Manfred Expresses Confidence in Sale of Twins, Which Could Be Drawing Near

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of © Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan are representing the Minnesota Twins at the All-Star Game in Atlanta on Tuesday night. Will a new owner be representing the franchise at next year's MLB Owners Meetings?

That was in some doubt after momentum collapsed earlier this year, with Justin Ishbia ending his well-publicized pursuit of buying the Twins and pivoting to the Chicago White Sox, where he now has an agreement in place to take over from Jerry Reinsdorf within the next decade. This development seemed to force the Twins back to square one. News and even rumors went quiet for months. 

As recently as late May, longtime Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters was describing the prospects for a Twins sale as "dismal." But days later, a Star Tribune article countered this perception, with beat writer Phil Miller reporting that a sale of the team was very much in progress, and "closer to the end than to the beginning." All due respect to Walters, I was more inclined to believe Miller's reporting on the matter.

In the nearly two months since these dueling portrayals were published, updates and details have been mostly scant. The sale of the low-revenue Rays in mid-June at a price point of $1.7 billion seemingly boded well for the Pohlads, who were known to be targeting a similar range for their own franchise. 

Sure enough, as of about a week ago, Walters was singing a very different tune: "Industry sources say the Twins, who began exploring a sale last October and have sought $1.7 billion for the team, have a deal on the table and that bidding to line up financing is underway."

On Tuesday in Atlanta, Miller spoke with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and received a message that reinforced his earlier reporting, tweeting: "MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says bidders to buy Twins backed off when it became evident Justin Ishbia was 'the leader in the clubhouse,' but now that he’s out, Manfred is 'confident that a transaction will take place,' presumably soon."

For Manfred to speak so openly and assertively about a still-in-play sale of a franchise seems telling, although naturally it is in his interest to do so. There are indicators coming from every direction that a transfer of ownership is not only likely but inevitable, and right now it only feels like a matter of time before some names start bubbling to the surface and we get a clearer view of what the Minnesota Twins franchise's future looks like.

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[Rosterman]

Well, the Rays sale should be a plus. Of course, it is nice to have people own a team that might care about the Twin Cities and greater region the team serves.

[nicksaviking]

I have zero faith that new owners will be any better than the Pohlads long term.

But I am confident that they'll want to make changes. And this team is so stale right now, any change to front office, manager or players is desperately needed. The organization needs a wholesale shake up, even if it doesn't amount to anything better than we have now. This ain't working.

[Patzky]

The devil you don't know has a wallet too.

[Doctor Gast]

I'd really like to see what this core can do with a FO with a different philosophy that is baseball smart, able to see teams' needs, correctly evaluate players, develop them & give them a chance to prove themselves & initiate critical trades to supplement the core. 

[Vanimal46]

Any time works for us to move on from the Pohlads and start the sweep of management positions. 

[Craig Arko]

Wouldn’t that be nice?

[Western SD Fan]

My dream of a new ownership would be similar to the St. Louis Cardinals.  They spend smartly, not afraid to spend when it looks like they have a serious run and consistently put up a winner.  Their worst contract, Arenado, is still a decent player.  Arenado would be the third best batter on the Twins by WAR.  Even in a year where their FO tempered expectations they are still putting out a quality on-field product. 

Any new ownership will likely not be a big market spender, nor do I think many of us expect them to be.  Some of the biggest spenders are being a little more cost-conscious as to not run afoul of the most punitive of MLB's luxury tax penalties:  See Boston Red Sox. 

[twinstalker]

Manfred said just about nothing.  Read it again.

Rob Manfred says bidders to buy Twins backed off when it became evident Justin Ishbia was "the leader in the clubhouse," but now that he’s out, Manfred is "confident that a transaction will take place."

The "presumably soon" is thrown in there by Miller.  What Manfred actually said is what we've been told before and know already.  Twins are leaking that to us, and saying the same thing to Manfred.  Nothing mean nothing, so to speak.

Twins are valued at, generously, 1.6 billion (not including debt) and have 450 million in debt.  Who's going to pay that much?  Even if a candidate gets lower interest on the debt from MLB, it's still not worth it to give the Pohlads 1.7 billion or even 1.6 million and take on that debt.

 

[Whitey333]

When new ownership does take over i hope they clean house.  Falvey and  Baldelli have to go.  We need some new direction.  New players wouldn't hurt either.  This team and organization is so stagnant.  I'm not expecting a new owner to throw money around.  Quite the contrary.  I wouldn't be surprised if payroll is cut.  Twins have had a decent payroll.  I think it has been very poorly budgeted.  Go Twins!!

