Heterodox Views on Politics and Public Policy from Michael Blaine

Friday, November 2, 2007

Twins Fans Want A-Rod, Mr. Pohlad

A-Rod Should Swing in Minnesota

I am tired of Minnesota Twins fans accepting the canard that team owner Carl Pohlad somehow can't afford to bring the very best free agent baseball players to town. In that regard, I recently posted the following commentary on a sports blog connected to the Minneapolis StarTribune:

'“Iggy Iggthorne says:

November 1st, 2007 at 11:11 pm

Personally, I think A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez] is one of the best ever! I’d take him in a nano-second if we could afford him.”

Iggy, of course we [Pohlad] can afford A-Rod! Why would you think otherwise?!

Carl Pohlad’s net worth is at least $2.8 billion. He has been the beneficary of massive income tax cuts in ‘01 and ‘03, and a series of capital gains tax cuts.

Moreover, he bilked the taxpayers for a new stadium and he receives millions of dollars in annual revenue sharing payments from Major League Baseball. Furthermore, the Twin Cities are the fifteenth largest baseball market in the nation, meaning the Minnesota team is not small market, but mid-market.

We Twins fans need to show more self respect by not accepting underdog financial status and demanding a lot from our team and its filthy-rich owner.

We deserve the best, and this winter that means signing not inferior players like Luis Rodriguez ("L-Rod"), Jason Tyner or Nick Punto, but baseball's best player: A-Rod!' Minnesotans deserve to experience another World Series victory, or at least host a team that genuinely wants one.'