars each year.

Oakland Athletics .... $210
Miami Marlins .......... $219
Tampa Bay Rays ..... $219
Cincinnati Reds ....... $243
Kansas City ............. $245
Baltimore Orioles ..... $252
Milwaukee Brewers .. $255
Az Diamondbacks .... $258
Pittsburgh Pirates .... $258
Minnesota Twins ...... $261
Chic White Sox ........ $266
Colorado Rockies .... $266
San Diego Padres ... $266
Toronto Blue Jays .... $274
Detroit Tigers ........... $277
Cleveland Indians .... $284

  On 11/21/2018 at 4:29 PM, Sconnie said:

As of today, the Twins have 60-65 mil committed for 2019 and to really compete the roster needs to change 30% with significant questions about 2/3 of the cornerstone players. If that's not a rebuild, what is?

Tearing something down first.

  On 11/21/2018 at 5:39 PM, Sconnie said:

about 128 mil opening day to about 65 mil after World Series and turning over 30% of the active roster isn’t a tear down?

No, they're still building. Maybe a half dozen new faces designed to make measurable contributions: two RP's, MI, 1B/DH, maybe one other. All very doable without trading off MLB assets of value that are part of the future. That sounds like a lot, but it's really not. Look at some of the reasonable plans people are submitting.

  On 11/20/2018 at 8:44 PM, luckylager said:

 

Here’s what Pohlad said regarding Joe Mauer’s contract coming off the books: “It’s not like ‘OK, we’ve got this money now, and we didn’t have it before, so we can do so much more. I don’t feel that way.”
 

 

He continues to make stupid statements like this. Makes it very hard to continue to be a fan of his ballclub. 

 

It's more than a stupid statement ... this is what the FO has to deal with when they try to create a budget. You can bet he said this to them already.

The Mariners have to regroup.  I disagree with that being a bad thing.  They are an old team with what could be the worst minor league system.  It is probably in their best interest to start getting younger.  They have some massive contracts that are currently overpays.  They should be ready with a decent young core when those start ending.

Getting Justus Sheffield is a big step in the right direction, Felix and his massive overpay ends next year.  Paxton just set a career high in innings at 160 previously 136 and 121.  He has not been a reliable source of innings and is not that far from FA.  Great time to sell him.

  On 11/21/2018 at 2:58 PM, gunnarthor said:

We're not in year 8. The Twins were nearly in the playoffs in 2015 and were in the playoffs in 2017. The rebuild is over. The Twins should be thinking about the AL Central this offseason. Levine is correct when he says they aren't rebuilding.

 

Understanding that ownership isn't going to be part of the solution doesn't mean that the FO can't solve these problems. We should expect them to do so. But it does mean that the FO probably can't rely on large payrolls the way most competitive teams have. They'll probably have to follow the Terry Ryan model in the 2000s and the recent Cleveland Indians model - which is why they hired Falvey in the first place. I'm honestly not sure if Falvey and Levine can do it but I'm not ready to give up on them yet but this should be a big offseason for them. They did a good thing in getting rid of Molitor and Baldeli seems like a guy who might be able to relate to the talent we have. But who knows, maybe we get another total system failure. 

Nearly in the playoffs in 2015 and a one game wild card is not making it to the play-offs.  A successful play-off would be getting to the WS or a game 7 in the ALCS is what we need.