The Minnesota Twins are Officially For Sale… Finally
We should be watching the Minnesota Twins play in what has been an absolutely epic 2024 MLB Postseason. But we aren’t. Instead, a disastrous second-half collapse of historic proportions has us hate watching other teams, or completely ignoring great baseball, just to avoid depression.
Who’s fault is it? Well, general manager Thad Levine was made the organization’s 2024 fall guy. So, I guess we can blame him? The rest of the top decision makers all retained their roles, including president Dave St. Peter and manager Rocco Baldelli. Rumor has it President of Baseball Operations, Derek Falvey, is in line for a promotion.
Pohlad family wants to sell the Minnesota Twins
But maybe not… because Thursday morning, Minnesota Twins fans got the news they’ve been so desperately waiting for. The Pohlad family intends to sell the storied baseball organization. Here is the full statement from Executive Chair, Joe Pohlad.
“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul. This team is woven into the fabric of our lives, and the Twins community has become an extension of our family. The staff, the players, and most importantly, you, the fans – everyone who makes up this unbelievable organization – is part of that. We’ve never taken lightly the privilege of being stewards of this franchise.
“However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.
“We truly respect and cherish what the Twins mean to Minneapolis, St. Paul, the great state of Minnesota, and this entire region. Our goal is to be as informative as possible with the team, staff, and you, the fans. You deserve that, because in so many ways, this team doesn’t belong to any one family – it belongs to all of you. It’s our objective to find an ownership group who all of us can be proud of and who will take care of the Minnesota Twins.
“After four decades of commitment, passion, and countless memories, we are looking toward the future with care and intention – for our family, the Twins organization, and this community we love so much.”
Statement from Joe Pohlad – Minnesota Twins Owner
Pohlad history as Twins owners is messy
The Minnesota Twins have had the same owners since Carl Pohlad bought the team from Calvin Griffith in 1984. That kicked off 40 years of a back and forth between ownership and fans, unlike anything this town has seen since.
Three years after purchasing the Twins, Pohlad won his first World Series (1987). Four years later, he and the Twins won their second (1991). But from there, fan and player relations started to go down the tube, fast.
Related: Minnesota Twins Reportedly Plan to Promote Derek Falvey
Pohlad didn’t want to give out any big contracts, so you saw players from a dominant early-90s team start departing. There’s the time Kirby Puckett famously called out Carl Pohlad for trading away Rick Aguilera in 1995.
Like father, like son, like nephew
Back in the early 2000’s, Carl tried to sell the team to Major League baseball, so they could be moved or eliminated from the planet, just like the Montreal Expos were. After Carl passed away in in 2009, his son Jim took over. He used the same tactics as his father did, in order to get the city of Minneapolis to pay for Target Field, which eventually worked.
In 2022, the job of running operations with the Twins was handed off to nephew, Joe Pohlad. After the Twins made their longest playoff run in two decades, he too proved that some things never change, cutting $30 million from the team’s payroll. That forced major depth issues inside the organization, causing an epic second half collapse that cost them a 2024 postseason birth.
Is this good news or bad news?
This is good news. The Pohlad family should have sold the Minnesota Twins a long time ago. They are not baseball people, and they do not care about winning championships. They care about turning a profit, year in and year out, which is not something a good ownership group can concern themselves with in 2024.
For most MLB franchises, you power is in your equity. The Pohlads bought the Twins for $44 million back in 1984. The Minnesota Twins are currently valued at $1.46 billion (Forbes), but don’t be surprised if it sells for closer to $2.5-$3 billion (we’ll soon find out). You are sitting on a cash cow. Investi in it, make it popular, win games. That’s good ownership. Hopefully, we’ll now find out what that is like.
Related: Minnesota Twins Officially Done with Bally Sports North
No, the Minnesota Twins are not in danger of being sold out of Minnesota. Target Field is one of the best ballparks in all of baseball and the Twin Cities market is top-15 in the country. Major League Baseball has more say in whether the Twins leave than their new owners do.
They will not approve a sale of the team, if new owners intend to move. If new owners tried to pull a fast one, they’d deny them the opportunity. If anything pro sports leagues want to expand into more lucrative markets, not take teams out of them.
Of course, there is always the chance that “grass isn’t greener on the other side” of this ownership transaction. But I’d say that’s highly unlikely, in this case. So celebrate, Twins fans. We won… or so it seems.
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