Latest / Foul Territory / Aaron Gleeman on Twins hiring Derek Shelton, Pohlad fam’s next moves

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Aaron Gleeman on Twins hiring Derek Shelton, Pohlad fam’s next moves · Foul Territory

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey, we're back, and so is Aaron Gleeman. What's Old
0:06
Speaker 1: is New again? So Aaron covers the Twins. As you
0:08
Speaker 1: all know, he's been on with us quite a bit.
0:11
Speaker 1: Covers the Twins for The Athletic, also Gleaman and The
0:14
Speaker 1: Geek the Great podcast covering the Minnesota Twins. He's already
0:17
Speaker 1: done plenty on this topic, but now it is time.
0:19
Speaker 1: It is a World Series off day. Aaron, good to
0:21
Speaker 1: see you, and let's get your initial thoughts on Derek
0:24
Speaker 1: Shelton returning to the team after previously being on the
0:28
Speaker 1: coaching staff with Roco Baldelli and being the next manager
0:31
Speaker 1: of Minnesota.
0:33
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's it's sort of predictable. I
0:35
Speaker 2: think this is sort of the moment they fired Balaldelli,
0:38
Speaker 2: which I think was kind of a long time coming.
0:40
Speaker 2: By the time they did it, they weren't going to
0:43
Speaker 2: be able to I think they were. They were limited
0:45
Speaker 2: by two things. One, they're not going to be able
0:47
Speaker 2: to be a destination that kind of an up and
0:50
Speaker 2: coming in demand manager is going to want to come to,
0:54
Speaker 2: Like if there was any other team interested in someone.
0:57
Speaker 2: They have an edge over the Twins from a monetary standpoint.
0:59
Speaker 2: From a competitiveness standpoint, but then also it's not clear
1:03
Speaker 2: to me that they're planning to be competitive in twenty
1:06
Speaker 2: twenty six. Like we you know, we asked Derek Folvey
1:08
Speaker 2: at the end of the season about payroll or about
1:10
Speaker 2: the plan for next season, and he kind of tap
1:13
Speaker 2: danced around it and said he has to talk to
1:14
Speaker 2: ownership and see what the what their kind of view
1:18
Speaker 2: of it is. And so that's going to limit you
1:19
Speaker 2: in terms of who you can bring in.
1:21
Speaker 3: As a manager.
1:22
Speaker 2: So you add all that up, and you know, the familiarity,
1:24
Speaker 2: like you said, not only was Shelton on Baldelli's staff
1:27
Speaker 2: as the bench coach in twenty nineteen, which is one
1:29
Speaker 2: of the most successful seasons the Twins have had, he
1:32
Speaker 2: was actually the year before that on Maletor's staff before
1:36
Speaker 2: they fired Paul Malodor and placed him with bal Delli,
1:38
Speaker 2: and he finished running if not runner up. He was
1:42
Speaker 2: one of the finalists in twenty nineteen when the job
1:45
Speaker 2: went to bald Delli. So the level of familiarity that
1:48
Speaker 2: they have with Shelton, and he's just he's a very
1:50
Speaker 2: well liked guy across baseball as far as I've been told,
1:53
Speaker 2: and I think within the Twins too, They're just very comfortable. Now.
1:57
Speaker 2: My question would be, why are you kind of leaning
1:59
Speaker 2: in familiarity and the status quo at a time when
2:04
Speaker 2: the organization as a whole is trending very quickly in
2:06
Speaker 2: a bad direction.
2:09
Speaker 4: Aaron, I mean this sounds like Baldelli Part two. I
2:11
Speaker 4: love Rocko and I love Derek Sheldon. I know Derek
2:13
Speaker 4: Sheldon for a long long time, and I think he's
2:16
Speaker 4: a great guy. But he just got fired by the Pirates. Okay, no,
2:19
Speaker 4: not a knock on him, but he got fired by
2:21
Speaker 4: the Pirates not that long ago because he wasn't doing
2:24
Speaker 4: the right thing to help them develop to the next level.
