Brian Murphy: Twins' choke job deserves a reckoning
Wednesday’s 75-degree kiss sure felt like a farewell to summer, with frost warnings on the horizon and the Minnesota Twins’ 2022 season on a cold slab.
Talk about a funeral march.
The Twins went to bed May 24 with a 5 ½-game lead in the American League Central, puffing out their chests at 11 games over .500. Since then, they were 51-68, wheezing into the offseason having lost 20 of their last 30, including a 1-7 capitulation in September to eventual division champion Cleveland.
From first place Labor Day weekend to 14 games out a month later. No train has derailed that fast since Coke changed its flavor.
Never mind all that, though. The Twins are getting new logos and uniforms in 2023!
Pay no attention to the marketing sleight of hand going on at 1 Twins Way. This was a double-fisted choke job that deserves a reckoning as apathy deepens among the public.
Not some convenient housecleaning of personnel. The issues plaguing the franchise will not be solved by firing manager Rocco Baldelli or president of baseball operations Derek Falvey.
I am talking about real reform. A New Deal with a fanbase that has been taken for granted and practically scolded for demanding more than another flaccid season or first-round playoff exit.
What happened to the ballclub on the field is nothing compared to the startling malpractice in the training room. How do you justify built-in days off for stars like Byron Buxton when he was among 31 players who spent time on the injured list? Many of the infirm were key starters and repeat customers.
The entire medical staff and their rehabilitation services must be arthroscopically scrutinized and overhauled to address a systemic failure to prevent injuries, treat them efficiently and keep players available to work in daily competition.
The Twins are at a pivotal crossroads as a baseball operation and value proposition. They are a viable contender on paper but a stale product on a hard-to-reach shelf. And an expensive one at that.
There is very little joy surrounding this team, from Baldelli’s robotic calculations in the dugout and dearth of personality in the clubhouse to Falvey’s clinical preaching and the pervasive group think of his front office.
Target Field has looked and felt like a ghost town since the pandemic. Totally devoid of energy or anything resembling home-field advantage. The Bomba Squad might as well be on a black-and-white newsreel.
We can toss around the political football of whether Minneapolis is too unsafe for suburbanites to venture out of their strip mall jungles into downtown. Or for greater Minnesotans to funnel paychecks into their gas tanks and tunnel-vision their trip into the big, bad city for 3-plus hours of halting entertainment.
Perceptions may not match reality, but they are real. If people still do not feel secure in large crowds, or like valued customers, they will stay away in droves. No matter how many viral mascot races or virtual distractions they are bludgeoned with at the ballpark.
Our shrinking disposable incomes are subsidizing a soulless roster that cannot stay healthy while playing fundamentally unsound baseball in the most boring manner.
Luis Arraez’s remarkable season as AL batting champion should be celebrated along with rookie flamethrower Jhoan Duran, whose bullpen dominance was a revelation.
Not at the expense of demanding more accountability from a team that has been treading water and printing money for far too long.
And the fleecing is not limited to ticketholders.
Television viewers are treated like chum by the sharks at Bally Sports North whose merciless hunt for revenue makes Old Man Potter look like Mother Teresa. It is exhausting chasing Twins telecasts across costlier cable, satellite and streaming platforms only to be insulted once they get there.
Fans are treated like chumps by announcers conditioned to sanitize what we can see, hear and read with our own eyes. It’s intellectually dishonest to bury the hard realities of this epic collapse under transparent silver linings and relentless happy talk.
The AL Central was the Twins’ for the taking, though I am not sure where they would have headed. Perhaps Tampa Bay offered the best chance for Minnesota to win at least one playoff game and end that ghastly 18-game losing streak.
But running another division championship flag up the pole in left field is not good enough. It is passive mediocrity. Getting back to the World Series for the first time since 1991 should be the minimum standard in this market.
The Twins have a once-in-a-generation chance to truly attack their big-market competitors in Chicago or on the coasts by re-signing superstar shortstop Carlos Correa.
Yeah, it was cute how they stealthily swooped after the lockout and wooed Correa from the Astros with a three-year, $105-million contract that allows him to opt-out after the Fall Classic.
The Twins thought they could catch lightning in a bottle this year with the Gold Glove recipient, two-time all-star, world champion and former AL Rookie of the Year.
Correa vanished at times this season, but he still finished with 22 home runs, 64 RBIs and a solid .291 average while playing stellar defense.
He just turned 28. A proven player and leader in the prime years of his career. The world is his oyster.
The Twins cannot afford to lose Correa, but they may not be able to afford him.
You know the Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, et al. will come to the free-agent table with a long-term deal of Monopoly money against a mid-market like Minnesota.
So what? It’s high time to roll the dice at the whale table.
Chairman Jim Pohlad must step up and at least sign off on a competitive bid for Correa. Letting him walk because the price is too steep sends a complacent message when you are trying to retain season-ticketholders and sell casual fans on the notion that a day at the ballpark is worth their time and treasure.
Do not dare make this long winter longer.
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