Twins chairman Jim Pohlad stepped aside as the franchise’s executive chair yesterday, turning day-to-day ownership responsibilities over to his nephew Joe Pohlad (relayed by Aaron Gleeman of the Athletic). President of baseball operations Derek Falvey and president Dave St. Peter will report to Joe Pohlad moving forward.
It’s not a complete ownership overhaul, as Jim Pohlad will remain the Twins’ official control person and continue to work with Major League Baseball, writes Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. However, it does mark a notable step for the organization, as 40-year-old Joe Pohlad will take on a significantly more meaningful role. Jim Pohlad, who’s now 69 years old, has held the lead role since the passing of his father Carl in 2009. The Twins have been owned by the family for nearly four decades. Carl Pohlad purchased the organization from Calvin Griffith back in 1984.
Joe Pohlad, a graduate of Stonehill College, has worked for the Twins since 2007. He had held the title of executive vice president of brand strategy/growth for the past four years. Souhan notes he’s gotten some experience in baseball operations in addition to his work in the marketing department, presumably in preparation for eventually assuming control of the franchise.
In an interview with Souhan published at the Star-Tribune, Joe Pohlad downplayed the potential for any major changes relative to his uncle’s leadership. He expressed his support for the front office duo of Falvey and general manager Thad Levine, as well as for manager Rocco Baldelli. “It’s not like how we’re going to operate as a business is going to change on Day 1 because I’m in this chair,” Pohlad told Souhan. “To this point, we are having all of the same conversations. Dave, Derek and I are operating in the same way. I am certainly not one to all of a sudden blow things up because I’m the guy in this seat.”
While there may not be any immediate overhauls in the franchise’s daily operation, any ownership change is certain to lead to questions among the fanbase about the payroll outlook. Minnesota opened the 2022 season with a team-record player payroll just above $134MM, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That ranked 18th in the majors, and they’ve opened each of the past 10 seasons with a payroll that sat between 16th and 21st among the game’s 30 clubs.
Predictably, Joe Pohlad didn’t delve into specifics about the franchise’s long-term payroll trajectory. He reiterated the team’s interest in re-signing Carlos Correa, to whom the club has reportedly made a number of six-plus year offers. Joe Pohlad told Souhan he “(knows) that Jim was not a big fan of long-term contracts” but didn’t elaborate as to whether he’s similarly averse to those kinds of commitments.
The Twins haven’t signed a free agent to a guarantee longer than four years ($92MM for Josh Donaldson, $54MM for Ervin Santana and $49MM for Ricky Nolasco) since Jim Pohlad took control. The organization did go beyond four years on extensions (most notably for Joe Mauer and Byron Buxton) and they handed Correa the largest per-year salary for a free agent position player in MLB history over a three-year guarantee last offseason.
Jason Martinez of Roster Resource projects the Twins’ 2023 payroll commitments around $98MM. Buxton and Randy Dobnak are the only players on guaranteed deals beyond next season, providing the franchise plenty of long-term flexibility to reload after a second straight underwhelming season. Beyond shortstop, Minnesota has some question marks in the bullpen and the corner outfield. Falvey has also noted a desire to add another catcher to somewhat evenly split duties with Ryan Jeffers after the organization watched Gary Sánchez hit free agency.
Levine recently expressed a similar sentiment, telling Dan Hayes of the Athletic the Twins “feel the best roster will include two catchers really capable of delivering about 100 games started.” Jeffers is currently the only backstop on the 40-man roster, so it’s inevitable the club will add some help from outside the organization. Hayes suggests that’s likelier to be via free agency than trade, with the Twins believing teams with trade candidates behind the dish (i.e. the A’s with Sean Murphy and the Blue Jays with Danny Jansen) may prefer to wait out the free agent market.
Free agency doesn’t offer a ton of certainty. Willson Contreras is easily the top catcher available, although he’s likely to require a four-plus year commitment the Twins seem unlikely to dole out with Jeffers in the fold. Christian Vázquez is the next-best option, followed by Omar Narváez, Tucker Barnhart and Sánchez. The lefty-swinging Narváez and switch-hitting Barnhart would make for more natural complements to the right-handed Jeffers, although Falvey has previously suggested the team doesn’t intend to relegate Jeffers solely to the lesser side of a platoon.
How about the sox get a new owner?
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This article is about the Twins.
That is true… in the wake of the Abreu signing ownership has made me furious but I understand it is off topic
It was the right thing to do. The development side of the organization kind of tripped over themselves, but they have more 1B/DH types than they need.
Think of it this way. You can either have Abreu & a minimum wage 2B, or you can have Vaughn & a $20M 2B (theoretically). In hindsight, they could’ve offered Abreu a QO, but imo, Vaughn & Abreu will have very similar stats over the next three years.
Twins 1st…
Paul Dolan of the Guardians finished runner up as owner of the Twins
I couldn’t make out the background pic on the post for like 5mins. I thought it was Solomon’s Temple at first.
It’s Sea World, right?
At 2nd glance Clip, it looked like a “Twins” sign…But now that I give it a close look, it is indeed Solomon’s Temple…..You just wanna go to Sea World is all!!! What do you know about Sea World anyway Clip?!?? I thought you were an east coaster?? On the eastern hemisphere of the U.S. ??
