All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Twins Off-Season Thread

[Gopher_In_NYC]

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Not Twins related, but general baseball related:

We need to normalize plunking batters again.

The styling and posing in the box after a HR is getting ridiculous.

Plunk em…hit them in the ass. Treat the game with respect.

He’s unretired

 

[GophersInIowa]

Not Twins related, but general baseball related:

We need to normalize plunking batters again.

The styling and posing in the box after a HR is getting ridiculous.

Plunk em…hit them in the ass. Treat the game with respect.

I know just the man for the job...

 

[TRF Guy]

Gary Gaetti was named ALCS MVP on this date in 1987.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Regarding the possibility of a new owner deciding to move the Twins to a different city: are there really any viable options? It seems like most of the areas that are capable of supporting an MLB team already have a club.

I highly doubt that MLB would be keen to return to Oakland.

No worry there. They got a stadium.

 

[GopherGrit]

OK - let's talk TV. under the old cable bundle, every cable and satellite system that carried BSN paid a rights fee. I know for a fact that my local cable operator was paying $10 a month for every subscriber. and that $10 a month was paid no matter if the subscriber ever watched BSN. So Aunt Tillie, who hasn't watched a baseball game ever, was still paying $10 a month ($120 a year) to BSN.

what a business model - people who don't use your product still have to pay you for it. and still, Diamond Sports (owner of Bally) went bankrupt because of massive debt incurred in the purchase of the RSNs.

Now, the new Twins.TV channel will still be available on cable and satellite systems - but they will not be getting anywhere close to $10/month in fees. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe $3 or $4 a month tops - maybe less. that piece of the pie depends on how many cable systems pick up the channel - AND whether that channel is on basic cable or a higher-priced sports tier. (channels on a sports tier have fewer subscribers and only those subscribers are paying the monthly fee. So Aunt Tillie on basic cable doesn't pay any more.) there will be some ad revenue for the games.

and the streaming package. San Diego was selling 40,000 subscriptions. 40,000 times $100 a year is $4-million.

so IF the Twins can sell 40,000 subscriptions (iffy in the 1st year), you take that $4-million and add in whatever the Twins get in cable and satellite rights fees, plus advertising - MINUS cost of production and cost of a sales force to sell the advertising.

let's be generous and say it adds up to $10-million. Two years ago the Twins got $54-million from BSN. this year (estimate) close to $40-million. that means the Twins are out some $30 to $44-million in local TV revenue compared to what they were getting previously. anyone want to question why the Twins cut the payroll by $30-million?

bottom line - unless a new owner comes in and subsidizes the payroll, the economics do not support any increase in payroll. If you want high-priced free agents, better hope the new owner is willing to lose 10's of millions of $$ a season.

If this is all true, then how does any MLB franchise other than the top handful who make gobs of TV money possibly survive??

The national organization at the top has got to make revenue sharing a thing, if they want more than 5-10 teams?

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

If this is all true, then how does any MLB franchise other than the top handful who make gobs of TV money possibly survive??

The national organization at the top has got to make revenue sharing a thing, if they want more than 5-10 teams?

There is revenue sharing.

“Under the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiated in 2022, each MLB team pools 48 per cent of local revenues with the total amount split equally between all 30 teams. This results in each team taking in 3.3 per cent of the total—an estimated $110 million USD, if not more. Teams also receive a share of national revenues, totalling around $90 million USD per team.”



200 million out of the gate before a $90 ticket, parking spot or $15 beer has been sold. But boo-hoo, the local TV money isn't as much as it once was.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

listened to the "Chin Music" podcast today for a change of pace. this features Jim Souhan, Roy Smalley and LaVelle E. Neal III.

Roy Smalley told this story, which I will condense:

Smalley was talking to someone he identified as "inside the organization." Smalley was making the point that, when the team has runners on 1st and 2nd, or 2nd and 3rd with no outs, if the hitter can just hit a grounder toward 2nd base, it will move up the runners or even score a run. In response, the person talking to Smalley told him (quoting): "70% of our players don't even think about that, and the other 30% can't do it."

Smalley's point is that the Twins, in his opinion, need to be a lot better at situational hitting. I wonder if that has something to do with the wholesale dumping of all the hitting coaches.

Smalley said too many players go up there looking for one pitch that they can drive for a HR, and they are limiting what they can accomplish at the plate. He makes a lot of sense.

 

[From the Parkinglot]

Isn’t this what it’s all about.

