Woof Bronzer

Just because you say something over and over doesn't make it true. "I keep saying it, but the Twins cleared a billion in profit last year." See how easy it is? Doesn't make it any more true. Truth requires things like evidence or data. The Pohlads are worth 4 billion dollars and are one of the wealthiest families on the planet. Joe Pohlad's only experience in business is running several media companies into the ground and selling them for pennies. He has no history of success, none. Most people on this board are more qualified to run the team than he is. The Twins make so much money the older Pohlads gave Joe the Twins as a toy so he'd stop ruining their other businesses, and because they hate the Twins and don't want anything to do with running the team. I'm guessing the elders saw how quickly Joe was able to tank the Twins, saw that in a new tv revenue environment they'd actually have to work for revenue, and are sick of their name being associated with cheapness and losing, so they're cashing out. It must have been really comforting to know that no matter how badly they ran the Twins, how poorly they did on the field, how drastically they alienated their customer base, they had a $1.5 billion windfall waiting for them. If not for a single judge the Pohlads would have killed this franchise 25 years ago. Congratulations, this is the most pocket protecting-est post ever made on this site, and that's saying something!

I can agree with that friend! It's just odd to hear so many people who have insisted that the Twins spending is constrained by their market size (which is true to an extent) are now saying a new owner is going to move the team to a smaller market. MN sports fans have every right to be paranoid but I just don't understand why a new owner do that. But, of course, it's possible.

There was a stadium referendum that failed badly. And Beaver wasn't "pro sports owner" rich, he was "minor league owner" rich. The "Golden Triad" thing was not serious, it was the Pohlads holding the state hostage until they got their government handout for a new stadium. Charlotte is like the 50th biggest market in the country. The next owner of the Twins ain't moving there.

Except he didn't buy the team because he didn't have the money, he didn't have a stadium, and NC taxpayers voted not to build one. Other than that... Again, Charlotte is a smaller market than MSP. If being competitive in MLB is all about revenues, why would any owner pay good money to reduce their revenue pool?

I mean, you're describing a fairly typical business challenge. Markets change, costs and revenues change, businesses need to constantly adapt. In the Twins' case instead of relying on that free Bally's revenue they'd have to make it up by actually earning it - marketing hard, caring about the TF experience, growing a fan base, establishing goodwill in the community. I think the Pohlads preferred just sitting back and letting the cash flow in. If owning the team now requires actual work/effort, well, let some other sucker do that.

A little slow on the uptake over here!

Some wild comments here about relocation. First of all, the Pohlads have apparently so brainwashed fans into believing the Twins are a small market team that fans actually believe it. MSP is a top 15 market in the country. If the Twins are a business, and MLB is driven by revenue disparities, why would an intelligent owner want to move to a smaller market? Second, and most importantly, do folks really not remember that the Pohlads not only tried to move the team once but ALSO TRIED TO CONTRACT THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE OUT OF EXISTENCE? My goodness. A new owner guarantees nothing, of course. But we KNOW the Pohlads are terrible. (Reminder: 1 divisional series win in three decades.) Good bleeping riddance!

The Pohlads love DSP for the profits he consistently delivered. He's getting a golden parachute out of this sale and will ride off into the sunset without a care in the world.

I guess I'm not worried that a new owner would pay millions to break a TF lease for the opportunity to relocate to a significantly smaller market.

Great post. It's not worth engaging with this gentleman. Last week he was condescendingly telling Twins fans they were stupid to complain about the TV debacle because they could have just purchased an 81 game Twins streaming package on MLB.TV. The guy just isn't educated in the topics he argues, it's just blind fealty to business wizard Joe Pohlad.

Comrade, this is like the 3rd straight post where you suggest turning the Twins over to the City Council. We get it, you love communism, but we tried the communism once already by handing the Pohlads a half billion dollar subsidy - picking winners and losers, and all. And we all know how that turned out.

I truly do not understand this argument. The Twins have literally made $1.5billion on the franchise for doing nothing. They got a half billion dollar handout from the community for TF. That's $2 billion dollars for doing nothing, and doesn't include operating profits. Is $2 billion in pure profit enough to convince you that one of the wealthiest families on the planet would survive if they spent a little more money on payroll? If not, what number would be enough for you? Can you name one successful business in the world that operates until this philosophy of "hold customers hostage by refusing to improve your product unless customers give you a bunch of money for their crappy product"?

According to Forbes the least valuable franchise is worth $1b (Marlins). The freaking A's are worth $1.2b. I know it's just Forbes but still. It's really hard to tank the value of a pro sports team.

