Game-Changer: Pohlad Family Announces They Will Explore Selling Twins

[nova_twins]

10 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

That's exactly what the Marlins did.

That's just not true. Payroll went up and then as a strategy, used by other clubs, in year 3 they blew up the failed core and started over. 

There are never guarantees but anyone who buys the current core is going to want to try and make the playoffs. 

[nicksaviking]

24 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Who cares whether the new owner is local or not? 

Probably doesn't matter either way, but with a local buyer, you at least have an outside chance that the person would actually be a Twins fan and motivated to go all out for his or her life-long favorite team.

[SF Twins Fan]

What's the powerball at?  headed to a gas station after work to buy a couple of tickets.

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, SF Twins Fan said:

What's the powerball at?  headed to a gas station after work to buy a couple of tickets.

You'd only need to win at this level about fifteen to twenty times.... Good luck!

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, nova_twins said:

That's just not true. Payroll went up and then as a strategy, used by other clubs, in year 3 they blew up the failed core and started over. 

There are never guarantees but anyone who buys the current core is going to want to try and make the playoffs. 

The Marlins went from a 115M opening day payroll in 2017, sold in 2018 and haven't had an opening day payroll over 100M since. They've been a bottom ten payroll team every year, and a bottom five payroll team all but two of those years.

[Craig Arko]

Okay, Mauer family. Get this done.

[Riverbrian]

I've got around $100,000 that I can part with... Give a take a grand or two. 

Maybe we can pool our money on Twinsdaily and raise the other 1.5 Billion. 

Anybody In? 

 

[Craig Arko]

Just now, Riverbrian said:

I've got around $100,000 that I can part with... Give a take a grand or two. 

Maybe we can pool our money on Twinsdaily and raise the other 1.5 Billion. 

Anybody In? 

 

Actually, the Packers model of public ownership is pretty appealing. 

[Riverbrian]

Just now, Craig Arko said:

Actually, the Packers model of public ownership is pretty appealing. 

That's what I love about you Mr. Arko.

You always see it. 

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Okay, Mauer family. Get this done.

The people that moved to Florida to not pay taxes? Unlikely. 

[nova_twins]

3 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

The Marlins went from a 115M opening day payroll in 2017, sold in 2018 and haven't had an opening day payroll over 100M since. They've been a bottom ten payroll team every year, and a bottom five payroll team all but two of those years.

This is cherry picking. In 2015 the Marlins ranked 30th in payroll and in 2016 they ranked 26th. At an overall level payroll did not drop. 

[Rod Carews Birthday]

We all need to calm down.  
1. These things take a LONG time usually.  
2. We may not love the Pohlad family ownership, but there are surely MUCH worse ones out there.  
3. Moving the team, while certainly unlikely, is also not impossible. 
4. The two WS championships, while admittedly long ago, are more than MANY other clubs have in that time.  AND all of the name calling is irresponsible.  
5. As others have stated, this likely puts a further damper on much happening this offseason as things get figured out. 
Put me in the “this could be good” category, but the devil will be in the details.  

[BJS]

Great news

[Rod Carews Birthday]

1 minute ago, nova_twins said:

This is cherry picking. In 2015 the Marlins ranked 30th in payroll and in 2016 they ranked 26th. At an overall level payroll did not drop. 

Oooooo.  Wow!  They moved to 26th. That’s certainly impressive.  

[mluebker]

While it was a different era, the only two World Championships the Twins have came under the ownership of Smilin' Carl. The Pohlads get my thanks for that. And they got the team out of that Teflon™ TV studio into an actual ballpark, so that's something.

But it would be nice to have owners who actually care about baseball enough to invest a little more into putting a winning team into that ballpark, as they promised to do when they advocated for it.

I know the Twins won't ever match the Yankees' payroll unless MLB comes up with a more effective way to share revenue among the big media markets and the smaller ones, but it would be nice to see a season like 2023 rewarded with something other than a deep salary cut.

[nicksaviking]

4 minutes ago, nova_twins said:

This is cherry picking. In 2015 the Marlins ranked 30th in payroll and in 2016 they ranked 26th. At an overall level payroll did not drop. 

Well I thought the idea was that the status quo wasn't acceptable. Now were happy with new owners doing the same thing the Pohalds do?

[In My La Z boy]

50 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

This is much like the talk of replacing the front office or Rocco or anyone. Could get better, could stay the same, could get worse. I don't think the Pohlads were the worst owners in baseball, but I don't think they truly cared about winning. The new owners may care about winning or they may care even more about profits than the Pohlads. 

Just like I'd like to move on from Falvey and Rocco, I'm happy to "move on" from the Pohlads. Not because I think they're the worst owners in baseball, but because I don't think they were the right people to lead the Twins to a championship (like I don't think Falvey and Rocco are). But I have to be realistic and understand that there's a lot worse possible outcomes, as well. 

