Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
It’s Major League Baseball rumor mill season and the Minnesota Twins fans, once again, are finding their favorite baseball team on the wrong end of the conversation.
Since their last postseason run in 2023, the Pohlad ownership group has been cutting back on spending across the board, in a massive way. Obviously, where it’s been felt most is on the baseball field, with tens of millions being removed from the player budget between the end of 2023 and the start of 2025.
Then, after the MN Twins got off to a slow start last spring, the Pohlads instructed team president Derek Falvey to trade Carlos Correa, Willi Castro and just about every pitcher in the bullpen who was worth a damn, before the 2025 MLB trade deadline.
Minnesota Twins trying to make more salary cuts…
Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
Fast forward to today, Tuesday, December 2, and the Twins news is not getting any better. The latest in the run of horror came this morning, when it was reported that Byron Buxton is opening up the list of teams he’d be willing to waive his no trade clause for, beyond Atlanta.
In the piece, written by trusted MLB insider Jeff Passan, all three of the Minnesota Twins’ best players — (5) Buxton, (6) Joe Ryan and (8) Pablo Lopez — were listed as top ten trade candidates, entering this offseason.
If the paucity of front-line free agent outfielders prompts a team to make an offer for Buxton, how seriously would Minnesota take it? And if Buxton goes, does that mean the Twins would be open to dealing some of their pitching, too?
For anyone holding out hope that the new minority investors were going to stop the Pohlads from fully derailing the immediate future of this franchise, that’s not the news you wanted to open your week with.
After slowly deconstructing the first team to win a playoff series in two decades for this organization, the Pohlads have “successfully” pushed their projected player salary for 2026 down below $100 million. When adjusted for inflation, that’s below Metrodome Era Pohlad spending.
Pohlads need to trade players just to slow mounting debt problems
To rub salt on the wound, another highly-respected league insider, Bob Nightengale (USA Today), published an article suggesting that the roster cuts made to the Minnesota Twins roster, to this point, may not be enough to keep the Pohlad family’s financial problems from getting out of hand.
Thus, it appears they’re officially shopping both Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez, in hopes that trading one will help reduce payroll costs enough to prevent whatever impending disaster is currently hanging over this organization.
Nightengale notes that dealing Ryan could save the Pohlads newarly $6 million, while trading Lopez could save up to $21.5 million next season alone.
The Red Sox nearly pulled off a deal for Ryan at last year’s deadline, only for them to run out of time. He’s one of the premier starters on the market with three years of control and projected to earn just $5.8 million in his first year of salary arbitration.
The biggest question is whether Ryan really is available this winter. The Twins, trying to reduce their debt, are trying to decide whether to move Ryan or starter Pablo Lopez, who has two years left at $21.5 million a season.
See, these two minority investor groups that the MN Twins continue to claim are real, have yet to be approved by the league, something the organization was hoping would happen by this week, during the winter meetings. So far, there has been zero chatter of that actually happening.
How can MN Twins financial problems be this bad?
And if it doesn’t, the Pohlads are going to enter panic mode. Because until the deal gets finalized, these new investors — which will reportedly own a total of 20% stake in the Minnesota Twins once the deal is finalized — cannot physically help the Pohlads with their financial woes.
Within this last year, the Twins’ mountain of debt has ballooned from a reported $400 million, all the way to what has now been estimated as high as $500 million, according to those who would know. Here is John Bonnes (Twins Daily) and Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic), back in August, estimating the Pohlad debt being as high as $450 million.
If nothing else, the MN Twins’ impending death by interest payments gives fans and media some insight into how much the Pohlads’ mounting financial woes are, not just handcuffing the day-to-day operations of a billion-dollar corporation, but legitimately threatening the business’s wellbeing.
Mentioned in this article: Joe Ryan Pablo Lopez Pohlad
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