This is getting ugly. Twins are nearly out of the wild card race and need to win the central. They are behind 3-0 already to the Indians in the top of the 1st. I’m also concerned with Molitors reluctance to ever call anybody out for poor performance. To get bludgeoned by Kansas City is just not going to cut it. To many nice guys with nobody ready to call anyone out. I wonder if they could talk Torii into coming back?
OK, I feel better now. 
Facing the Royals should have been a help while they try to get back on track-they could’nt even win that series. Ugh
Rosario gets picked off 1st by the catcher. 
Kepler gives up on cutting off a base hit that goes for a dbl. 
Dozier drops a pop-up. 
Ugly,ugly game.
I was getting gas and prepping the truck for work tomorrow, missed the Kepler/Dozier plays. Turned on the tele just in time to see Garver drop the ball at the plate for another run……
This ship is taking on water fast…….
It’s kind of comforting to know the Twins are getting back to being themselves after the aberration last year. I was starting to get my hopes up so at least they are out of it early.
I’ll still follow them and watch the games but it’s going to be time to clean house. I’ll bet Dozier doesn’t make it to the trade deadline and I wouldn’t be surprised if some others get moved. Time to do a complete rebuild as I don’t even trust the young core anymore….Sano will be a decent bat but he’s constantly injured and out of shape – doesn’t seem to really care. Buxton has had almost 3 season to figure out how to hit and still can’t. Could be a rough few years coming for the Twinkies.
I agree Matt that some guys need to figure things out or be gone. As much as Buxton has disappointed he still is young and has 2 things you can’t teach….speed and defense. I guess I give him another year. Twins need a lead-off hitter and a number 4 hitter in addition to what they have. Maybe Morrison is the four hole guy? I dunno.
Very disappointed in how this team has played so far. I never thought they were going to be really really good but Cleveland was bad for quite awhile and the Twins did nothing.
I’ll give you Buxton. It would be a real kick in the seeds to see him go and live up to his potential somewhere else.
The problem with the current team is that even playing to their potential they will be mediocre and a fringe playoff contender. Kinda remind me of the current Wild squad. Good enough to compete but not contend for anything.
Softball game broke out at Target Field tonight.
8-8 after 7.
Morrison, Escobar, Sano homeruns. Now lets see of they can finish the deal.
Hey fat kid!
Perfect for softball. 
This player isn’t cutting it, that player isn’t doing this.
The real problem is the Pohlad’s. Sucking up all the money. They profited mightily on the new stadium, with a sub par team, only because they knew people would go to see the new digs. And he also cry babied on TV last year cuz nobody was coming to see the Twins.
They have a good young core of players, NO leaders, and they needed help with good pitching. Molitor is doing the best he can with this misfit group. I believe they would be way worse without him.
Pro sports, cannot win on a budget. May happen once in 20-30 years, but the teams that pay win. That is why the Twins, Wolves and Wild will only be side entertainment. The Wilf’s spent some money, and are trying, and I think the Vikes have a shot, but NO, Philly and the Rams all did more this year to get better than the Vikes did.
Two kinds of owners in pro sports, those with a passion to win at all cost, and those the are business people out for the biggest $’s returned. Pretty obvious what MN owners are after!!!!
If they want to be contenders they’ll have to pony of for some legitimate veteran players not current mix of raw young talent and occasional veteran past their prime. Need rick Vaughn and Willie mays hayes
Don’t pat the back of the Wilfs. They are only riding the coat tails of the NFL money machine. They will bail the second there isn’t a buck to be made.
So would signing Harper & Machado for $700 million make you happy and bring a title here? How has spending the big bucks in LA worked out for the Angels? How much more are you going to be willing to pay for a ticket if they hit $200 million per year? Bet you are a happy guy they spent the big bucks on Mauer.
These owners didn’t get stupid rich by wasting money. Nor should they. Sports are a business and need to be run like one. Our politicians could learn a thing or two by watching some of them.
Pro sports, cannot win on a budget. May happen once in 20-30 years, but the teams that pay win.
Yep, they win a lot. And sometimes they lose, which is funny.
And for my ticket money, when the small budget teams win it’s more fun.
Current records and payroll:
Boston Red Sox: 39-18 $234,234,158 (1st)
San Francisco Giants: 26-30 $209,762,899 (2nd)
Los Angeles Dodgers: 26-30 $189,044,216 (3rd)
Minnesota Twins: 22-30 $124,122,978 (20th)
Milwaukee Brewers: 36-21 $93,682,685 (26th)
Oakland Athletics: 29-28 $73,120,339 (30th)
So what your saying is the Brewers are doing great for the money they spent?? But can they keep it going and actually win something this year??? Time will tell….
Dutchboy,
I was actually one of the few that thought the Twins screwed up by signing Mauer. But again, that was a business deal, not a good for the baseball team deal. Mauer put butts in the seats because he was the hometown hero, which made the owners more money. Good for business, but bad for the team overall.
Still have to be smart spending money, not just throwing money at random players. Everyone that knows anything about the Twins over the past few years, knows that they have a good young team, but needed quality pitching to contend. They spent money on pitching this year, but no quality pitching, or at least not quality enough to win.
You are right, it is a business, but don’t complain to the media when your penny pinching creates a perennial losing team and the fans quit coming to your stadium. It goes both ways, still need a quality product.
And don’t get me wrong, the way baseball is setup, the Twins have a slim chance of winning a Championship anyways, even if they spend some money, because of the Yanks and Sox spending to win, but at least it would be a better product to attract fans to the ball park. Heck, they make their money from the TV contracts anyways, so they don’t really care about the ball park fan.
