Tom Pohlad Wants to Earn Back Fans’ Trust. Can He Do It?

[Riverbrian]

Dear Tom,

Congrats on the new gig. I'm pulling for you. 

Develop or die

Sincerely,

 

Riverbrian

[The Great Hambino]

Random ominous thought: why did the family pick Joe to run the team before Tom in the first place?

[Fire Dan Gladden]

There should be no more discussion here about "ignorance" of the owners. Tom basically came out and said everything that TD fanbase has been screaming about for years. We know they know we know.

Tom spoke a lot of powerful words about the past failures of ownership and how he wants to change that. We all know words are just words. But, I am CAUTIOUSLY optimistic for two reasons:

1) The public announcement they were not trading Ryan/Lopez. This is a win move, not a cost-saving move. There seems to be enough truth here that pundits have pulled Ryan and Lopez off of their "top trade target" boards.

2) The signing of Josh Bell. Argue about the quality of the signing all you want, but this is also a win move, not a cost saving move. The Twins were never going to sign Pete Alonso, but Bell is probably the best 1B FA they were able to sign without breaking the bank.

Tom's biggest hurdle is rebuilding trust. You can be honest a thousand times, and one lie can ruin that trust. No matter how many good or strong or positive moves he makes, we-as-fans will always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. If he is legit, it is going to take an immense amount of time to repair the damages of the past. The only way to speed that time up is to win.

[Otaknam]

The Twins aren’t going to spend much more going forward to 2026. The best they can do is to make a minor splash trade or two, like for Coby Mayo, and try to rebuild the bullpen with some decent arms, not the bunch of mutts they brought in after destroying it at the trade deadline. And they could extend Ryan as a good faith move, though he is more likely to be traded.  

[laloesch]

14 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

This is the moment is where I lose all optimism and trust:

“I think we are certainly within reach of winning a division title this year," Pohlad opined. "And I think we’ll continue to look at moves we can make that will help us accomplish that.”

This is so, so delusional. It's false hope. This team is light years behind the Guardians in terms of player development. The Royals and Tigers have far more talented rosters and a better plan for success. Even the White Sox are getting ready to slide out of the cellar.

This slow, injury-prone 92 loss team that has added virtually nothing is going to ... compete for a division? Get real.

It's not straight talk - it's pandering. It's being too afraid to communicate with us - and with the veteran players - directly about the state of the franchise. But by not facing the roster rot head on, it means this team will have an even harder time getting premium value for veterans later on, and it may damage the Twins' ability to have a better draft advantage in 2027.

So no, I have no optimism from any of this. If you can't make the unpopular, hard decisions on Day 1, then you can't expect to lead us into a new direction. This team is owned and run by people who don't even remotely understand what winning baseball looks like.

I can't understand the down votes to your post.  Everything you said is absolutely true.  The Twins have done NOTHING to improve this team.  If Josh Bell is their magic pill (gags), it's gonna be another long season, not that I was expecting otherwise given what happened last season.  It's not just the players but the slashed payroll, the down attendance numbers, the cutbacks at the stadium to concessions, the tv broadcast and streaming debacle......etc, etc.  The Twins have a whole list of problems to address and it's not gonna be easy.  Tom is gonna have his hands full.

I'm not as ready as some to throw Falvey overboard.  I think given the payroll constraints he's done a decent job, but the clock is ticking no doubt.  We shall see.

  

 

 

[Trov]

For some fans the only way he can win them back is by dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into players, and hope they win.  Even if the team does win without doing that some fans will not care, they will demand trades for players and signing every top free agent and who cares how much money it costs.

I would hope most fans could be brought back by simply trying to win and not clearly dumping payroll.  The CC trade was done for that, despite him clearly not living up to his pay, but if that is not reinvested back into payroll then fans will be upset.  Now, I am not one who says teams should spend just to spend, because that is how you get mid-level vets getting big time money just because you spend because you have it.  However, if we do not retain our top FA that we think will be helpful that becomes and issue. 

Some years the FA crop is just not worth major dollars, and if you pass on it one year with intent to spend more the next I am okay with that, but if you just keep coasting by on cheap contracts hoping to hit on the low cost deals they do not always pan out.  We have seen that many times where they do not, and some times they do.  We have seen the big FA not work out as well. I personally like spending big on retaining your own guys if you think they are worth it.

[LastOnePicked]

8 minutes ago, laloesch said:

I can't understand the down votes to your post.

Because I'm a jerk and I'm not optimistic enough. I know it. I own it. And I'm beating this stuff to death.

But I am a little bit tired of doing this every offseason. "Give Baldelli another chance - he's one of the winningest coaches in Twins history!" "Give Falvey a chance to have his pitching pipeline hit the big league level." "Give this team a chance - they were so close in 2019/2023!"

