The Pohlad Playbook: Promises, Narratives, and Fan Frustrations

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of TwinsCentric, LLC

The Pohlad family has been at the helm of the Minnesota Twins for generations, guiding the club through both high points and lengthy rebuilds. Throughout that tenure, ownership has leaned on familiar talking points to explain their approach to spending, roster construction, and long-term planning. Yet over time, many of those narratives have worn thin with fans, creating frustration when actions don’t seem to match the words.

“We need a new stadium to compete.”
The campaign for Target Field leaned heavily on the argument that the Metrodome’s revenue limitations made it impossible for the Twins to retain star players or raise payroll. In fairness, the Dome was outdated, and Target Field has since provided one of the best fan experiences in baseball.

But when the gates opened in 2010, many expected payrolls to take a permanent leap forward. Instead, the team’s spending rose only modestly, and it rarely kept pace with other mid- to large-market teams. While Target Field did improve financial flexibility, the promise of a new spending tier hasn’t been fully realized.

Fan Perspective: “We gave you a ballpark. Where’s the payroll we were promised?”

“We can’t afford to keep our stars.”
The Pohlad family has consistently leaned on the “small-market team” label. This has been used to explain trades and departures of beloved players like Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, and even José Berríos. Now, Minnesota is paying Houston $10 million per year to keep Carlos Correa off its payroll. It’s been a challenging dynamic as the team tries to stay competitive with a relatively low payroll compared to the rest of the league. 

Fans, however, see the broader picture. National TV deals, revenue sharing, and new streams of MLB income mean all 30 franchises enjoy unprecedented financial stability. Even if Minnesota doesn’t have Dodgers-level resources, ownership wealth and modern MLB economics have undermined the notion that the Twins can’t retain their cornerstone players. The Pohlads choose not to at specific price points.

Fan Perspective: “Small-market? Maybe in population, but not in revenue anymore.”

“We’ll be aggressive when the time is right.”
Perhaps no refrain has been repeated more often than this one. Whenever the team is building through a youth movement or retooling, front office and ownership figures stress that aggression will come once the roster is in position to contend.

Yet Twins fans can point to multiple contention windows where “aggression” translated into mid-tier free agent signings or modest trade deadline additions, rather than transformative moves. Following the success of 2023, the ownership group should have invested in the team. Instead, they cut payroll by $30 million, and the results on the field have matched that cut. While some of this can be attributed to baseball’s inherent unpredictability, the pattern has left many to wonder if the franchise’s definition of “going for it” differs from the fans' perception.

Fan Perspective: “Every window ends with bargain shopping and hoping it works out.”

“Payroll will reflect attendance.”
This narrative gained particular prominence after Target Field opened. Ownership suggested that as fans showed up in larger numbers, payroll would rise accordingly. And to some degree, it did. Minnesota’s payroll ranked in the top 10 during Target Field's first two seasons. From there, things deteriorated as the team ranked in the 20s from 2013 to 2017. In 2023, the Twins reached a payroll of nearly $167 million, ranking 16th in MLB.

Still, compared to the dramatic attendance spike in those early years, payroll increases felt incremental. The connection between fan support and player spending hasn’t always been as direct as ownership implied. Now, the Twins are in a no-win situation. Attendance dropped in 2025, and the season ticket base is likely going to be at a Target Field low point in 2026. However, if ownership continues to keep payroll stagnant (or even drops further), the team’s attendance problem will persist. 
Fan Perspective: “Why would we fill the seats when ownership doesn’t follow through?”

“We’re committed to championships.”
Every owner in professional sports insists their ultimate goal is a championship, and the Pohlads are no different. Press conferences, radio appearances, and team statements often highlight the World Series as the standard they’re chasing.

The reality, however, is more complicated. Since the Pohlads took over, the Twins have enjoyed pockets of success, including the Gardenhire-led division titles of the 2000s, the Bomba Squad’s record-setting offense in 2019, and the recent streak-snapping playoff win in 2023. But in each of those moments, the team stopped short of making the kind of bold, high-risk moves that can elevate a contender into a true favorite.

Fan Perspective: “Committed to championships? More like committed to staying in the middle.”