My hopes are we get somebody who wants to stay in MN and has a vision for engaging and growing the fan base that will allow them to better invest in the team and get us where we all want to be. I would've liked this move more a few years ago before the Pohlads (and Dave St Peter) started completely alienating their fan base and making terrible decision after terrible decision when it came to their marketing and fan engagement, but a new owner can reignite the fans passion with some early wins in strategy. I don't need an owner that will pay to get themselves out of the low parts of the team building cycle, but I do need one that will pay to get themselves over the top during the high parts. An owner who cares about winning does that. That was always my complaint with the Pohlads. When it's bad, blow it up and make your profit with low payrolls. When it's good invest and don't worry about profits while you try to win. I think that's a reasonable hope for the next owner of the Minnesota Twins. But there's just as much of a chance we get somebody worse who cares even more about profits all the time. We'll have to wait and see how things progress and who jumps in on the bidding.

Great comment. Agree 100%. I hope we get an owner w/local ties of some sort. Mauer should put together a group. Great news and I hope it happens.

[LastOnePicked]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

This is WAY better than the Twins getting into the playoffs. 

No, it's not.

But it could have been both/and. AND, it might have boosted the sale price a bit, too.

[nicksaviking]

*********Moderator Note*********

This is obviously a big deal and some good conversation is occurring, but continue without the name calling and personal attacks.

[sun]

I give the Pohlads credit for helping to save the Twins & stabilizing the team in Minny. There's too much hate & blame on them for the direction of the team. That anger needs to be directed to the front office which is who they relied on. The injuries & bad trades aren't their fault. The reality is that Minny is a small market team & that will never change. The fans tend to forget that virtually no owner will want to take financial losses & gambles to win pennants.  This all reminds me of The Who song that goes - "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"

All we can do is hope but I'm not going to blame the Pohlads. They've been good people and provided us fans with good entertainment for the most part. The hate & anger needs to end which may be why they're selling. They're smart people, they're good people. They have been good for the team, & for Minny. Let's pray & hope for a better future for everyone including the Pohlads. Stop the hate.

[BH67]

57 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

He could move the team. That's what everyone was so afraid of when he bought it. Just like people are irrationally afraid of right now. 

This is GREAT news and I'm sorry some people can't celebrate this. We're getting rid of owners that have never cared about baseball.  

Twins can be the Padres. Twins can be the Cardinals. Twins can be the Rockies...uh, scratch that last one. (except they're still a much better organization that the Twins). 

Saying that the Pohlads never cared about baseball is indefensible. Forty years ago, their intervention probably kept the Twins in Minnesota. Their desire to make considerable profit is front and center, but I would expect that of any business owner. And acquiring Carlos Correa speaks well of their desire to have a competitive product presently.

All that said, their response to the end of the 2024 season told me that they had reached too comfortable an acceptance of status quo performance without consequence. They need to sell for that reason most of all, and that will rekindle my interest in the 2025 Twins. But making ad hominem broadsides about them is disrespectful at the very least.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Meanwhile, the business office is already making preparations for this year’s TwinsFest:

[CCH]

22 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

We all need to calm down.  
1. These things take a LONG time usually.  
2. We may not love the Pohlad family ownership, but there are surely MUCH worse ones out there.  
3. Moving the team, while certainly unlikely, is also not impossible. 
4. The two WS championships, while admittedly long ago, are more than MANY other clubs have in that time.  AND all of the name calling is irresponsible.  
5. As others have stated, this likely puts a further damper on much happening this offseason as things get figured out. 
Put me in the “this could be good” category, but the devil will be in the details.  

1. Sales don't always take long. Orioles sale took 2 months

2. calling someone not the worst is a horrible take, and the wrong way to look at an ownership group.

3. The stadium has a no move clause until 2040. Do your research.

4. Those two WS championships were under the original owner Carl Pohlad, Don't compare the current ownership group to the original.

5. What are you basing this off of? They still have a team and need to get ready for 2025. 

 

[roger]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

The Target Field lease has a non-relocation clause until 2040. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon even with new owners. 

2040 is a lot closer than you may realize. 

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Meanwhile, the business office is already making preparations for this year’s TwinsFest:

DSP updating his resume...

[Craig Arko]

1 minute ago, roger said:

2040 is a lot closer than you may realize. 

And clauses can be bought out. Just like Santa.

[TFRazor]

Well this certainly wasn't on my Bingo card for a random Thursday in October

[LastOnePicked]

I love this news.

As it is, the Twins are settling in as one of the also-rans of the American League. Beautiful ballpark, occasional playoff appearances, and no real motivation for a title. I remember when Correa signed here again in 2023, an ESPN commentator said something like, "I don't know why he chose Minnesota. They don't win. He's not going to win anything there."

The word is out about this organization.

New ownership group might be terrible, making the pathway to a title seem pretty distant. I can't possibly see how that's different from what we're already experiencing. Compared to the league, the Twins are already back to Metrodome-era spending.

New ownership - for personal or business reasons - might see a winning Twins team as a priority. That would truly be a game changer. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Proof that the Pohlads read Twins Daily.

[Musk21]

If they lose their arbitration case versus Glen Taylor, I see no reason why ARod & Marc Lore would not be a fantastic pair to buy the Twins.