The Pohlads Are Running Out of Scapegoats

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images (Baldelli), Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports (Falvey) Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images (Popkins)

For much of the last decade, the Pohlad family has operated the Minnesota Twins as if accountability were a shell game. When results soured, someone else was usually nearby to take the fall. Executives were shuffled, managers were dismissed, and coaches were swapped out. Each move came with the implication that the problem had been identified and removed. Yet, the cycle has continued, and the list of available scapegoats is getting uncomfortably short.

What once looked like decisive action is starting to resemble a pattern of deflection. The common thread is that the ownership group remains untouched, while nearly every layer beneath it has been stripped away.

President Derek Falvey (January 2026)
The most significant domino fell last week, when Falvey and the Twins agreed to mutually part ways. The language was polite, but the reality was clear. Falvey and Tom Pohlad did not see eye-to-eye on the direction of the franchise. Falvey had been the face of baseball operations and often the public shield for ownership decisions, particularly as payrolls tightened and long-term planning gave way to short-term austerity.

By removing Falvey, the Pohlads removed the last executive who could plausibly claim autonomy over roster construction. It also raised an obvious question: If the architect of the modern Twins model is gone, who's responsible for the limitations placed on him in the first place?

Joe Pohlad (December 2025)
Just weeks earlier, the family turned inward. Joe Pohlad was pushed out as his elder brother assumed control. The move was framed as a necessary reset, but it also signaled something deeper. When even a family member can be deemed expendable, it suggests panic, rather than vision.

Joe Pohlad had been positioned as the future of the franchise. His removal did not come with a clear philosophical shift or a renewed commitment to spending. It simply concentrated power, while offering another name to point at when explaining why things had gone wrong.

Manager Rocco Baldelli (September 2025)
Baldelli was fired after two disappointing seasons, something few managers can withstand. However, the decision felt less like a baseball call and more like an ownership directive. Baldelli was widely respected in the clubhouse and around the league. He had navigated earlier Twins teams through adversity and postseason success, with limited resources.

His dismissal appeared to come from above Falvey, rather than through him. In hindsight, it may have marked the beginning of the end for Falvey, as well. Once the manager was removed, the front office structure began to crack, and the chain of responsibility became murkier.

SS Carlos Correa (July 2025)
Correa was meant to be the franchise cornerstone and a signal that the Twins were willing to spend like a contender. Instead, his time in Minnesota was defined by inconsistency. He showed flashes of playing like a $30-million player, but those moments were fleeting and often disrupted by injuries. The expectations never aligned with the on-field results, and frustration followed.

By July 2025, the Twins moved on, while still paying the Astros $10 million per season to take Correa. Minnesota is saving roughly $20 million annually by having him off the roster, but it doesn't feel like that money has been reinvested into improving the team. Correa became another name attached to failure, while the larger issue once again went unaddressed.

GM Thad Levine (October 2024)
When the Twins collapsed in 2024, someone had to answer for it in the front office. Levine became that person. While elements of the failure were tied to decisions made during his tenure, the issues ran far deeper than the actions of one executive. Development stalled, depth eroded, and financial constraints tightened.

Levine’s departure offered a clean headline and a sense of action, but it did little to address the systemic problems that had been brewing for years. The organization moved on quickly, and the root causes remained.

Hitting Coach David Popkins (October 2024)
In the weeks before Levine left, the Twins fired a trio of hitting coaches, including Popkins. The offense collapsed in the second half of 2024, making changes to the coaching staff inevitable. Popkins was fired, and the Twins pointed to approach and preparation as culprits. Then Popkins landed in Toronto and helped the Blue Jays make a World Series run in 2025 on his way to being named Baseball America’s MLB Coach of the Year.

The contrast was jarring. What was deemed failure in Minnesota translated to success elsewhere. It reinforced the idea that the environment and roster construction matter and that coaching alone was not the issue in Minneapolis—especially after the team ousted Popkins's replacement, Matt Borgschulte, at the end of 2025.

With Falvey gone, Joe Pohlad sidelined, Baldelli dismissed, and a wave of executives and coaches already removed, the Pohlads are running out of people to blame. The familiar explanations are wearing thin. At some point, the constant turnover stops looking like accountability and starts looking like avoidance.

