All Things 2024 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

[howeda7]

We're special.

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

Trevor Richards from the Jays. Doesn't solve their LHP woes, but it's better than nothing.

 

[howeda7]

Trevor Richards from the Jays. Doesn't solve their LHP woes, but it's better than nothing.

Marginally.

 

[GopherVotary]

Bauer. Richards. We get the Trevor without baggage.

 

[Ope3]

Cleveland, with a now older stadium, uncertainty with their TV deal and perpetual penny-pinching ownership is managing to add players that they think can help them win a pennant. Good for them.

Their payroll was about 25 million less than the Twins at the beginning of the season. They're still not at the payroll level of the Twins even with the moves.

The Guards are also outdrawing the Twins at the gate (marginally).

2024 MLB Attendance - Major League Baseball - ESPN

Check out this 2024 report of MLB attendance sortable by both baseball stadium and team.

www.espn.com

 

[JimmyJamesMD]

There’s a better chance of Jack getting innings than Trevor in the state of MN

That's no fun

 

[JimmyJamesMD]

You think Bauer would go for a Hulk Hogan leg drop or a Tombstone Piledriver instead?

Sharpshooter all day long

 

[Slim Tubby]

You think Bauer would go for a Hulk Hogan leg drop or a Tombstone Piledriver instead?

Baron Von Raschke would like a word.

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

Baron Von Raschke would like a word.
View attachment 32514

Late 90s, he had some sort of gift shop up by Walker somewhere. We had seen a story on the news about it. Some time goes by, and one bored Saturday, me and a couple of buddies piled in the car, we were going to meet the Baron. We didn't really think this through, as it was late October at the time. We tracked down the gift shop, but of course it was closed for the season.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

That's no fun

Then, my friend, you don’t know

J
A
C
K

 

[gophersfan]

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

Still baffling how the Twins offensive philosophy is extremely heavily weighted on exploiting lefty/righty or righty/lefty matchups, but they have no interest in trying to neutralize the other team's left-handed batters with good left-handed pitchers.

 

[Gophers1992]

No need to make a trade. Getting Correa off the IL will be like making a trade.

 

[From the Parkinglot]

Is Alex Kirilloff in witness protection? Guy went from unhurt and demoted, to hurt and on the IL, to maybe never being seen or spoken about again.

Wonder how him and the old man will take this trip to the DL. Still collecting his service time and major league salary. Gotta think he’s traded for a bucket of used baseballs at this point.

 

[howeda7]

Can we trade ownerships groups with the A's?

 

[GophersInIowa]

Still baffling how the Twins offensive philosophy is extremely heavily weighted on exploiting lefty/righty or righty/lefty matchups, but they have no interest in trying to neutralize the other team's left-handed batters with good left-handed pitchers.

Richards has reverse splits and is actually pretty good against lefties. They will probably use him as if he is a lefty.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Don't shoot the messenger - here is the official word from the Twins' front office, courtesy of the Strib:

“We had a lot of time spent on deals that ultimately didn’t come to pass,” Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey said Tuesday after closing only one deal, to acquire Blue Jays reliever Trevor Richards for a Class A infielder, during one of the busiest MLB trade-deadline periods in years.

Falvey admitted he tried to upgrade certain areas of the team, particularly the rotation. But with so many competitors for the few pitchers available, the cost in prime prospects was high — higher than Falvey was prepared to pay.

“When you make those deals, you’re giving up something that could contribute down the line for something you hope will impact you in the short term,” Falvey said. “In many cases, [teams asked for] the top of our top [tier of prospects], and ultimately, we said that for short-term rentals and situations like that, that wasn’t something that we really wanted to touch.”

Falvey denied that the Twins’ payroll level scuttled any potential deals, saying that the Pohlad family that owns the team has never turned down a pending trade for financial reasons.

“That was not something that came to pass over the last 24 to 48 hours here, something that was presented to us that was limited financially,” he said. “We were definitely targeting certain types of players that we thought could really impact us and those deals didn’t come together. It wasn’t about financial conversations.”

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

That's a very reasonable response/explanation from Falvey. Had there not been prior reports that any and all moves were going to be driven by financials, few fans would even think twice about not making more than one insignificant move. I kind of doubt Trevor Richards was on the list of players that Correa submitted to management as players he'd like the Twins to add.

