Readers Write: The Twins, the Democratic Party, Rep. Kelly Morrison

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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In less than one week, Derek Falvey, president of baseball operations for the Twins, has fully implemented Minnesota Twins Project 2025. Using an Elon Musk-like strategy of first destroying an organization in order to (in theory) improve it, Falvey has jettisoned 40% of the team roster, leaving a shell of a team to compete for the remainder of the baseball season. Like the U.S. taxpayers, we Twins fans are left to deal with the resulting chaos, pay for our season tickets and our season-long video subscriptions (which are set to auto-renew for the 2026 season), etc.

Likely in response to Major League Baseball and an as-yet-unannounced new owner, Falvey has gutted the organization, leaving it unable to compete. Twins Project 2025 called for reduced payroll to entice a buyer — a new owner who will now likely get rid of this “Elon,” too, along with on-field leadership. We fans will then be treated to a marketing campaign promising “One Big Beautiful Team,” the long-dreamed-of postseason success, etc. — dreams which were of course destroyed by the team’s previous administration.

Where have we heard all this before?

Lee Rodel, Hugo

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While I am not happy with many trades made, may I remind that player:

You better be careful or else fans could say, “No one wants to watch you anymore.”

Dan Janal, Shorewood

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Congrats to the Twins. Minnesota now has, at best, two AAA teams. One is in St. Paul, one in Minneapolis. The Twins betrayed the fans and saved a lot of payroll. Is there a chance that ticket prices will reflect Triple-A prices, and that Twins TV will lower subscription rates? After all, we are watching Minor League Baseball.

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Why did the Twins go to the trouble of making multiple trades, including those of Top 5 relievers and proven major league players? Only one transaction would have been necessary — the firing of Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli.

KJ Hollingsworth, Edina

On Aug. 4, a reader wrote in the letter to the editor “It’s the moderates who decide elections” that he is “a lifelong Democrat ... who has always believed in the core values of fairness, opportunity and justice that the Democratic Party has historically represented.” But then he proceeded to go off the rails with unsubstantiated statements that Democrats are “drifting too far toward the political fringe” and “losing touch with the broader, more moderate base of Americans who want common sense, not ideological extremes.”

I ask: What “political fringe,” what “moderate base,” what “ideological extremes,” where’s the “common sense”? Unfortunately, we are “drifting” into a world where advocating for “core values of fairness, opportunity and justice” are no longer “common sense.” What’s fair about deporting people without due process, denying transgender people access to health care, eliminating USAID, cutting people’s access to health insurance in order to give tax cuts to millionaires? Where’s the “common sense” in Trump tariffs?

If empathetically standing by the disadvantaged, supporting DEI and supporting public education and access to health care are now considered “ideologically extreme,” then count me as an ideological extremist.

John Fredell, Minneapolis

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Democrats can’t win. The more Trump acts out, the more some Democrats blame former President Joe Biden for entering the 2024 presidential race and, once he did, not getting out early enough, or they blame former Vice President Kamala Harris for not winning.

On the Republican side — until the Jeffrey Epstein imbroglio — no matter how erratic or unhinged Trump appeared, Republicans lined up behind him with smiles on their faces.

Apparently, fearing the election of a DSA candidate for mayor would hurt Walz’s outstate chances (in his yet-unannounced bid for re-election), he opted to get out ahead of the curve and help the more moderate Frey with his re-election bid. It seems at least possible that Walz may alienate more metro Democratic voters than he may gain outstate voters with his endorsement.

Former Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler’s advice seems spot-on: Dems need to elevate populist economic policies and moderate elsewhere. “We need to be able to sell that to people in small towns and rural areas.”

That sounds like a good approach for local, state and national elections. After all, the U.S. electorate chose a faux populist for president twice. It may like a genuine populist even more.

Gene Case, Andover

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We can expect DSA candidates to shy away from these extremes and focus only on other positions in the DSA platform that somewhat overlap with progressive positions, but the more extreme elements of the DSA platform clearly signal a vision and direction that is not in the best interests of our city and that our city’s DFL progressives cannot support.

John Satorius, Minneapolis

The recent characterization of U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison in an Aug. 1 letter to the editor was far off-base and indicates an ignorance of Morrison’s character, work ethic and platform. This is all the more frustrating because Morrison is easy to communicate with through her office and regularly holds events to talk to her constituents. She will have a booth at the State Fair. She is a true citizen’s representative, having come out of the private sector and putting her career on hold in response to the harm of Trumpism filling the GOP with transactional politics that hurt not only the public but the character of the government. She is smart and thoughtful, with integrity and grit. Her record of proposing and passing legislation speaks for itself. Morrison and I are not personal friends, but I have worked on every campaign of hers (as a volunteer) since her unlikely win for the state House in 2018.

I completely understand the writer’s frustration with the Democratic Party, but I can tell you that Morrison is a bright light in the current darkness.