The fact that he only had a small-market ship and can't go out and get any of the big name ships would certainly be an explanation of why his ship sunk.

I, for one, am growing tired of the constant criticism of Mr. Pohlad. He is always being portrayed as an old stingy man wringing every last nickel he can out of his players and the public. But clearly this is an unfair portrayal. As evidence, I offer the following quote from a recent Strib article.

"• The four bobblehead giveaways this season will be: a Torii Hunter Gold Glove edition on May 5, Radke on June 11, Billy Martin on July 29 and Jack Morris on Sept. 9.

• A few players are changing uniform numbers this season. Morneau will switch from No. 27 to 33. Kubel will switch from No. 1 to 16. Glenn Williams will switch from No. 16 to 15. Of the new Twins, Tony Batista has been given No. 77, Rondell White No. 24 and Luis Castillo No. 1."

Now, note that NOWHERE does it indicate either that the public will be CHARGED for said bobbleheads NOR will these players be CHARGED to have their new numbers affixed to any of their jerseys (not even to their pixie vests!).

Certainly, this is evidence that Mr Pohlad, deep inside, has a generous heart.

JimC

Oh, and as for the ship analogy...

Clearly he would not throw BG and Santana overboard. In fact he would pay Santana handsomely to remain. He would, of course, cast a lustful eye toward BG to determine just how much she might feel comfortable paying to stay and enjoy his (or more importantly, Santana's) company and then charge her $1 more than said amount, just to make her really appreciate the experience.

And when the big ship came along to rescue them, yes of course he takes it over... but only because he notices that the ship's current management has it heading toward... say... the Carolinas. His takeover of the ship is simply because he believes it should return to it's true home port, causing BG and all others on board to celebrate.

By the time they reach the port, however, many on board complain about the ship and believe a new one should be purchased... but are unwilling to pay a fraction of a penny toward the cost (perhaps because they can't figure out how to cut a penny in to smaller pieces).

So the real question is... what port is the ship bound for next and who will be aboard?

Personally, I am genuinely tired of all the Pohlad bashing. He is far from a saint, but he has enabled the Twins to stay in Minnesota and has chosen very, very good people to run his team. What he wants as far as the stadium goes is no different than what has taken place in most major sports cities, and to characterize him as some kind of greedy, selfish swine is to call him a billionaire - you don't reach that level without, to some degree, being a greedy, selfish swine. Sad, but true. Were the Twins in almost any other state in the US, and were they to have presented a stadium proposal like the last one to that state's legislature, we'd be hearing about designs for the new ballpark and watching excavation begin. But not in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Also, with the Metrodome deal being so heavily skewed toward the Vikings, Pohlad even tried to set up a Twins network (Victory), in an attempt to get some more revenue the way Steinbrenner and many other owners have - and the idiot cable operators shut him out. So the stubborn, you're-not-gonna-take-me-to-the-cleaners-rich-guy citizens of Minnesota keep playing this pointless game of Russian roulette with the team, just so sure that all the threats of moving the team are empty. Well, folks, one of these days, it won't be an empty threat - and that'll be because, despite all his efforts to keep the team in Minnesota, Pohlad will have run out of options. And then the team will move, and y'all will blame him. Well, if they end up in Vegas or Charlotte or Portland, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

Have a groovy day.

To bolster Jim Crikket's claims about Carl Pohlad's streak of generosity I firmly believe that he would actually volunteer to jump overboard and wade alongside the lifeboat until the rescue ship comes. No need to fear though, sharks won't go anywhere near him out of professional courtesy.

I liked alot of what JimCrikket had to say - as usual - but I think one thing has been overlooked: can MLB move or contract a team without an owner's consent? If memory serves from the awful winter of 2001-02 when Darth Selig tried to kill us off, the answer to that question is no.

If this is true, then we should remember that dear old Carl was a willing partner in the near extinction of 40 years of Twins baseball. And therefore, screw him.

hey look,
Sid Hartman posts on this board! wow!

BadAndy, I really don't think there are any "good guys" in this particular drama. Pohlad has made some major blunders from a PR standpoint but frankly the citizenry of Minn and their elected representatives have made it abundantly clear that they don't care if the Twins leave (so why should they care if they're contracted?).

You say screw him. He says screw the state. In the end you both get screwed. Everyone gets what they deserve.

Au Contraire Adidasman.

We will have no one to blame but those other citizens of Minnesota.

Those who are not Batlings and/or Twins fans.

Unfortunately for us, some of them also happen to be legislators.

A groovy day to you as well.

bubblemint

Well, I assume that Sid Hartman shot was aimed at me - ouch! But I will say that I have every bit as much journalistic talent as ol' Sidney does. (That is, of course, saying absolutely nothing.)

I would just like to say I am "close personal friends" with adidasman.

Batgirl, I LOVE you.

Yankee fan should of kept it in his pants.

It's true. When $250 million was on the table (quite a bit more than the team has ever been worth on the open market), Pohlad was more than willing to hand the Twins over to contraction without a second thought. I hate him for it, and will never forgive him. I blame Selig as well, but Selig never had a personal connection, a personal obligation to the team and the town. It's one thing to offer to buy, another thing entirely to be willing to sell.

Wait....who said Portland? *laying out red carpet*

Pohlad, y'old bastard, if you want to sell the team, and you can snow the generally easily-convinced, eager young politicians here, I would kiss your...I mean, how dare you move the team from my hometown to my beloved adopted locale? Shame, shame.