When was the last time the Twins even won a World Series.

I'm pretty sure we've won our two relatively closer to the present then they have.

A team I want to become is the Rays minus the no hitters against.

 

 

I wish the Marlins became something like the Twins who win about 90 games per year.

 

As do the Rays with a lower payroll.

 

 

Only just recently, though. They were downright insulting when they were the Devil Rays.

 

True but we don't have nearly as much money as the Twins do and we have the talent to become a good team but we just need a great bullpen and we should be set.

When was the last time the Twins even won a World Series.

I'm pretty sure we've won our two relatively closer to the present then they have.

A team I want to become is the Rays minus the no hitters against.

 

 

I wish the Marlins became something like the Twins who win about 90 games per year.

 

As do the Rays with a lower payroll.

True but the Rays have done it for only 3 years... the Twins for 10 years.

Anyone else reckon there will be at least 3 NL East division winners in the next 5 years?

Anyone else reckon there will be at least 3 NL East division winners in the next 5 years?

 

 

This year Braves. Next Year Phillies. 2012 Marlins.

I think he said the Twins because they win ever[y] damn year and aren't exactly a big market team.

 

Yup, the Twins were the early exemplar for the recent Marlins, lots of winning on a tiny budget.

 

They won 90+ games 6 of their first 10 years in Minnesota after the old Washington Senators hadn't won sh!t for decades.

 

Lost the WS in '65, lost the ALCS in '69 and '70, but at least they got there. Then free agency hit and their cheap, idiot owner's total cluelessness caught up with him and he finally sold out in '84.

 

How big an idiot could good ol' boy owner Calvin Griffith (nephew of and adopted by previous owner Clark Griffith) be?

 

In 1978, in a PUBLIC Lions Club speech, he actually said, and I kid you not:

 

"I'll tell you why we came to Minnesota. It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don't go to ballgames, but they'll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it'll scare you to death. We came here because you've got good, hardworking white people here."

 

It was also rumored at the time (I remember it, as I then lived in Minneapolis) that Calvin had made remarks about Rod Carew marrying a white, Jewish woman (that would be 2 additional strikes as far as Calvin was concerned.) Carew, one of the greatest hitters ever to play the game promptly decided that he wasn't going to play for the idiotic Calvin anymore and was traded in '79.

 

Just as an aside, people think the Loria/Samson relationship is a bit embarrassing. That's nothing. Read the back pages of a Twins game program from the '60s. If your name wasn't Griffith (and there were a lot of them,) you didn't work in the FO. Calvin was the king of nepotism. Understandable, I guess as it was the only reason he ever owned the Twins in the first place. I doubt he ever understood that he was a really bad joke of an owner when all was said and done.

 

Under new ownership, they won the WS in '87 and '91.

 

Been in the playoffs in 5 of the last 8 years, haven't finished worse than 3rd in the last decade.

 

Amazing for a small-market team, and they did most of it the same way the Marlins do it, from their farm-system.

 

The prospect of their new stadium allowed them to commit to Morneau for 80 million and Mauer for 184 million. Now, at ~100 million of payroll, they're spending ~20 million more than the average team.

 

The hell of it is that, statistically, no team should win more than once every 30 years. By that measure, the Twins and the Marlins have already overachieved and each should be lucky to win once in the next 30 years. And, it's actually more than every 30 years since small-market teams face 200 million Yankee, etc. payrolls.

 

Then again, there seems to be some sort of serendipity at work from time to time. Like the '03 Marlins. So you never know. And a new stadium certainly doesn't hurt.

The Mets are a mess

 

 

Yeah but they have the money that at anytime if they get the right person running them they can turn it around in a season. We have no such luxury.

 

They have had the highest payroll in the NL for quite some time now. How has that worked out for them? As long as they keep this GM they will never become more than a pre season top 3 favorite.

In the NL i feel the Reds will stay good with all their prospects and my sleeper team by 2012 is the Pirates.

 

 

Sleeper team? They haven't had a winning season since 1992. I would call that a coma team. But I do admire the braveness of the pick.

 

DO NOT down play the Padres. Pitching, defense, speed, youth, and a decent FO. A bat or two away from dominance.

We have very good young players but remember when their contract is up we cannot compete when teams like the yankees, red sox and other teams with money come offering big bucks, we know money talks and bs walks.

Don't the Mets have Oliver Perez signed to some crazy contract? They probably won't be a threat in the near future.

The Mets are a mess

 

 

Yeah but they have the money that at anytime if they get the right person running them they can turn it around in a season. We have no such luxury.

 

They have had the highest payroll in the NL for quite some time now. How has that worked out for them? As long as they keep this GM they will never become more than a pre season top 3 favorite.

 

Yeah that was the crux of my post, "if they get the right person running them they can turn it around in a season" :thumbup. That prospect is scary, and will make it infinitely harder for us.

In the NL i feel the Reds will stay good with all their prospects and my sleeper team by 2012 is the Pirates.

 

 

Sleeper team? They haven't had a winning season since 1992. I would call that a coma team. But I do admire the braveness of the pick.

 

DO NOT down play the Padres. Pitching, defense, speed, youth, and a decent FO. A bat or two away from dominance.

 

I'm with you on this one Bob, that is the scary team.....the Reds has the looks of being a good team for a while too.

