Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan are representing the Minnesota Twins at the All-Star Game in Atlanta on Tuesday night. Will a new owner be representing the franchise at next year’s MLB Owners Meetings?

That was in some doubt after momentum collapsed earlier this year, with Justin Ishbia ending his well-publicized pursuit of buying the Twins and pivoting to the Chicago White Sox, where he now has an agreement in place to take over from Jerry Reinsdorf within the next decade. This development seemed to force the Twins back to square one. News and even rumors went quiet for months. 

As recently as late May, longtime Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters was describing the prospects for a Twins sale as “dismal.” But days later, a Star Tribune article countered this perception, with beat writer Phil Miller reporting that a sale of the team was very much in progress, and “closer to the end than to the beginning.” All due respect to Walters, I was more inclined to believe Miller’s reporting on the matter.

In the nearly two months since these dueling portrayals were published, updates and details have been mostly scant. The sale of the low-revenue Rays in mid-June at a price point of $1.7 billion seemingly boded well for the Pohlads, who were known to be targeting a similar range for their own franchise. 

Sure enough, as of about a week ago, Walters was singing a very different tune: “Industry sources say the Twins, who began exploring a sale last October and have sought $1.7 billion for the team, have a deal on the table and that bidding to line up financing is underway.”

On Tuesday in Atlanta, Miller spoke with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and received a message that reinforced his earlier reporting, tweeting: “MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says bidders to buy Twins backed off when it became evident Justin Ishbia was ‘the leader in the clubhouse,’ but now that he’s out, Manfred is ‘confident that a transaction will take place,’ presumably soon.”

For Manfred to speak so openly and assertively about a still-in-play sale of a franchise seems telling, although naturally it is in his interest to do so. There are indicators coming from every direction that a transfer of ownership is not only likely but inevitable, and right now it only feels like a matter of time before some names start bubbling to the surface and we get a clearer view of what the Minnesota Twins franchise’s future looks like.