The Minnesota Twins hold a three game lead on the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners for the final American League wild card playoff spot with 18 games remaining. They are trying every thing they can to give it up.
My frustration as a Twins fan culminated this past offseason when the team reduced payroll from their all-time high of $164 million last season to a current $126 million. That was seemingly in connection to the club’s TV revenue situation.
Minnesota reportedly received $54 million from Diamond Sports Group in 2023, but that company has been in the process of going bankrupt for a while, casting plenty of uncertainty about how things will play out going forward. The Twins and Diamond agreed to a new deal in February, but it was only a one-year agreement and reportedly with reduced money coming to the franchise.
The Pohlad family has a net worth of close to $4 billion. The Twins payroll last year amounted to .041% of their ownerships’ worth. Minnesota had a revenue of $342 million in 2023, which ranked 16th out of all 30 Major League Baseball teams.
Coming off the team’s first playoff win in 19 years, over a North American major sports record 18 straight losses, this season was not the year to cut payroll.
I took the mindset heading into the 2024 season that if the team wanted to dramatically slash payroll and didn’t care, I as a fan wasn’t going to care either. After all, we all know the season ends with another playoff loss to the Houston Astros or New York Yankees. It’s the same movie that I’ve seen time after time and I’m looking for something new.
I have seen more innings of the Twins this season in person, four games, than on TV. The lack of a cable provider for the games doesn’t help and local blackouts on streaming services also is a deterrent.
That doesn’t even take into account the play on the field. Minnesota has a a nice season with a 76-67 record and a likely wild card spot. They have won despite numerous injuries and a young pitching staff that has performed well.
Byron Buxton had his annual injury last month, this time to his hip. He might be back for the playoffs. He might not. It doesn’t matter. Buxton has played just 90 games this season. That’s about as many as you can expect at this point in his career.
Big free agent signing SS Carlos Correa has missed the last two months with a foot injury. He has played just 75 games this season. He’ll be back likely next week. It doesn’t matter. Correa still has four years left on a six-year, $200 million deal. The Twins didn’t have any payroll restrictions two season ago to sign Correa to a long term deal, but his signing was completely unnecessary.
The Twins had a lot of depth at shortstop before signing Correa. Royce Lewis was ready to take over full time at the position sometime in 2022, but ended up tearing his ACL after the team moved him to center field. Lewis has learned a new position at third base this past season, and now the Twins want to move him to second base. I can see why Lewis is frustrated.
Then there’s the bullpen. Minnesota’s bullpen ERA of 5.14 is the fourth worst in baseball in the second half. The Twins were the final team to make a move during the trade deadline, adding below average reliever Trevor Richards from Toronto. Richards was released a month later.
Whether it is a regression to the mean or being overworked, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli use of his bullpen has always baffled me. The way Baldelli uses his pitching staff in general is a head scratcher to me.
Bailey Ober was pulled after seven inning vs. Kansas City on Saturday, allowing one hit. One. Ober has a 83 pitches. Minnesota had a 2-0 lead. Jhoan Duran came in for the eighth a gave up the lead. The Royals won 4-2. Rocco didn’t need to pull Ober.
On the other end of the spectrum. Rocco left Ober in long enough against Atlanta on August 26 to give up nine runs in two innings on 55 pitches. Probably could have pulled him before it was 9-0 Braves.
Four games later, Rocco left rookie Zebby Mathews in long enough to give up nine runs and 10 hits in just two innings on 69 pitches. You usually don’t see starting pitchers give up that many runs in that few innings because the manager has enough sense to get his guy out of there before it gets to that point.
The Twins win just enough to where Rocco isn’t going to lose his job. It’s a franchise stuck in neutral. Good enough to make the playoffs. Not good enough to be a serious contender. A team that will always use money as an excuse to limit payroll.
I don’t know what the Twins could do to get my interest back because I know that their philosophy will never change without a change in ownership, and that isn’t happening any time soon.