Jim Souhan on Pohlad's selling Twins: 'The name is synonymous with cheapness'
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Twins announced some big news Thursday morning. After four decades, the Pohlad ownership group is exploring plans to sell the team.
The news comes after team went into a complete collapse the last two months of the season to miss the American League Playoffs. The Twins went 12-25 in their last 37 games to lose a double-digit lead in the AL Wild Card race. They finished 82-80 and were behind the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers for the final playoff spot. The Tigers and Cleveland Guardians are now the last two teams standing for the AL spot in the World Series.
FOX 9’s Dawn Mitchell caught up with Minnesota Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan, who was not totally surprised by the announcement.
"You’re always surprised when big news breaks but then you think about it, it makes sense. Joe Pohlad, young guy, came in and the way he always talked, it sounded like ‘I’m going to push this team over the edge and we’re going to win a World Series.’ Didn’t happen, all the sudden he becomes the whipping boy. The Pohlad name keeps getting dragged through the mud," Souhan said. "Joe Pohlad being held responsible for everything that goes wrong with the team, I’m guessing that wasn’t a whole lot of fun. I think Joe cared what people thought of him and all he heard was negative stuff."
The Pohlad legacy
Carl Pohlad bought the Twins from Calvin Griffith in 1984 for $44 million. Pohlad hired Andy McPhail to run the team, and the Twins won the World Series in 1987 and 1991. Aside from the Minnesota Lynx, it’s Minnesota’s last pro sports team to win a championship.
In 2001, the Twins and Montreal Expos were nearly contracted from Major League Baseball. Nine years later, Target Field opened as the new home of the Minnesota Twins.
‘The Pohlad name is synonymous with cheapness’
The Twins’ fan base has long grown frustrated with the team’s inability to spend big money on top players. After winning their first playoff game in 19 tries last season, and their first series in two decades, the team didn’t sign any big names in free agency and made no effort to bring Sonny Gray back. Joe Pohlad said the team was cutting payroll by about $30 million due to uncertainty with their TV future. They didn’t do anything significant at the trade deadline, still in the hunt at the time for the division and a Wild Card spot.
During the last home stand, one fan got kicked out of a game and banned from Target Field for a year for carrying a "Defund the Po…hlads" sign.
"I really think the Pohlad name has become synonymous with cheapness, whether that’s fair or not. The loudest voices get heard, the loudest voices hate the Pohlad’s and blame everything that goes wrong with the Twins on the Pohlad’s," Souhan said. "Money can help you be competitive, it’s not as simple as spend more money, you will win all the time."
What’s next
Thad Levine is out as general manager. Derek Falvey is returning in 2025 as the president of baseball operations, and Rocco Baldelli is back as manager. But who the Pohlad’s sell the team to could signal where the franchise goes heading forward.