Do you honestly think the owner ain't the guy telling the GM "don't spend no money!" Johan Santana -- 20 mil (guesstimate from ESPN) Alfonso Soriano -- 10 mil Albert Pujols -- 13 mil Derek Jeter -- 21.6 mil That's the caliber of guys they could get with the extra 60 mil the big dogs GIVE them every year. Throw in the role player type guys every team has/needs, and there is no reason the Twins can't compete. And don't come back with that "small market" talk either. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is one of only about a dozen cities that has a team in all 4 major sports (well, 3 major + hockey). So they ain't that small of a market. Just going by what I heard. Predicted to be 6 years/120mil.
But haven't won anything since the early '90s. You know, when they KEPT their guys on the roster and didn't trot out prospects every couple of summers.
Of course it's the owner telling the GM not to spend the money. I'm sure the GM has a budget to work with. He has to do the best he can within that budget. Like I said, it's not that the Twins can't spend the money, it's that they won't. Carl Pohlad has BILLIONS of dollars. He could field a pretty damn good baseball team if he wanted to put all of his resources into the team. It's a business philosophy, and it's been very successful. I expect Minnesota to struggle next year (somewhere around .500--maybe a little below). But in 2-3 years they'll be a contender in the division again. I also expect that Santana will sign for more than $20 mil. I know that's the number that's being tossed around right now, but watch out if he doesn't hold out for more (Buster Olney talks about this in his blog today). A final point about signing free agents, Minnesota isn't exactly a free agent hotbed. When teams in New York and California are throwing big bucks your way and offering you unlimited exposure and sunny weather (California not NY), the Twins would be forced to overbid to compete. Come live in the freezing cold weather in BFE and play on television twice a year! Not a whole lot to sell there. Good luck trying to lore Pujols away for $13 mil.
I give the twins credit for getting top prospects in return which gives the fans the mirage that it was building for the future. what a sham. if you have the building blocks TODAY yet trade it away, why they hell would you look forward to the future?? The reds recently traded felipe lopez, austin kearns and gary majewski for royce clayton, brendan Harris and daryl thompson. now thats golden stuff right there. exactly and its a joke for all involved. its inexcusable. you're an example that their spin works. thats a nice way of putting it. true but the marlins play in the NL which is the face of parity while the twins play in the AL where average pitching is exposed. Putting an even higher premium on santana. The Red Sox have become even more dominant by the yankees inactivity along with the twins' trade getting nothing proven in return.
just read this from ken rosenthal on foxsports: dealing minnesota? love the soundgarden reference. I think the twins were Outshined.
Key word right there. And they spew this garbage about "can't", we're too small market. It's bullchit!! They CHOOSE not to compete, and this why they can't win the World Series. Toronto (2) Braves (1) Marlins (2) Yankees (4) Red Sox (2) Angels (1) Diamondbacks (1) White Sox (1) Cardinals (1) While the Twins are being "very successful", lots of other teams are winning titles. 9 other teams to be exact since the last time the Twins were even in the series (I might be missing 1 team too). I'll bet Minnesotans are rushing out to get their tickets for this. That we'll have to wait and see on. Detroit is doing it. And because they are getting bigger named guys, they're winning more, and getting on TV more, which makes them more attractive to free-agents. See how well that works? I used the number from his current contract.
If you have me confused for a Twins fan, you're wrong. My allegiance lies in St. Louis. You, I'm afraid, are a prime example of someone hell bent on instant gratification at the cost of sacrificing success in the future. And that's putting it nicely. I agree that it's sad that they were never going to resign Santana, but that's not the point I'm arguing. What I'm saying is that if they knew they weren't going to resign him, then they had to do best they could to get some value in return for him. His stock will never be any higher than it is right now (there are some who even think that he was showing signs of slipping a little in the latter half of last season). The fact remains that until baseball sets a salary cap (it will never happen), some teams will not be able to compete--at least not consistently. As far as any comments made about the Reds, I wasn't trying to say that they are on the cusp of string of world series appearances, just that they have a great collection of young talent that is about to come up. This includes Jay Bruce, who most consider the best prospect in baseball (very similar to Larry Walker), Homer Bailey & Johnny Cueto (two outstanding young pitching prospects), and Joey Votto (a power hitting 1st baseman).
No they aren't--at least not to the extent that I'm talking about. They have signed a few veteran, past their prime stars like pudge and shef, but all their young talent has been acquired through the draft or by trade.
I hope you don't believe what you just wrote there. The Twins have been very successful. They've been to the playoff several times but haven't been fortunate enough to win. Look at the Yankees. For all the money and resources they've put in, they haven't won a title in several years. The Red Sox went several generations with a world series. The Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Tigers, Indians, and Orioles are just more examples of teams that have a legitimate shot every year that haven't been fortunate enough to win a title in that period of time.
I have serious problem giving 12 billion dollars to a guy that plays every 5 days, if he isnt injured.