2:26
Speaker 4: The Twins are a younger gonna be a younger ish
2:28
Speaker 4: team more than likely because they're gonna slash payroll. It's
2:31
Speaker 4: what the pole ads do, right, So why would they
2:33
Speaker 4: not go for a younger, more energetic Not that Shelton
2:38
Speaker 4: isn't you know, doesn't have energy and all that. Why
2:40
Speaker 4: would they not go I mean, you know, for a
2:42
Speaker 4: somebody that they think might be you know that's been around.
2:47
Speaker 4: I don't know, I'm thinking the name like a Kai
2:49
Speaker 4: Korea something like that, right, the guy that has been around,
2:52
Speaker 4: but they're a little bit younger and they've never been
2:53
Speaker 4: a manager. Right, this just seems like they're just retreading
2:56
Speaker 4: Roco Part two.
2:59
Speaker 2: I mean, I agree with that. I think it's a
3:00
Speaker 2: very tough argument to make against that, like the familiarity.
3:04
Speaker 2: He's literally one of Baldelli's friends. He was his right
3:07
Speaker 2: hand man, and you know that the thing you said
3:10
Speaker 2: about the Pirates, like, I don't know, the Pirates have
3:13
Speaker 2: been bad for so long and they're in such a
3:16
Speaker 2: difficult spot because of the lack of investment from ownership
3:19
Speaker 2: that I'm willing to kind of say, like, Okay, he
3:21
Speaker 2: had a terrible record with the Pirates. Who hasn't had
3:24
Speaker 2: a terrible record with the Pirates. But the problem is
3:26
Speaker 2: that the Twins are, you know, trending in that direction too.
3:29
Speaker 2: I mean, like you said, they're cutting payroll even further.
3:32
Speaker 2: They've traded away a bunch of their guys. They might
3:34
Speaker 2: still end up trading away someone like Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez,
3:37
Speaker 2: Ryan Jeffers and leaning even more into kind of bare
3:40
Speaker 2: bones spending with a younger team. And I it's nothing
3:45
Speaker 2: against Derek Shelton, but I do agree with what you're
3:47
Speaker 2: saying is like this is they're checking the box and
3:50
Speaker 2: they're able to say, hey, we made a change, But
3:53
Speaker 2: this is about as close to no change as you
3:55
Speaker 2: can get with literally making a change, Like you're bringing
3:59
Speaker 2: a guy back in who is a retread manager who
4:02
Speaker 2: has one of the lower winning percentages in baseball history
4:05
Speaker 2: for someone who managed. I think he managed seven hundred
4:07
Speaker 2: and something games for the Pirates, so you can't even
4:10
Speaker 2: say he said success Elsewhere I would have certainly leaned
4:13
Speaker 2: into kind of what you were describing is try to
4:15
Speaker 2: find the next good manager, like someone who's in their thirties,
4:19
Speaker 2: maybe recently retired or has sort of risen up the
4:21
Speaker 2: ranks quickly. But I wonder from that perspective if they're
4:25
Speaker 2: viewing this more as like a placeholder, like we're just
4:28
Speaker 2: sort of treading water organizationally, and why try to bring
4:32
Speaker 2: in an up and comer and hand them a roster
4:35
Speaker 2: that's just not equipped to contend and that kind of
4:37
Speaker 2: gets that stink on them right away. Whereas you know,
4:40
Speaker 2: this is gonna sound mean, but Derek Shelton is used
4:42
Speaker 2: to losing, and he is not a guy who's gonna,
4:45
Speaker 2: you know, cause big problems. He's gonna deal well, with
4:48
Speaker 2: not only ownership but the front office and the players.
4:51
Speaker 2: He's not gonna, you know, cause big issues that way.
4:53
Speaker 2: And if if they view him as just sort of
4:56
Speaker 2: a steady hand to get them through what might be
4:59
Speaker 2: more one to maybe three difficult years. I sort of
5:02
Speaker 2: see their thinking on that, but it's definitely underwhelming.