 

[From the Parkinglot]

Thoughts on Castro coming back at almost $7million. He was not that great even though he was an all star and gold glove finalist. I like him but if payroll is staying around $130million and with the salary increases, not sure you can pay him $7million.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Thoughts on Castro coming back at almost $7million. He was not that great even though he was an all star and gold glove finalist. I like him but if payroll is staying around $130million and with the salary increases, not sure you can pay him $7million.

I think there's little question they'll want him back. With how much Rocco likes to pinch hit, having a guy like him that can play 6 positions pretty well is pretty valuable. He did struggle a lot in the 2nd half though.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

I think there's little question they'll want him back. With how much Rocco likes to pinch hit, having a guy like him that can play 6 positions pretty well is pretty valuable. He did struggle a lot in the 2nd half though.

I think they can adequately fill his and Farmer’s spikes with Martin/Helmam (who played 7/8 positions for St. Paul), this past season. I’d rather get an upper level lefty or two instead.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Update on new Twins’ Hitting Coach via Dan Hayes/The Athletic

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5843433/2024/10/14/twins-matt-borgschulte-hitting-coach/?source=user_shared_article

Following their late-season collapse, the Minnesota Twins want to alter their offensive philosophy and hope to do so by bringing back an old friend. A team source said Monday the Twins are set to name former Triple-A hitting coach Matt Borgschulte as their major-league hitting coach.

Borgschulte left the Baltimore Orioles, where he was a co-hitting coach the previous three seasons, to fill the vacancy created by the recent dismissals of hitting coaches David Popkins and Rudy Hernandez and assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon. Despite producing a top-10 run-scoring offense in each of the past two seasons, the Twins fired their trio of hitting coaches on Oct. 2.

A popular minor-league hitting coach with the Twins from 2018-21, Borgschulte was a finalist when the Twins named Popkins hitting coach in 2022. Borgschulte joined Baltimore shortly after the Twins decided not to give him the job.

Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey suggested on Oct. 4 that a change in overall approach would be a key topic as the club considered hitting coach candidates.

“Situational hitting approach, things like that, are going to be part of the conversation we have here around the next hitting group,” Falvey said. “What that looks like, what were we missing on that. It did feel like, particularly in certain situations, it was hard for us to execute on maybe a key moment. Especially late, and maybe that’s why it’s so prominent in our minds, because of what it was like late. That was a challenge to us.”

For the season, the Twins scored 742 runs, an average of 4.6 per game. They finished 10th in runs scored among 30 teams and ninth with a 107 Weighted Runs Created Plus, according to FanGraphs. Over Popkins’ three seasons as hitting coach, the Twins ranked 10th in wRC+ out of 30 teams.

 

[GopherGrit]

There is revenue sharing.

“Under the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiated in 2022, each MLB team pools 48 per cent of local revenues with the total amount split equally between all 30 teams. This results in each team taking in 3.3 per cent of the total—an estimated $110 million USD, if not more. Teams also receive a share of national revenues, totalling around $90 million USD per team.”



200 million out of the gate before a $90 ticket, parking spot or $15 beer has been sold. But boo-hoo, the local TV money isn't as much as it once was.

Thanks for this post ... but now I'm even more confused.
(no worries, this happens easily to me)

I thought I had read $50M down to $4M and so the payroll was doomed?

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

Thanks for this post ... but now I'm even more confused.
(no worries, this happens easily to me)

I thought I had read $50M down to $4M and so the payroll was doomed?

That's $4 for streaming revenue. That does not include ad or sponsor revenue.

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

Thanks for this post ... but now I'm even more confused.
(no worries, this happens easily to me)

I thought I had read $50M down to $4M and so the payroll was doomed?

I think the TV deal was always a convenient excuse for ownership to put money back in their pocket. I don't buy for a second that the Pohlads have been losing money on the Twins. Even taking revenue sharing out of the equation, local TV is typically the third revenue source for teams after game day income (tickets/concessions/parking, etc.) and corporate sponsorships (in-stadium ads, naming rights: Target, Thrivent, Delta, Thomson Reuters, CHS, Budwieser, etc. have all paid or are still paying big bucks to the Twins).

 

[TRF Guy]

Happy 65th birthday to the toughest player to strike out in Twins history, Brian Harper.

Harper K'ed in just 5.6% of his career plate appearances. For comparison, Luis Arráez has K'ed in 6.8% of his career plate appearances.

