Did the Pohlads have a change of heart?

[thelanges5]

This explains the burst in spending. Maybe they don’t have to cut like we were all led to believe. Imminent sale, Pohlads won’t have to sign the payroll checks?

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/derek-falvey-discusses-twins-payroll-future-moves-trade-market.html

[LambchoP]

I think they are trying to drum up interest in the team to get people to sign up for the new twins.tv subscription. I'm not sure Coulombe and Vader are enough. They need to sign an impact bat, that would increase subs for sure.

[Jocko87]

I don't know about a change of heart but a pretty standard development of a year the team is selling and uncertain TV revenue. There has been a lot of mathing going on.

It's been obvious from the beginning that whoever leaked the 130 number in the first place was never in a position to actually know what payroll would be.

That person only knew the information they had been given to work with.

[Shaitan]

I think it's as simple as "don't believe everything you read."

Most sports reporting is entirely based on rumors. Maybe they never had the budget that was previously reported. Maybe it changed. Only the Twins FO knows the answer.

[Blyleven2011]

I stated a day or so after the signings of coloumbe and bader that the pohlads are looking for love by trying to win back the fans by increasing their payroll  ...

Ain't happening here , I'm still not spending any of my money , I passed on twins fest , I'll be in Florida playing softball soon and don't plan on spending any money on spring training  and I'm still not planning on buying tickets at target field or any fan apparel  ...

I still have rocco's jersey thats full of holes from playing darts during the games , thats what I  think of the twins management ...

Another statement i've made several times is the twins will never win a world series with Rocco as manager and tingler as bench coach ,  they just can't seem to light a fire in their players  ...

I still see this team as a 3rd or 4th place finish unless the 3 new hitting coaches do some magic  , jo-bo where are you ...

[T.O.]

6 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I still have rocco's jersey thats full of holes from playing darts during the games , thats what I  think of the twins management ...

Harsh...
   but I'm right there with ya. I'd do the same if I had a rocco jersey, and darts. Lawn darts would be best.

[nicksaviking]

14 hours ago, LambchoP said:

I think they are trying to drum up interest in the team to get people to sign up for the new twins.tv subscription. I'm not sure Coulombe and Vader are enough. They need to sign an impact bat, that would increase subs for sure.

Coulombe, Bader and anyone else there is left to sign won't increase subscriptions. I think Coulombe might be a sneaky good deal, but overall, the casual fan isn't happy, and signing a guy who can't hit in Bader is making them less happy.

I'd guess it's more of a case of the Pohlad's saying, 'we're out, do what you want Derek, it no longer matters to us'.

[TheLeviathan]

People should remember that these billionaires could increase the payroll by 20M and probably find it between their couch cushions.

[nicksaviking]

53 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

People should remember that these billionaires could increase the payroll by 20M and probably find it between their couch cushions.

Doubtful. They no longer invite me over to sit on their couches.

[2-6CS]

23 hours ago, Shaitan said:

I think it's as simple as "don't believe everything you read."

Most sports reporting is entirely based on rumors. Maybe they never had the budget that was previously reported. Maybe it changed. Only the Twins FO knows the answer.

Wasn't the end of year presser where Joe basically said that payroll might need to come down and then after the presser a twins official, made it down to the reporters to say that's not accurate....payroll doesn't need to come down.  

 

At that point it's not rumors.....straight up indecision from the owner. 

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

People should remember that these billionaires could increase the payroll by 20M and probably find it between their couch cushions.

People could speculate that Derek Falvey has some kind of profit-sharing arrangement in his compensation package and part of that 20M comes out of his pocket too.  😀

[bean5302]

Well, to be fair, Joe Pohlad is not an owner of the Twins. The ownership group is Jim, Bill, and Bob. Joe Pohlad is the spokesperson/facilitator for ownership. Saying Joe is an owner is like saying the press secretary is the president.

[mrcharlie]

On 2/8/2025 at 11:34 AM, Blyleven2011 said:

I stated a day or so after the signings of coloumbe and bader that the pohlads are looking for love by trying to win back the fans by increasing their payroll  ...

Ain't happening here , I'm still not spending any of my money , I passed on twins fest , I'll be in Florida playing softball soon and don't plan on spending any money on spring training  and I'm still not planning on buying tickets at target field or any fan apparel  ...

I still have rocco's jersey thats full of holes from playing darts during the games , thats what I  think of the twins management ...

Another statement i've made several times is the twins will never win a world series with Rocco as manager and tingler as bench coach ,  they just can't seem to light a fire in their players  ...

I still see this team as a 3rd or 4th place finish unless the 3 new hitting coaches do some magic  , jo-bo where are you ...

