Souhan: There’s still hope for both the Twins and for baseball

Sometimes, Minnesota is a miserable place to be a baseball fan.

The Twins owners cut the payroll when they had a chance to win big, and they won’t sell the team to someone who might be more aggressive.

The Twins front office watched a batch of young players fail in consecutive summers, then fired the guy who filled out the lineup card, not the one who drafted and developed the young players.

The Twins are victims of a cartel of large-market franchises that refuse to share local revenues, turning the Twins — a middle-market team with a great ballpark and a fan base that will support a winner — into an underfunded entry in a rigged race.

I’ve seen a lot of bad baseball up close in Minnesota. The Twins’ selloff at the trade deadline this summer wasn’t a travesty because of the actual deals — 80 to 100% of which were either routine or shrewd — but because the fan base has seen the Twins be noncompetitive for five to eight years at a time. The trades symbolized a hot stove for a fan base with burned fingertips.

I’m not going to make excuses for the Twins, or predict on-field success. I’ll just note that there are good stories in baseball that you might have missed while you were pulling out your hair.

1. The Twins hired LaTroy Hawkins as their bullpen coach

Sometimes when a talented young player breaks through, it’s because the right person spoke the right words. Justin Morneau was driving his career into a deep ditch when Ron Gardenhire called him in for a talk early in the 2006 season. Morneau responded immediately and became the American League MVP.

Early in his career, Hawkins was one of the least-successful young pitchers in Major League Baseball history. He kept working at his craft and pitched for 21 years in the majors.

He has worked as a Twins advisor and instructor, and with Team USA. He and his wife, Anita, have also done remarkable work in support of domestic violence survivors.

They established a foundation called “Find One Reason to Smile,” and donated a house in South Dallas for the nonprofit Women Called Moses.

Hawkins is one of the best people I’ve met, and his hiring should not be overlooked. Good on the Twins and manager Derek Shelton.

Baseball’s transformation into an international game paid off this fall.

Game 7 between the Blue Jays and Dodgers was the most watched baseball game on TV worldwide since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, when the Twins’ Jack Morris pitched a 10-inning shutout at the Metrodome to beat Atlanta.

This year’s Game 7 averaged 51.0 million viewers across the United States, Canada and Japan.

This year’s seven-game Series averaged 34.0 million viewers across the United States, Canada and Japan, the largest audience for a World Series since 1992, and representing a 19% increase over last year.

In the United States, the Series was the most-watched since 2017, and there was an 11% increase in viewers 17 and younger.

The Brewers started the season with a lower payroll than the Twins and won more regular-season games than any other team in baseball, going 97-65. It’s not all about money.

4. Kids matter

For all of the Twins’ problems, they do have organizational depth.

The Twins’ World Series titles were built on homegrown talent that matured at the right time — Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Chuck Knoblauch, etc.

The competitive teams of the 2000s were built on standout youngsters such as Torii Hunter, Morneau and Joe Mauer.

The next test for the owners and front office is what they do when those youngsters are ready to win.