All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Twins Off-Season Thread

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Update - Twins President says new TV deal could be announced in a couple of weeks. From the Strib:

The Twins’ one-year contract with Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports North, expired at the end of the season. St. Peter said a resolution for the Twins’ TV contract could come within the next few weeks.

“We’re working very diligently on trying to finalize what that looks like for 2025 and beyond. I’m excited about the prospects of that,” he said. “I certainly believe there will be widespread access for Twins baseball on both radio and television, both through what I would call a traditional cable/satellite distribution model, but maybe more importantly in the environment we’re in, a direct-to-consumer or streaming option. More on that to come.

“I would guess it’ll come fairly soon, perhaps as soon as the next couple of weeks. I think that will be a good news story for Twins fans across the region.”
 

gophersfan said:
www.startribune.com

Reusse: Pressure will be on Twins to spend money, but they should rebuild instead

It’s time to eschew the higher priced veterans and just fill up the lineup card with young players and prospects.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
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I like Pat but this is a dumb take. Rebuilding implies they have expensive vets they can sell off. They don't. Correa is likely not tradable. Buxton definitely isn't. The rest of the position player group is either pre or early in arbitration. About the only trade piece they have is Pablo Lopez. And even he won't bring you a great haul now that his salary is $20 million/year.

Find enough $$ to sign one decent #3/#4 starter and a couple of LH relievers and see how next year goes. I do not assume that Cleveland/Detroit/KC are now on some long-term high that the Twins can't reach.
 

howeda7 said:
I like Pat but this is a dumb take. Rebuilding implies they have expensive vets they can sell off. They don't. Correa is likely not tradable. Buxton definitely isn't. The rest of the position player group is either pre or early in arbitration. About the only trade piece they have is Pablo Lopez. And even he won't bring you a great haul now that his salary is $20 million/year.

Find enough $$ to sign one decent #3/#4 starter and a couple of LH relievers and see how next year goes. I do not assume that Cleveland/Detroit/KC are now on some long-term high that the Twins can't reach.
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Pat's point of view is that the Twins should shed all of the older or under-performing vets - Kepler, Farmer, Vazquez, Santana, Margot, Castro, etc. - and replace them with younger players. He's not talking about getting rid of Correa or Buxton. it comes down to - they're not winning with veterans, so might as well give the kids a shot and see what they can do. It's not as much about salary as it is about turning over as much of the lineup as possible.

as far as the payroll, the already-scheduled increases for Pablo, Correa and Paddack will eat up most of the savings from dumping some of the veterans. Unless the Pohlads have a change of mind and up the payroll, I don't see the Twins bringing in any new players from outside the organization - unless they can find someone at bargain-basement prices.
 

howeda7 said:
I like Pat but this is a dumb take. Rebuilding implies they have expensive vets they can sell off. They don't. Correa is likely not tradable. Buxton definitely isn't. The rest of the position player group is either pre or early in arbitration. About the only trade piece they have is Pablo Lopez. And even he won't bring you a great haul now that his salary is $20 million/year.
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The column made zero mention of trading Correa, Buxton nor Lopez.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Pat's point of view is that the Twins should shed all of the older or under-performing vets - Kepler, Farmer, Vazquez, Santana, Margot, Castro, etc. - and replace them with younger players. He's not talking about getting rid of Correa or Buxton. it comes down to - they're not winning with veterans, so might as well give the kids a shot and see what they can do. It's not as much about salary as it is about turning over as much of the lineup as possible.

as far as the payroll, the already-scheduled increases for Pablo, Correa and Paddack will eat up most of the savings from dumping some of the veterans. Unless the Pohlads have a change of mind and up the payroll, I don't see the Twins bringing in any new players from outside the organization - unless they can find someone at bargain-basement prices.
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It's a given that Kepler, Farmer and Margot won't be back and a near given that Santana won't be back. Castro and Vazquez are the only one one on that list that even has team control left and they would gladly dump Vazquez if anyone would take him. So this is already happening.

There's no "rebuild" to be done. They're not going to go out and spend significant $$ on any position players. The only question is whether they'll add at least one moderately expensive starting pitcher. That will be the difference between whether the payroll is $130 million or $110 but it's not a "rebuild" either way. This feels like a very forced column arguing against a straw man.
 


Ope3 said:
Pat pretty clearly states what his suggested plan of action is in the column.
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Not really. "Don't bring back your terrible veterans who are free agents and don't sign another Ricky Nolasco" isn't a rebuild and isn't offering any novel advice. Lazy column.
 

howeda7 said:
Not really. "Don't bring back your terrible veterans who are free agents and don't sign another Ricky Nolasco" isn't a rebuild and isn't offering any novel advice. Lazy column.
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What is lazy was you inferring that Ruesse was suggesting that the Twins trade Buxton, Correa, and Lopez.

He did not do that.
 



As much as I love Willi, we can’t afford 6.5 for him 🥲, unfortunately. If we have a normal payroll, then it’s a no-brainer to pick up his option.
 

Ope3 said:
What is lazy was you inferring that Ruesse was suggesting that the Twins trade Buxton, Correa, and Lopez.

