Dave Overlund

Awesome post. Looking forward to watching this kid rake for years to come!

I’d love to hear the reasoning behind not televising todays home game! We’ve been waiting almost five months for this day!

It is a good deal for some but doesn't do a lot for families with little kids wanting to go to games. Going to ask a five year old to stand still at a railing for 3.5 hours while I hold the two year old? When I was without kids, yeah, great deal for sure.

This is the main question I am asking... Those negotiations with the Mets and Giants must have gotten nasty!

I'll give ya Hayes as unlikely, you trust Rosenthal more than I do though. I would imagine that level of access involves some give and some take. The other interpretation would be that Boras truly is engaging the Twins, making the reporting fact, but the question then becomes the sincerity of Boras in those negotiations.

At this point I just assume every rumor has been planted by Boras in order to increase leverage to ultimately end up with the Mets.

TD: Okay, if you’re just tuning in, we’re taking calls. Tonight’s subject is Carlos.. Have you seen him? Has he said anything about us? Let’s take another call. Hello? Caller #1: Hey, TD, I saw Carlos in Atlanta with his family. TD: The one in Georgia? Caller #1: Oh, yeah. TD: Really? Did he look happy? Caller #1: Yeah. I guess so. TD: [ upset ] Good. Good for him, that’s great. Seriously, that’s really, really good. I can’t tell you how happy I am for him. Caller: Okay, man, see you later. [ hangs up ] TD: Okay, good. He deserves to be happy. I’m glad, I really am. [ changing the subject ] Alright, now’s the time in the show when I like to give Carlos a call and hang up on him. [ dials phone, it rings twice ] Carlos on phone: Hello? [ TD hangs up sadistically ] TD: That was great! Now, let’s bring out my first guest. He lives down the street from me, and has known Carlos since kindergarten, Daryl Fitzsimmons [ Daryl greets us, then sits down ]. Hey, uh, Daryl, don’t you think Carlos and the Twins made a good couple? Daryl Fitzsimmons: [ reflecting ] Yeah.. definitely. TD: I know. What’s with him? Daryl Fitzsimmons: [ continuing to reflect ] I don’t know, man. TD: Okay, thanks for coming by, Daryl. Daryl Fitzsimmons: Thanks! [ leaves the set ] TD: Okay, uh, let’s move on to this week’s Carlos Trivia Question. The question is: Last summer when Carlos took his niece to Chuck E. Cheese, how long did Carlos say we’d be together? The answer is: Forever. Hmm.. I guess in Chuck E. Cheese, Forever means Eight Months. [ upset ] I can’t believe he did this to us! It’s not fair. What did I do wrong, Carlos? Just tell me, and I’ll stop doing it! Tonight, we have a brand new segment for our show. Let’s call up the guy I heard Carlos has been negotiating with, and hang up on him. [ dials phone, it rings twice ] Steve Cohen on phone: Hello. Hello? Hello?? TD: [ sadistically ] I’m gonna kill you. Cohen: [ angry ] Who is this?? TD: [ hangs up quickly ] Okay! That really was fun. Now, every week on the show, I like to take out an old quote Carlos said to me, and sigh painfully as I read it. This one was from the All Star Break. [ He reads note, sighs painfully, reads, sighs painfully, reads, sighs. ] Okay. Now is the part of the show where I look at Carlos' picture, and I talk to it. [ Picks up Carlos' picture, stares at it ] Why? Why do you push me away when all I want to do is love you? Take me back, Carlos, please..

You can love him or hate him but the fact that Boras played the Twins re:Correa and then after Correa left still convinced the Twins to give Joey Gallo $11m is some high-level agenting.

Please don’t take him back if the giants bail. Please.

I honestly am not a Correa guy between the cheating and clearly using the Twins as a stepping stone for bigger and better things. However, I fear people breathing sighs of relief over the length and size of the contract are simply denying the current and future financial state of the sport. The days of hometown discounts and loyalty are over. It’s no longer the game we watched as kids, on the field or off the field. The Twins and their leadership need to adapt or be left behind. More and more teams are spending like “big market” teams. Again, join or be left behind in my opinion. It’s wild that the Timberwolves roster of 15 people ($147 million) in a capped sport is (as of today per Spotrac) almost $100 million more than the Twins 40 man in an uncapped sport. Same market size right?

The part that frustrates me about this front office is that they seem to think that they dictate the market and that their philosophies are proven to be best when that hasn’t been proven out with the results.

To me it doesn't have to be either $140 or $235. There's a lot of room in between. If the Twins don't want to spend $200m every year I can accept that. But there should be peaks to go with the valleys because what they are doing now isn't working as far as winning or attendance is concerned. I know it is a 'chicken and the egg' situation but to me 'if you build it, they will come.' In other words, if the Twins spent up for a few seasons and won a few playoff games Target Field would be the hottest ticket in town all summer. If you look at the attendance by season there is a direct correlation with winning going back to the Metrodome days. The Twins averaged more fans per season every year from 2002-2009 at the Metrodome than they did last season at beautiful Target Field. If you want to run the team as 'small (or mid) market,' you are going to make small (or middling) revenue. Gotta spend some money to make money.

No snark intended but what current factors would result in the Twins getting a better TV contract? They haven't been particularly good, the attendance has been tepid which reflects the team's general popularity and I cannot think of who else would even be bidding outside of Sinclair.

Happy to be proven wrong but according to what I could find from FanGraphs the Twins and Padres have nearly identical TV contracts. The Padres contract is longer but the value per year is almost the same ($46m vs $43m). https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-update-the-estimated-local-tv-revenue-for-mlb-teams/

So they use the SABR Defensive Index, which has Rizzo as the third-worst 1B in the American League at -2.5? Got it.

The Mid-esota Twins. So many 'average' guys fighting for spots, very few star players- especially pitchers.

Well said. One of my favorite pieces of all time on TD. Great job!

We may be nine games back in the Central.. but we are only 8.5 back for a Wild Card!

I disagree with you in general but appreciate the numbers and facts here. Good work!

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy allowing the Twins to keep payroll costs down. If you build it (a competitive roster), they will come. When the Twins win, fans show up. Same for the Wild and Wolves. The Vikings are the exception to the rule, they will always have fans show up. From 2002-2009, the Twins averaged more fans per game every year at the ****** Metrodome than they have averaged this year at bright shiny Target Field in a summer with near perfect weather. Why? Because they were actually competitive. In fact, the 2009 team averaged nearly 30,000 fans a game at the Dome, a number not reached at Target Field since the novelty wore off in 2013. They came close in 2019, a year in which they were competitive. Not just 'win a crappy division' competitive, but actually competing for a WS trophy. I believe if the ownership invested in the product more, for instance extending Berrios and paying some of the core to stick around long term, the fans would respond in kind.

No worries man! Go Twins and Louie!

I honestly don't understand where you get me complaining from? Or that I said a single word about poor management? Or not starting Varland (which I am actually in favor of him starting)... Help me understand! I am just noting that the Twins have used a rookie starting pitcher in this type of situation before. It's much more simple than you are making it out to be.

I wasn't talking about failures. Just that an untested Duensing started a playoff game against the Yankees in 2009 and Randy Dobnak did it in 2019 (both at Yankee Stadium) so there is a history an unproven pitcher taking on the Yankees in the playoffs/during a pennant race.

It's a yearly tradition from Brian Duensing to Randy Dobnak... sort of a rite of passage!

Honestly, this situation has major "These are the guys they gave me so I am going to play them" vibes from Rocco.