We have very good young players but remember when their contract is up we cannot compete when teams like the yankees, red sox and other teams with money come offering big bucks, we know money talks and bs walks.

 

 

That's why they will have to buy up extra years before FA for these players. If you are the Yankees you can afford to wait until arbitration years to sign to a long term deal. But the Marlins must trade some minimum wage years for long term deal because they can't afford the larger price it will cost to wait. Chad Tracy is an example of how that can turn out bad for a team and its the double edged sword that buying out years too early can do to ya. Sometimes you get lucky and get the right guy early, and sometimes you make a mistake like the D'Backs did with Tracy.

Don't the Mets have Oliver Perez signed to some crazy contract? They probably won't be a threat in the near future.

 

 

Yeah but don't they have a revenue that is in the tens of millions from their TV deal ? They can afford a few mistakes and Perez was a huge one :lol

And I think the Mets farm system is relatively weak right now too

And I think the Mets farm system is relatively weak right now too

 

 

Thank God for that then, maybe it will be a while til they can put it together. You'd never know that from the way the media portrays them. Every year they expect them automatically to contend in the NL East.

As long as Minya stays the Mets GM we shouldn't have to worry about them to much.

As long as Minya stays the Mets GM we shouldn't have to worry about them to much.

 

 

Lets hope he doesn't have his light come on, and then we are screwed.

The chances of all 5 teams in any division being competitors are very slim. At the very least, I don't think we'll have one super dreadful team the 4 other teams in the division can gulp up anymore.

 

I definitely find the Mets rather incompetent. But like it's already pointed out, they can completely turn around in a drop of a hat with the money they have. The Phillies have also put themselves in a similar situation, money wise at least. Their recent postseason success put a ton of money in their pockets, and they're much more competent in the FO then the Mets. The Braves... I don't know how I feel just yet. Gotta see how their team plays again next year, they're so good this year. The Nats got a lot of holes to fill but they're heading in a good direction

The chances of all 5 teams in any division being competitors are very slim. At the very least, I don't think we'll have one super dreadful team the 4 other teams in the division can gulp up anymore.

 

I definitely find the Mets rather incompetent. But like it's already pointed out, they can completely turn around in a drop of a hat with the money they have. The Phillies have also put themselves in a similar situation, money wise at least. Their recent postseason success put a ton of money in their pockets, and they're much more competent in the FO then the Mets. The Braves... I don't know how I feel just yet. Gotta see how their team plays again next year, they're so good this year. The Nats got a lot of holes to fill but they're heading in a good direction

 

 

Then by process of your theory its either going to be the Braves, Mets or us that are the stinkeroos for the coming period. Yikes :banghead

The chances of all 5 teams in any division being competitors are very slim. At the very least, I don't think we'll have one super dreadful team the 4 other teams in the division can gulp up anymore.

 

I definitely find the Mets rather incompetent. But like it's already pointed out, they can completely turn around in a drop of a hat with the money they have. The Phillies have also put themselves in a similar situation, money wise at least. Their recent postseason success put a ton of money in their pockets, and they're much more competent in the FO then the Mets. The Braves... I don't know how I feel just yet. Gotta see how their team plays again next year, they're so good this year. The Nats got a lot of holes to fill but they're heading in a good direction

 

 

Then by process of your theory its either going to be the Braves, Mets or us that are the stinkeroos for the coming period. Yikes :banghead

 

If Loria cares about his product as much as he says he does, he isn't going to let this team sh*t on itself once we're in the new stadium.

If Loria cares about his product as much as he says he does, he isn't going to let this team sh*t on itself once we're in the new stadium.

 

 

I hope so, and we do have to hope & have faith. He spent a lot of money in 2003-2005 and he'll do it again. :thumbup I guess that's what he has been saving for.

Until the Marlins find at least 2 more really good starters, the team isnt going anywhere.

 

 

Nolasco I wouldnt say is part of any core for the long term.

 

 

Sanchez would make a good 3 I think.

 

 

The rest doesnt exist on this team.

Until the Marlins find at least 2 more really good starters, the team isnt going anywhere.

 

 

Nolasco I wouldnt say is part of any core for the long term.

 

 

Sanchez would make a good 3 I think.

 

 

The rest doesnt exist on this team.

 

 

That's pretty much on target.

Until the Marlins find at least 2 more really good starters, the team isnt going anywhere.

 

 

Nolasco I wouldnt say is part of any core for the long term.

 

 

Sanchez would make a good 3 I think.

 

 

The rest doesnt exist on this team.

 

 

I agree on everything but Nolasco would should be resigned for another 2 or 3 years and the possibility of Sanabia, West or Volstad being solid 4 or 5's in the future.

Until the Marlins find at least 2 more really good starters, the team isnt going anywhere.

 

 

Nolasco I wouldnt say is part of any core for the long term.

 

 

Sanchez would make a good 3 I think.

 

 

The rest doesnt exist on this team.

 

 

I agree on everything but Nolasco would should be resigned for another 2 or 3 years and the possibility of Sanabia, West or Volstad being solid 4 or 5's in the future.

 

 

Well... what is your definition of a "Solid #5?" That term in itself sounds a little weird... Do any teams in the Major leagues have one?

 

I was gonna say one of our problems this year, is that now, we essentially have 2 #5 starters at the roster at the same time. But I definitely haven't given up on Sanabia yet, and maybe Volstad. West, sadly, is way down on that list.