I’ve seen a lot of articles discussing the Twins where a narrative of the last three seasons seems to be repeated. I don’t believe the narrative is fully accurate. Let’s take a closer look at each season and I’ll explain what I mean.

2023: The narrative is that the Twins won our first playoff series in a long time. Then the Pohlad’s decided to make a massive payroll cut. And it’s left at that with implication being that “Cheap Pohlad's” was the cause. The part that no longer gets mentioned is that the Twins were about to lose millions from TV revenues. And there was a part that wasn’t known at the time. When the Pohlad's tried to sell the team, we found out that the team was deeply in debt. So, it wasn’t as if the Pohlad’s decided to cut the payroll capriciously. And given that one of the reasons for the high debt was because they didn’t let employees go during covid as most teams did, I’m saying this wasn’t a time when “Cheap Pohlad's” was fair. Especially given the next season our team was competitive going into the trading deadline.

2024: The narrative is that the Twins were in the hunt for the playoffs, but the players faltered as the season neared its conclusion. But was that the real reason we fell out of contention? I remember that summer there being a lot of speculation that the Twins would make a deal at the trade deadline to improve the team. Much of the speculation was centered around acquiring a big hitter. At the deadline we acquired Trevor Richards, a relief pitcher. His WAR with Toronto at the time of the trade was negative 0.4. The Twins whiffed. I remember in 2003 we acquired Shannon Stewart at the trade deadline. It felt like the phrase I often heard for the rest of the season was how much that trade energized the Twins. I think the reverse can be true. When the Twins didn’t do anything to improve the team it was like letting all the air out of a balloon. Yes, the players faltered. But was that because management gave them no support? I’m not suggesting it was intentional, but subconsciously they were given the message that management didn’t care. And if you’ve worked for a boss that didn’t care about you, you know you weren’t at your best. At the trading deadline, we were eleven games over 500 (59-48). For the rest of the season, we were 9 games under 500 (23-32). When you consider the cost of a rental player for two months vs. the additional revenue from increased attendance of being in a playoff race and potential playoff revenues, I think in this instance “Cheap Pohlad's” is justified.

2025: The narrative is that the team was not doing well, so management decided to hold a fire sale. That’s true, but it ignores why the team wasn’t doing well. On June 4th, we were 7 games over 500 (34-27). For the rest of the season, we were 29 games under 500 (36-65). Why June 4th? The next day Pablo Lopez went on the 60 day DL. At that point the players knew that based on the last year, there would be no support coming from management to try to pick up the slack from losing our Ace.  So, the players faltered.

This is why I have a problem with Tom Pohlad’s statements that he’ll see where the team is at later in the season before he decides to make any moves. If he’s willing to do something it should be done sooner rather than later. After the last three years they’re not going to react to vague future promises. Show them that they’re going to be supported.