[jmlease1]

I wouldn't trust Rob Manfred as far as I could throw him (and I have a bad back, so I ain't getting far). MLB commissioners have generally been sleazebags who don't give two sh!ts for the fans, and Manfred is a shady tool of the owners as much as any commissioner has been since...Ueberroth, maybe? (that guy was a piece of work to be sure)

That said, I hope he's not lying through his misbegotten teeth for once and a Twins sale is moving forward. While I don't share the contempt for the current front office & manager that many around here have, I do think the ownership situation has only harmed the team in the last couple of seasons, and their track record of poor business (outside of getting Target Field built largely on someone else's dime) decisions and inability to grow the fanbase over the past 20 years makes me ready to take on whatever risk we might find in new ownership. 

I don't see the fanbase growing under this ownership, or real financial gains for the club that would foster more investment in the on-field product (outside of jacking up ticket prices, maybe). I don't see any opportunity for bold moves occurring while ownership is seeking an exit. I don't see anything happening that wouldn't involve the Pohlad family improving their bottom line.

Do I expect we'll sudden be in the land of milk & honey with new owners, with a big bump to the payroll, and everything suddenly working out right? Nah. But things under the Pohalds have ground to a halt, and after nearly 50 seasons I'm ready to roll the dice on someone new. Worked out ok with the Vikings, been ok for the Wild, so who knows. New owners should know exactly what they're getting into with the decline of the RSNs too. But this is a big market with the potential for a huge reach. Maybe the new owners could actually tap that, instead of consistently fumbling.

[1985Fan]

If new owners are coming soon, then all the more reason for this FO to stand pat at the deadline. Don’t want an outgoing FO making decisions that may have long term future!

[tony&rodney]

When Manfred talks .....

.... sorry, but Manfred is a noise to avoid.

I will wish the Pohlads good luck on a speedy sale of the Minnesota Twins Baseball Club.

[chpettit19]

I'll believe there's new buyers when it's announced the team is sold. Until then I'll assume any and every report is the best PR work the Pohlads have done in years.

[The Great Hambino]

Manfred also was confident their media rights deal to replace ESPN's opt out would be done by the All-Star break.  He's kinda running out of time on that one

As several others have said, wake me up when there's an actual deal in place.  These rumors and statements of confidence are worthless and meaningless

[Nick Nelson]

1 hour ago, twinstalker said:

Manfred said just about nothing.  Read it again.

The "presumably soon" is thrown in there by Miller.  What Manfred actually said is what we've been told before and know already. 

I understand that but Phil Miller doesn't just throw those kinds of comments around casually. And as his reporting throughout the process has reflected, he knows what's going on.

[arby58]

3 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I have zero faith that new owners will be any better than the Pohlads long term.

But I am confident that they'll want to make changes. And this team is so stale right now, any change to front office, manager or players is desperately needed. The organization needs a wholesale shake up, even if it doesn't amount to anything better than we have now. This ain't working.

What exactly would you expect from a 'wholesale shake up?' A better minor league pipeline? It looks pretty good right now. A bigger payroll? Maybe, but the Twins are and will ever be a mid-level franchise - unless MLB adopts a salary cap, that isn't changing.

What mid-level team do you aspire to be that a shake up will lead to? The Rays constantly churn their talent (most fans don't want that) and are competitive, but not much more so than the Twins. The Royals flashed last year, but they are back with the Twins this year.  The Guardians also turn over their roster regularly, and this year aren't looking all that great. Yes, the Tigers are now riding high, but look how many years they rode the back end of the American League bus.

[AceWrigley]

[silverslugger]

Is the potential sale of a team generally this silent?  It certainly didn't seem silent when Ishbia was the potential buyer.  I know some billionaires like their privacy while others like the limelight.  Still, you would expect a leak of some sort, wouldn't you?

[TheLeviathan]

Well, if what is said here is true about Ishbia, that eliminates the line of argument some were making that there was no truth to those and it was all feeling out/for show.  

But I'm with others here.....until there is a media day introducing new owners.....I won't believe it.

[mikelink45]

We wait and see if it is sold, we wait and see who buys and if they have connections to MN, we wait to see who they will hire and we wait and hope - that is all fans can do. 

[Rufus]

The Rays sold for $1.7 billion.  they have a history of terrible attendance and now don't have a stadium.  The Twins should be worth at least that much.

[SF Twins Fan]

38 minutes ago, Rufus said:

The Rays sold for $1.7 billion.  they have a history of terrible attendance and now don't have a stadium.  The Twins should be worth at least that much.

There's also more potential for growth with the Rays.  They aren't locked into one location with zero development opportunities around it like the Twins are.  The new owners could move the Rays wherever they want, own the stadium and the land around it and development everything.  New hotels, restaurants, and businesses.  That's where the real growth it and it's why Ishbia chose the White Sox as well.  He's from there, but he also seems like a smart business person.  If they move the White Sox from its current location to a place where they can develop around it, they stand to make significantly more money.