Well you and i agree on just about nothing you wrote.
Its getting hard to even have them on the radio as background noise anymore. There should be no crying about money for players by them, by my calculations they make 4-5 Mil a year on Grain Belt sales alone!! 
How much does one of them go for these days, $8-$9 bucks? 
Dutchboy,
I was actually one of the few that thought the Twins screwed up by signing Mauer. But again, that was a business deal, not a good for the baseball team deal. Mauer put butts in the seats because he was the hometown hero, which made the owners more money. Good for business, but bad for the team overall.
How has Mauer not produced? Top batting average (top 10 only) for the League:
2013: 3rd place
2012: 7th place
2010: 4th Place
2009: 1st place
2008: 4th Place
2006: 1st place
Mauer has been GREAT for the Twins! He’s been in the league a loooooooooong time, won numerous golden glove, MVP and so on. I don’t think he has leader mentality but to say we screwed up with his contract is about as far from truth as one could say…I’d disagree as much to say it was probably one of the better contracts in Twins history!
If they want to be contenders they’ll have
To build a new build a new state of art stadium. 
Well you and i agree on just about nothing you wrote.
That is the better response. But i can’t help myself…
Mauer put butts in the seats
I think relevant baseball puts butts in the seats, regardless of the names on the jerseys. The team doesn’t have to be in the playoffs, but you’d better have a shot at winning a game you’re asking people to attend. The Twin Cities is a tough market with (imho) fickle fans who have lots of other options since there are all 4 major pro sports, semi-pro sports, and college options.
Twins attendance compared to league:
2010: 6th (new stadium, playoffs in ’02, ’03, ’04, ’06, ’09, ’10)
2011: 4th
2012: 12th
2013: 17th
2014: 19th
2015: 20th
2016: 23rd
2017: 21st
2018: 23rd
And don’t get me wrong, the way baseball is setup, the Twins have a slim chance of winning a Championship anyways, even if they spend some money, because of the Yanks and Sox spending to win
Of course this is generally true. And pretty frustrating. I wish there was a hard cap more like football uses to create some parity. At the same time, 2 of the last 3 World Series champions would suggest that a more moderate path to winning a championship is possible too.
2013 – Boston Red Sox: 3rd in payroll
2014 – San Franciso Giants: 5th in payroll
2015 – Kansas City Royals: 13th in payroll, just below league average
2016 – Chicago Cubs: 5th in payroll
2017 – Houston Astros: 15th in payroll, just below league average
Heck, they make their money from the TV contracts anyways, so they don’t really care about the ball park fan.
That’s true in football and basketball, since they are national sports. As a regional sport, baseball teams are way more dependent on stadium revenue, since only the biggest markets generate huge TV money for their team.
I guess you can always fall back on being thankful that you don’t live in Miami…Marlins, yikes.
Of course this is generally true. And pretty frustrating. I wish there was a hard cap more like football uses to create some parity. At the same time, 2 of the last 3 World Series champions would suggest that a more moderate path to winning a championship is possible too.
I guess you can always fall back on being thankful that you don’t live in Miami…Marlins, yikes.
I hope they don’t put a salary cap in place, the owners are already doing everything they can to drive down contract values for their players, giving them a hard cap would do so even further. The current luxury cap is already doing this to some extent, look at what happened to FA contracts this past winter. There is also the reality that salary caps might not equal parity. It’s not worth comparing to other sports as they are so different, but all a salary cap will do in my opinion is reduce player salaries, all the owners will cry that they can’t afford to put a team together under the cap if they give Harper $40MM/year. They will all laugh together while smoking cigars as the fans yell at the players for being ‘greedy’ and ‘they get to play a game for a living and they are rich.’ They’ve already successfully driven that wedge before, “I hate player X for leaving town for more money, he’s the reason we aren’t world series contenders now.”
I’d like to see the players get a larger share of the revenue than they currently do, and I’d like to see some of that revenue flowing down to the minor leagues. Minor league players are basically indentured servants at this point. Especially considering very few of them will make a career out of baseball.
Then, even for the small percentage that have potential or become regulars in the MLB, they are under team control for so long that by the time they reach FA(late twenties or later for a lot of them), they aren’t able to cash in on the value they have brought to their organization/owners.
This was a meandering post, but basically the owners will continue to do everything they can to drive down salaries for the players, ultimately increasing the amount of money they put in their pockets every year. Most owners give 0 craps about parity, or winning, or anything but watching their bank account balloon.
Pohlads are making sick amounts of $$ off the twins, too bad they don’t give a rat’s behind about the fans or a winning team…
On Mauer’s performance, its not that he is a bad player, I never said that, but at that pay level more is expected. If he had remained a catcher, he would be considered one of the best in the game, with the high batting average and high number of doubles. But, having been moved to 1B, his numbers are less that attractive for a position that is highlighted by HR hitting players with a lot of RBI’s. Gold Glove at 1B isn’t a priority, HR title is.
And all of the accolades that you talk about, MVP, batting titles, gold gloves, etc…, were all before the big contract. Since the contract went into effect, 2011, he has only batted over .300, 3 times, no batting titles, no gold gloves, no MVPs (only one season did he receive any votes and he finished 19th that year). But he did cash in on his huge 2009 season when he won the batting title, MVP and Gold Glove, and signed the extension the following year. Good for him.
And I do believe he could have gotten even more testing the free agent market, but he gave the Twins the hometown discount.
In the end, he was fun to watch, fun to root for the hometown kid, and he made the Pohlad’s money. Just no World Series ring.
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