Twins controlling owner Tom Pohlad is going to “oversee the team’s business operations throughout the 2026 season,” according to Bobby Nightengale of the MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE. Derek Falvey had a dual role overseeing baseball and business operations before he departed the organization in January. Pohlad planned to hire someone to replace Falvey’s role as the president of baseball operations, but he “decided he wanted that responsibility.” Dave St. Peter previously served in the role for 22 years before transitioning into a strategic adviser role early last year. The most “pressing concern is attracting fans” to Target Field amid “widespread frustration with how the Pohlads have run the club.” The Twins drew 1.769 million fans to their 80 home games last year, their lowest total in 25 years, excluding the COVID-affected seasons of 2020 and ’21. This year, the Twins lowered the price of their get-in-the-door Twins Pass by $75 and started a $2 pregame beers promotion for Fridays and Saturdays. Pohlad said, “I’m not naïve to what the most important thing here is, which is winning baseball games. We can sell all the $2 beers we want. We can have all the concerts we want. But people want to see a winner.” The Twins entered the season with a payroll around $105M, their lowest Opening Day figure since 2017. It ranks 22nd out of the 30 teams in the major leagues (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, 4/4).
POWER DELAY: Nightengale in a separate piece noted a power outage hit Target Field on Saturday at 1:52pm CT, “about 30 minutes before the Twins planned to begin their pregame festivities,” which delayed the home opener by 57 minutes. The outage “shut down most stadium operations,” and most cashless concession stands “had to close because there was no way to pay, unless a vendor had a portable handheld device.” Fans who had yet to enter the stadium “had to wait outside the gates in the rain and 38-degree temperatures because ticket scanners didn’t work.” Xcel Energy “blamed the outage on ‘equipment failure along the main power line that serves the stadium’” (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, 4/4).