Twins / deGrom

Having won a pair of World Series titles, Christian Vázquez hopes to win another with the Minnesota Twins.

“A great opportunity,” he said Friday on the MLB Network after finalizing a $30 million, three-year contract. “They have a great team. Let’s see where we go. I’m looking for another ring.”

The 32-year-old Vázquez, who gets annual salaries of $10 million, played for Boston from 2014 until Aug. 1, when he was traded to Houston. He won titles with the Red Sox in 2018 and with the Astros this season.

A native of Puerto Rico who plans to play in the World Baseball Classic, he faces chilly weather for home games early and late in the season.

“I came from Boston and it was cold, too,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”

He could return to Fenway Park for the first time since the trade when the Twins play at Boston from April 18-20.

“Maybe I’ll cry,” Vázquez said. “It’s going to be special.”

He hit .274 with nine homers and 52 RBIs in 119 games this year and appeared in six postseason games, batting .235 with three RBIs. He was the catcher in World Series Game 4 when the Astros combined to pitch a no-hitter against the Phillies.

Joey Gallo is now our 3rd highest-paid player, good gracious…

I have my doubts that I’ll ever see the Twins (or Wolves) win a championship in the next 30 years, unless they really change the salary structure of the league. About the only hope for the Twins is to build a team like they had in the late 2000s with some young homegrown stars (Mauer, Morneau, Santana, Liriano), which is really tough to do. We’re never going to be able to do it on the open market. We have one guy making $15M, the Dodgers and Yankees have 6 or 7 of them.

In the last 11 years the Royals Rays Indians Cardinals Tigers have all been in the WS 7 of those 11 years. So it is possible to get there without the top salary.
Obviously the only way to do that is home grown.

Ripjiggen wrote:

In the last 11 years the Royals Rays Indians Cardinals Tigers have all been in the WS 7 of those 11 years. So it is possible to get there without the top salary.
Obviously the only way to do that is home grown.

Well, maybe that’s a good sign for this regime, because they sure as hell can’t get anything accomplished in the FA market year after year.

I said it’s possible. I did not say it was possible for the Twins.

Oh I know. That comment was all sarcasm.

slough wrote:

Joey Gallo is now our 3rd highest-paid player, good gracious…

I have my doubts that I’ll ever see the Twins (or Wolves) win a championship in the next 30 years, unless they really change the salary structure of the league. About the only hope for the Twins is to build a team like they had in the late 2000s with some young homegrown stars (Mauer, Morneau, Santana, Liriano), which is really tough to do. We’re never going to be able to do it on the open market. We have one guy making $15M, the Dodgers and Yankees have 6 or 7 of them.

You can add the Wild to that statement…most overrated franchise in all of professional sports..

The Twins signed Gallo? Say it ain’t so Joe!

That is disgusting!! I may have to stop following them so closely.

stout93 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>slough wrote:</div>
Joey Gallo is now our 3rd highest-paid player, good gracious…

I have my doubts that I’ll ever see the Twins (or Wolves) win a championship in the next 30 years, unless they really change the salary structure of the league. About the only hope for the Twins is to build a team like they had in the late 2000s with some young homegrown stars (Mauer, Morneau, Santana, Liriano), which is really tough to do. We’re never going to be able to do it on the open market. We have one guy making $15M, the Dodgers and Yankees have 6 or 7 of them.

You can add the Wild to that statement…most overrated franchise in all of professional sports..

Correa now to the Mets on a 12 year 315 Million contract, this is getting more weirder by the minute, so does that mean we finished third in the sweepstakes!!

The Correa situation should be a reminder to fans in most cities/states that any form of “he really likes playing here” or “he and his family really like it here, the community, everything” holds very little value. I’m sure some players and their spouses/kids really do like it here, but most value the money much more and it’s not even close.

Turns out the Twins were right there after the one team…and then the other team, but probably, maybe, after that they were somewhat kinda serious.

Meanwhile the Mets sign him for $315m to play third next to their $341m SS. At this point you have to look at the Twins as a farm system, they’re not even in the league.

Exactly, and they wonder what is wrong with Baseball, until there is a salary cap and every one is on a fair playing field, they will continue to lose fans and ratings. I also would say the Mets got a steal as Correa should be playing shortstop before Lindor.

Baseball needs a salary floor, and it should be tied to the revenue sharing amount. If the league generates $150M per team from league wide TV deals, and luxury tax, no team should be able to spend under that.

Also saw Dansby Swanson signed with the Cubs for 7 years $177M. Another one the Twins jussssttt missed out on I’m sure…

Dutchboy wrote:

When the dust settles it won’t be Correa, won’t be Bogaerts, won’t be Swanson.
Beyond that ma

Nostradutchmas!

BigWerm wrote:

Baseball needs a salary floor, and it should be tied to the revenue sharing amount. If the league generates $150M per team from league wide TV deals, and luxury tax, no team should be able to spend under that.

