Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I didn’t realize the historical significance of the Brewers’ pursuit of free burgers.
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More of the same in Minnesota
Sorry, Twins fans. You’re going to be stuck with your lousy owners for the foreseeable future.
The Pohlad family, which has owned the team since 1984, announced Wednesday that it was no longer soliciting offers to sell the team, 10 months after first saying in October that the franchise was up for sale. Instead, the Pohlads will add two new minority ownership groups while still maintaining control of the club.
It’s not the outcome that fans had hoped for after years of disappointing results under the Pohlads, and the owners understand why fans would be frustrated that the team isn’t getting a fresh start.
“And I would say to those fans: It’s my job and this new ownership group’s new job to do everything we can to set this organization up for success, hopefully in the short- and long-term both,” chairman Joe Pohlad told The Minnesota Star Tribune. “I look forward to it.”
Carl Pohlad, a Minneapolis-area banker, purchased the Twins from Calvin Griffith for $44 million in 1984. When he died in 2009, he left control of the team to his three sons. Jim Pohlad ran the team until 2022, when he stepped aside and was replaced by his nephew Joe Pohlad. The family was said to be seeking a sale price of at least $1.7 billion, The Athletic reported in March.
One factor possibly complicating a potential sale was the team’s $425 million in debt, which, according to The Athletic, is “one of the highest figures” in MLB, and “a considerable portion” of which had been incurred since the 2020 season was played in empty stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As far as I’m aware, that debt was not a hindrance in this process,” Joe Pohlad told The Minnesota Star Tribune. “But with this transaction, we’re going to be paying that debt down.”
The decision by the Pohlads to pull the team off the market is a gut punch for Twins fans who had hoped a sale would lead to brighter days for the franchise. The Twins have been mostly mediocre for the past 15 years, ranking 24th in the majors with a .474 winning percentage since 2011. Their lack of success mirrors the Pohlads’ lack of investment in the team. Minnesota hasn’t ranked in the top half of the league in payroll since 2012 and, after a fire sale that shed $25 million in salary obligations at this year’s trade deadline (17% of the Opening Day payroll), the payroll is lower compared to the league average than it has been in more than a decade. The Athletic calculated that the team’s payroll is currently 77% of the league average. Last year, it was 76%. Before then, the last time the Twins had a payroll of less than 80% the league average was 2009.
But the low salary bill can’t fully be blamed for the team’s struggles. The Twins’ neighbors, the Brewers, for example, have been one of the most successful teams in the majors over the past decade-plus despite running small payrolls. Since 2011, Milwaukee has ranked in the top half of MLB in Opening Day payroll just once (in 2012) but ranks seventh in the majors in wins over that same period. It’s hard not for Twins fans to look across the Mississippi River into Wisconsin and wonder why they can’t build a small-market winner like the Brewers have.
The Pohlad family’s decision to stop pursuing a sale makes the liquidation of the roster at the trade deadline all the more frustrating. At the time, it was viewed as a way to make the team more attractive to a potential buyer by reducing costs. Fans would have had an easier time stomaching the loss of Carlos Correa and Jhoan Duran if it meant they might see new owners come in to try to turn the team around. Instead, the team took an immediate short-term step backwards with no hope of a long-term reversal of fortunes.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Twins Owners Bail on Planned Sale.