Over and over and over again. Clear eyes will tell you that, yet again, this team doesn't have what it takes to win. There are only three paths forward for a team in their position: 1) huge free-agent splashes or 2) a total tear-down that rebuilds not only the roster but also your developmental philosophy or 3) false hope that if your competition stinks and literally everything bounces your way, you can contend.

I am so tired of false hope and so ready for cold reality and so, so ready for pathway #2. But now it's not going to happen and I have to just let it go. 

[Jeff K]

The Josh Bell signing has dimmed my headlamps.  The Twins don't need another mediocre DH style player.  They have so many.  For me, the "new Twins" need to be our youngsters.  The outfield corner slots should be manned by two of Gonzalez, Jenkins and Emma.  Be ready to move Culpepper up if he is performing well with the Saints.  Convert a couple of starters to relief; Prielipp and Festa perhaps and see what our young players can do.  The Twins need to find out if these guys can play.  I am pretty darned tired of the parade of retreads.

[LastOnePicked]

54 minutes ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

You can be honest a thousand times, and one lie can ruin that trust.

Here's the problem: the lie has already happened. He said he doesn't work in half-measures. Putting out a reduced payroll, keeping your FO intact, refusing to trade veteran players at the height of their value and running back a 70-92 roster is the dictionary definition of a half-measure.

The trust is already broken. I could even have accepted: "We're not going to add, but we're afraid that news of any more trades is going to sour any chance at stabilizing season ticket sales. So we're going to just toss a hail mary and see what we have. If we're not in good shape by mid-summer, we'll have another deadline sell-off. It's a half-measure, yes, but it's better PR right now than a tear-down." That honesty would have been refreshing.

[Russ]

Lip service and PR (which the Twins are poor at).  Show us and then we can decide.  

[Brandon]

If the Twins are competitive at the trade deadline we will have our answers on the action speaks louder than words.  If we add payroll and players to a competitive team......

[JADBP]

19 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

This is the moment is where I lose all optimism and trust:

“I think we are certainly within reach of winning a division title this year," Pohlad opined. "And I think we’ll continue to look at moves we can make that will help us accomplish that.”

This is so, so delusional. It's false hope. This team is light years behind the Guardians in terms of player development. The Royals and Tigers have far more talented rosters and a better plan for success. Even the White Sox are getting ready to slide out of the cellar.

This slow, injury-prone 92 loss team that has added virtually nothing is going to ... compete for a division? Get real.

It's not straight talk - it's pandering. It's being too afraid to communicate with us - and with the veteran players - directly about the state of the franchise. But by not facing the roster rot head on, it means this team will have an even harder time getting premium value for veterans later on, and it may damage the Twins' ability to have a better draft advantage in 2027.

So no, I have no optimism from any of this. If you can't make the unpopular, hard decisions on Day 1, then you can't expect to lead us into a new direction. This team is owned and run by people who don't even remotely understand what winning baseball looks like.

Very very interesting comments. Yes, the Twin’s way is broken.  I think someone in the family has finally stood up at the Pohlad thanksgiving table and shouted and screamed until he finally got through….”you keep trying the same ******** over and over and you just keep failing!”  He finally got through to the uncles.  

But what does this mean?  Bad people or bad process?  It’s BOTH!  So he’s gotta take the time to figure out who the bad apples are and cull them and bring in new people with new processes.  My guess is that he already has an idea of who to replace.  

I doubt they would dump Shelton but the FO is likely on the super high burner…

[JADBP]

5 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Random ominous thought: why did the family pick Joe to run the team before Tom in the first place?

Damn!  That’s a good question. Think of Spanky (from the gang) jumping up and down waving his hands wildly and screaming with that squeaky voice “Pick me! Pick ME!”

 

the old man said OK, but DO NOT SCREW THIS UP! Then he did! 

[Hubie29]

5 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Random ominous thought: why did the family pick Joe to run the team before Tom in the first place?

Someone had to draw the short straw!

[bean5302]

What I took away from this is there is no plan in place yet. So no status change at all. I don't think the Pohlad family understands what fans want, but they think they might (they seem to be wrong).

What fans want:
Clear expectations and plans (at least to an extent) because that makes us feel connected.
Accountability through actions they're sorta showing this.
Truthful communications don't lie to us.
Investment with a long term vision and commitment to win.
Ownership committed to making game day fun (for ticket holders).
Ownership committed to making the games accessible (for home viewers).

I see almost none of this yet. I honestly don't hold a lot of hope for the Pohlads being able to turn things around. They're truly despised by fans, and changing an opinion takes an enormous amount of effort.

[Mike Sixel]

19 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Can he? Yes, it is a possibility. Will he? Not until he does things noticeably different for multiple years in a row.