The Pohlads aren’t unique among MLB ownership groups, with many franchises deploying similar talking points. However, for Twins fans, these recurring narratives have become a source of frustration, especially when actions fail to align with the rhetoric. While the family has ensured the franchise’s stability in Minnesota, the gap between promises and outcomes remains one of the defining aspects of their tenure.

The Twins’ fan base has proven its loyalty time and again, through the lean years of the Dome, the excitement of Target Field’s opening, and the rollercoaster of recent seasons. What fans want now is more than words: real, tangible action that backs up the narratives ownership has leaned on for decades. If the Pohlads want to rebuild trust, they’ll need to show that competing for championships is more than a slogan.

Do you agree with the fan perspectives above? What are some of the other narratives from the ownership group? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

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[Whitey333]

I think some gullible Twins fans like me believed this crap from the Twins.  But after 60 years of  it im done.  Yes I will continue to follow them.  After all bad habits are hard to break.  But the grandois of thinking thus ownership and front office bs is legit is over for me.  Loyalty can only go so far.  It's the end of the line

[SteveLV]

With a poor ownership track record, the aborted franchise sale, and the broken nature of the League in general under the current (and past) CBA it is pretty darn difficult to see true hope for our Twins.

[Glorybound]

The sad part if the story is ownership thinks they are good at what they do.

[NYCTK]

Are we still legally allowed to criticize billionaires? Or does that fall under anti-capitalist and make one Antifa now? 

[tony&rodney]

The current front office has had more money during their time making roster decisions than their cousins in Milwaukee and their competition in the AL Central. This stands out if one compares the support of past front offices from the Pohlads. While the failure of ownership to create an acceptable relationship with the public and the poor timing of some untimely financial decisions are important and noteworthy, it feels like a failure to evaluate their top employees stands above all other issues. I wonder how aware the Pohlads are of their baseball business. Certainly I would have had questions about the processes and decisions in the last several years, at the very least. The current condition of the organization should call for a specific action plan with a timetable that must be reached. Perhaps the Pohlads are totally hands off these days. Hard to know what is going on.

[h2oface]

Falvey traded for hitters that hit under .200. Do not despair. .200 is within reach. .200 is the new .300. We already have Lee and Lewis and Wallner and Julien and Clemens even over .200. 

[ziggy]

Quote

What fans want now is more than words: real, tangible action that backs up the narratives ownership has leaned on for decades.

Talk is cheap but it takes money to buy whiskey.

[mikelink45]

I am in agreement with the two most recent TD essays but I wonder what we will read the rest of the off season if these are happening before the playoffs even begin.

Please cover the playoffs and give us some real baseball before our winter baseball blues set in.

[bean5302]

I'm not optimistic about the Pohlads righting the ship. I think their hubris has been on full display over the past few years. No accountability for others means no accountability for ownership, either.

The ownership needs to accept they're responsible for losing the fans and the cratering revenue. Whether it's keeping St. Peter and Falvey far too long or allowing Joe Pohlad to continue to flounder before promoting him even further under the grand strategy of nepotism, the ownership is responsible for essentially staying the course. 

Falvey wasn't a good president of baseball operations. So giving him Thad Levine's job to pass on to another minion of his choice (Zoll) on top of St. Peter's job seems like an obviously poor choice. Though, to be fair, St. Peter continues to have a lofty title so I wonder if it was just lip service that he's not technically in his original role anymore...

Joe Pohald wasn't good in his role as the Executive Vice President, Brand Strategy & Growth so promoting him to Exec Chair was certainly a decision without merit.

Ownership has invested enough money to make the team successful. They've been willing to spend and push payroll, but they didn't hold the front office accountable at all when the revenue failed to expand. Instead, ownership lowered the bar, cut salary and kept the people who failed to deliver results.

[DJL44]

I saw today that the reported debt is $500M. Just a couple months ago it was reported at $400M. Not sure how they lost another $100M in a matter of months after cutting payroll by $30M.

Each team starts with over $200M in shared revenue. They have never come close to spending that much on payroll. There are never any details on where the money was spent or who it is owed to so I will continue to be a skeptic.

They could be competitive in 2026 with a payroll around $125M. If they choose to tank with an $80M payroll they shouldn’t be surprised if attendance craters.

