The glorious first season in the Twins’ new outdoor ballpark came with 94 wins and a record-beating paid attendance of 3,223,640 in 2010. The Twins were then 93 games under .500 over the next three seasons and what was anticipated to be long-term Target Field magic at the gate was diving like a boulder.
Lousy pitching was the No. 1 culprit in this three-season ineptitude. The panic was such with ownership and the sales department that General Manager Terry Ryan felt the need to dive into the free-agent market.
The Twins signed starter Ricky Nolasco, 31, a 13-game winner in the National League the previous season, to a four-year, $48 million contract. This didn’t work out too well for the Twins, although it did put Ricky in position not to have to worry about expenses when he took off on those off-season vacations near the Mediterranean with his friend Giancarlo Stanton. Nolasco was 15-22 with a 5.
44 ERA in 21⁄2 seasons for the Twins. He was traded to the Angels on Aug. 1, 2016, with the Twins picking up a hunk of what remained on his contract.
This is the tale of caution that came to mind Friday as current Twins’ baseball boss Derek Falvey held a news conference under the brightest lights of any clubhouse on the North American continent. The main announcement was that Thad Levine, the general manager since Falvey took over the baseball operation in November 2016, was leaving the organization. Many words were expended in rapid fashion by Falvey to explain Levine’s de.