He did not do that.
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No, he didn't. What he's suggesting is the relatively new buzzword, "competitive rebuild". I don't know about anyone else, but that's basically what I figured they were planning to do anyway. When I hear rebuild, to me that assumes you're fine with being terrible for a couple of years in order to be much better down the road.
 

Ope3 said:
What is lazy was you inferring that Ruesse was suggesting that the Twins trade Buxton, Correa, and Lopez.

He did not do that.
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I never claimed he did. But he's advocating for them to tear it down and "rebuild". If you're not trading any of the three players who account for more than half of the payroll, you're not rebuilding. Keeping those three and not trying to compete would be doubly stupid.
 

howeda7 said:
I never claimed he did. But he's advocating for them to tear it down and "rebuild". If you're not trading any of the three players who account for more than half of the payroll, you're not rebuilding. Keeping those three and not trying to compete would be doubly stupid.
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I do not equate rebuilding by going with the farmhands to replace the departing free agents as also "not trying to compete."
 



Ope3 said:
I do not equate rebuilding by going with the farmhands to replace the departing free agents as also "not trying to compete."
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The only departing starters in free agency are Santana and Kepler (marginally). Where's the rebuild?
 

Twins staying on 8-3-0.

www.startribune.com

Twins will return to WCCO Radio next season

The sides have a contract after there was some speculation the team would seek another broadcast partner.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

I like the set up, still really easy to listen to in the car on terrestrial AM/FM (Wolf) radio in the Metro, even though I also have the MLB App & Sirius-XM. I still get perplexed some times in the morning when I jump in the car and wonder why the hell my radio is playing a Luke Bryan or Jason Aldean song.
 
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howeda7 said:
The only departing starters in free agency are Santana and Kepler (marginally). Where's the rebuild?
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In today's MLB all position players on the active 26 roster start significantly so that adds your guy Margot & Farmer at least.

So start the rebuild.

Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton play when they’re able, of course. When not, play Brooks Lee at shortstop and rookie Emmanuel Rodriguez in center.

Carlos Santana … you did fine, thanks for the memory. Put Edouard Julien at first base and tell the new hitting coaches to fix him, or use Jose Miranda there. Lee, Austin Martin and Luke Keaschall in the infield with Correa and Royce Lewis.

Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Rodriguez and find a young righthanded hitter for the corners. Jair Camargo as a catcher, and give Ryan Jeffers one more chance. Willi Castro can hang around if he doesn’t get too pricey in arbitration.

Pablo López, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan, David Festa, Simeon Woods-Richardson and maybe Griffin Jax (why not?) as the starters; put some younger arms (including lefty phenom-to-be Connor Prielipp) in the bullpen.

Stay off Twitter/X, take the hit and rebuild it.

www.startribune.com

Reusse: Pressure will be on Twins to spend money, but they should rebuild instead

It’s time to eschew the higher priced veterans and just fill up the lineup card with young players and prospects.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

It feels like you have been portraying Reusse's take as a full on tear down. Not really the case, it's just "start the rebuild."
 

TRF Guy said:
Greg Gagne hit inside-the-park home runs in back-to-back at-bats on this date in 1986. Bert Blyleven earned his 17th win in the game, finishing the season with a league-leading 271.2 innings pitched.

Coincidentally, the last player with two inside-the-parkers in a game was Dick Allen OFF Blyleven in Minnesota on July 31, 1972.
View attachment 33933
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I attended this game! If my memory is correct, Gagne hit three balls to Daryl Boston in CF. Boston lost two flies in the roof of the Metrodome, one went for the first HR and the second he legged into a triple. In between, he hit a softer liner that bounced over Boston's head and rolled all the way to the fence for the second homer. Also notable that day, Boston hit a HR off Blyleven. It was the 50th HR Bert gave up that year, the most in MLB history. (I think that record still stands.)
 

on the payroll. "sources" have said that the Twins plan to keep the payroll roughly the same in 2025 - or about $130-million.

but, as has been widely reported, Pablo and Correa get salary bumps. multiple players who are arbitration-eligible will get at least some kind of bump. add it all up, and you hit that $130-million mark without any significant additions to the roster. as this roster is constructed, there is no room to add "a moderately expensive starting pitcher."

Next year's team is going to look almost exactly like this year's team, except that a few veterans will be gone and replaced with younger and less-expensive players. that's the only way to make the payroll work - without trading Correa, Buxton or Pablo.

and BTW - guess who had smaller payrolls than the Twins this season - Cleveland (won the division), Kansas City (made the playoffs) and Detroit (made the playoffs).

it's not the total amount of the payroll - it's all about allocating that payroll in a smart and efficient fashion.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
and BTW - guess who had smaller payrolls than the Twins this season - Cleveland (won the division), Kansas City (made the playoffs) and Detroit (made the playoffs).

it's not the total amount of the payroll - it's all about allocating that payroll in a smart and efficient fashion.
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Coming into the season the Royals were actually pretty close to the Twins, and I think got closer (but still did not surpass) with trade deadline pickups.

The Highest Payroll in the AL Central coming into the season. The Chicago White Sox at $142M.