The Twins do not lack talent or institutional knowledge. They lack stability and a clear commitment from the top. Until ownership is willing to examine its own role in the franchise’s struggles, the cycle will continue. There are no scapegoats left, except the ones in the mirror.

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Are there any scapegoats left for the Pohlads? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

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[CRF]

Yep.

[Brett]

At some point, they might blame the fans for not supporting the team enough.

[tony&rodney]

Seems time to move on from pointing every finger at the Pohlads. They are the same as it ever was. Maybe forget about DK and his sitting on his hands approach too and hope Zoll finds some ideas.

What ideas do the Twins Daily writers have for moving forward .... or are the Pohlads going to dominate all baseball talk in 2026. Of course the Pohlads have been a burden, but that is now nearly 42 years old.

What is next?

[farmerguychris]

4 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Seems time to move on from pointing every finger at the Pohlads. They are the same as it ever was. Maybe forget about DK and his sitting on his hands approach too and hope Zoll finds some ideas.

What ideas do the Twins Daily writers have for moving forward .... or are the Pohlads going to dominate all baseball talk in 2026. Of course the Pohlads have been a burden, but that is now nearly 42 years old.

What is next?

I disagree.  From my perspective the Pohlads deserve all the sh*t they get.  This new version under Tom appears to be heading towards being the worst owners in MLB.  

[Cory Engelhardt]

11 minutes ago, Brett said:

At some point, they might blame the fans for not supporting the team enough.

I was going to say, maybe the real scapegoats are the friends we met along the way? :)

[nicksaviking]

As far as I'm concerned, they never found a believable scapegoat. Sure, people they hired have failed, but 90% of the fan base still pointed our fingers directly at ownership.

[Cris E]

This isn't something that happened in the past decade since I'm not sure they ever bothered making any excuses in 40 years.

There was some spending to get a new stadium, of course, and a couple years ago crazy cousin Joe got into dad's liquor cabinet and bought a Correa, but mostly they've always said "We spend 47% of the money we make and if we win that's great, but golly the system is rigged against the little guys from MN."  The press writes it down, the locals rail against the Yankees or the Dodgers and then the family takes a giant slice of the pie home with them for fall. 

They make some changes every once in a while, but only when it looks like things are ready to turn anyway.  Back in 1987 you think Tom Kelly was the reason they won the World Series, or was the waiting over and the kids finally ready for prime time? Same with Gardy: he had to suffer for years, and when things looked ready they threw the keys to Molitor, and Rocco got a playoff in his first year too. They don't care about excuses and scape goats, but when it's time to cash in they want a fresh face to help sell the future.

If they hadn't thrown away the entire bullpen and hacked off the payroll, if they'd just gone and gotten the outside money in 2023 or 2024 and held their ground on the baseball side, then things could be pretty solid right now. If the budget had more room there's no way that Bell is in MN this spring, for example. Falvey might have ticked some folks off in the details, but he was building a solid organization.   

[DJL44]

TC Bear is probably updating his resume as we speak

[Woof Bronzer]

59 minutes ago, Brett said:

At some point, they might blame the fans for not supporting the team enough.

Ope, Dave St Peter actually already did this in September 2023.  Tough Talkin' Tom has gestured toward fan-blaming too so it'll be interesting to see how he reacts when his "competitive" team is out of it by June 1.

[Jim H]

Falvey was in charge of how the money was spent and the overall direction of the franchise. He was in charge of hiring the people who worked for him. He hired Levine and Baldelli and Zoll for that matter. It is true he didn't have control over his budget but how it was spent  was entirely on him. I am sure he had to get permission on big budget commitments, but the recommendations and implementation was on him.

He was wasn't scapegoated. He was fired or mutually let go because the team and perhaps the whole franchise was in worse shape than when was hired.

 

[bean5302]

Beef prices are up, thanks Obama! Pohalds!

Falvey has scapegoated others historically. It's not reasonable to believe the Pohlad family had anything to do with staffing changes under Falvey. Falvey makes the call on managers, hitting coaches etc.

The Pohlads have made some accountability moves recently which has been out of character for the franchise for decades. They're not scapegoating. They're finally doing their job and holding people accountable (at least a little.)

