FoxSports.com: Twins 7th-worst franchise in sports
Posted on May 8th, 2008 – 1:19 PMBy Michael Rand
Though cyberspace is essentially infinite, we still doubt we have enough space to properly rebut the nonsense we are about to share with you. Joe C., with the help of a reader, passed along a list from FoxSports.com of the 10 worst sports franchises. It’s a predictable and lazy attempt to grab some eyes, as most top 10 lists are. And it would be nothing more offensive than that if not for this:
7. Minnesota Twins
“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.
The author, Dave Golokhov (apparently of Askmen.com fame), goes on to rip the Twins for, get this, 2002. Yes, the year they went to the ALCS. He thinks they should have added more veterans to the mix that year. He doesn’t mention that mortgaging the future then might have negated the three division titles they won in the next four years. Nor does he mention the new ballpark funded, in part, by the “cheap” ownership. Or the 1987 and 1991 World Series titles. But we digress. The notion of having the Twins anywhere near this list is absurd. They’re keeping company with qualified dregs like the Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Cardinals. But really, even in a list as inherently subjective as this one, there are 50-100 or so franchises more qualified than the local 9. The commenters over at Fox have already pretty well taken him to task. We will say no more except to sum it up thusly:
14 Responses to "FoxSports.com: Twins 7th-worst franchise in sports"
Even lowly bloggers think this guy’s a stupidhead.
It’s official, the internets are trying to kill Patrick Reusse.
He was so excited for Curmudgeonpalooza, and now the bloggers had to go and rain on his good day.
“No I won’t make out with you”
Rand
What day are you going to moderate the Twins gameday posts?
Stu +1
I know it wasn’t on Randball but the cake comment to Howard was nice.
I agree. Stu, that was nicely played.
Stu: as usual, thanks for noticing. You make lowly worthless bloggers feel so special.
Afternoon baseball is nothing but wonderful.
Also, I’d like to say that adding “palooza” to the end of any festival is just as lame as ending every scandal with “gate”
Heh. I saw the May 8 “updated” tag on the Fox post and assumed it was new. Kudos to the Marth. Long live the blogs!
Yeah, I thought this looked familiar.
Afternoon baseball is nothing but wonderful.
It’s like a (redacted) playground for us (redacted), isn’t it?
Stu +1
Stu: RandBall’s Steve Martin.
I can see that Stu is kind of a Jerk.
Dave Golokhov is actually from Askmen.com.
“Fire Joe Morgan” sets it right, however.