This.

[Vanimal46]

9 hours ago, Trov said:

For some fans the only way he can win them back is by dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into players, and hope they win  selling the team.

FTFY. I am willing to bet there is a larger percentage of fans and former fans that simply want the Pohlads to sell the team. A divorce attorney would label it irreconcilable differences and that's where I'm at. I'm so tired of this family and I just want them to not own a team I like anymore. 

[TheLeviathan]

22 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Random ominous thought: why did the family pick Joe to run the team before Tom in the first place?

Joe was between jobs ruining another industry in their umbrella.  And as we all know, the best ability is availability!

[LastOnePicked]

19 hours ago, JADBP said:

I think someone in the family has finally stood up at the Pohlad thanksgiving table and shouted and screamed until he finally got through….”you keep trying the same ******** over and over and you just keep failing!”

Except ... here Tom Pohlad is, doing the exact same thing as the last two years. Keep a terrible FO and roster intact, close your eyes and cross your fingers.

He may make big changes after this season, sure. That's like calling a plumber after your broken pipes turn your house into a swimming pool. That doesn't deserve credit in my opinion.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, LastOnePicked said:

Except ... here Tom Pohlad is, doing the exact same thing as the last two years. Keep a terrible FO and roster intact, close your eyes and cross your fingers.

He may make big changes after this season, sure. That's like calling a plumber after your broken pipes turn your house into a swimming pool. That doesn't deserve credit in my opinion.

Tom is the spokesman for the ownership, but he is not an owner. While it sounds like Jim is handing Tom more power than Joe had, Tom is not going to have control of the budget because that comes from actual ownership. If Tom wants to expand a payroll, he'll need to make his sales pitch to the ownership group.

I think it's possible Tom could make a good decision and fire Falvey, though. Until that happens, I have no expectations there is any hope for this team.

[JADBP]

12 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

Except ... here Tom Pohlad is, doing the exact same thing as the last two years. Keep a terrible FO and roster intact, close your eyes and cross your fingers.

He may make big changes after this season, sure. That's like calling a plumber after your broken pipes turn your house into a swimming pool. That doesn't deserve credit in my opinion.

I fully agree.  That’s why I expect Falvey is on the short leash—about to be snapped off.  As he said,  Something’s Gotta Give.  .  

[JADBP]

On 12/19/2025 at 1:52 PM, bean5302 said:

What I took away from this is there is no plan in place yet. So no status change at all. I don't think the Pohlad family understands what fans want, but they think they might (they seem to be wrong).

What fans want:
Clear expectations and plans (at least to an extent) because that makes us feel connected.
Accountability through actions they're sorta showing this.
Truthful communications don't lie to us.
Investment with a long term vision and commitment to win.
Ownership committed to making game day fun (for ticket holders).
Ownership committed to making the games accessible (for home viewers).

I see almost none of this yet. I honestly don't hold a lot of hope for the Pohlads being able to turn things around. They're truly despised by fans, and changing an opinion takes an enormous amount of effort.

He DID use the words accountability and communications…

 

Time will tell

[SteveLV]

Tom, you could also sign a potentially good player, too.

Like the freakin' White Sox just did, spending a total of $41M on Murukami.

But we already knew you were just blowing smoke, so no real loss.

[KirbyDome89]

On 12/18/2025 at 11:05 PM, LastOnePicked said:

They're maybe middling clubs in the grand scheme of MLB. Here's how they recently stack up to the Twins:

Cleveland: (2024) 92-69; (2025) 88-74

Detroit: (2024) 86-76; (2025) 86-76

Twins (2024) 82-80; (2025) 70-92

These 2026 Twins have dropped another $30M in payroll and have no bullpen. The Tigers are Guardians are again building off of playoffs years. Oh, and both Cleveland and Detroit's farm systems are ranked higher than the Twins, even after the trade deadline sell-off.

So, perhaps they shouldn't scare most teams, and I don't want to see the Twins afraid of them either. But they're in a totally different AL Central class at this point, and this team as currently constructed won't finish within 10 games of either one of them.

So I respectfully disagree.

 

I mean, go back one more year and it's the Twins with the high 80s win total and the other two checking in with win totals in the 70s. 

Idk if either team is building. Cleveland is shopping Kwan, and he's far and away their 2nd best offensive player, and the drop off is steep. Even with him in the lineup, that's a really poor position player group, and their pitching (particularly their SP) is massively overrated by Twins fans. Their bullpen obviously took a major hit as well. 

Detroit? Idk, maybe. What's the difference between them and KC? Their LH ace stayed healthy? They cratered in the 2nd half last year. That's kinda my point, all these clubs are slightly different variations of the same mediocre template. 

