After a promising start to his tenure as top Pohlad, former Minnesota Twins chairman Joe Pohlad inked Carlos Correa to a long-term deal and helped spring the team’s deepest playoff run in two decades.
Unfortunately, Joe’s spending (among other things) caught up with the Twins. After their run to the ALDS in 2023, the Pohlads announced a plan to slash spending and “right-size” payroll, after the organization racked up $300 million in debt.
In two years, that number ballooned to $500 million before the Pohlads were forced to bring in minority partners, in order to clear their excessive debt. With the change in ownership structure, the Pohlads made another change.
Tom Pohlad trying to reach Minnesota Twins fans
Joe Pohlad stepped down, and his older brother Tom stepped up in his place. Immediately, the change in leadership seemed to spur a rather groundbreaking culture shift with how the Pohlads conduct business.
Initially, Tom’s no-nonsense attitude and extreme accountability was a bit of a shock. Some even called it a breath of fresh air. Either way, his tone was far different than the standard Pohlad propaganda we’ve become accustomed to hearing, over the decades.
Tom Pohlad met with media again Friday, prior to TwinsFest this weekend, where he brought a lot of the same talking points we’ve heard since he took over.
“In a lot of things we tripped over ourselves, if you will, and we certainly didn’t do a good job communicating what we were going through and what we were trying to accomplish. You take that all together and it’s a recipe for a very challenging time. We’re trying to hit the reset button — not a rebuild button, but a reset button.”
Tom Pohlad (via Star Tribune)
The Pohlad family has owned a majority share in the Minnesota Twins since the late Carl Pohlad bought 92.4% of the team in 1984 for a grand total of 43.5 million.
Carl Pohlad operated as Minnesota Twins owner from 1984 until 2009, when his son Jim Pohlad took over, following his dad’s death in January 2009, at the age of 93. Jim ran the show for nearly 20 years, until he stepped down (November, 2022), in favor of Joe and now Tom.
Is your phone ringing? It might be Tom Pohlad…
A large chunk of the reported back and forth from Tom Pohlad’s meeting with media yesterday was focused on his “efforts” behind the scenes, trying and right decades of wrongs bestowed on this fanbase, by his family.
In fact, Tom has literally been calling and trying to speak directly with Twins fans (around 50 of them) who have yet to renew their season tickets for 2026. That’s right, he’s shooting his shot around Twins Territory… and it isn’t going well.
“I had one guy hang up on me three times because he thought I was a hoax. I had to text him and say this is Tom Pohlad. Let’s say the response wasn’t necessarily kind back, but hopefully the effort counts for something… [the fan texted back essentially saying], ‘until I see a bigger investment in payroll, I’m not taking your call.’”
Tom Pohlad (via Star Tribune)
Along with the introduction of Tom Pohlad came a 180-degree turn in the Twins’ plans this offseason. Tom and team president Derek Falvey, walked into the MLB Winter Meetings last month as offseason trade market sellers, but walked out as self-proclaimed buyers.
In the weeks leading up to those ownership meetings, teams around the league were licking their chops, waiting for the Twins’ latest yard sale to begin — scouting top starters Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez, even Byron Buxton, after dealing Carlos Correa and the entire bullpen at the 2025 trade deadline.
Same old Minnesota Twins…
After the Twins changed competitive courses, Falvey and the Pohlads got to work. Unfortunately, a lot of that work has yet to be completed. Minnesota’s bullpen still needs completely rebuilt. The 2026 lineup is, at best, underwhelming.
Falvey signed a new first baseman Josh Bell, easily their top signing of the offseason, and another good backup catcher option. Oh, and the 35-year-old Taylor Rogers is returning as a reliever.
With less than a month until Spring Training, the Twins’ 2026 payroll is currently projected at $108 million, $30 million less than last season and far below league average.
In other words, Tom Pohlad’s Twins aren’t trying to contend, they’re just pretending to contend. But don’t tell that to Tom, who plans to continue polling Minnesota Twins fans until he figures out what they are so upset about.
Pohlad believes he can still earn trust back from Twins fans upset about the direction of the franchise. He invited another 40-50 canceled season-ticket holders for a town hall event during this weekend’s TwinsFest, where he plans to speak alongside team President Derek Falvey and General Manager Jeremy Zoll.
Since the message clearly isn’t coming through enough through nasty text messages and hung up phone calls, let me attempt to feed more free advice to Mr. Tom Pohlad.
Dear Tom Pohlad…
Fixing your relationship with the Minnesota Twins fanbase isn’t a calculus or advanced physics equation. It’s about simple addition… OF MORE TALENT.
So, if you really care about us and you really want fans to buy up Twins.TV subscriptions or show up at Target Field this season, the only option is to STOP pretending, STOP talking… and start SPENDING.
Related: MN Twins Pretending to Chase Star Talent Again?
It doesn’t matter how many times you apologize for the past. We don’t want to hear you talk about how things are going to be different. In fact, we don’t want to hear you talk at all.
Nothing you say publicly will work because the situation is beyond words. Trust is earned through ACTIONS. So how about you cancel your town hall, put the phone down and end all this ridiculous fan polling.
All we want from you, Tom, is for your right hand to reach into your back pocket, so it can hand the Minnesota Twins checkbook to Derek Falvey.
Mentioned in this article: Tom Pohlad
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