The greedy, cheap, horrible Pohlads got a half billion dollar handout from the community. The community has invested in this team. The Pohlads have made $1.5 billion on the value of the franchise no matter how poorly they perform. Normal businesses don't operate this way. Professional sports are not like other businesses.

The Padres Spent $40m More Than The Twins Despite Being In A Smaller Market. They Cruised To The Playoffs.

Tell me more about this 81 game Twins package on MLB.TV, sounds great!

Scary thing about all this is that I suspect Joe Pohlad views this as a successful season. He was so excited about his goals for the season - to cut costs and squeeze some extra profit out of the team - that he couldn't wait a week after the 2023 season was over to announce it. And he held firm on it all season. They didn't reinvest their tv money, they didn't invest at the deadline. Mission accomplished. The only regret I'd guess they have is their idea to actively tank the tv situation so that fans will be forced to go to the stadium and spend big bucks didn't seem to work out as planned.

I blame BAM money. You're correct, I'm not answering your bad faith strawman question because it's nowhere near the point being made. Perhaps you can use that dollar to buy the last media company Joe Pohlad ran into the ground - that's what it sold for as a result of all his "business decisions".

Another possible explanation to the DSP mystery is that the Pohlads set a specific goal or goals for him every year, and he consistently achieves them. Joe Pohlad clearly has no interest in PR – he does not care what fans think in the slightest – so why should we assume he prioritizes PR as one of DSP’s duties? Wouldn’t a simpler explanation be that DSP's only job is to deliver a certain profit to the Pohlads, and he consistently does that, and that’s why he’s still around? I’ve never seen a single comment from the Pohlads to suggest anything other than complete satisfaction with his performance. He’s the only non Pohlad on the Twins board, for goodness sake. They love whatever it is he does. To understand the Pohlads you must understand how they got their obscene wealth. Carl made a sizable part of his fortune by aggressively taking over companies, firing everybody, stripping the companies of valuable assets and leaving the destruction for someone else to deal with. He destroyed companies and ruined many livelihoods of the people working there overnight – people would arrive at work to find the doors locked and them out of a job. (Relatedly Carl also made good money as a banker foreclosing on small businesses and families.) This took no particular business savvy or talent; it only required ruthlessness, bottomless greed, and a lack of empathy for the people, families, and communities left in the wake of his destruction. Most of his tactics are illegal now; they were always morally bankrupt. To Carl a community or organization was just a collection of value to be stripped for personal wealth. The Pohlads do not create value; they destroy it. They are not builders. They do not know how to grow a business. They do not know how to introduce new customers or expand a customer base. They do not understand customer service because you don’t have to worry about customers when you take over a company, you just do whatever you want and leave others to clean up the mess. Their whole philosophy and empire is built on squeezing profits out of a business and then discarding it. That’s what they do best. Think of it this way: the Pohlads don’t view the Twins as a baseball organization, but rather as an asset to be squeezed for profit one year at a time. With this framing the decisions start to make a lot more sense.

Your philosophy and condescension aligns nicely with the philosophy and condescension of this failing organization. You should get a job there to help them in their efforts to fully destroy their fanbase.

I think we're overcomplicating this. The Twins don't have a plan. Under Jim Pohlad, the plan was to optimize profits by just investing enough to remain modestly competitive - aided by the weak AL Central - and never getting reckless and going all in. So they were always looking five years down the road to a future that never came. Given what we've learned the last few days, the current Twins seem to be a failson vanity project. They're a toy to keep Joe Pohlad too distracted to destroy any more media companies. No planful organization would sign Correa to that deal and then cut payroll. No planful mid-market team would tie up 60% of their payroll on 3 players as Gregg has written. No planful organization would announce the extension of their manager and GM before a historically failed season is even over - wouldn't any serious business want to take a breath and evaluate what the hell just happened, and come up with a plan for the future? There is no plan. Joe Pohlad is just playing Stratomatic.

Good news for you, Joe Pohlad is neither a banker nor a businessman!

For me it's the poor performance. Missed playoffs 3 of last 4 years, including 2 epic collapses. All told, 1 ALDS game win in 8 years. Results matter.

I'm comfortable saying that the Pohlads, who have watched the value of the Twins grow by a billion dollars regardless of how they perform, and who received a half billion dollar handout from fans, would not go bankrupt without a $30mil payroll cut.

Fair enough, I don't think I can argue with any of this...well I'm sure I could find a way :)