5:06
Speaker 5: How do they sell this to the fans.
5:07
Speaker 6: You're already talking about a fan base who lost I
5:11
Speaker 6: think you'll tell me if I'm wrong, nine guys at
5:13
Speaker 6: the trade deadline, and you already talked about the other
5:16
Speaker 6: guys that have a chance of possibly being moved. How
5:19
Speaker 6: do they sell this to the fans? Because all the
5:20
Speaker 6: things that you said are probably correct, but you can't
5:24
Speaker 6: sell it to the fans.
5:24
Speaker 5: Hey, welcome to Minnesota. We have our new manager, Derek
5:28
Speaker 5: Shelton hasn't really won much. He's probably getting paid way
5:32
Speaker 5: less than everybody else. That's a manager that's getting new
5:35
Speaker 5: marriagerial jobs and we're just gonna try to tread water.
5:38
Speaker 5: But how does the team sell it to the fans,
5:40
Speaker 5: because this is a time to invigorate the fans.
5:45
Speaker 2: There's there's no way to sell this to the fans.
5:46
Speaker 2: I mean, they're so far past that point. I mean,
5:48
Speaker 2: I agree with you, for sure, but I mean the
5:51
Speaker 2: truth is, you know, is there even a manager out
5:55
Speaker 2: there that they could have hired that would could be
5:57
Speaker 2: sold to the fans and get people excited. I mean,
6:00
Speaker 2: I joked when we did our kind of Emergency podcast
6:03
Speaker 2: last night reacting to the news, I said, what if
6:05
Speaker 2: some crazy happen in Dave Roberts they lose the World
6:08
Speaker 2: Series and he gets fired and the Twins hire them.
6:11
Speaker 2: That'd be more exciting to the fan base than Derek
6:13
Speaker 2: Shelton in that weird, crazy scenario. But it's not like
6:16
Speaker 2: people are going to be rush into the ticket office.
6:18
Speaker 2: I mean, the fan morale has gotten so low and
6:22
Speaker 2: they have such little faith in every level of this organization.
6:26
Speaker 2: I mean ownership obviously, we talk about that every time
6:28
Speaker 2: I'm on, but the front office, the coaching staff, the
6:30
Speaker 2: player development, the players themselves. That I agree with what
6:34
Speaker 2: you're saying is this is underwhelming within that context. But
6:37
Speaker 2: I wonder from their standpoint if they were like, there
6:39
Speaker 2: isn't a move we could make, There is no living
6:42
Speaker 2: manager who we could realistically get that would really raise
6:47
Speaker 2: fan morale, and so why not if that's the case,
6:50
Speaker 2: if it's already rock bottom, why not just bring in
6:53
Speaker 2: a guy we know and we like. And like AJ said,
6:55
Speaker 2: he I'm this is not intended to take anything away
6:59
Speaker 2: from Derek Shelton. My interactions with Shelton have always been good.
7:02
Speaker 2: Everyone I've talked to about him over the years speaks
7:04
Speaker 2: really highly of him, not only as a person, but
7:06
Speaker 2: as a you know, someone who's smart and hard working,
7:09
Speaker 2: attention to detail, all the things you would look for
7:11
Speaker 2: in a manager. And I'm willing to believe the Pirates
7:13
Speaker 2: thing he can learn from that and he can be
7:15
Speaker 2: a solid manager. I just wonder are they in a
7:18
Speaker 2: place as a team from the top bottom that the
7:20
Speaker 2: manager's even going to really be in a position to
7:22
Speaker 2: matter at this point.
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8:28
Speaker 1: So many good answers here you Aaron like when you
8:31
Speaker 1: talked about the placeholder part, literally where I was going
8:34
Speaker 1: with my question, and I'll add on here so I'll
8:38
Speaker 1: take a different turn to actually put my opinion down.
8:40
Speaker 5: I like it.
