Small Market Blues Part 1

By David Jensen

At times like these, when the Yankees come into The Dome and hammer the Twins, you will invariably hear the same sad song; we don’t have enough money to compete with them. It’s a convenient excuse. Even Theo Epstein used it after the Bombers took five in a row over Boston last September. Epstein, by the way, is responsible for the second highest payroll in baseball.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. It’s a lie! For years, we’ve been brain washed into thinking that giving out big contracts would put the Twins into bankruptcy. The truth is there are no small markets, only cheap owners. Do you really think there are far more Padres fans in southern California than Twins fans in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas? Carl Pohlad is the 107^th richest man in America. Net worth $2.6 billion. It would be higher, but he’s given a lot of money to his kids the last few years. Pohlad is richer than Steinbrenner. He’s a true fat cat.

Not only has this robber baron convinced us that he is too poor for the Twins to compete, but he bamboozled Hennepin County into paying the lion’s share of the new stadium*. Consequently, we are resigned to the fact that Johan will be playing elsewhere in two years. There is a silver lining to this. If the Twins are 15 games back at the break, it boggles the mind to think what Terry Ryan could get for Santana. If the Cubs are involved, we could walk away with a whole farm team and a 49% stake in Wrigley Field plus the concession sales. But I would rather see Pohlad pony up the 200 million clams** to have Santana bring more Cy Youngs to Minnesota. The Twins haven’t made a significant productive free agent signing in ten years.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not calling for an all out spending spree on free agents in the off season. I like the way the Twins do business. I prefer the building and harvesting of a quality farm system to the signing of flash-in-the-pan free agents to outrageous contracts. Ryan is the master of the occasional shrewd trade for players entering their prime, rather than draining the minors for players on their way down and signing guys who will round out the line up nicely instead of relying on them to be the line up. To be continued.

*Altogether now: We ain’t gettin’ no stadium!

**If the market stays as it is now, and teams are desperate enough, don’t be shocked if he gets that over a long term deal.