Harper's least strikeout-prone season was 1989, when he K'ed at a rate of 3.9%, whereas Arráez K'ed in 4.3% of his plate appearances this season.

 

[howeda7]

Thanks for this post ... but now I'm even more confused.
(no worries, this happens easily to me)

I thought I had read $50M down to $4M and so the payroll was doomed?

That's $4 for streaming revenue. That does not include ad or sponsor revenue.

It also does not include distribution on cable/satellite. People keep missing that and they will get far more from that (at least for now) than they will from selling streaming subscriptions. I don't think anyone can say how much that will be, but probably 3-4 x as much as the streaming.

 

[howeda7]

I think the TV deal was always a convenient excuse for ownership to put money back in their pocket. I don't buy for a second that the Pohlads have been losing money on the Twins. Even taking revenue sharing out of the equation, local TV is typically the third revenue source for teams after game day income (tickets/concessions/parking, etc.) and corporate sponsorships (in-stadium ads, naming rights: Target, Thrivent, Delta, Thomson Reuters, CHS, Budwieser, etc. have all paid or are still paying big bucks to the Twins).

There is revenue sharing, but several teams took big cuts last year, so the shared piece went down too. It's probably fair to say they got around $10 million less in TV $$ last year than 2023. However, they cut payroll $30 million. So no it wasn't fully justified. It's also why they can leave the payroll the same for 2025, even if they're losing another $10-20 million in TV $$.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

There is revenue sharing, but several teams took big cuts last year, so the shared piece went down too. It's probably fair to say they got around $10 million less in TV $$ last year than 2023. However, they cut payroll $30 million. So no it wasn't fully justified. It's also why they can leave the payroll the same for 2025, even if they're losing another $10-20 million in TV $$.

that's my point - as I see it, the $30-million cut in payroll was not a reaction to previous losses - it was a pre-emptive reaction to the future losses they saw coming with the change in local TV revenue.

whatever you think of the Pohlads, they're not stupid. they were looking at the potential loss of $30-million a year or more in TV revenue. so rather than wait to adjust the budget, they got out in front of it and adjusted the budget now in anticipation of the drop in revenue that the team was facing once they left Diamond/Bally and went with MLB.

and that also has to be a factor in the decision to explore a sale of the team. if you see the financial structure of your business changing for the worse - the time to sell is before things go downhill.

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

I'm starting to think the "decision to explore the sale of the team" is nothing more than a P.R. stunt.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I'm starting to think the "decision to explore the sale of the team" is nothing more than a P.R. stunt.

apparently it's catching on. Jerry Reinsdorf is reportedly looking into a sale of the White Sox - and Dave Stewart (former Oakland ace pitcher) is reportedly leading a group that would be interested.

from Yahoo Sports:

After the worst season in Major League Baseball history, Jerry Reinsdorf is now apparently seriously contemplating selling the Chicago White Sox.

Reinsdorf is both open to the idea and in active discussions with a potential buyer for the White Sox, according to The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli. It’s unclear how far those discussions — which are reportedly with a group led by former player, coach and executive Dave Stewart — have progressed.

Reinsdorf first purchased the White Sox for about $20 million in 1981, which makes him the second-longest active owner in the league behind only the Steinbrenner family, who own the New York Yankees. According to Forbes’ latest valuations, the White Sox are now worth just more than $2 billion. They are the 15th-most valuable team in the league.

Reinsdorf, 88, is the majority owner of the White Sox, and he owns just shy of 20%. The White Sox have made the playoffs just six times under his leadership, most recently in 2021, though they won the World Series in 2005. That marked the franchise’s first title since 1917.

----------------------------------
this entire TV situation is (IMHO) having a very significant impact on baseball. I think that some of these owners want to get out while the getting is good - or at least get out with the best possible result because they see more issues looming in the future.

 

[TRF Guy]

Frank Viola held the Cardinals to one run on five hits and no walks over eight innings in Game 1 of the World Series on this date in 1987.