8:41
Speaker 1: I like the hire. I like it for what the
8:44
Speaker 1: placeholder part is. I like it because it's someone who's
8:46
Speaker 1: well liked. He's safe, he's nice. We know that he's
8:50
Speaker 1: a respectable guy. He has manager experience, and he's going
8:54
Speaker 1: to go to Minnesota and be like, this is a
8:56
Speaker 1: massive upgrade. There is a lot more talent in terms
9:02
Speaker 1: of the way that the team is run. I'm sorry, right, Like,
9:05
Speaker 1: I'll lay it out here, Derek Fallavian company, right, the
9:09
Speaker 1: group that he leads, they've done a really good job
9:12
Speaker 1: with limited resources, and you can't fire the owner. So
9:15
Speaker 1: Roco gets booted because the team is crumbling because the
9:19
Speaker 1: owner wanted to sell and he's kind of tanking the place.
9:22
Speaker 1: Don't worry, Minnesota. Retraction is not going to happen. Eventually,
9:25
Speaker 1: this will get better. It's just going to take more time.
9:28
Speaker 1: But he got fired by the Pirates and he is
9:31
Speaker 1: a hard worker. He is probably the most motivated person
9:35
Speaker 1: on the planet to get an opportunity like this and
9:37
Speaker 1: take a team that's probably going to be peg to
9:39
Speaker 1: win what seventy games next year and get them to
9:41
Speaker 1: eighty and be like, oh wow, this team is like nothing.
9:44
Speaker 1: They didn't do anything the offseason. They kind of tanked it,
9:46
Speaker 1: just like they did the trade deadline and.
9:48
Speaker 5: Kind of did a good job.
9:49
Speaker 1: I could see a scenario like that where he's on
9:51
Speaker 1: a personal mission to be like, no, no, it wasn't me.
9:54
Speaker 1: The Pirates are the number one joke in the league.
9:56
Speaker 1: So now I'm going to a team that's more like
9:58
Speaker 1: in the five to seven range.
10:00
Speaker 2: I mean, that is true if they were sitting in
10:03
Speaker 2: an office a few weeks ago and they were like,
10:05
Speaker 2: is there someone we can hire who has experience managing
10:08
Speaker 2: in the majors for like five plus seasons, but in
10:11
Speaker 2: a worse situation than the one they would be in here,
10:15
Speaker 2: he's like the guy for that. I mean, they've had
10:17
Speaker 2: like the twenty eighth ranked payroll, so, like you said,
10:19
Speaker 2: he's coming to a place that might now have like,
10:21
Speaker 2: you know, the twenty fourth ranked payroll, and to him,
10:24
Speaker 2: that's like amazing. And you know, I've gotten questions from
10:26
Speaker 2: people who are like, does Shelton even know what he's
10:29
Speaker 2: getting into? Like why would he even take I Mean
10:30
Speaker 2: the truth is, there are good jobs and there are
10:32
Speaker 2: bad jobs, but ultimately they're only thirty of these things,
10:35
Speaker 2: and people work their whole.
10:37
Speaker 3: Lives to get this.
10:37
Speaker 2: And to your point, I'm sure he's not enthused or
10:41
Speaker 2: happy with how it went in Pittsburgh, but he wasn't
10:44
Speaker 2: in position to turn down that job six years ago.
10:47
Speaker 2: And if he wants to manage again, and like you said,
10:49
Speaker 2: if he wants to prove that he's better than he
10:51
Speaker 2: showed in Pittsburgh, if he's capable of raising a team
10:54
Speaker 2: from seventy wins to you know, borderline competitiveness, this is
10:59
Speaker 2: probably his best and maybe only opportunity. So I see
11:02
Speaker 2: it from that perspective. But yeah, you're definitely right. I mean,
11:05
Speaker 2: he could walk in the door here. And I don't
11:06
Speaker 2: want to be too harsh on for Pirates fans listening
11:09
Speaker 2: to this, because I don't know the interworkings of the Pirates,
11:11
Speaker 2: but it's one of the few situations where you could
11:14
Speaker 2: take someone from the place they've been, bring them to
11:18
Speaker 2: a team in Decline with a very low payroll, and
11:20
Speaker 2: have them walk in the door on day one and
11:22
Speaker 2: kind of look around and go, actually, this is kind
11:25
Speaker 2: of nice compared to where I just was, Aaron, does.
