Freaking morons

Speculation has been growing each day on the fate of Santana as a Twins' pitcher. Now word is out that the Twins and Yankees are talking about Santana's future...as a Yankee.

Damn.

It was bad enough to hear on THANKSGIVING that Hunter was no longer a Twin, but this...announced on the Twins official site...

To be an honest with you, even though I am a dedicated Twins fan, such a trade would have me seriously considering my allegiance...not to the players, certainly not to the game, but to the Twins management and owners.

I ask the owners/management:

ARE YOU FREAKING MORONS?

I guess the players had it figured out before this past season was over...that when Castillo was traded and the Twins didn't go out and get the hitting power they needed to be contenders it wasn't just that the management had given up on the 2007 Twins...they had given up on the Twins. Period. Exclamation point!

Ryan bailed because he was tired of being the bad guy, of being unable to sign the talent needed (or keep the talent we already had)--because Pohlad wouldn't free up the money needed. Ryan knew it was only going to get worse.

There was no real effort to keep Hunter. And now the Twins seem poised to get rid of the biggest talent in the league.

Morons. Freaking morons! (and feel free to substitute a different f-word for "freaking")

The fans are being duped. The fans got behind the new stadium because they wanted to watch great baseball outdoors. The Twins dangled in front of the fans the promise of being able to watch their favorite players when the new stadium open in 2010.

That supposedly included Hunter and Santana, two of the more popular players to grace the Twins' playing field.

Now I am no baseball naivete that expects my baseball team to remain constant. I get that players changing teams is part of the deal. It happens every year and sometimes it happens to your favorite players. It changes the nature of a team...and yet somehow a new team emerges, often better than the team that was previously in place. I have watched in awe year after year as the Twins put together contending teams, generally relying heavily on their farm system. It's part of what I love about the Twins management.

But this wholesale hemorrhage of Twin veteran players and fan favorites is asinine. Given past behavior, I have no reason to believe that the Twins would let Hunter go and then trade Santana with the plan to spend the bucks to bring in comparable talent. What history would show us is this is just another lame attempt to keep the payroll budget low.

It's all about Pohlad keeping a few more bucks in his back pocket. The new stadium is being built so who needs those star players?

We do. The fans. Yes, we want a new outdoor stadium, but we also want to watch a quality baseball team. No, we don't expect to win the division every year, but it would be nice to be in the running.

And in case you haven't figured it out Mr. Pohlad, winning baseball teams sell tickets...and that formula is needed new stadium or not.