The Twins scored seven in the fourth on RBI hits by Minnesota high school grads Kent Hrbek and Tim Laudner, and a grand slam by Dan Gladden.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

a recommendation:

John Ourand of Puck News does a podcast twice a week - "The Varsity" - dealing with sports media and sports business.

his most recent episode featured a 35-minute interview with Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. one of the better interviews I've heard from Manfred.

they covered a lot of topics, including the situation with broadcasting, Diamond Sports, RSN's, etc.
Manfred said he would like to see the owners look at a more national approach to broadcasting, where, as he said, "anyone can watch any game they want to." He admitted that teams leaving an RSN to run its games through MLB will see a drop in revenue, which he called "a trough." he said he expects those teams to deal with lower revenues for 3 to 5 years, and then he hopes to see revenues begin to increase to the point where local revenue will match what teams were getting from RSN's. Manfred also said that he expects more teams will run their games through MLB in the next few years.

the interview covered a lot of other topics, including automated strike zones (MLB will test in Spring Training next year), other possible rule changes, etc. There was some joking about the All-Star game going back to players wearing their own team uniforms instead of the "AL" and "NL" uniforms.

well worth listening to.

 

[GophersInIowa]

a recommendation:

John Ourand of Puck News does a podcast twice a week - "The Varsity" - dealing with sports media and sports business.

his most recent episode featured a 35-minute interview with Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. one of the better interviews I've heard from Manfred.

they covered a lot of topics, including the situation with broadcasting, Diamond Sports, RSN's, etc.
Manfred said he would like to see the owners look at a more national approach to broadcasting, where, as he said, "anyone can watch any game they want to." He admitted that teams leaving an RSN to run its games through MLB will see a drop in revenue, which he called "a trough." he said he expects those teams to deal with lower revenues for 3 to 5 years, and then he hopes to see revenues begin to increase to the point where local revenue will match what teams were getting from RSN's. Manfred also said that he expects more teams will run their games through MLB in the next few years.

the interview covered a lot of other topics, including automated strike zones (MLB will test in Spring Training next year), other possible rule changes, etc. There was some joking about the All-Star game going back to players wearing their own team uniforms instead of the "AL" and "NL" uniforms.

well worth listening to.

It's so hard for me to listen to him since I despise him so much. But may have to give it a listen.

All Manfred has to do is get the blackouts lifted and lots of people will be happy.

 

[howeda7]

10000 days ago (June 5, 1997), Tim Wakefield throws 170 pitches in a 2-1 Red Sox win over Milwaukee.

Most pitches in one game, 1990s:
Tim Wakefield, 1993: 172
Tim Wakefield, 1997: 170
Tim Wakefield, 1996: 166
David Cone, 1992: 166

Old Baseball News (@oldbaseballnews.bsky.social)

10000 days ago (June 5, 1997), Tim Wakefield throws 170 pitches in a 2-1 Red Sox win over Milwaukee. Most pitches in one game, 1990s: Tim Wakefield, 1993: 172 Tim Wakefield, 1997: 170 Tim Wakefield, 1996: 166 David Cone, 1992: 166

bsky.app

 

[Ope3]

10000 days ago (June 5, 1997), Tim Wakefield throws 170 pitches in a 2-1 Red Sox win over Milwaukee.

Most pitches in one game, 1990s:
Tim Wakefield, 1993: 172
Tim Wakefield, 1997: 170
Tim Wakefield, 1996: 166
David Cone, 1992: 166

Old Baseball News (@oldbaseballnews.bsky.social)

10000 days ago (June 5, 1997), Tim Wakefield throws 170 pitches in a 2-1 Red Sox win over Milwaukee. Most pitches in one game, 1990s: Tim Wakefield, 1993: 172 Tim Wakefield, 1997: 170 Tim Wakefield, 1996: 166 David Cone, 1992: 166

bsky.app

The passing of Luis Tiant it was mentioned in the obit, that he threw a 163 pitch CG in G4 of the 1975 World Series against the Big Red Machine. The Red Sox beat Cincinnati 5-4 that night at Riverfront Stadium.

He did it on 3 days rest, having also thrown a CG in G1 at Fenway in a 6-0 shutout.

Due to 3 rainouts he was able to start the epic G6 on 5 days rest which of course the Sox also won, but Tiant got a No Decision.

They lost all 4 of the other games he did not start.

 

[TRF Guy]

Yankees manager Billy Martin got in a fight with a marshmallow salesman at the bar at Chez Colette at Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington on this date in 1979.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

David Popkins was not out of work long.

just hired as the new lead hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

[GophersInIowa]

David Popkins was not out of work long.

just hired as the new lead hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The conversion to the metric system makes his hitters look better.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Yankees manager Billy Martin got in a fight with a marshmallow salesman at the bar at Chez Colette at Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington on this date in 1979.

No one in the world could concoct an event of such comedic conviviality - not even me