11:30
Speaker 4: This just show that guys just want to be managers?
11:32
Speaker 4: Because I look at Anaheim, Kurtzuzuki took a one year deal, right,
11:36
Speaker 4: Derek Shelton probably knows this team is not going to
11:38
Speaker 4: be competitive, but he just wants to manage, just and
11:41
Speaker 4: is this what managing has become? It's just guys that
11:44
Speaker 4: just gosh, I just have to manage no matter what.
11:46
Speaker 6: And I gotta do this.
11:47
Speaker 4: I did it once and I gotta do it again.
11:49
Speaker 4: And I know this team isn't gonna be great, but
11:51
Speaker 4: who cares. I'm the manager of the Minnesota Twins.
11:54
Speaker 2: I mean, if you want to be a manager, and like,
11:58
Speaker 2: what are the I mean, he's fifty, And it's possible
12:01
Speaker 2: that Shelton could have taken a bench coach job or
12:04
Speaker 2: hitting coach job somewhere and kind of rehabbed his stock
12:07
Speaker 2: as a manager candidate, and maybe two cycles from now,
12:10
Speaker 2: two off seasons from now, he gets another opportunity. But
12:13
Speaker 2: that's not set in stone. And you know, we talked
12:15
Speaker 2: about the Twins familiarity with him. The truth is he's
12:18
Speaker 2: familiar with them too. He knows Derek Falvey, he knows
12:20
Speaker 2: a lot of people involved. He knows some of the
12:23
Speaker 2: players who are still there, not a ton of them.
12:24
Speaker 2: But you know, like Byron Buxton, let's say, and from
12:27
Speaker 2: her his perspective, if he wants to manage, and he
12:30
Speaker 2: wants to manage this year or next year, this is
12:32
Speaker 2: probably his only opportunity and he doesn't know what the
12:35
Speaker 2: future holds in that regard, and you know, like I said,
12:38
Speaker 2: there's thirty of these things, and there's gonna be people
12:42
Speaker 2: who would you know, kill to have these jobs. And
12:45
Speaker 2: you add in the extra motivation where he took that
12:47
Speaker 2: job and was I'm sure very excited to get his
12:49
Speaker 2: first managing gig in twenty twenty with the Pirates and
12:52
Speaker 2: it goes, you know, south pretty quickly, and now he
12:55
Speaker 2: wants to show that he can do it. Yes, it's
12:58
Speaker 2: a tough spot. But if you want to be a
12:59
Speaker 2: major leage manager and you're not, like you know, Albert Poohols,
13:03
Speaker 2: let's say where just your name recognition alone and what
13:07
Speaker 2: you've done as a player just makes it opens doors
13:10
Speaker 2: for you. You're gonna have kind of limited opportunities and you're
13:13
Speaker 2: gonna have to take what's what's offered to you. And
13:16
Speaker 2: I think it's a very difficult spot. On the other hand,
13:20
Speaker 2: if they go eighty one and eighty one next year,
13:23
Speaker 2: he might get some manager of the Year votes just
13:25
Speaker 2: because no one expects them to do absolutely anything, particularly
13:27
Speaker 2: if the off season plays out kind of how I
13:30
Speaker 2: expect it will, which is some more trades of veterans.
13:33
Speaker 1: Bingo, and that's what I want to get to next.
13:35
Speaker 1: So two fan questions here, one I think is a
13:37
Speaker 1: quicker one. I'll just ask you quick and then i'll
13:39
Speaker 1: get you my next one. So Ryan asked, was Tory
13:42
Speaker 1: Hunter considered? Do you know did you hear about him?
