Josh Donaldson Says Minnesota Fans “Don’t Even Care” About Baseball

[Matthew Taylor]

Josh Donaldson has never been shy about sharing his opinion, and the former Minnesota Twins third baseman is making waves with some rather unflattering comments about his former team and the state of Minnesota.

On a recent episode of his Get It Done League podcast, Donaldson was discussing Jeff Hoffman being traded to the Twins at the deadline and his thoughts on Minnesota as a destination. Donaldson did not exactly give his former home a ringing endorsement.

"He's going to get to go to Minnesota, where it's 'Minnesota Nice'... people in Minnesota... I don't think they even care about baseball that much... Playing there for two years, I thought it was mediocre at best," Donaldson said.

Parker Hageman of Twins Daily shared a clip of Donaldson's comments on X, and it quickly generated plenty of engagement from Twins fans, many of whom remember Donaldson's own two-year run in Minnesota quite well.

Donaldson signed with the Twins as a free agent ahead of the 2020 season and spent two seasons with the club. While he was productive when on the field, posting a .829 OPS, many fans had a sour taste in their mouths over Donaldson's time in Minnesota. Injuries limited him to just 163 games over those two years, and he missed the Twins' 2020 postseason run because of injury.

Donaldson's tenure in Minnesota was also defined by his personality. He became a polarizing figure among Twins fans, with his attitude, controversial comments and perceived lack of leadership rubbing plenty of people the wrong way.

After spending the 2022 and 2023 seasons in New York and Milwaukee, Donaldson retired following the 2023 season. He now hosts Get It Done League alongside former teammate and All-Star Russell Martin and veteran broadcaster Arash Madani.

Now, his comments about Minnesota have given Twins fans another reason to revisit the Donaldson era.

What do you make of Josh Donaldson's comments? And what is your overall opinion of Donaldson's time with the Twins? Let us know in the comments.

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[Brock Beauchamp]

[BobAzar]

If it wasnt for the bobblehead I have at home, I would forget that he played for the twins at all. My only memory of him is opening day 2021, in milwaukee, hitting a double down the line and pulling up with a leg injury in the first inning. 

[Dman]

Objectively I think he has a point.  This hasn't been a "great" market for Baseball IMO.  There is a reason the TV deals weren't that great as they don't have the viewership that other clubs have.  Maybe it's the baseball product, but I tend to agree that Minnesota fans are a bit ambivalent about baseball. I know several Die Hard Vikings fans and Wild fans, but I feel like I am one of the few that follows the Twins with that same level of passion. 

I'm not saying there aren't big time fans of the Twins out there, but I would say the experience is different than St Louis, LA Dodgers, and other places.  Again maybe it is just the way baseball is setup with small markets generally struggling to compete, but I don't think he is completely wrong given other baseball environments.

[DJL44]

Baseball is the #4 sport in this market after football, hockey and basketball. 

[Vanimal46]

5 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Baseball is the #4 sport in this market after football, hockey and basketball. 

#2-4 are interchangeable depending on if they're winning. The NFL dominates every market they're in so that's a given... It wasn't that long ago when the Wolves were the laughing stock of all sports. It's amazing what new ownership can do to turn around a franchise. Maybe one day the Twins will get that luxury. 

[DJL44]

1 minute ago, Vanimal46 said:

#2-4 are interchangeable depending on if they're winning. The NFL dominates every market they're in so that's a given... It wasn't that long ago when the Wolves were the laughing stock of all sports. It's amazing what new ownership can do to turn around a franchise. Maybe one day the Twins will get that luxury. 

Minnesotans will sell out the arena for a bad NHL team but won’t fill the stadium for a good MLB team.

[Craig Arko]

At very least it’s safe to say we don’t care very much about Josh Donaldson.

[Vanimal46]

4 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Minnesotans will sell out the arena for a bad NHL team but won’t fill the stadium for a good MLB team.

The Wild haven't had a bad stretch of years like the Twins and previously the Wolves. They've made the playoffs 12 out of the last 14 seasons. If they did, the sell outs would end. 

