Minnesota Twins trade deadline fire sale: What to know about team owners

USA Today

21 hours ago

MLB teams shedding salary − whether it be midseason at the trade deadline or choosing not to extend certain players − shouldn't be new for MLB fans. But as Minnesota Twins fans watched a team just 5.5 games back of a wild-card berth get stripped for parts, it wouldn't be unreasonable to simply ask: "why?"
The answer, as it so often does, seemingly comes down to an ownership that simply doesn't care about the on-field product.
The Twins, who have been in the Pohlad family since 1984, are now up for sale. And that means, by the 6 p.m. ET trade deadline on July 31, the team's goal was to have as little money on the books as possible. The result? Jhoan Duran and Harrison Bader to the Phillies in two different deals, Carlos Correa back to the Astros in a stunner, Willi Castro off to the Cubs under the wire, Griffin Jax to the Rays, and a clubhouse left in a very different condition from where it was even 36 hours ago.
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The vibes around the Twins leading up to the deadline were, to say the least, weird. There was a fake-out hug with Duran when MLB fans were on "hug watch," Castro was pulled out late in July 30's game, and Jax was thrown out by manager Rocco Baldelli before being replaced by position player Kody Clemens on the mound.
As all of this went down, the Pohlads are continuing down the road of selling the Twins. The process has been grueling, with a reported lack of attractive bids and a balk from Justin Ishbia when the White Sox's Jerry Reinsdorf reportedly offered a greater stake ... but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said wheels are in motion.
'I know some things that you don't know,' Manfred said over the All-Star Weekend in Atlanta. 'I can tell you with a lot of confidence that there will be a transaction there, and it will be consistent with the kind of pricing that has taken place. There will be a transaction. We just need to be patient while they rework.'
MLB team sales are uncommon, but the "kind of pricing that has taken place" has been in the range of $1.7 billion. The Orioles sold to David Rubenstein's group at a valuation of $1.725 billion and the Rays sold to Patrick Zalupski's group for $1.7 billion. Before this recent crop, the Mets were an outlier at $2.42 billion in 2020, while valuations were much lower leading into Steve Cohen's massive buy in New York.
Who is the Pohlad family?
The Minnesota Twins are owned by the Pohlad family, which is in its third generation of ownership.
Carl Pohlad bought the team from Calvin Griffith in 1984, with Jim Pohlad now serving as the team's principal owner. Twin Cities Businesses named the Pohlads the People of the Year in 2022 for their commitment to the city.
In addition to Jim there are his brothers Bill and Bob. Joe Pohlad, Bob's son, was named executive chair for the Twins in 2022.
There has been a great deal of consternation around the Pohlads' management of the Twins. Minnesota was targeted for contraction in 2001, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote: "People with knowledge of (Carl) Pohlad say he believes efforts to gain a new stadium are doomed, he's fearful of paying an ever-rising payroll simply to keep his current team together, and he's not sure he wants the team to be a future burden to his family."
Ultimately, a court stopped the contraction thanks in part to the lease with the Metrodome despite a 28-2 vote from MLB owners to contract the Twins alongside the Montreal Expos.
Pohlad also tried to sell the Twins to a North Carolina investor who would have moved the team in 1997, ahead of the near-contraction. 'I've done everything I can to keep baseball here,' Pohlad said at the time, per the Minnesota Star Tribune. 'Nobody seems to care whether the Twins stay or not.'
The family demanded public funding for Target Field, opened in 2010, which was built for $545 million, $360 million of which came from public funding. The Pohlads supplied the other $185 million.
After an ALDS berth in 2023, Joe Pohlad continued the family tradition, saying the Twins were "right-sizing," ... which amounts to cutting payroll. When the wheels fell off what looked like a playoff push in 2024, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey downplayed spending's effects on the roster.
'The harder part for me as I sit here today is that this stretch of baseball and us not being where we need to be was not about payroll,' Falvey said, per MLB.com. 'It just wasn't. There's no other way to put it. This was about the team that we had, on the field, that was 15, 17 games over .500 and capable of playing baseball the way we needed to down the stretch and didn't play it.'
Joe Pohlad also took some accountability for the team's failures.
'Everybody owns this a little bit, and I played a role in that,' he said. 'It's been well-documented, this payroll decision, and as I kind of reflect on my role in all of this, we were at an all-time high last year, right? Fans were all-in. Players were all-in. We were headed down a great direction and I had to make a very difficult business decision.
'But that's just the reality of my world. I have a business to run, and it comes with tough decisions, and that's what I had to do. I wouldn't make any other decision, because that's the position that we were in. That's our reality.'
Minnesota Twins trade deadline moves
The Twins were active at the deadline, prioritizing attaining controllable assets for some of their top players.
Minnesota Twins' debt
One of the reasons the Twins may be offloading so much salary is the reported debt around the team. Per The Athletic, the club was carrying about $425 million in debt in March, on the high end among MLB clubs. Bally Sports North going belly-up undoubtedly didn't help matters.
A significant portion of that debt reportedly was accrued after 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twins' 2026 payroll
Most of the Twins' roster will be in arbitration for the 2026 season, meaning with the departure of Correa just two players will be under contract heading into 2026: Pitcher Pablo Lopez and outfielder Byron Buxton.
Lopez's salary will be $21.75 million, whereas Buxton sits at $15.143 million.
Even so, the Twins are currently projected at 18th in MLB per Spotrac at $81,726,190.