Pohlad family reversal on Twins sale, explained

NINA MOINI: Well, the Minnesota Twins are not for sale after all. The Pohlad family announced today they'll keep their majority ownership of the team. The family's been searching for months for a buyer after revealing their plans to sell last October.

The Pohlads have owned the team since 1984. Twins Executive Chair Joe Pohlad spoke for the family in a written statement this morning. He said, "This ownership group is committed to building a winning team and culture for this region and one that Twins fans are proud to cheer for."

Joining me now to help us understand this reversal is our sports contributor, Wally Langfellow. We're lucky enough to talk to you on Mondays with Eric Nelson, but we're getting a little special report from you here, Wally. Thank you.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, a little extra time together. No problem.

NINA MOINI: Double the Wally. Lucky us.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes.

NINA MOINI: Are you surprised? Because when we have you all on on Mondays, We've been talking about this for months and speculating. Is this surprising to you?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, well, yeah. I think it caught everybody by surprise, particularly since, as you mentioned, the discussion has been going on for months. There have been teams-- Tampa Bay looks like they're going to be sold for $1.7 billion. And Baltimore, a similar price tag. There have been sales going on.

And you heard from the commissioner of Baseball during the All-Star Break saying that a sale was basically, in a nutshell, said the sale is basically imminent, so sit tight. Something's going to happen.

And then this happens, and the Pohlads decide to keep the team. So yeah, I think it's very surprising. And I think even in light, particularly of what happened two weeks ago when they traded away 10 guys off their Major League roster plus 1 Minor League player in basically what was a fire sale.

You thought, OK, maybe they're clearing some salaries so that the new ownership doesn't have to take on as much salary. They got rid of Carlos Correa. They dumped about $70 million of his contract. So a lot of things transpired as a result.

And you're thinking-- and I saw this this morning. I said, really? And I think, based on-- I tell you something. Based on what I'm seeing on social media, holy Toledo, Twins fans are not happy.

NINA MOINI: Why do you think that is? Because they said they're going to remain the principal owners of the team, but they're going to add two significant limited partnership groups. What does that mean?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I think the two limited partnership groups means that they're bringing people in that are going to dump money into the team. Now, part of that might be they're about $450 million in debt. So that, I would say, presumably would help cover that.

And hopefully, and according to the statement that Joe Pohlad made, they're people that-- the people that they are going to bring in are people that are baseball interested. They want to see a winning product on the field. I think the Pohlads want to see a winning product on the field. Don't get me wrong here.

But I do think that as outsiders looking in, you say, well, we haven't seen the investment in the team. And maybe that had something to do with the $450 million deficit that they currently face.

But again, that's not going to get any better with attendance this year. It's going to be the lowest attendance probably in the history of Target Field. And so that's not good, either.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, folks may remember you and Eric went to a game earlier, a couple months ago now, maybe a month ago, for our "Out to Lunch" segment. And it wasn't a packed stadium.

But you all were kind of hinting at that people aren't thrilled with how things are going, the team's performance. And this statement now from Joe Pohlad says they want something that Twins fans are proud to cheer for, which is kind of sad. And I just wonder how you think this might impact attendance.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Not good. After you have the fire sale two weeks ago, and you see in the last couple of nights, the Twins don't-- well, the Twins never measure up to the Yankees. It's been bad for the last 20-some years now, playing the New York Yankees.

A big headline in the New York Daily News today, "Thank God for the Yankees" is what it-- or "Thank God for the Twins," I should say.

NINA MOINI: Oh, no! So yeah, they've been playing the Yankees. How has it been going? Because they have another game tonight at 6:00, right?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, it would probably be better if they didn't have to play tonight. That's how it's been going. They managed only three hits on Monday in a loss. Last night, they lost 9-1. They only got one hit last night in the entire game.

I guess the good news is tonight they have Joe Ryan going. He has by far been their best pitcher this year. And he has been spectacular at times. Got roughed up a little bit his last time out. But I would say if they're going to win one of the three, this was probably the one that they had the best chance at. And we'll find out tonight at 6 o'clock Central Time how they do and how they fare at Yankee Stadium. But yeah, it's not good.

NINA MOINI: Well, so, Wally, I'm curious to what you think that the team needs to do, then, at this point to build back the fan base, because you can never guarantee, obviously, how a team will perform. Where would you start?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, honestly-- and a lot of folks talk about the fact that they need to go out and add some free agents. I would say that I think the main thing is keep the guys that you do have, as opposed to having to trade them away in a situation like we saw two weeks ago.

So let's keep what we have, like a Louie Varland, like a Jhoan Duran, like a Griffin Jax. Those were guys that they had under contract, and they had team control of for at least 2 and 1/2 years, Varland through 2030 or 2031, I believe. Those are the places where I think that they should start.

Do you want to bring in free agents to help supplement what you have? Sure. But they're not the New York Yankees. They're not the Los Angeles Dodgers. They're not the New York Mets, who are going to spend $300 million on salaries.

So I think that if they start by keeping the guys that they have. So in other words, in this offseason, don't trade Joe Ryan. Don't trade Pablo Lopez. And don't go over to Byron Buxton and ask him if he's willing to release his no trade clause. I think if they start there.

Because they have a solid farm system. You have a great stadium. You have the infrastructure. You just need to keep what you have and add to it. And if they can do that, they can be competitive in a Central Division that's not the greatest in baseball. They can compete in the American League Central. That's where I would start.

NINA MOINI: All right. Wally, thank you for your take as always, and excited to chat with you again Monday.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: All right. Sounds good, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. Wally Langfellow's the founder of Minnesota Score sports magazine and co-host of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. He and co-host Eric Nelson join us here on Minnesota Now every Monday for the latest sports news. We're lucky to have them.

That is it for us today. I'm Nina Moini. This is Minnesota Now. Thank you for listening. Tomorrow on the show, we're going to head inside a speaker manufacturing plant in St. Paul to hear how they've made business changes due to tariffs. Plus, Minnesota's hosting the 2025 USA Wheelchair Softball World Series. We'll hear from an organizer about the competition.

Until then, hope you have a great rest of your day. We'll see you back here tomorrow at noon.

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