[ashbury]

If you've ever lived in a "good baseball town" you'll at least understand where he's coming from.

And still, a player just doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't say the quiet part out loud.  It serves no purpose.

Typical Josh Donaldson pot-stirring.

[PuckettPond]

We do not hate baseball we hated him, his play & the free agent signing. He has the personality of an unflushed toilet.

[Tibs]

I love the Twins. I love Target Field. I love going to games.

Simply put, the atmosphere for regular season games is not good. A lot of fans can't even be bothered to stand up and clap for the starting lineup. A large portion of fans aren't paying attention to the game whatsoever.

You can go to other stadiums and this is not the case. It's not an excuse of the team not being good either. Before the last couple seasons when we were actually competing for/winning the division Target Field has had plenty of empty seats.

Yes, baseball fans at other stadiums aren't all paying attention to every single pitch. There's still an energy around the game that you can feel being in the crowd.

It bums me out a bit because Target Field is such a nice field. It has a lot going for it that other places don't. The atmosphere just isn't there.

[ilovemnsports]

38 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Minnesotans will sell out the arena for a bad NHL team but won’t fill the stadium for a good MLB team.

When's the last time we had a truly good MLB team?

[BobAzar]

Not saying he's wrong, but he played here in 2020 and 2021 (no fans at all, and gradually allowing more fans to come into target field). so, not exactly "normal baseball" games. 

[Woof Bronzer]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Minnesotans will sell out the arena for a bad NHL team but won’t fill the stadium for a good MLB team.

I generally agree with Donaldson, but the Twins drew 3 million fans in 1988 and 1992, and every home playoff game in franchise history has been a sellout.  And they've outdrawn the Wild every season of the Wild's existence.  Fans will support good MLB teams, problem is we just haven't had many.  

[Woof Bronzer]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

 It's amazing what new ownership can do to turn around a franchise. 

Glen Taylor was in fact so amazed to see that investing in winning can actually be a good financial strategy for the owner of a professional sports franchise that he sued to try to undo the sale he himself had initiated.  

One would hope the Pohlads drew some sort of lesson from this.  Alas...

[The Great Hambino]

46 minutes ago, ilovemnsports said:

When's the last time we had a truly good MLB team?

Target Field was a fun place to be in 2019.  A real fun energy in the crowd, "EDDIE" chants, etc.  They fell flat in the playoffs when the rotation fell apart and the Yankees did their thing, but that was a fun season to be a fan

Come to think of it, that was their last season before signing ... Josh Donaldson.  And he only played here when COVID either restricted crowds or eliminated them entirely.  And he was gone before 2022 started.  

You could make the argument that there is no former Twin less qualified to make this assessment than Josh Donaldson

[Parker Hageman]

 The reaction to the start of Donaldson's rant is basically this:

To be honest, posting this video was sort of a Trojan horse to see if anyone had any thoughts on the second part of his rant. 

Prefacing this with the fact that having not been a player or coach with the Twins at any point, I have very little insight in how analytics or how much "winning" was emphasized on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Donaldson can and did form his own opinions on how that played out in Minnesota. His experience was that the delivery of analytical information was not effective for him. I've heard several other players mention that over the past 5 years or so. 

Every team uses a high level of analytics. How it's delivered varies. Is it possible the Twins weren't doing a good job during this era? Is it possible that Donaldson was just an individual player resistant to those ideas? 

Regarding the statement about the culture of winning, that's harder to prove or disprove unless you are in the boardroom, GM's office, coaches' office, or clubhouse daily. If you are a team that's losing, it's easy to say you don't have a culture built around winning. If you are a team not throwing gobs of money around for free agency (which is about 27 teams), it's easy to say you aren't creating a culture of winning. 

When Falvey was first hired, I remember a press conference where he talked about some of the offseason acquisitions, including veterans like Matt Belisle and others. He contended that some veteran presence in the clubhouse helped establish the player culture. Justin Morneau touched upon this on a recent broadcast: with the rapid pace some of the prospects are ascending the minor league system, a lot of their minor league time is focused on development and less on winning as a team. To offset that, you acquire players with that winning experience to help set the tone. You can see that trend with the additions of Nelson Cruz and Carlos Correa. Pablo Lopez talked about how the pitching side of the Twins' clubhouse culture struggled after Sonny Grey left.