It wouldn't shock me at all if the Twins don't finish within 10 games of either Cleveland and/or Detroit. They're definitely more of a low floor/high ceiling club. They could completely implode with a patchwork bullpen and position players that can't hang onto a roster spot. They could also could get a bounce back season from Ober, better health from Pablo, and just enough offense to let that SP group keep them in contention for the division. Again, that's not an endorsement of that path. That's a pretty pathetic goal. 

[Markdumont25]

The short answer is yes, he can win trust back. The more complicated question is will he/they. Color me skeptical. All he's done so far is prove he's better at saying the right thing. I guess it's not nothing but it doesn't move the needle much without literally putting their money where their mouth is.

I'd still like to just try our chances with new ownership but I guess any change on the leadership level is better than none.

[Markdumont25]

On 12/18/2025 at 6:51 PM, LastOnePicked said:

This is the moment is where I lose all optimism and trust:

“I think we are certainly within reach of winning a division title this year," Pohlad opined. "And I think we’ll continue to look at moves we can make that will help us accomplish that.”

This is so, so delusional. It's false hope. This team is light years behind the Guardians in terms of player development. The Royals and Tigers have far more talented rosters and a better plan for success. Even the White Sox are getting ready to slide out of the cellar.

This slow, injury-prone 92 loss team that has added virtually nothing is going to ... compete for a division? Get real.

It's not straight talk - it's pandering. It's being too afraid to communicate with us - and with the veteran players - directly about the state of the franchise. But by not facing the roster rot head on, it means this team will have an even harder time getting premium value for veterans later on, and it may damage the Twins' ability to have a better draft advantage in 2027.

So no, I have no optimism from any of this. If you can't make the unpopular, hard decisions on Day 1, then you can't expect to lead us into a new direction. This team is owned and run by people who don't even remotely understand what winning baseball looks like.

Exactly. Straight talk would be saying that we blew up our entire bullpen and our roster isn't currently good enough (pending whatever impact the young prospects coming up might make) without a massive spending spree, which isn't going to happen this year. 

I feel like I say the same thing every time I comment here but I'm an optimist and I usually opt for hope... but thinking this roster, which is basically the same one that was one of the worst teams in the league at the end of last year, will be competitive this year is delusional thinking. Just tell us we're in a soft rebuild...it sucks but we can handle it. And it will make watching this year easier knowing that we're just seeing how our young guys develop this year without any real expectations. 

[farmerguychris]

The more I think about this transition to Tom from Joe, the less optimistic I become.

Sure, Joe failed.  But - at least it seems Joe was a fan of the Twins!  I think he really WANTED the team to win, and proved so by signing players like Correa and getting to a payroll level we've never seen before (league average).

With Tom in place, plus with minority owners who are in the financial sector - I envision it will only be about the money going forward.  If moves don't make the ownership more money then don't make them.  At least Joe made moves in hopes of making the team better.  It didn't work out - but at least he tried.  Will Tom even try to win, or will he only try to make as much money as possible?

 

[nicksaviking]

Yeah, I don't understand the anger with half the posts in this thread. Even if it WERE just lip service, or PR, or blow-hard nonsense, at worst, we're just in the same sinking boat, not a different, even more sinking boat. Did anyone actually want Joe to continue to run the team? Unless someone did, the vitriol seems misplaced.

But at the very, very minimum, we at least now are getting to watch Succession level Pohlad on Pohlad crime. I don't know how everybody who dislikes the Pohlad's (which very well may be EVERYBODY) isn't Schadenfreud-ing up this infighting and backstabbing.

"Tom's lying to us!"

So? What else is new? He also just kicked his kid brother in the nuts and took away his most prized possession. Yeah, that's new and probably the most enjoyable thing I've seen this club do since 2023; I'll happily watch more of this.

[bunsen82]

On 12/18/2025 at 6:51 PM, LastOnePicked said:

This is the moment is where I lose all optimism and trust:

“I think we are certainly within reach of winning a division title this year," Pohlad opined. "And I think we’ll continue to look at moves we can make that will help us accomplish that.”

This is so, so delusional. It's false hope. This team is light years behind the Guardians in terms of player development. The Royals and Tigers have far more talented rosters and a better plan for success. Even the White Sox are getting ready to slide out of the cellar.

So no, I have no optimism from any of this. If you can't make the unpopular, hard decisions on Day 1, then you can't expect to lead us into a new direction. This team is owned and run by people who don't even remotely understand what winning baseball looks like.

6 weeks later,  you have hit the nail on the head.  Nothing more has been done on the bullpen front and we are now without Falvey because Tom insists that we must win this year, but has put 0 financial resources into rebuilding a bullpen.  He is effectively saying he knows more that Falvey, and that is dangerous.  The sad situation is Tom is effectively our GM and Zoll will just be executing the vision.