The Pohlad family will not sell the Minnesota Twins after entertaining offers for the franchise. The Pohlads put out a statement Wednesday, confirming they will keep the club, which has “become part of our family story.”
In the statement, the Pohlads said they explored a number of sale options over the past several months. Ultimately, the family opted to add “two significant limited partnership groups” to the equation. The Pohlad family will remain the “principal owner” of the club despite those additions.
The statement ends:
“We see and hear the passion from our partners, the community and Twins fans. That passion inspires us. This ownership group is committed to building a winning team and culture for this region, one that Twins fans are proud to cheer for.”
The news comes just weeks after the Twins engaged in a fire sale which saw multiple relievers and shortstop Carlos Correa shipped out at the trade deadline. The Correa move, in particular, came off as a salary dump, as the team accepted a weaker return in exchange for the Houston Astros taking on more of Correa’s remaining contract.
Those moves caused some to wonder whether the Pohlad family was attempting to shed salary to clear future payroll in anticipation of a sale. Wednesday’s statement ends any speculation along that line of thinking.
The Twins have experienced a fair amount of success since they were purchased by Carl Pohlad for $44 million in 1984. The club won two World Series championships early during Pohlad’s ownership and experienced a strong run between 2001 and 2010, in which they finished first or second in the American League Central eight times. Despite making the playoffs six times during that stretch, the team failed to advance past the ALCS. More recently, the Twins made the playoffs four times since 2017, but haven’t advanced past the ALDS.
Despite the team’s success, the Twins have rarely run high payrolls. The last time the team opened a season in the top-10 in payroll occurred back in 2011, per Cot’s Contracts. Since 2013, the team has never ranked higher than 16th in payroll.
That hasn’t necessarily been an issue during the regular season, where the Twins have experienced success in a fairly weak AL Central. But come the playoffs, where they often face higher-payroll clubs, the Twins have withered. The team famously broke an 18-game playoff losing streak with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays in 2023. During that stretch, the Twins have gone 0-13 against the New York Yankees in the postseason. While Minnesota managed to end its playoff losing streak against the Blue Jays in 2023, it still lost the series 3-1.
It’s unclear whether the team’s two new partnerships will enable the club to spend more money in the future. Higher payrolls don’t always guarantee success in baseball, but the Twins likely would have performed better in recent postseasons had they signed better, more expensive players in free agency.
While the Twins have struggled since the start of 2024, those issues haven’t affected the team’s value. When the Pohlads initially announced their intention to sell the team last October, the Twins were valued at roughly $1.5 billion.
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