Funny thing is that this criticism comes from Donaldson, who was brought in for that exact purpose—to inject some of the winning attitude. 

Ultimately, Donaldson might be right about those two things. However, having lived in Minnesota for over 40 years, I think it's indisputable that Minnesotans love baseball. Town ball, legion ball, college ball, etc. Minnesotans soak up a lot of baseball. We just don't always love the Minnesota Twins. 

To me, that's a good thing. Fandom should be earned. Yes, you can always be loyal (and be sure to stop by Twins Daily on the daily to support us!) but there's also time, money and commitment required to be a fan. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

The issue is we have had a solid brand of baseball but nothing exciting. There is no one player that I have to take the family to each year. Donaldson wasn’t here during a playoff run so likely not a fair assessment of Twins fans.

[Riverbrian]

I did a quick random sampling of 100 fans in Staples, Roseau, Ely, Eden Prairie and Worthington.  

The results were eye opening.

Some of them care and some of them don't. 

 

[90stwinskid]

I'm no Donaldson fan, but see where he's coming from, insofar as we don't have the energy that other markets have (St Louis, LA, NY, etc).

That being said, I do not take his opinions seriously. He might be the last former player whose opinion I seek when it comes to the state of Twins/baseball fandom in Minnesota. His antics were silly and petty when he was here.

Also -- maybe the 2019 and 2023 seasons would have changed his perception.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

At the time, I did not like the Twins signing Donaldson. I did not like Donaldson. He was a jerk then and still is a jerk.  Having said that, I must say that even though I live in North Carolina and have only attended games in the Metrodome , when my friend Mark Davidson was playing in 1987 ( which was electric...a 4 game sweep against the rival A's plus the Equitable Old Timer's Game) and again in  1988 ,when I got to know Wally the beer man,  I do watch 90 % of the Twins games on tv now and I do go to Ft. Myers every year for a week of spring training. I do qualify as a die-hard Twins fan, ever since the Twins were not even a gleam in  Calvin Griffith's eye and were named the lowly Washington Senators.  That being said, I have attended games at Fenway (only one game) , numerous games in Atlanta, numerous games in Baltimore and  a few  games in St Louis. I hate to say this,  but based on televised games and on my limited attendance at 4 other baseball parks, the current Twins' fans are not as vocal nor  are they as present as the fans seemed to be at the 4 other parks.  I do appreciate the fact that the Twins fans do not have the reputation of being jerks like the Yankee fans and the Phillies' fans and to a certain extent, the White Sox fans. I do appreciate good manners and fans who appreciate and reward good baseball. I abhor fans cursing and chanting the word "SUCK" in any form.  (Best example are Yankee fans and Duke basketball fans, but then many of these fans are the same people, even though Duke is located in North Carolina). Since 1953, when I was 8 years old, I have, and will  always, love the Senators/Twins. But I would like to see the Twins get more respect nationwide and I woold like to see much, much better crowds at Target Field. I've said it before and I will continue to say that the  Twins, the city , county and state were short sighted when they did not  build a stadium with a retractable roof, which makes it more of a weather  risk to make hotel reservations and to purchase tickets to attend Twins games from  surrounding areas outside  the Minneapolis/St Paul area. It is my belief that the Twins need to attract fans from areas such as Wisconsin, and the Dakotas and from all parts of Minnesota  to fill up the stadium and that was the original plan for the Twins to be a regional team., as evidenced by the fact that they are the Minnesota Twins and not the Minneapolis Twins. This especially applies to those few  of us Twins fans who would need to make airplane reservations and hotel reservations and buy tickets well in advance of the game days.. I'm reluctant to do that with no guarantee that there will even be a game played and I'll be stuck with rain checks. which would be useless to me. in North Carolina.   In summation, even though I agree with Donaldson, he is still a jerk.  And as Forrest Gump famously said: "That's all I've got to say about that".