[rdehring]

Another morning, another article bashing the Twins.  Bah Humbug!

With the way the Twins played the last year and a quarter, everyone in management should have been fired.  And that firing included terminating the family member running the team.  To me, that is positive. 

But others continue to find new avenues to bash the organization.  Personally, I will sit back and hope like heck the Twins have a decent 2026 and are competitive by 2027.  That's assuming there is baseball in 2027.  And if there isn't hopefully, the needed changes finally are put in place to enable all teams a chance to compete on a somewhat equal footing.   

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the Twins have a bigger payroll last year than the Brewers?  Yes, payroll matters but it is equally important how those dollars are spent.  And that was subject to Falvey's decisions.

[IndianaTwin]

The nature of professional sports (and our society) is that there will nearly always be someone to scapegoat. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, farmerguychris said:

I disagree.  From my perspective the Pohlads deserve all the sh*t they get.  This new version under Tom appears to be heading towards being the worst owners in MLB.  

So all you want to read about is what we already know .... the Pohlads are this, that, etc. To each his own. Since 1984, nothing new and I prefer reading baseball information. 

[Eris]

What we have here is a total system failure that predates Falvey. Since approximately 2010, Byron Buxton is the only player drafted in the Twins organization who has produced at above average to elite level of performance (when he is not hurt).  Berrios might belong on this list. There is a real development gap regarding many of Twins high level draft picks. 
 

There were others like Dozier, Kepler and Polanco with short periods of sustained success. 

[Rhyno006]

The only way I'll ever believe anything the Pohlads/ownership group say is when they put their money where their mouths are and increase payroll to field a respectable team. It also doesn't help that they appear to be cycling through bargain basement managers and front office bobos to find someone that happens to be lightning in a bottle, likely only to turn to us fans and say: "See? All we had to be was patient for several decades and it would work out." Quite frankly, it's insulting.

And please note, I'm not asking to spend like we're the Dodgers or Mets here, something near $200 mil a year range that is properly managed would be encouraging.  

[hlsballer318]

I can't put my finger on it as I haven't been a fan as long as many of the other posters on this site, but there's something wrong with the clubhouse culture. Sure the roster could have been bolstered after 2023 or 2024. But wasn't the 2025 team decent on paper? Wasn't the 2024 team decent on paper? What led to the last quarter collapse in 2024? Why does the team go on a ten game winning streak and then fall to pieces prior to the 2025 trade deadline? How are all those trade pieces worth something, but the team is lesser than the sum of its parts?

I'm venting, but at this point I just gotta sit back and watch the season unfold. 

[old nurse]

2 hours ago, Brett said:

At some point, they might blame the fans for not supporting the team enough.

Only a fool would think the absence of fans did not play a part in their decisions.

[ziggy]

in the mirror?? It's always in the last place you look.

Baseball is a team sport and the Twins have been playing it like individual players for a long time.  No sacrificing by bunting, no hitting behind runners to advance them, allergic to a sacrifice fly ball. Lewis summed it up last summer when he said he does not want to change his swing during season and lower his arbitration numbers.

[Deadfan]

3 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Seems time to move on from pointing every finger at the Pohlads. They are the same as it ever was. Maybe forget about DK and his sitting on his hands approach too and hope Zoll finds some ideas.

What ideas do the Twins Daily writers have for moving forward .... or are the Pohlads going to dominate all baseball talk in 2026. Of course the Pohlads have been a burden, but that is now nearly 42 years old.

What is next?

Yeah, see you cant just sweep a festering problem under the rug and hope it disappears. That just doesn't work. 

This is a very confusing take, unless your last name starts with a "P" and happens to rhyme with GONAD.....

[Sjoski]

3 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

the Pohlads have been a burden, but that is now nearly 42 

42 years!!!  You're right … how time flies!!!

 
Feels like just yesterday Calvin Griffith was alienating Rod Carew over a 5K raise ... you know...‘insult your superstar' and then act shocked when he wants out.

[NYCTK]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Beef prices are up, thanks Obama! Pohalds!

