I stumbled across this the other day: A list of the ten worst franchises in pro sports. The Minnesota Twins made the list, coming in at number seven. Here's what was written:
"Moneyball" is to baseball what frugal is to cheap; it's a creative way of saying, "we're not going to pay for our stars or reward our veterans who have earned their keep." Sabermetrics and scientific stats are used to evaluate players and give a better indication of their worth, but teams like the Minnesota Twins use this strategy to kiss their superstars goodbye at the trade deadline or the first day of free agency. The Twins constantly sell proven veterans for prospects and draft picks, but when those youngsters finally develop, they get shipped away to start the cycle again. The Twins incessantly look to the future and winning now is not a priority. Translation: the Twins care more about the dollars than about winning.
Ahh, to be young and innocent enough to believe the Twins have a shot. (David Sherman / Getty Images) Puzzling personnel plays: Trading Johan Santana and failing to re-sign Torii Hunter.
Remember ... 2002: A year removed from a contraction battle, the Minnesota Twins (under first-year manager Ron Gardenhire) make it to the American League Championship Series. With a solid roster and a light payroll, 2002 would have been the perfect season to sacrifice some future players to add some veteran players at the trade deadline and make a serious run. Instead, the Twins entered the playoffs with the youngest roster in the league and never stood a chance in the ALCS after beating fellow cheapskates, the Oakland Athletics, in the first round.
Can you pick out the basis of the authors argument?
UPDATE: Looks like the readers of FOX Sports might disagree. After over eighty-one thousand votes, 2% thought the Twins were the worst franchise in pro sports. I guess that means about 1,500 people voted for us, but I think we can safely say they are at least 1,400 of those votes came from AJ Pierzynski refreshing his browser.Some of the best comments from the article:
"The Twins? They've won their division FOUR TIMES since 2002, averaging 80 wins a season with a .546 winning percentage since '01. Guess that makes you a BLEEP. Or maybe you're just mad because you're wife's not giving you any." - Jhawk08
"This retard Golokav (and apologies to actual retards here) should be paid less than baby-sitters for the time spent creating this Top 10. First--why does a small market/newer put automatically qualify you as bad franchise?" - Razorblades
"SHUT UP YOU STUPID BLEEP THE TWINS KICK BLEEP!!! the guy below me is damn smart he actually nows what he's talking about twins are at the top of the AL Central. and if you think the twins franchise BLEEPs F U Kerby Pukket, Kent Herbeck, Tony Oliva, oh yea the all BLEEP, NOT" - QAZ
5 comments:
haas, I added the bottom stuff, I couldnt help but laugh at all the super angry comments.
I think it's a dumb article as the "proof" is that the Twins made the playoffs a year after almost being contracted. But I am not about to call everyone retards.
yea, i read those comments too. doesn't make twins fans sound too intelligent. I was going to write a counter to his argument, but decided to let our wonderful commenters do it. that worked out well.
So, he invokes “Moneyball” as the reason the Twins are a crappy franchise, but doesn’t put the Oakland A’s on the list! All the criticisms he provides of the Twins could be made more convincingly about the A’s. We win more than the A’s do. We keep more “stars” than the A’s do. We have more foul territory than…wait, they got us there.
I’m not saying that the A’s should be on the list. They too pretty much contend every year. But, if you put the Twins on the list you have to put the A’s higher on the list.
Isnt one of the main reasons that the competative playing field in MLB has leveled somewhat over the last few seasons that organizations have begun to copycat their organizations after the Minnesota Twins' style of the early 00's?
Havent the New Yorks and Bostons of the world started to keep, maintain and develop their farm systems instead of trade them off for big name free agents?
Why is it everytime the Twins are mentioned by media outside of the MPLS/ST PAUL area the first thing that is mentioned is what a model organization the Twins have and how they do all the little things right?
I might be a little quick and defenisve to fire back at this but I gotta say that including the Twins in that list is pretty lame.
So what if Im a homer.
I never pay attention or care about any of these sort've polls or surveys, but I find it funny that the Twins are on that list instead of the Timberwolves.
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