[Rigby]

5 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

The current front office has had more money during their time making roster decisions than their cousins in Milwaukee and their competition in the AL Central. This stands out if one compares the support of past front offices from the Pohlads. While the failure of ownership to create an acceptable relationship with the public and the poor timing of some untimely financial decisions are important and noteworthy, it feels like a failure to evaluate their top employees stands above all other issues. I wonder how aware the Pohlads are of their baseball business. Certainly I would have had questions about the processes and decisions in the last several years, at the very least. The current condition of the organization should call for a specific action plan with a timetable that must be reached. Perhaps the Pohlads are totally hands off these days. Hard to know what is going on.

If the Pohlads possessed any awareness of the baseball business they would not have allowed Korn-Ferry to pick their chief executive.

[Sjoski]

"Fan morale has never been lower"

  

 

[CRF]

For all of us...and I include myself in that group...who thought there was/is a chance the Pohlad's sell the team...I doubt it ever happens. They don't want to sell. 

[Twinkie in Deutschland]

From my perspective, the Twins will become the next Montreal Expos, when their ownership ran the team to the ground before MLB stepped in on two different occasions and lastly relocated to Washington to become the Nationals. I don't know what the Pohlads were thinking when they did what they have done within the past two years with cutting down on the payroll and lastly trading away the players. If they go ahead and trade off Lopez, Ryan and Buxton, then there's no reason to visit Target Field for the foreseeable future. It's time to clean house. My preference is when Ron Manfred and MLB steps in and either puts pressure on the Pohlads to sell or they wrest control away from the team and sells it to someone like Ishbia who has that capital. I know for sure MLB will not approve the minority ownership given the dire straits the team is in. It will be a very interesting offseason to see how much house cleaning will be done. But my prediction will be a 110+ losing season in 2026 and 27 and hence new records in the opposite direction before they finally rebound and become a playoff team by 2031. 

[old nurse]

Interesting how people forget the 70s, or is this just part of the group think,, everyone has to complain mentality?

11 hours ago, Sjoski said:

"Fan morale has never been lower"

  

 

 

[Russ]

Each year we would hear of improvements made for the fan experience.   Wouldn't a winning team be the number 1 improvement?  Wrong people making wrong decisions.  

[Woof Bronzer]

20 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I saw today that the reported debt is $500M. Just a couple months ago it was reported at $400M. Not sure how they lost another $100M in a matter of months after cutting payroll by $30M.

Each team starts with over $200M in shared revenue. They have never come close to spending that much on payroll. There are never any details on where the money was spent or who it is owed to so I will continue to be a skeptic.

They could be competitive in 2026 with a payroll around $125M. If they choose to tank with an $80M payroll they shouldn’t be surprised if attendance craters.

It's likely not team debt, and certainly not operating debt (maybe they're carrying forward some stadium debt).  The Pohlads' commercial real estate portfolio is in the tank - more work from home, businesses are downsizing their footprint, and as a result the market is saturated.  Given what we see from their operation of the Twins it's safe to say they run their other businesses very short sightedly and are probably now stuck with an underwater real estate portfolio they can't unload. They've long used the Twins as a debt shelter and likely are continuing to do so.  The Pohlads are poor businessmen, it isn't just the Twins they are running into the ground.  Joe Pohlad has run 2 Pohlad businesses before and he wrecked them both. The Pohlads have always been better at destroying value than creating it.  

[Killer Rod Tony]

23 hours ago, h2oface said:

Falvey traded for hitters that hit under .200. Do not despair. .200 is within reach. .200 is the new .300. We already have Lee and Lewis and Wallner and Julien and Clemens even over .200. 

What's his name Roden Alan Roden? He hits way under 200. Some players were signed that always see potential but they haven't shown any potential even in the high matter League. The teams pitching minor league player of the year has it earned run average over four. Ranz trying to remember his name head of the metal League system or something for decades. He knew what he was doing I think. If you're going to have a low batting average you need to be able to hit a lot of home runs like the guy in Philadelphia Swarber not remembering his name well here but he did not get on base in the entire last three games of the season but he has the 50 home runs and well over 100 runs batted in Baton average something like 210. The twins have a team of Low batting average people with very little home run ability and this will get you nowhere. You can't have a pitching staff good enough to overcome that but if you do overcome that with Minnesota you looking at 30 million a year maybe 40 million a year so we are in a catch-22 situation. There's really nothing this organization can do about it. Before your number six is up they'll be gone and we will get good prospects for them too. It's a vicious cycle of mediocrity but like I've already said today pricing is beyond Hope For All major sports. I used to go to games I don't go to any major league sporting events ever anymore and the only way to fix this problem is for people to just simply not go you're being taken advantage of and everybody's laughing at you all the way to the bank. Just don't go we'll do without for a while and then it will come back with a much lower price range.

