Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
Just when you think the Minnesota Twins ownership group can’t get worse, they find a way. We are less than two months removed from the team trading nearly 40% of the roster to save money at the trade deadline. Then the Pohlads botched their sale and instead sold 20% of the team to pay down their debt.
Earlier this week they stopped allowing fans to use MyTwins benefits for concession stand coupons. It took Twins Daily owner John Bonnes calling them on the move to change course.
In the latest cost-cutting measure, ownership has now completely abandoned their scouting department. While the group had been pared back in recent seasons, it now will cease to exist.
Scouting department no more for Minnesota Twins
In the midst of Tuesday night’s contest against the New York Yankees, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes dropped a bombshell. While advance and pro scouting isn’t what it once was, the Minnesota Twins will no longer have that presence at all.
The Twins eliminated their entire four-person pro scouting staff, multiple league sources confirmed on Tuesday night. Though the terminations were telegraphed by how the scouts operated in previous years, staff members learned early Tuesday their positions would not be renewed. The department’s elimination is part of cost-cutting measures by ownership, one league source said.
With the new business arrangement in place, the Twins are looking to restructure a front office that grew exponentially in terms of resources and positions in the past five years, a team source said.
The four-person scouting department includes former Baseball America employee John Manuel, Ken Compton (15 years with Minnesota), Keith Stohr, and Jose Marzan (30 years with Minnesota). Each of them was informed, with two weeks left in the season, that their contracts would not be renewed.
Minnesota’s front office has grown exponentially since Derek Falvey took over for Terry Ryan. That was largely a necessity given the stone age it was living in previously. Scouting has certainly taken on a different look with the access to video and data. However, it sounds like this won’t be the last of the cost-cutting measures made by the Pohlads.
Related: Expect Less Payroll for Crumbling MN Twins in 2026
How the offseason is handled remains a mystery. Rocco Baldelli and the coaching staff could be on the chopping block despite his 2026 option being picked up earlier this year. Falvey was promoted after last season’s collapse, and despite a track record of success for him to point at, appears safe.
With the Pohlads seemingly bleeding money out of every orifice, already having rolled other business debt into the team, and attendance in the tank, further cost savings could be pushed onto the organization. The Minnesota Twins are in a very rough point of their existence at the moment.
Mentioned in this article: Derek Falvey Jim Pohlad joe pohlad
More About:Minnesota Twins