Minnesota Twins: On Small Market-Teams, Big-Time Ballparks and Tampa Bay Rays

I’m going to start with a hypothetical question:

What if the Tampa Bay Rays build a new stadium in Tampa in 2010, the year Target Field was erected in Minneapolis?

Let’s say it’s a state-of-the-art facility right on the water surrounded by convenient parking.

For the time being, let’s eschew the attendance question (it would probably increase), the payroll question (it would probably increase as well) and cut right to the chase.

Would the team be better off?

To catch you up to speed, the Rays have produced the following records since Target Field was built: 96-66, 91-71 and they entered Friday’s series against the Minnesota Twins at 59-52.

They finished first in the AL East (you know: the one with the Yankees, Red Sox and those two other teams) in 2010 and second last year.

Comparatively, the Twins have finished 94-68, first in the AL Central, and then plummeted in their second outdoor season, escaping 2011 with a 63-99 record.

They dodged the 100-loss bullet, but did not come out unscathed.

Minnesota enters the series at 49-62.

In short, they built a beautiful stadium, increased payroll and…got worse.

Blame has been tossed everywhere: former GM Bill Smith’s ill-advised trades (the Santana deal being the headliner), Joe Mauer’s weak legs (hey, thanks for staying in Minnesota—BOOOOOOOO!!!!!) or Rick Anderson and the inept pitching staff (except for you Scott Diamond).

While the team’s poor play has stirred up a little vitriol (actually, that’s too strong for Minnesota, let’s say, umm…some well-monitored harsh feelings), ask anybody in the land of 10,000 lakes and they’ll say they’d take Target Field over the Metrodome any day.

In fact, ask any resident, even if they aren’t a baseball fan, and they’ll tell you that it’s nice having good-looking architecture, rather than a white bubble, in the middle of their city.

From management’s perspective, Minnesota has arguably become a Twins town (hey, the Vikings aren’t too hot either) and for the players, they probably don’t miss having fly balls blend in with the Metrodome ceiling.

But the new digs have not done what they were supposed to do: Bring continued success to a resourceful club.

Having previously been swept by the A’s after the All-Star Break, Minnesota faces that other-resourceful-team-that-wasn’t-featured-in-a-movie-with-Brad-Pitt-and-that-guy-from-Superbad (sorry, that was a little long).

I’m talking, of course, about the Tampa Bay we-used-to-be-the-Devil-Rays (sorry, I’m getting carried away with hyphens).

The Rays look a lot like the old Twins.

They win with a low payroll.

They play in a stadium that’s falling apart.

And they win by outpitching their opponents.

(Same could be said for the A’s too, by the way).

Don’t get me wrong, new stadiums are great (they help bring fans to the park) and increased payroll is always nice (the best players stay in town), but they can also be sketchy (owners use taxpayer money to boost the value of their clubs) and are not always popular, as illustrated by the following hypothetical conversation.

Rays owner: I want a new ballpark!

Tampa taxpayers (in unison): No!

Rays owner: Pretty please?

Tampa taxpayers: No!

Rays owner: But its falling apart.

Tampa taxpayers: No!

Rays owner: Why are you being so stubborn?

Tampa taxpayers: Are you serious?

Rays owner: What do you mean?

Tampa taxpayer: Name five teams that have built a new park recently.

Rays owner: Milwaukee Brewers.

Tampa taxpayer: One good year, then dealt their cleanup guy and ace.

Rays owner: New York Mets.

Tampa taxpayer: Got smoked by the Madoff scandal.

Rays owner: Minnesota Twins.

Tampa taxpayer: One good year and then a big fall.

Rays owner: Miami Marlins.

Tampa taxpayer: New name. New park. Same ol’ Marlins.

Rays owner: Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tampa taxpayer: Don’t even get me started. Sports Illustrated had an entire feature on that situation.

Rays owner: …

Tampa taxpayers: So yeah, we’re not giving you a new stadium.

In Game 1 on Friday, the Rays jumped on Cole De Vries early, “I don’t really see anything productive I can take from this one,” he said when asked if there was anything redeeming from the start, “Outside of working on forgetting about things.”

The offense scored six runs, but was doubled up by Tampa.

“This wasn’t about our offense tonight,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, who has two players, Ben Revere and Joe Mauer, competing for the AL batting title.

“It was about our pitching.” (Which, for the record, has the worst ERA in the AL).

In my heart of hearts I believe that the Pohlads lobbied to have the new stadium with hopes of building a perennial contender in Minnesota.

And I love, absolutely love, that Joe Mauer stayed home and wants to win a championship here rather than chase rings with the Yankees.

And this park really does make the greatest city in the world even better.

But I don’t want Minnesotan taxpayers to regret flipping the bill for the stadium.

And it would be terrible if Mauer regretted committing to the Twins.

And Target Field wouldn’t have the charm it has now if it had rows of empty seats.

In essence, I want the Twins to an example of why cities should build beautiful parks in the middle of their metropolises, not that-team-that-ruined-new-ballpark-hopes-for-all-the-other-successful-small-market-teams.

(Sorry about all the hyphens, guys).

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow him on Twitter @tschreier3.