Twins 2024 Thread

I told my son the fans today and tomorrow should get a “Sell the Team” chant going. He saw someplace that it started last night but it wasn’t loud enough to hear on radio/TV.

Anyone seen the talk about a fan getting tossed from target field and banned for all of next year for bringing these signs in? All i have for “facts” at this point are social media but there’s a video as well showing security and law enforcement talking to the guy.

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Sounds like Rocco is back for next year ☹️

He was interviewed and asked about the fans booing and this is his response, very classy.

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Aaron Gleeman interviewing Jim Pohlad about the team and cutting payroll.
There’s no hope.

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My hopes will 100% not be up for next year. And IF and WHEN the Twins actually make some key moves that clearly make the team better, I just might gain more interest than I currently have, which is very little. Sucks cause I want to be excited and bring my kids to games but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-postseason-collapse-joe-pohlad/601153530

Anyone have access to the Star and Sickle and want to post this? Pretty impressive how frontal the pocket protectors are becoming.

Here it is minus the pictures

Scoggins: Time for the Pohlads to get serious or sell the Twins
After a monumental collapse kept the Twins out of the postseason, the organization only has itself to blame, starting with executive chair Joe Pohlad.

By Chip Scoggins
The Minnesota Star Tribune
SEPTEMBER 29, 2024 AT 10:19AM

They finished it off, a collapse for the ages. A feat that once seemed so laughably implausible came to fruition because these plucky Minnesota Twins would not be denied infamy.
Congrats fellas. For weeks, your body language has suggested you already were emotionally on vacation. Now it’s reality.
From playoff shoo-in to playoff phooey in a matter of six weeks is a special kind of meltdown, and now the blame game kicks into overdrive.
Me? I start at the top.
Message to the Pohlads: Get serious or sell the team. Those are the options. Either or. Because the approach this season was shameful.
Executive chair Joe Pohlad committed an epic public relations blunder back in spring training when he told WCCO’s Jason DeRusha that the team had no interest in pursuing high-priced free agents on the heels of a thrilling season that re-energized the fan base.
Pohlad mentioned the low-spending Tampa Bay Rays while noting “we’re also just trying to right-size our business.”
Right-size the business? That quote will stick to Joe in the same way that “total system failure” became Uncle Jim’s rain cloud.

The complete lack of understanding of the moment was remarkable.
The Twins had just won a playoff game for the first time in forever. Then they won a playoff series. Target Field was electric. Fans re-invested their emotions (and money). They started to believe in the present and future. Baseball felt like a big deal here again.
Ownership popped that balloon filled with goodwill.

They slashed payroll by $35 million, admitted publicly no desire to pursue expensive free agents, blamed the loss of TV revenue, then did next to nothing at the trade deadline to improve a team that had obvious needs in a pennant race.
What a lousy message to send to fans, and to the players.
Ownership of every team in every sport sets the tone for the franchise. They either show a commitment to winning, or their words and actions create a different perception.

With the Pohlads, perception has become reality.
Yes, the dispute between Comcast and Bally Sports North impacted the organization’s financials, but that was a short-term disruption. The Twins aren’t absolved of blame for that mess because they didn’t have a Plan B.
Ownership’s inability or unwillingness to recognize the negative impact that a payroll dump would have on the momentum and fan re-engagement generated last season is just mind-boggling.
Now compare that approach to their neighbors across the street.
Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly didn’t sit still after watching his team advance to the Western Conference Finals. On draft night, Connelly made an aggressive move to trade up and select Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham at No. 8 overall.
Connelly identified a weakness in his roster and addressed it, knowing the team’s luxury tax bill would increase significantly with that move. Wolves ownership gave Connelly the green light.

“We think we have a chance,” Connelly said on draft night. “We’re at the big table, so it’s not time to get scared now.”
Connelly’s blockbuster trade of Karl-Anthony Towns late Friday night proved again that he’s not scared to trust his vision.
To be clear, payroll isn’t the sole driver of success. Teams with lower payrolls than the Twins made the playoffs.
That’s why everyone deserves blame and should be held accountable. Derek Falvey’s front office assembled a roster that needed too many players to overachieve and failed to adequately address pitching shortcomings.
Manager Rocco Baldelli didn’t press the right buttons to halt the prolonged skid, his handling of pitching remains baffling too often and his recent comments about hitters’ approach suggests players tuned out the coaching staff.
Baldelli reached a boiling point in Kansas City in early September, calling his team’s performance “unprofessional.” That is the correct word to describe the players’ role in the collapse. They gave an unprofessional effort, especially the lineup.