[nicksaviking]

I've asked this question in a couple threads and I'd really like to get a different perspective.

Everyone believes the Pohlad's will still slash payroll, I believe they plan to as well, but I need explained why the other owners would let them. The Twins have been taking the revenue sharing from the other billionaires for years, while clearly adding their real estate debts onto the Twins ledgers. So the other owners are in essence paying off the Pohlad's non-relate business losses. Why would these other billionaires, who don't do anything that doesn't benefit them or their interests, approve the Twins new investors without assurances from the Twins that they will re-invest their free money back into the team and therefor MLB baseball? Wouldn't the other owners just veto the new investors and force the Pohlad's to sell for less than their asking price?

What is the benefit to the other owners to let the Pohlads stay and continue to operate this way? There has to be a benefit; they don't do charity.

[NYCTK]

10 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Everyone believes the Pohlad's will still slash payroll, I believe they plan to as well, but I need explained why the other owners would let them.

Because the Pohalds haven't actually been that stingy on payroll relative to the rest of the league, always being slightly below average to average, and allowing a team for a few years in the bottom of the payroll in order to do a rebuild is part of the cycle of team ownership for anyone not in one of the 3 major markets.

There's no reason any owner should object to the Twins having a payroll under $100 Million next year because there might come a year in the future where that owner might similarly want to run a very low payroll for a few years in order to get right.

This payroll slashing isn't just because the team wants to lower their expenses like the Athletics. It's a recognition that the team they built was dogshit and needed a complete overhaul.

[The Great Hambino]

23 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I've asked this question in a couple threads and I'd really like to get a different perspective.

Everyone believes the Pohlad's will still slash payroll, I believe they plan to as well, but I need explained why the other owners would let them. The Twins have been taking the revenue sharing from the other billionaires for years, while clearly adding their real estate debts onto the Twins ledgers. So the other owners are in essence paying off the Pohlad's non-relate business losses. Why would these other billionaires, who don't do anything that doesn't benefit them or their interests, approve the Twins new investors without assurances from the Twins that they will re-invest their free money back into the team and therefor MLB baseball? Wouldn't the other owners just veto the new investors and force the Pohlad's to sell for less than their asking price?

What is the benefit to the other owners to let the Pohlads stay and continue to operate this way? There has to be a benefit; they don't do charity.

That is the absolute worst thing the Twins could do in the eyes of other owners: sell for less than their asking price.  That could drag down the franchise value for many other similar teams (I doubt it would have much of an effect on the top end).  In the big picture, they don't care about the Twins pocketing an additional $10-$20MM of revenue sharing if it's done in the name of maintaining the franchise valuation at an acceptable level

There's also the benefit of having one less team to fight for playoff revenues.

In terms of "not allowing" the Twins to operate this way, exactly what recourse do you think the other owners have? And if they have it, why have they not used it to prevent the Pirates and White Sox and Marlins and several others (not including the stadium chasers here) from operating the way they have?

[nicksaviking]

6 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Because the Pohalds haven't actually been that stingy on payroll relative to the rest of the league, always being slightly below average to average, and allowing a team for a few years in the bottom of the payroll in order to do a rebuild is part of the cycle of team ownership for anyone not in one of the 3 major markets.

There's no reason any owner should object to the Twins having a payroll under $100 Million next year because there might come a year in the future where that owner might similarly want to run a very low payroll for a few years in order to get right.

This payroll slashing isn't just because the team wants to lower their expenses like the Athletics. It's a recognition that the team they built was dogshit and needed a complete overhaul.

As reported, no other MLB team has debts anywhere close to 500M. This is the Pohlad's uniquely, and prehaps fraudulently taking advantage of the system and bilking the other owners out of a lot of money over the years. At the same time it is devaluing the Twins and by proxy MLB baseball. The A's and Rays have tanked payroll to help facilitate new stadiums or relocation which will benefit the league overall, this doesn't benefit anyone other than the Pohlad's. 

