I agree, but if the reports are true about the internal family strife + the cable tv disaster they are scrambling to unload this team as soon as possible and a partial tear down of high salaries from the payroll could very likely be in the works to make the numbers work for a potential buyer faced with forking over 1.5 billion to 2 billion.
The team has been punished financially, attendance and viewership were also impacted by the August collapse, lack of moves by the FO, and the fiasco with Diamond sports. The Twins are in a bit of a pickle. We will never know their finances, but it would not surprise me if they took a big hit again this season, especially in August with the lackluster attendance after they collapsed, along with getting the boot from Diamond sports. A potential buyer may look at that and say, yeah it's nice they have a newer stadium, but the lack of a solid TV contract, and having to rely on MLB to prop them up with streaming is not good for revenues, BUT if they purge some of the high salaries and at least get it down to more profit year over year again, it's more appealing to a potential buyer that will run it more like a business than a hobby, which will likely enlarge the pool of buyers. Hobby team owners will be the smaller pool and the Pohlads probably know this first hand. If a sale doesn't come easily, they may cut further anyways. The Pohlads have never been known to splurge with the team (Correa being the big exception) so fans need to prepare themselves for a year or two of salary dumps, etc. It definitely sucks, I just remember how they behaved in 1997-2001.
I could see them doing a full or close to full "strip" of big contracts this offseason (assuming they could pull it off), but that would require agreement from Buxton and Correa to waive those no trade clauses. Vazquez is a net loss anyways and dumping him will require them to include a lot of money to get a deal done, but it would still lower payroll even if it's distasteful.
I agree that Buxton, Correa, and Lopez are the most attractive assets..... to a point. The problem with them is the near constant injury issues.