13:45
Speaker 2: So my understanding is that he never formally interviewed. He
13:52
Speaker 2: has been more on the Angel side than the Twins side.
13:55
Speaker 2: Although I've seen Tory over the last few years in
13:57
Speaker 2: the clubhouse and around the Twins a little bit. I
14:00
Speaker 2: don't know if it was his lack of interest, their
14:03
Speaker 2: lack of interest both, but yeah, he was never I
14:06
Speaker 2: don't think viewed as a as a serious candidate, or
14:09
Speaker 2: at the very least, he never was part of the
14:10
Speaker 2: formal interview process.
14:12
Speaker 6: Okay.
14:13
Speaker 1: And then last one, which is a lengthier question armand
14:17
Speaker 1: asks a percentage chance of them trading Joe, Ryan, Pablo
14:20
Speaker 1: Lopez and Byron Buxton and if you can mix in
14:23
Speaker 1: one of your latest articles about some specific needs they have,
14:27
Speaker 1: which will be very telling in terms of if the
14:30
Speaker 1: Pole Ads give any sense about this team at all.
14:34
Speaker 5: Yeah.
14:34
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Buckston's got the full note trade clause,
14:38
Speaker 2: and he's been pretty steadfast in his loyalty the Twins.
14:41
Speaker 2: He says, you know there was a reason I requested
14:43
Speaker 2: the note trade clause. I want to finish my career here.
14:45
Speaker 2: My family likes it here. I do wonder at some
14:48
Speaker 2: point he's shown incredible loyalty to them, but you know,
14:51
Speaker 2: everyone's got a limit. And if they keep shedding payroll
14:54
Speaker 2: and shedding talent and just go into a multi year rebuild,
14:58
Speaker 2: he's give me thirty two next year, does he you know,
15:00
Speaker 2: does his loyalty change it all? Or is he just
15:03
Speaker 2: so steadfast and wanting to remain with the twins. I
15:05
Speaker 2: think that's an interesting question. You know, he's always answered it.
15:08
Speaker 2: I don't want to go anywhere, but who knows if
15:10
Speaker 2: that changes. In terms of Ryan and Lopez, I'm of
15:14
Speaker 2: the opinion since the trade deadline that that's just inevitable
15:17
Speaker 2: to me. You don't do what they did at the
15:19
Speaker 2: trade deadline in terms of trading players, trading talent, shedding
15:23
Speaker 2: future salaries and then stop in the middle. And you know,
15:27
Speaker 2: Pablo Lopez in particular, is gonna make twenty one and
15:29
Speaker 2: a half million for each of the next two years
15:31
Speaker 2: and they might only have one hundred and ten million
15:33
Speaker 2: dollar payroll and the team, you know, are you wasting
15:36
Speaker 2: sort of the two years valuable years of a frontline starter,
15:40
Speaker 2: and particularly with Joe Ryan, who's gonna be even cheaper
15:42
Speaker 2: and is coming off an All Star year. If you've
15:45
Speaker 2: already done half of the rebuild, if you've already done
15:47
Speaker 2: half of a fire sale, I just have a hard
15:49
Speaker 2: time assuming that they're gonna halt it at that point.
15:52
Speaker 2: And then, like you said, I wrote a couple of
15:53
Speaker 2: days ago, you know the Lopez and Ryan situations, if
15:57
Speaker 2: they trade them, obviously they're not trying to be competitive
15:59
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six or probably twenty twenty seven, but
16:03
Speaker 2: even on like a smaller scale, they just have these
16:06
Speaker 2: gaping roster holes, which is as a result of the
16:08
Speaker 2: fire sale, Like they have no bullpen whatsoever. They traded
16:12
Speaker 2: their top five or lievers. If you look at their
16:14
Speaker 2: first base DH situations, which is the easiest spot to
16:17
Speaker 2: find a big veteran bat, they have nothing. I mean,
16:20
Speaker 2: Cody Clemens was their first basement down the stretch, and
16:22
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to be mean to him, but he
16:23
Speaker 2: was a waiver claim and he's kind of a you know,
16:25
Speaker 2: a bounce around guy, and they need a backup, like
16:29
Speaker 2: they need a backup catcher. And if they trade Jeffers too.