Pretty well sums up my perspective minus going to FLA.  Rocco is a drag on what some of our players can do talentwise

[2-6CS]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Well, to be fair, Joe Pohlad is not an owner of the Twins. The ownership group is Jim, Bill, and Bob. Joe Pohlad is the spokesperson/facilitator for ownership. Saying Joe is an owner is like saying the press secretary is the president.

Well, to be fair, when you're the executive chair in charge of day to day leadership....if you aren't the owner, you're in charge of carrying their directive.   

[NotAboutWinning]

My guess... The team is for all intents and purposes sold, the Pohlads can see their payday in sight, and the new owners have asked them to please not destroy the Team's reputation any further 😉

[Shiny Penny]

I will buy a streaming package when the sale is complete. Last year was a bridge too far.

[Doctor Gast]

If you put money in Falvey's hands he will spend it & then some. He has spent a lot of money but I don't see much impact. All the action he has done I feel there'll be a negative reaction. Right now my interest is leaning towards noninterested in buying tickets or buying any subscription to watch the Twins. But the negative reaction stemming from Falvey's transactions will push me over the cliff. Instead of gaining popularity they'll lose because of the negative impact.

[Fatbat]

Kiersey sells more tickets than Bader. Any rookie that has a great call up season sells tickets. MN loves feel good stories. The Pohlads are going after selling to the highest bidder. They don’t care about the fans. 

[Twinkies are for eating]

The prospective buyers could be behind this. Hopefully a deal is already in place. But honestly the signings Falvey has made will do absolutely nothing for the team. Could have just promoted some young kids and gotten same results.

[bean5302]

13 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Kiersey sells more tickets than Bader. Any rookie that has a great call up season sells tickets. MN loves feel good stories. The Pohlads are going after selling to the highest bidder. They don’t care about the fans. 

Three problems. 
1) Keirsey is 99.99% not going to be "great" and I'd say there's an 80% chance he's not even serviceable. Martin projects as a better hitter and Martin's fielding in the minors was arguably better, and that's rough..
2) Nobody even knows who Keirsey is away from this forum. He was #27 in the org back in 2019, and hasn't otherwise been on an MLB top 30 prospects list for the Twins. Most people are going to assume he's just some random journeyman cast off or exclaim "who's that guy? Twins bottom of the barrel feeding once again! cheap Pohlads!" when they see him on the scoreboard.
3) Selling 1 ticket (Keirsey) vs 0 tickets (Bader) doesn't make an impact worth noting.

[T.O.]

"Did the Pohlads have a change of heart?"

Did they even have one in the first place?

Sorry that was mean and uncalled for. Just couldn't pass it up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's frustrating not knowing what's going through the owners and FO heads.

[Fatbat]

5 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Three problems. 
1) Keirsey is 99.99% not going to be "great" and I'd say there's an 80% chance he's not even serviceable. Martin projects as a better hitter and Martin's fielding in the minors was arguably better, and that's rough..
2) Nobody even knows who Keirsey is away from this forum. He was #27 in the org back in 2019, and hasn't otherwise been on an MLB top 30 prospects list for the Twins. Most people are going to assume he's just some random journeyman cast off or exclaim "who's that guy? Twins bottom of the barrel feeding once again! cheap Pohlads!" when they see him on the scoreboard.
3) Selling 1 ticket (Keirsey) vs 0 tickets (Bader) doesn't make an impact worth noting.

That is most probable! I was leaning towards Kiersey playing well above replacement value to sell tickets. Yes I know, improbable!  Bader is just another replacement level OF free agent role player.  He might play above his career averages which would be great for the team, I just don’t want another Margot/Gallo situation. I also don’t want another Cellestino or Cave situation. 

[bean5302]

5 hours ago, Fatbat said:

That is most probable! I was leaning towards Kiersey playing well above replacement value to sell tickets. Yes I know, improbable!  Bader is just another replacement level OF free agent role player.  He might play above his career averages which would be great for the team, I just don’t want another Margot/Gallo situation. I also don’t want another Cellestino or Cave situation. 

Bader has never been replacement level in his career. He's never produced a season below 1.0 fWAR (save for his 92 PA rookie season). Bader ranked 15th of 27 MLB players with 300+ PA in CF last year, and he's still producing very good defensive numbers, unlike what happened with Margot.

There are no promises Bader won't decline further. If he loses another step, it's likely he'd be of middling value (like Margot was), but Bader hasn't shown obvious signs of being inept like Margot did prior to Falvey selecting him.

I'm not a huge fan of Bader. I'd haved liked it if Falvey spent money on legitimate plus value players instead of hording guys who are getting paid $5MM per year and hoping he gets a Carlos Santana career year rebound, but that's how Falvey works. Depth over quality. In that category of players, Bader is a better bet than most others.