Tom Pohlad Is on a Mission to Rebuild Trust. A Critical Juncture Lies Ahead.

You don't build trust by saying things. Well, not on its own, anyway. You build trust by saying things and then doing them. It conditions people to believe what you say. It demonstrates conviction.

To his credit, Tom Pohlad seems to recognize this. The team's alignment of messaging and approach at the trade deadline was seemingly guided by an edict to re-establish trust and credibility. In the weeks and days leading up, general manager Jeremy Zoll was surprisingly open about Minnesota's intention to add impact talent, specifically in the bullpen. 

This was a stark contrast from the vague double-speak we often heard from Derek Falvey, and the team's actions at the deadline also represented a departure from Falvey's hem-hawing front offices in recent years. The Twins did exactly what they said they were going to do, assertively adding three pitchers who performed very well, although it wasn't enough to keep the club from falling out of contention.

All in all, a good first step. But only a first step. Now the real work begins, coming off a second straight losing season where attendance fell to a new 25-year low. At Tuesday's season-ending press conference at Target Field, Pohlad called this offseason "another opportunity for us to put action to words" and adding "I’m really excited about the month ahead."

There's little that can happen from a team-building standpoint before the World Series ends, so I assume what Pohlad was really referencing is the one-month window in November where the offseason is underway, before a CBA lockout shutdown commences at the start of December. If the Twins want to demonstrate some genuine initiative, they need to strike with at least one big move during what is anticipated to be an active stretch of Hot Stove action.

Pohlad insisted, in no uncertain terms, that's the plan. "We are going to be aggressive when free agency starts," he told reporters. Follow through on that, and he'll have another drop in the trust bucket. As that bucket fills, rancor toward ownership subsides and fans can once again start to buy in. 

When asked about his expectations for payroll, Pohlad shied away from specifics but ended with some remarks I find interesting: “Let me just say, I have been very vocal about what our ambitions are. I have been vocal, and to some degree critical, of where we’ve been. And so you can take some comfort in the fact that, with payroll, wherever we land is cognizant of both those things and will be commensurate with what we’re trying to accomplish.”

I'm not sure anyone is going to take comfort in words. Not yet. The Twins have spent too many years conditioning fans to wait for the catch, the qualifier or the retreat. Pohlad has correctly identified that rebuilding trust requires breaking that cycle, and the trade deadline offered a promising start.

Now comes a much bigger test. If the Twins are truly ambitious about restoring credibility and building a winner, November presents their first real opportunity to prove it. Pohlad has said they will be aggressive. He has said payroll will reflect their ambitions. At this particular moment, matching those words with action would carry weight well beyond whatever player they acquire or dollars they spend. It would give fans another reason to believe that, when this version of Twins ownership tells them something, they can actually trust it.

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