[Brandon27]

I think there is agreement to buy the team is just they are working out  some stuff before announcing who is going buy the team. My guess it's either group made up of A-rod and marc or it's a billionaire has ties to mn

[jmlease1]

13 hours ago, silverslugger said:

Is the potential sale of a team generally this silent?  It certainly didn't seem silent when Ishbia was the potential buyer.  I know some billionaires like their privacy while others like the limelight.  Still, you would expect a leak of some sort, wouldn't you?

Since we now know the Ishbia play was at least as much if not more about making a play for CWS, the more public aspects make more sense. I'm not that surprised there isn't a lot of detail out there; most billionaires don't like losing, so they're not going to want their names out there unless they have the deal locked up or close to it. And this way, 10 years from now one of them can leak to a friendly reporter that they were in the running to buy the team and would have done so much better than whatever other billionaire they want to take a shot at...

[Bodie]

18 hours ago, twinstalker said:

Manfred said just about nothing.  Read it again.

Rob Manfred says bidders to buy Twins backed off when it became evident Justin Ishbia was "the leader in the clubhouse," but now that he’s out, Manfred is "confident that a transaction will take place."

The "presumably soon" is thrown in there by Miller.  What Manfred actually said is what we've been told before and know already.  Twins are leaking that to us, and saying the same thing to Manfred.  Nothing mean nothing, so to speak.

Twins are valued at, generously, 1.6 billion (not including debt) and have 450 million in debt.  Who's going to pay that much?  Even if a candidate gets lower interest on the debt from MLB, it's still not worth it to give the Pohlads 1.7 billion or even 1.6 million and take on that debt.

 

Add in the facts that a) he is probably the most dishonest man in sports, and b) seems to be intentionally trying to destroy baseball by utterly failing to understand both it's fans or non-fans, and my takeaway is that the Pohlad family is pretty much guaranteed to be in charge for several more years! 

Maybe the 2030s will see some movement from owners who have very little specific interest in Twins basebal, outside of being in a very exclusive club of MLB owners...

#forkmanfred.  (the bigger the fork, the better!!!)

[Western SD Fan]

14 hours ago, silverslugger said:

Is the potential sale of a team generally this silent?  It certainly didn't seem silent when Ishbia was the potential buyer.  I know some billionaires like their privacy while others like the limelight.  Still, you would expect a leak of some sort, wouldn't you?

It should be this quiet.  Just think when we first heard of Sternberg in serious talks to sell the Rays?  It was a month ago and now there's a signed agreement with an expected closing date in September.  It doesn't surprise me that the Ishbia bid really screwed us in terms of the other potential buyers laying low and watching it play out, as has been previously reported.  

[P Meyer]

22 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I have zero faith that new owners will be any better than the Pohlads long term.

But I am confident that they'll want to make changes. And this team is so stale right now, any change to front office, manager or players is desperately needed. The organization needs a wholesale shake up, even if it doesn't amount to anything better than we have now. This ain't working.

The hope is that they will get a Wilf style owner who is at least willing to improve player amenities and facilities. Maybe willing to pony up on medical and development tools. 

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, P Meyer said:

The hope is that they will get a Wilf style owner who is at least willing to improve player amenities and facilities. Maybe willing to pony up on medical and development tools. 

The Wilfs own a team in a league with salary caps and salary floors and in a league with full revenue sharing that makes all the owners a billion dollars every other year, not every other decade.

What we would consider a 'good' owner, that will want to chase championships will buy a big market team, not the Twins. This isn't an apples to apples comparison.

[P Meyer]

37 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

The Wilfs own a team in a league with salary caps and salary floors and in a league with full revenue sharing that makes all the owners a billion dollars every other year, not every other decade.

What we would consider a 'good' owner, that will want to chase championships will buy a big market team, not the Twins. This isn't an apples to apples comparison.

I disagree. I think you can have an owner with a medium payroll expectation, willingness to invest in other parts of the organization, and letting the people they hire work into the role. 

 

A lot of what Wilf has done for the Vikings has been to improve the ancillary areas of the franchise to help the players they have maximize their opportunities. An owner who is willing to have a payroll of 167 mil (around 15th highest) but wants to build through the minors and ensure his players get high level preventative and rehabilitative treatment is very applicable. The Dodgers owner didn't JUST spend more on players. He also spent more on infrastructure.

 

I don't need an owner to spend the most. I need one who can find and maintain a top front office, top scouting and development staff, top coaching, top facilities, and then commit to a mid range payroll unless a situation arises where they can go all in.