Minneapolis – The Minnesota Twins have finalized their 14-month journey regarding the team’s sale, with three new parties joining the Pohlad family as limited partners in ownership. The Pohlad family will remain the team’s primary owners, with a group from New York City led by Glick Family Investments, a Minnesota group owned by George Hicks, and Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold each claiming minority shares.
Tom Pohlad, Joe’s older brother, will now serve as the team’s Executive Chair and Control Person to meet with Major League Baseball. He has previously served as the executive chairman of Pohlad Companies and has had little involvement in Major League Baseball since he interned with the league in 2001. Tom Pohlad’s appointment will officially make him the only member of the family working with the Twins on a full-time basis, a decision that the family only made within the last month.
Joe Pohlad had served as the team’s executive chair since late 2022 and had a mixed tenure, to say the least. Under Joe Pohlad’s leadership, the Twins ended their 18-game playoff losing streak in 2023 and signed Carlos Correa to the highest-paid contract in franchise history.
Still, the last two years have been met with more criticism and outcry from fans. They slashed payroll by $35 million after winning in the playoffs and traded nearly 40% of their roster at last year’s deadline.
“This decision to make a transition within our family has been extremely difficult,” Tom Pohlad said on Wednesday. “It’s been hard on the relationship between Joe and myself. It’s been especially hard on my dad and my two uncles, and this is not the type of thing that we envisioned as we started to go from one generation to the next.”
Most of the strain between the members of the Pohlad family had come from the 14-month-long process exploring a sale of the team, according to Tom Pohlad. It was only four months ago when the Twins announced they were taking the team off the market and instead finding these new partners to invest in minority shares of the team.
Over those four months, the Pohlad family reflected on how best to lead the franchise going forward. Tom Pohlad said that none of their new minority owners had any interest in taking over as majority owners down the road, nor in any leadership roles. That led the family to decide that it was time for another family member to lead the franchise and for Joe Pohlad to step down.
“Joe was not on board with this at first. And he’s on board now,” Tom Pohlad said. “He understands. But, listen, I’ll go back to what I said at the beginning. He was the leader of this organization; he’s been here for 19 years. And as difficult as this is for me to say, all he’s ever wanted was to be a part of this organization and to lead it and to help this franchise win a world championship.”
“Things change,” he added. “We had to make a decision as a family. He understands. And as you can imagine, I know all of you know Joe; he has been graceful and kind and believes that whatever is in the best interests of the organization is best.”
Joe Pohlad will still serve a role in the organization, working on an advisory council comprising him, his dad Bob, his uncle Jim, and the other minority owners of the team. Tom Pohlad said they’re forming this advisory board to do a better job of holding itself accountable in the future. Accountability and communication are the two areas Minnesota’s ownership needs to improve, and this board will be a step in the right direction.
“I view that board as an opportunity, as a place to help push us as a family on how we get to where we want to go,” said Tom Pohlad. “I think it’ll be a healthy sense of accountability for us as owners, but I think there will be really good strategic thought partners for us. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still in control. They are advisers, but I think it’s in the best interest of the organization to lean on their creative thinking and look at this through a different lens.”
Tom Pohlad also shared that the Pohlad family wants to do a better job of getting their story out, beyond just their operations as baseball owners. From Tom’s perspective, getting their story out could help repair their strained relationship with the fan base and break away from the negative narratives surrounding them.
“Listen, I mean, we’ve grown up with this for 40-plus years right now,” he said. “We know what comes with the territory here. It’s been a particularly bruising couple of years. I think we’re all used to it. I do think that we all, at times, wished that we were sticking up for ourselves more or telling our story a little bit better, or you know, whatever you want to say.”
It’s understandable why the Pohlads want to get their story out. There’s nothing wrong with them trying to build a personal connection with fans. However, they should not be surprised if they don’t get a warm reception from fans with this approach.
Even with changes in ownership makeup and leadership, Twins fans are still skeptical of what’s to come in 2026. Given the widening income gap between working-class people, like many Twins fans, and billionaires, which is increasing each day, the Pohlad family may not get the reception they are hoping for by sharing their story in this economic environment.
Ultimately, the Pohlad family took a step in the right direction to improve its relationship with fans on Wednesday. Tom Pohlad said they will gradually raise the payroll over the next few years shows they are committed to correcting their mistakes over the past few seasons. They also signed Josh Bell to a one-year deal, which sets a floor for this season.
But the Pohlads have a long road ahead to repair their relationship with the fanbase, and it won’t be fixed in one season. The Twins’ ownership and their fans need to set their expectations for how long it will take to repair this relationship. They’ve made meaningful changes, but are also only two years removed from tearing down a playoff team.