[nicksaviking]

1 minute ago, The Great Hambino said:

That is the absolute worst thing the Twins could do in the eyes of other owners: sell for less than their asking price.  That could drag down the franchise value for many other similar teams (I doubt it would have much of an effect on the top end).  In the big picture, they don't care about the Twins pocketing an additional $10-$20MM of revenue sharing if it's done in the name of maintaining the franchise valuation at an acceptable level

There's also the benefit of having one less team to fight for playoff revenues.

In terms of "not allowing" the Twins to operate this way, exactly what recourse do you think the other owners have? And if they have it, why have they not used it to prevent the Pirates and White Sox and Marlins and several others (not including the stadium chasers here) from operating the way they have?

This is the only thing that makes sense to me, however, it is clear to everyone, including future prospective buyers that this is an isolated situation. No other team is adding on a half billion in debt on to their team. I don't think the Twins selling below asking price will impact future sales because the fraud being perpetrated here is now widely known.

And wouldn't a rejection of the investors be a warning to Bob Nutting and other terrible men not to try the same?

[Sjoski]

53 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

This is the Pohlad's uniquely, and prehaps fraudulently taking advantage of the system and bilking the other owners out of a lot of money over the years.

Exactly....this is what the Pohlads know and why they will never sell until this loop hole is closed. 

●

Because losing teams still collect shared revenue and enjoy rising franchise values, there’s little financial pressure to compete.

Owners of small-market or “rebuilding” teams can effectively guarantee themselves profits even while fielding a non-competitive roster.

[NotAboutWinning]

4 minutes ago, Sjoski said:

 

Because losing teams still collect shared revenue and enjoy rising franchise values, there’s little financial pressure to compete.

Owners of small-market or “rebuilding” teams can effectively guarantee themselves profits even while fielding a non-competitive roster.

And this is precisely where the Pohlads have positioned themselves.

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

As reported, no other MLB team has debts anywhere close to 500M. This is the Pohlad's uniquely, and prehaps fraudulently taking advantage of the system and bilking the other owners out of a lot of money over the years. At the same time it is devaluing the Twins and by proxy MLB baseball. The A's and Rays have tanked payroll to help facilitate new stadiums or relocation which will benefit the league overall, this doesn't benefit anyone other than the Pohlad's. 

Ok, but that is an entirely separate concern from their payroll. You asked why the other owners would allow Twins to slash payroll, and I told you why. 

[SteveLV]

If MLB actually had a strong, competent Commissioner, the Pohlads would get brought into the League office and told to bring all their books for a full audit and accounting to be undertaken to find out what the heck they are doing with the franchise financially.  If the reporting is accurate, this is an unprecedented level of debt they have accumulated, reportedly to leverage losses in other, unrelated business activities.

It is BAD for MLB on many levels, and the League should give a damn about it and take action.

[Woof Bronzer]

19 hours ago, SteveLV said:

If MLB actually had a strong, competent Commissioner, the Pohlads would get brought into the League office and told to bring all their books for a full audit and accounting to be undertaken to find out what the heck they are doing with the franchise financially.  If the reporting is accurate, this is an unprecedented level of debt they have accumulated, reportedly to leverage losses in other, unrelated business activities.

It is BAD for MLB on many levels, and the League should give a damn about it and take action.

You seem to be confused as to the role of the commissioner.  The commissioner works for the owners, and his only job is to ensure the owners get filthy rich.   The league's financial structure is set up to allow - heck, to incentivize - owners to do what the Pohlads are doing.  Same thing the Rockies, As, Pirates, Sox, Nats, etc are doing and have been doing for years.  It's by design to allow smaller market owners hoard wealth too, not just the big market owners.  Manfred not only doesn't care about the Pohlads cutting costs, he encourages it - what other lesson should an owner take after watching the As, Rockies, and Pirates blatantly do this for years?  Rich, happy owners mean job security for him.  

[SteveLV]

I am aware that the MLB Commissioner has traditionally been a bit of a lackey to the owners, but I am saying that if they actually had a STRONG Commissioner, he/she would take this kind of action.

The reporting is that this was an unprecedented level of debt when it was $400M.  Now we hear it was $500M!

How do you accumulate half a billion in debt running a baseball team???

This deserves an investigation, IMO. 

And it will never happen.