16:32
Speaker 2: Then they just need catcher period. They might have to
16:34
Speaker 2: get Aj out of retirement now that I think about it,
16:36
Speaker 2: But let's do it.
16:37
Speaker 6: Let's do it.
16:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, how are those needs?
16:38
Speaker 6: AJ?
16:39
Speaker 5: Great?
16:39
Speaker 6: Let's do it.
16:40
Speaker 4: I'll play tomorrow.
16:41
Speaker 6: Let's go.
16:41
Speaker 2: Could you do eighteen innings in a World Series game
16:44
Speaker 2: if you had to?
16:44
Speaker 5: Right?
16:44
Speaker 2: Well, Bro, come on bro next next morning? Might be
16:47
Speaker 2: kind of it.
16:47
Speaker 4: That's clown, that's clown question.
16:49
Speaker 3: Question much I.
16:51
Speaker 2: Would like, I would personally like to see it. But
16:55
Speaker 2: those are the real tells, which is are they even
16:58
Speaker 2: going to kind of address the obvious weaknesses of this roster,
17:01
Speaker 2: because if they don't at least go out and get
17:03
Speaker 2: two or three veteran relievers, that is basically waiving a
17:07
Speaker 2: sign that says we don't care about next season. If
17:09
Speaker 2: they don't find some veteran bat to play first base
17:12
Speaker 2: and maybe DH to jump into the middle of a
17:15
Speaker 2: lineup that has really struggled for a year and a half, now,
17:18
Speaker 2: that is another sign that they just are worried about
17:20
Speaker 2: getting the payroll low, shedding talent. And so the Lopez
17:24
Speaker 2: and Ryan situations are the big ones. Those are the
17:26
Speaker 2: headliners that'll tell you everything. I mean, no team that
17:29
Speaker 2: expects to contend trades, frontline starters under team control like that.
17:33
Speaker 2: But even lower on the scale than that, I think
17:36
Speaker 2: the bullpen is going to be the biggest tell. Like,
17:38
Speaker 2: they have no bullpen basically at this point, and if
17:40
Speaker 2: they don't at least if they're not at least willing
17:42
Speaker 2: to go spend ten to fifteen million to add two
17:45
Speaker 2: or three kind of set up caliber veteran arms, that
17:48
Speaker 2: is essentially telling the fan base, don't we don't care
17:51
Speaker 2: at all about next season.
17:53
Speaker 4: Okay, I was a twin. I was a twin in
17:55
Speaker 4: the early to late nineties, early two thousands when there
17:58
Speaker 4: was literally five hundred people at the Metrodome, Okay for
18:01
Speaker 4: day games against teams, and the Twins fans have been
18:04
Speaker 4: great at target Field. Target Field's one of my favorite
18:06
Speaker 4: ballparks I ever played in. We were close to being
18:09
Speaker 4: contracted in two thousand and two. They did an Expos
18:11
Speaker 4: documentary then he mentioned the Twins were with the Expos
18:13
Speaker 4: going to be contracted, and then we saved baseball, you know,
18:16
Speaker 4: made the playoffs, whatever made our run. Twins got their
18:19
Speaker 4: new stadium, But there's been one constant here and it's
18:22
Speaker 4: the Polloud family. Okay, they were supposed to be selling
18:26
Speaker 4: the team. Will they ever sell it? What has a
18:28
Speaker 4: better chance of happening? First, the poll Outs sell the team,
18:31
Speaker 4: the Twins get contracted, or they win a World Series,
18:35
Speaker 4: which which one of those three things will happen first.
18:37
Speaker 5: Because the Pollouds I.