 

[Slim Tubby]

I'm not sure if I should be disappointed that we did nothing impactful or feel thankful that our FO didn't throw away long-term prospects for marginal short-term help.

Not having faith in your FO and ownership can really suppress your enthusiasm for a team.

 

[TRF Guy]

The Twins made the best trade in franchise history on this date in 1989, sending 1987 World Series MVP and reigning Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola to the Mets for five pitchers, including Kevin Tapani and Rick Aguilera.

Fun Fact: Tapani led the 1991 World Series Champion Twins with a 6.8 WAR (as calculated by Baseball Reference), while Aggie saved 42 games.

 

[tmvander]

They need to make a move in the offseason...Get guys that will be under contract a few years and if they perform well extend them. They're in a unique position where they are setup to be above average in the short term and above average in the long term especially with position players.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

They need to make a move in the offseason...Get guys that will be under contract a few years and if they perform well extend them. They're in a unique position where they are setup to be above average in the short term and above average in the long term especially with position players.

Exactly - deal from strength and not from weakness.

 

[GophersInIowa]

That's a very reasonable response/explanation from Falvey. Had there not been prior reports that any and all moves were going to be driven by financials, few fans would even think twice about not making more than one insignificant move. I kind of doubt Trevor Richards was on the list of players that Correa submitted to management as players he'd like the Twins to add.

Pitching is in such high demand. Of the 10 or so experienced starting pitchers traded at the deadline, only 3 are more than just a rental. Rogers and Eflin all took high end prospects, but the Orioles could live with that since they're so stacked. Blackburn didn't go for a lot and he would have been a solid 4-5 starter under contract for another year.

But there's a reason no one else that's more than a rental was traded. The cost was way too high. I'm sure many teams tried.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

I'm not sure if I should be disappointed that we did nothing impactful or feel thankful that our FO didn't throw away long-term prospects for marginal short-term help.

Not having faith in your FO and ownership can really suppress your enthusiasm for a team.

Really Slim ️?

Extended Buck, which despite his Golden Sombrero yesterday, may end up working out well, methinks, in the end. He’s got three more of these types of years in him.

Signing Correra, an AS, team leader and still one of the better defensive/offensive SS in all of baseball.

Trading for Pablo and signing him to a long-term deal, providing us with a frontline starter for the duration of his contract.

Three Central in five years - many teams/fans would love that, like the NY Mets. We’ll likely make the playoffs again this year. I’m open to a month vacation bet with any and all comers regarding that prognostication.

I feel a lot of this fan angst is via the vocal minority online; this cadre, usually skews younger, under 40 and likely may not be familiar with the likes of Rob Wilfong, Mike Cubbage and Houston Jimenez, to name a few of my favorite ex-Twins infielders. There were days when being a Twins fan elicited guffaws and eye rolls.

We’re not going to be a WS contender every season, which puts us in the majority of teams.

My hope is we make the playoffs, garner more experience, cast off the deadwood in the offseason like AK, make a trade for another frontline arm, to give us a rotation to match anyone’s and then have a legit 3-4 year window for another WS.

I’ll take that, would you?

 

[Ope3]

I'm not sure if I should be disappointed that we did nothing impactful or feel thankful that our FO didn't throw away long-term prospects for marginal short-term help.

Not having faith in your FO and ownership can really suppress your enthusiasm for a team.

Really Slim ️?

Extended Buck, which despite his Golden Sombrero yesterday, may end up working out well, methinks, in the end. He’s got three more of these types of years in him.

Signing Correra, an AS, team leader and still one of the better defensive/offensive SS in all of baseball.

Trading for Pablo and signing him to a long-term deal, providing us with a frontline starter for the duration of his contract.

Three Central in five years - many teams/fans would love that, like the NY Mets. We’ll likely make the playoffs again this year. I’m open to a month vacation bet with any and all comers regarding that prognostication.

I feel a lot of this fan angst is via the vocal minority online; this cadre, usually skews younger, under 40 and likely may not be familiar with the likes of Rob Wilfong, Mike Cubbage and Houston Jimenez, to name a few of my favorite ex-Twins infielders. There were days when being a Twins fan elicited guffaws and eye rolls.

We’re not going to be a WS contender every season, which puts us in the majority of teams.

My hope is we make the playoffs, garner more experience, cast off the deadwood in the offseason like AK, make a trade for another frontline arm, to give us a rotation to match anyone’s and then have a legit 3-4 year window for another WS.