Falvey has scapegoated others historically. It's not reasonable to believe the Pohlad family had anything to do with staffing changes under Falvey. Falvey makes the call on managers, hitting coaches etc.

The Pohlads have made some accountability moves recently which has been out of character for the franchise for decades. They're not scapegoating. They're finally doing their job and holding people accountable (at least a little.)

Two things can be true: 

• Yes, Falvey sucked at his job.
• Yes, the Pohlads have proven to be in the bottom tier of MLB owners over their 40 odd years of stewardship. 

[NYCTK]

3 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Seems time to move on from pointing every finger at the Pohlads.

Why would anyone stop hating the idiot billionaires that have literally tried to kill the franchise, and now metaphorically killed the franchise. Those same idiotic billionaires that said they were selling the team only to sell off a minority share to remain in charge? 

**** the Pohalds man. 

[rv78]

The Pohlads will never run out of scapegoats. The new people they hire to replace the used scapegoats become fodder for new scapegoats. If the Twins falter again in 2026, tell me they won't look to Shelton or a new Coach to blame. At the very least they will use Falvey as a scapegoat for the next few years saying he didn't do his job building up the team, (which I agree with), however, it will never get to the point where they say it's their fault.  

[tony&rodney]

28 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Why would anyone stop hating the idiot billionaires that have literally tried to kill the franchise, and now metaphorically killed the franchise. Those same idiotic billionaires that said they were selling the team only to sell off a minority share to remain in charge? 

**** the Pohalds man. 

Because I fought the sale of the Twins to the Pohlads in 1984 and nothing has changed from ownership and hate is what our leaders want everyone to have in their heads and heart. 

If it that important a subject that cannot be put aside, it is best to stop following the Twins for the sake of mental health. Boycott and demonstrate, which is what i do to oppose what I do not accept.

[tony&rodney]

58 minutes ago, Sjoski said:

42 years!!!  You're right … how time flies!!!

 
Feels like just yesterday Calvin Griffith was alienating Rod Carew over a 5K raise ... you know...‘insult your superstar' and then act shocked when he wants out.

Did you ever talk with Rodney about that?

Or Calvin?

I did.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, Eris said:

What we have here is a total system failure that predates Falvey. Since approximately 2010, Byron Buxton is the only player drafted in the Twins organization who has produced at above average to elite level of performance (when he is not hurt).  Berrios might belong on this list. There is a real development gap regarding many of Twins high level draft picks. 
 

There were others like Dozier, Kepler and Polanco with short periods of sustained success. 

Seems to be a mighty high bar you've got. Only 1 in 20-ish players will accumulate 20+ career WAR. Only about 1 in 100-ish players reach the HoF (those players who have sustained elite performances). 

I'm not sure if you're looking for performances after 2010 or players who were drafted/signed after 2010? Dozier, Kepler, Sano, Rosario, Polanco were all signed/drafted prior to 2010, but yeah, the 2nd round of Terry Ryan 2012-2016 draft classes wasn't great. 

[Major League Ready]

4 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Seems time to move on from pointing every finger at the Pohlads. They are the same as it ever was. Maybe forget about DK and his sitting on his hands approach too and hope Zoll finds some ideas.

What ideas do the Twins Daily writers have for moving forward .... or are the Pohlads going to dominate all baseball talk in 2026. Of course the Pohlads have been a burden, but that is now nearly 42 years old.

What is next?

This remains to be seen for me.  I always looked at the Pohlads more indifferently than most here.  I didn't think they contributed any direction but they spent in line with the market.  Now, I am wondering if Tom and the family did a 180 in the middle of a rebuild.  I wonder if Tom is really so delusional that he thinks this roster is poised to compete in 2026.  I have seen the desire for immediate results drive really bad decisions with clients.  Someone posted a quote in another thread where he said "we have to be good".  Well, need does not get you much if you don't do anything to improve your chances of getting what you need.

[Thumbs Down Guy]

Of course scapegoating is nothing new. Remember in 2022 when they blamed all the injuries on Michael Salazar? Fired him, after throwing him under the bus, hired Podesta(sp?). Had a good year with many accolades for him, then the next year lots of injuries yet again. But, by then, 2024, we were moving up the food chain sacking those at fault!!:)