18:39
Speaker 4: Thought were selling and then all of a sudden like, nah,
18:41
Speaker 4: we're just kidding guys, we really want this team.
18:44
Speaker 1: Yeah.
18:44
Speaker 2: I mean that's when I said that the fan morale
18:46
Speaker 2: was rock bottom. That's the final thing that pushed it
18:49
Speaker 2: to rock bottom, which they kind of held that carrot
18:51
Speaker 2: out in front of the fan base for ten months
18:54
Speaker 2: of hey, we're trying to sell the team. Only two
18:56
Speaker 2: at the end of it, you know, right after the
18:58
Speaker 2: Fighter sale, when everyone was sad about that and frustrated
19:01
Speaker 2: about that, is oh, we're pulling it back off the market.
19:03
Speaker 2: We actually think we're the people to run it. And
19:05
Speaker 2: you know, to your point, they've been running it as
19:07
Speaker 2: a family for four decades or basically, so I don't
19:11
Speaker 2: think there's gonna be anything to change the fan morale
19:14
Speaker 2: in a meaningful way to change their chances of really
19:17
Speaker 2: making a deep playoff run or winning a World series.
19:19
Speaker 2: Like you said, as long as they are owned by
19:21
Speaker 2: the poll ds, I just truly believe that nothing will change,
19:25
Speaker 2: and they've just done nothing to make anyone think otherwise,
19:27
Speaker 2: and so it's frustrating. The only bit of optimism I
19:31
Speaker 2: can point to, and this is just me speculating, is
19:34
Speaker 2: maybe they pulled it off the market because they couldn't
19:36
Speaker 2: get the premium price that they were asking for, and
19:39
Speaker 2: they're viewing the next CBA as a lifeline there in
19:43
Speaker 2: terms of if there's more revenue sharing, or if there's
19:46
Speaker 2: a salary cap or anything that really causes a mid
19:50
Speaker 2: to low tier payroll team or revenue team like the
19:52
Speaker 2: Twins to be in a better situation than they are
19:55
Speaker 2: now in terms of competitiveness and revenues, then maybe they
19:58
Speaker 2: can revisit the sale. Well, you know, two years from now,
20:01
Speaker 2: let's say, and there'll be buyers more willing to give
20:04
Speaker 2: them the price that they need. But short of that,
20:06
Speaker 2: I mean, I hate to say this because you know,
20:09
Speaker 2: my livelihood revolves around Twins fans being interested in coverage
20:13
Speaker 2: of the team. But I just have gotten to the
20:16
Speaker 2: point now where I think, as long as the pole
20:18
Speaker 2: heads are running things, it's going to be business as
20:21
Speaker 2: usual that we've seen from them for the most part
20:23
Speaker 2: for decades and decades, And I think the reason it's
20:25
Speaker 2: trending in the wrong direction is that they're no longer
20:28
Speaker 2: even comfortable being kind of an average spending team. Now
20:31
Speaker 2: they want to be in the bottom third because that's
20:34
Speaker 2: in their mind, that's a lot easier to not lose
20:37
Speaker 2: money by cutting costs versus not lose money by actually
20:41
Speaker 2: putting a good product on the field.
20:43
Speaker 1: And what you said, it's exactly what's going to happen.
20:46
Speaker 1: They want to sell the team. They probably were told
20:48
Speaker 1: by advisors you might make two hundred million bucks more
20:50
Speaker 1: the price that they initially wanted. That's where they were off.
20:53
Speaker 1: If they wait until after the CBA, even if it's
20:55
Speaker 1: not a cap, they're waiting, they're going to get something
20:57
Speaker 1: from their group, right like you mentioned revenue share. So
21:00
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Twins fans, hang in there. Aaron is
21:03
Speaker 1: there for you on the Athletic on his pod. You're
21:06
Speaker 1: the best.
21:06
Speaker 2: Thanks Aaron anytime, guys.
21:08
Speaker 6: Thank you.
21:11
Speaker 2: M