Twins are second worst team for your buck in MLB

You'd be happy too if you got paid $23 million.

​The Minnesota Twins are the second worst team in Major League Baseball on value-per-dollar, according to a new Forbes Magazine study.

The rankings, which compare payroll and success, put the Twins 29th out of 30 teams, ahead of only the Chicago Cubs.

Minnesota is in the cellar thanks to Joe Mauer's $23 million salary and poor performance, and injuries to highly-paid players like Justin Morneau ($15 million) and Carl Pavano ($8 million).


Those big contracts have launched the once-stingy Twins near the top of the payroll rankings in baseball, but so far hasn't paid off in wins.

Forbes' most efficient spenders this year are the Tampa Bay Rays -- 49-39, despite the second-lowest payroll in the league -- and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Forbes acknowledged that the Twins made due with small contracts in recent years, but had recently gone on a spending spree. This season the Twins have the ninth-highest payroll in the MLB, but with less than half the season remaining they're still eight games out of first place.

In 2009, the Twins were 25th in payroll but still made the playoffs -- where, it should be noted, they got spanked by the Yankees, who had the highest payroll in the MLB.

It seems harsh to fault a team for having so many injuries to expensive players. Then again, maybe the Twins should just spend a bit more and buy some doctors.

Related:

• Joe Mauer signs 8 year/$184 million contract extension to stay with the Twins
  
• Would the Twins trade their best players?
• Mauer & Co. suffering from mighty mysterious ailments