The Dirty Diaper

Carl Pohlad’s spokesman is at it again.

In his May 7 Star Tribune column, Sid Hartman again showed amazing bias and favor for Carl Pohlad and a new ballpark by not only aiding Pohlad’s threats, but assuring fans that if the team doesn’t get a new park, they’ll most certainly move.

He starts by explaining that MLB commissioner Bud Selig called Governor Tim Pawlenty, saying that it was critical that the Twins get a new ballpark, the point being that there are other entrepreneurs out there who would like to own a major league team.

Hartman writes that there are several major league owners who would welcome Major League Baseball buying the Twins and moving them and that there is no shortage of potential owners with money to burn who would buy the club if they moved to a new market.

If there are so many millionaires out there willing to buy the club, how come Pohlad won’t sell? How come none of them are willing to pay for a new ballpark? The answers are pretty basic. The team isn’t worth the artificial grass they play on in the old dome. The value will skyrocket when the team gets a new ballpark and the revenue rolls in. Pohlad knows this and won’t sell before that happens, either in Minneapolis or some other city. And no owner would willingly cough up private funds for a new park and be on the hook for a multi-million dollar patch of grass when the team on it can’t generate two dimes to rub together because they stink.

The most insulting prose from Hartman: “A new owner might come in here and say: ‘I am not going to contribute one nickel to building a new stadium. Build it with tax dollars like they have done in other places or this team is going to move.’” So, according to Hartman, we have to be like other cities and pay for a park so we can keep our ball team.

The Twins are not profitable, but it is no one’s fault except Pohlad’s that he has owned them for so long and lost money. Most successful business owners would sell or cut their losses if they can’t make their business profitable. And the fans are not to blame here. Neither is Major League Baseball. Even with revenue sharing, it is not MLB’s responsibility to make teams profitable. If it were, MLB would own all the teams. But he’ll continue to threaten the state and the fans with moving the team unless they provide a new place to play so he can make money. And when the team does become profitable, Pohlad will sell.

Anyone who threatens his or her supporters has no loyalty toward them.

Because Pohlad can’t apparently grease the government wheels as much as he wants, he sidles up to Hartman who can climb on his soapbox and call out anyone who might have a problem with public funds paying for a private playground. Hartman knows that if the Twins don’t get a new park, he’ll lose his free seat in the press box, and I’ll bet Pohlad reminds him of that every Twins home game.

Business is a game, money is how you keep score. Carl Pohlad is a loser. A big loser. He is holding fans accountable for his failure and the future of the team in Minnesota.

posted by Windel  # 4:15 PM