Also saw Dansby Swanson signed with the Cubs for 7 years $177M. Another one the Twins jussssttt missed out on I’m sure…

Saw a line in a Correa article this morning that the Mets payroll as of now for the coming year will be nearly $500 million. Insane

slough wrote:

Saw a line in a Correa article this morning that the Mets payroll as of now for the coming year will be nearly $500 million. Insane

Yeah and paying a luxury tax of $111M, meanwhile the Twins will be hovering around $100M again. The Pohlads are either laughable or criminal at this point, depending on your perspective.

I seen a thing that said as of yesterday the Mets had 4 players each making more then Clevelands whole payroll.

JEREMY wrote:

I seen a thing that said as of yesterday the Mets had 4 players each making more then Clevelands whole payroll.

That’s crazy but unlike the Twins, at least Cleveland can draft and develop pitchers to keep them competitive. And the Pohlads were disappointed in the attendance last year, wait until this year, it’s going to be bad as will be the Twins.

You are not excited about Joey Gallo?

We can rip the Pohlads for being cheap, but even if they wanted to spend the money do you think they could actually spend like the Mets and build a team like that via FA. I doubt that many stars would want to come to Minny.
Baseball is turning into a bit of a joke if you ask me. I’m sure the players love it because they are getting paid. But when more than half the league has no chance I don’t think that’s a good thing for the game itself.
Oh well more time in the boat I guess.

Ripjiggen wrote:

even if they wanted to spend the money do you think they could actually spend like the Mets and build a team like that via FA.

If they wanted to, yes. They are top 10 wealthiest MLB owners, worth about $4B, and get approximately $150M/year in revenue sharing, so any limit on the amount they spend is self imposed. And it’s pretty clear to me, the players don’t really care who the highest bidder is, I know I wouldn’t.

Agreed. They don’t even try very hard. And every time a reporter like Lavelle E. Neal or fans make excuses for them about small market or “it takes time” the Pohlads love it because someone is making excuses for them and it takes some heat off them.

Oh trust me I am not defending the Pohlads. I am more pointing how baseball is getting really one sided.

BigWerm wrote:

Baseball needs a salary floor, and it should be tied to the revenue sharing amount. If the league generates $150M per team from league wide TV deals, and luxury tax, no team should be able to spend under that.

Also saw Dansby Swanson signed with the Cubs for 7 years $177M. Another one the Twins jussssttt missed out on I’m sure…

I like that idea. If you are going to put a product out, expect fans to continue to come to it and pay then you need to have some guidelines for yourself as an owner other than just sitting back and watching the bank account rise. Sure, you own it, that’s your business but it impacts the sport as a whole and ultimately you risk killing that sport. Pro sports in many ways are going to shoot themselves in the foot. Sure, someone will always watch them but with ticket prices, owner revenues and minor league teams on the field its getting to be more and more “who cares” for this fan’s family.

On the bright side should be able to watch Buxton in 60 or 70 games this year.

Umy wrote:

If you are going to put a product out, expect fans to continue to come to it and pay then you need to have some guidelines for yourself as an owner other than just sitting back and watching the bank account rise. Sure, you own it, that’s your business but it impacts the sport as a whole and ultimately you risk killing that sport. Pro sports in many ways are going to shoot themselves in the foot.

Most of the league has publicly financed stadiums, so I believe they have some obligation to the local community. Plus, it would force teams to get creative since they are spending the money now. Currently it’s just a wait for a good group to develop together, then push your chips in for a year or two, rinse and repeat. If you’re forced to have a $150M payroll, maybe try and put a team of Arraez out there, or think outside the box with your pitching staff.

BigWerm wrote:

Most of the league has publicly financed stadiums, so I believe they have some obligation to the local community.

The Twins absolutely damned themselves when, while attempting to drum up support for a new stadium, they stated that they needed a new stadium in order to remain competitive. Build a new stadium, they said, and we’ll increase revenue and have the money for free agents, which will lead to better teams, success, and championships.

Then there’s ol’ Carl Pohlad volunteering the team up for contraction in the late 90’s. Years of accidentally having a superstar come up through their farm system, only to trade them away before they become too expensive, but the young prospects they got in return would be the ones to take us to a championship.

Eventually it became “look at the success Falvey/Levine have had, we’ll hire them and their expertise will make us champions.” Again, the Pohlads changed some key personnel but didn’t change the payroll enough.

One of the most poorly run franchises in ALL of pro sports.

It’s funny that probably the best Twins team since ’91 was our last couple years in the dome, NOT any team we’ve ran out on Target Field. If only someone could have predicted this.

It’s really never been about the market size. Per Gleeman: Mets have spent $806 million on free agents this offseason.

Twins have spent $710 million on free agents combined since moving into Target Field in 2010.

Sure a bigger market helps. But the willingness to spend the money is the main key. I heard recently that the Twins have one of the worst TV deals in the league. That is a huge money grab that most teams get a huge kick from. Apparently the Twins aren’t.

Add it to the list.