The fan base is as angry as it has been in a long, long time. Angry at ownership. Angry at Falvey. Angry at Baldelli and players.
The organization has a lot of damage to undo to win back fans. It’s not a coincidence that the Twins rank in the bottom third of attendance despite being in a playoff race until the final week.
Changes are necessary. It remains to be seen how high up that goes. You won’t hear any argument from me on any move unless the plan is to do nothing.
A collapse to this degree represents an inflection point that requires soul-searching by the entire organization. That starts at the very top with ownership.
The Pohlads have two options.
What’s it going to be?

I just saw Diamond sports group (Bally) will not be broadcasting 11 of the 12 MLB teams they had rights to next year, which includes the Twins. They will continue carrying the Braves. This has to be a Win right? See where the broadcast goes to next.

And the Tigers advance and the Roayals may do the same tonight.

Twins released 4 assistant coaches including entire hitting coach staff.

Only two teams from the AL 2023 MLB Playoffs returned to the 2024 AL Playoffs …

Astros (gone) and the Orioles (edited – gone too).

Royals and Tigers advance. The four teams remaining in the AL pennant race were not in the 2023 playoffs.

The Royals, Tigers, and Guardians are all still playing. That alone should tell you how much better the division was this year (minus the atrocious White Sox of course) than in years past when it often had bottom feeders of the American League.

Only 9 more playoff losses in a row for the Orioles to break the Twins record, ten in a row now for them.

Levine is leaving the Twins.

The league stepped in to do that for the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies last season and will now do that for the Twins, Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers next season. The Texas Rangers may also join at a later time but are still considering options after leaving Diamond Sports Group — Bally’s parent company.

Fee if you live in the Twins home territory is $19.99/month or $99.99 for the season if rates stay the same as 2024 (Padres, etc.)

The Pohlads are shameful. Just shameful.

Pohlads are selling the Twins.

Exploring the possibility.

http://Www.bringmethenews.com/minnesota-sports/breaking-pohlad-family-to-sell-the-minnesota-twins

LFG!!!!!

this sounds great until you hear it’s Lore and A-Rod as the Buyers offering a few IOU’s written on drink napkins…

Article posits a sale price of $1.5B. Pohlad bought the team 40 years ago for $44M. Annual ROI of 9.2%, team has increased in value by 34 times. Inflation for the same period was 300%. Team value increased at 11 times the inflation rate. Pretty good investment. Carl was not a fool with his money.

YUP – on Twins official LinkedIn feed!

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Maybe some of us should pool our money? Seems like there’s plenty of good ideas for the franchise exchanged here.

Serioulsy – This is SO overdue. So happy to hear this.

What a nuclear bomb of great news that I never thought I’d see!

To turn slightly negative…they did say they reached the decision this summer…making it obvious they gave up on the season while we all still watched and bought tickets and beer and pretzels. No trades or help because they wanted to keep what they could. Eff them

I wouldn’t get too happy yet. Until they actually sell the team because this could drag out awhile and be used as an excuse to do the same old thing.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I wouldn’t get too happy yet. Until they actually sell the team because this could drag out awhile and be used as an excuse to do the same old thing.

at least there won’t be a “We’ll need a new Stadium” requirement from the new buyer, but there’s not much (there’s the building across the street) usable property left around Target field to really develop either…that’s kind of the new thing with new buyers, why just own a pro franchise & stadium when you can also own all the land and businesses around it they will use…

Also think it is a tough time to sell a mid market baseball franchise with no TV revenue. In a city that is not exactly what it once was.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Also think it is a tough time to sell a mid market baseball franchise with no TV revenue. In a city that is not exactly what it once was.

Yeah, but with revenue sharing, as long as you don’t completely $hit the bed and run your team into the ground, you’re going to make money…

The Twins also have a great core to build around and a bunch of high level prospects almost ready for full time MLB jobs…Eventually these young guys will all need to get paid though, so there’s that (but if that’s a problem, then the new owner is no different than the Pohlad’s)

I think the TV revenue issues are moot as I don’t see the days of forcing Sports packages into basic Cable TV plans lasting anymore…Consumers are fed up with paying for 100+ channels when they only watch 10 of them… Teams owning their own streaming solution is going to be the wave of the future…already starting to see it…