How'd that work out?

www.usatoday.com

MLB payrolls 2024: Full list of every baseball team from highest to lowest

For the second straight season, the Mets open 2024 with the highest team payroll. Complete list of the 30 teams.
www.usatoday.com
 

short ornery norwegian said:
on the payroll. "sources" have said that the Twins plan to keep the payroll roughly the same in 2025 - or about $130-million.

but, as has been widely reported, Pablo and Correa get salary bumps. multiple players who are arbitration-eligible will get at least some kind of bump. add it all up, and you hit that $130-million mark without any significant additions to the roster. as this roster is constructed, there is no room to add "a moderately expensive starting pitcher."

Next year's team is going to look almost exactly like this year's team, except that a few veterans will be gone and replaced with younger and less-expensive players. that's the only way to make the payroll work - without trading Correa, Buxton or Pablo.

and BTW - guess who had smaller payrolls than the Twins this season - Cleveland (won the division), Kansas City (made the playoffs) and Detroit (made the playoffs).

it's not the total amount of the payroll - it's all about allocating that payroll in a smart and efficient fashion.
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Here is the 2024 payroll with 2025 commitments in parenthesis:

MIN - $130M ($132M)
KC - $114M ($76M)
DET - $104M ($66M)
CLE - $103M ($81M)

It will be interesting to see which (if any) of these teams commits to winning and spends more money next year to reward their fans. We know it won't be the Twins and the other three (3) teams are already very good.

It's also not a coincidence that all of the teams with the Top 5 payrolls made the Playoffs. Surprisingly, BAL has the 5th lowest team payroll and they are stacked with young talent.
 


details from the Strib:

The Twins announced they will have their TV broadcasts produced and distributed by the league next season. MLB handled the broadcasts for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres this year, which included availability on cable and satellite providers along with a direct-to-consumer streaming option.

The announcement ends the Twins’ relationship with Diamond Sports Group, Bally Sports North’s parent company, after their contract expired following their season.

For the three teams MLB produced this year, games could be streamed locally for $99.99 per season ($19.99 per month) with no blackouts.

The Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers are joining the Twins for MLB-produced broadcasts next year, and the Texas Rangers announced they are splitting with Diamond Sports.

MLB boasted in its announcement that Twins broadcasts reached 1.08 million homes through Bally Sports North last year, and the new agreement will allow them to expand to an estimated 4.4 million homes. The Twins are expected to receive less money through their new TV deal, but it should lead to reaching more fans.

At the All-Star Game, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the Padres were approaching 40,000 digital subscribers.
 

and this from the WCCO radio website:

Games will be streamed on Twins.tv and remove local blackouts for watching games digitally.

and this from Sports Illustrated:

The Twins say more information will be released closer to the start of the 2025 season, so there are still numerous questions that need to be answered, including who the announcers and on-field reporters will be, and how much subscriptions will cost, among others.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
and this from the WCCO radio website:

Games will be streamed on Twins.tv and remove local blackouts for watching games digitally.

and this from Sports Illustrated:

The Twins say more information will be released closer to the start of the 2025 season, so there are still numerous questions that need to be answered, including who the announcers and on-field reporters will be, and how much subscriptions will cost, among others.
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I fully think the announcers will be the same as last year. Cory Provus will all but return to handle the play by play. Remember the Twins are the one that produce the announcers.
 


the Twins acquired Tiant from Cleveland in a big trade after the 1969 season. It was Tiant and Stan Williams to MN for Dean Chance, Graig Nettles, Bob Miller and Ted Uhlaender.

Tiant only pitched one year with the Twins. in 1970, he started 17 games, going 7-3 with a 3.40 ERA. He missed a big chunk of the season with a broken shoulder blade. the injury caused Tiant to lose some of the velocity off his fast ball.

The Twins wound up releasing Tiant during spring training in 1971.

and here's a number that would cause modern-day pitching coaches to faint: in Game 4 of the 1975 World Series (Boston vs Cincinnati), Tiant threw a complete game victory - throwing 173 pitches!!!!!
 


Gaardsy and Sauce calling for fans to stop going to games after questionable take by Lavelle. Love the anger.
 

tikited said:
Gaardsy and Sauce calling for fans to stop going to games after questionable take by Lavelle. Love the anger.
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My 10 to 15 games each year went down to zero this year. Wasn't all related to payroll, but it sure didn't help. Short of someone like Walker Jenkins rocketing up to the majors, I'm not exactly brimming with excitement to go back at this point.
 

tikited said:
Gaardsy and Sauce calling for fans to stop going to games after questionable take by Lavelle. Love the anger.
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because they think if fans stay away from the games, that will somehow compel the Pohlads to sell the team. and the new owners will come in and spend lots of money.

LaVelle's point is that you cannot assume that new owners would automatically come in and jack up the payroll. It is certainly possible that new owners would look at the revenue and expenditures, and come to the same conclusion at the Pohlads.

look, it all depends on who would potentially buy the team. maybe the new owners wouldn't give a bleep if they lose money running a baseball team. but you can't assume that.

and in the same vein, you can't assume that the new owners wouldn't want to relocate the team if they think the Twin Cities is not a good baseball market.
 

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