I’ll take that, would you?

If Twins ownership wanted to tamp down fan angst and foster a good will, I have a simple solution:

LOWER THE PRICE OF BEER

$5 for the domestics and $6 for the premiums. Not joking. They already have a deal pre-game on Fridays, make it a thing throughout all games.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I am going to extend Falvey the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is not just flat-out lying.

If the Twins had given up 2 or 3 of their best prospects for a rental pitcher, a lot of the same people would be calling it a bad trade - because their default position is to criticize the Twins.

But - let's be real here. there is a financial component to this. the team did cut its payroll going into the season. and here's where it gets harder to give the Twins the benefit of the doubt.

the Twins have said or suggested that the team was running an operating loss. But we have only their word for that, and fans are not inclined to accept anything the Pohlads say at face value.

Jim and Joe Pohlad need to call a press conference and lay out some numbers. the burden of proof is on them.

I am at the point where I wish the Pohlads would sell the team. the new owners could turn out to be worse, but at least they would be coming in fresh without 40 years of baggage.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

If Twins ownership wanted to tamp down fan angst and foster a good will, I have a simple solution:

LOWER THE PRICE OF BEER

$5 for the domestics and $6 for the premiums. Not joking. They already have a deal pre-game on Fridays, make it a thing throughout all games.

You do realize I live in NYC , where it’s $9 & $10, respectively, IIRC from my Citi Field sojourn last season - hoping to make it to a game later in August/September.

The US Open prices are even higher, but you’re with the fabulous people, so it’s okay.

 

[Ope3]

You do realize I live in NYC , where it’s $9 & $10, respectively, IIRC from my Citi Field sojourn last season - hoping to make it to a game later in August/September.

The US Open prices are even higher, but you’re with the fabulous people, so it’s okay.

Just to be clear, I am saying they should lower the price to $5 (domestic) & $6 (premiums).

Your $9 & $10 quotes would actually be lower than Target Field currently, which is at $12.49 & $14.49.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Just to be clear, I am saying they should lower the price to $5 (domestic) & $6 (premiums).

Your $9 & $10 quotes would actually be lower than Target Field currently, which is at $12.49 & $14.49.

I could be wrong, I often am.
I rarely drink anymore, so it’s not front and center in my cerebral cortex.

To wit (2023 article regarding Citi Field) -

Citi Field - New York Mets

Citi’s unique location in Flushing, extensive food offerings, and rabid fanbase make visiting the park feel completely different from the experience across town at Yankee Stadium. Citi Field is a world of its own, both of the city and simultaneously removed from the dense urbanity of Manhattan...

www.stadiumjourney.com

Beverages are everywhere. Nearly every concession stand serves soft drinks, water, and at least a few different beers or hard seltzers. The Coors Light Bar in center field and the Vizzy Seltzer Bar behind home plate in the promenade level offer cans ranging from domestic light tallboys ($15.50) to high-gravity IPAs ($15.25) to all sorts of hard seltzers ($16.50).

At least they’re not $12.50 & $14.50 at

 

[Slim Tubby]

Really Slim ️?

Extended Buck, which despite his Golden Sombrero yesterday, may end up working out well, methinks, in the end. He’s got three more of these types of years in him.

Signing Correra, an AS, team leader and still one of the better defensive/offensive SS in all of baseball.

Trading for Pablo and signing him to a long-term deal, providing us with a frontline starter for the duration of his contract.

Three Central in five years - many teams/fans would love that, like the NY Mets. We’ll likely make the playoffs again this year. I’m open to a month vacation bet with any and all comers regarding that prognostication.

I feel a lot of this fan angst is via the vocal minority online; this cadre, usually skews younger, under 40 and likely may not be familiar with the likes of Rob Wilfong, Mike Cubbage and Houston Jimenez, to name a few of my favorite ex-Twins infielders. There were days when being a Twins fan elicited guffaws and eye rolls.

We’re not going to be a WS contender every season, which puts us in the majority of teams.

My hope is we make the playoffs, garner more experience, cast off the deadwood in the offseason like AK, make a trade for another frontline arm, to give us a rotation to match anyone’s and then have a legit 3-4 year window for another WS.

I’ll take that, would you?

Admittedly, I'm probably still scarred from the Calvin Griffith era. The Pohlads have prevented that wound from ever healing properly.