Probably right, Trumbo. I just want to go there. But, there is one on the east coast too, my friend. Florida.
I’d go to Solomon’s Temple too! Goes to show you that I wouldn’t know it if I saw it!
Clip you smart alek I had no idea!!!! Hahaha Florida?! Wow I don’t know squat myself….San Dimas CA is actually where it is at out here. Very hard city to even find haha.
P.S. Clip, we’ll make our way out to the outskirts of Israel eventually and scout it out. We’ll circle around and meet towards the middle.
Okay, bring your chain whistle just in case you encounter any…..undiscerning folk out there. They’re a rowdy bunch on the borderlands.
Hahahahahahhaa Clip I wear my whistle to sleep. If anyone asks what we are doing, we don’t tell them we are looking for the Temple..We say we are looking for Noah’s Ark and we took a wrong turn from Turkey..
Wow Clip I am all backwards tonight. Sea World is not in San Dimas CA. That is “Raging Waters” haha. Sea World is definitely in San Diego.
For the Twins fans, how does this impact their operations? Is it good, bad, or is he a relative unknown? The fact they want to go after Correa again, and have made “multiple offers” says something, I assume.
As a Yankees fan, we went through a similar pass-down after George died.
Yankee Clipper- as a Twins fan I don’t know how it’s going to be, but my friends and I all say new guy in charge, same family. Hopefully it spurs the Twins to make more aggressive moves but MN isn’t exactly a hot free agent destination.
Stop buying the excuses. The free agents go where the money is. Guys aren’t regularly turning down more money to avoid playing for the twins
I’m not buying the excuses. Hoping for a different path, like, you know, spending money. Could I sound more like a teenager?
It’s not a bad thing that the Twins avoid stupid long, over bloated contracts. It’s smart.
Good, keep the ownership in the family, that’s why Curly gave it to Moe, but Moe has no Twin, only Shemp. Good luck with Shemp…
By the way, Curly was considered the “handsome” stooge…
Shemp was so ugly he could stop time
Curly, did you pass out mid-sentence again? I told you to stop sneaking grampa’s cough medicine!
I didn’t pass out…in mid sentence..,hand me that bottle Pa Kettle…
Haha! Only if you promise to pass it back.
I mentioned a week or so ago that Jim Pohlad was causing problems.
The word going into 2022 was that the FO wanted to do a form of a rebuild. Jim said no, and went out and signed Carlos Correa to a screwy one sided contract.
Now he’s doing the same thing again this off-season.
It appears the family stepped in (the family owns the Twins, not just one member).
The Urshela trade was mind-boggling. It’s pretty obvious that the Twins were trying to free up money to pay Correa…..who did what he could do in 2022 and the Twins didn’t go anywhere. So they trade a quality infielder for a so-so guy in the lower minors and that makes the team better?
The Twins have been in circles for years. Maybe this will result in them getting some direction.
The trade of Urshela has a number of reasons behind it.
He will be a free agent after 2023.
His salary for 2023 projected to be $9.5 Million
Arraez needed a position, seems like it is 1B
Miranda needed a position (3B) and Arraez is now penciled in at 1B
9.5 million is nothing for a guy with over 3 war. And they immediately replaced him with a guy projected to make 6 million who just had 1 war. The dollar to production of that exchange doesn’t add up.
Not to mention you’re putting a lot of faith in Miranda not having a sophomore slump
Farmer plays SS, Urshela doesn’t. Twins have all the 2B/3B you can shake a stick at but not a single SS until Farmer
YEP…. nothing changes… claim to be ” competitive” and sell tickets… never gamble on winning a world series… the Minnesota Mediocres..
Yep, this ^^^, why would they blow anything up and change? They are comfortable and sell tickets and have a nice ballpark and its something to do on summer nights in MSP. 0-18 in their last 18 playoff games, and two lousy seasons in a row, why try changing anything?
Wonder who’s known as the cheaper Pohlad in the family ?
There has only been two families that have owned this club since 1912. There needs to be some new ownership at some point.
Why give up ownership? There’s guaranteed income regardless of success or butts in the seats.
Stonehill Joe probably threatened to go Prince Harry on the clan so they moved him to the corner office with a window and gave him a new TV and PS5.
Don’t meddle?
“Twins chairman Jim Pohlad stepped aside as the franchise’s executive chair yesterday, turning day-to-day ownership responsibilities over to his nephew Joe Pohlad (relayed by Aaron Gleeman of the Athletic).”
The Pohlads aren’t perfect, but they don’t meddle in baseball operations and that’s a positive in my book.
Hasn’t Joe just been appointed a position to meddle in baseball operations?
Twins are a good match for a trade with the Braves for Manny Pina.
Irrelevant news regarding an irrelevant organization. You get what you pay for Minn, you spend cheap….well…you end up with this.
Legacy of Twins since the beginning. Many former Twins left for more money and/or reached their potential and flamed.
It’s hard to have interest in a team that has a skipper who rolls the dice on half the outs in any given game.
I wonder if the “multiple offers to Correa” are still on the table. Maybe Jim made approved some money the family wasn’t happy with?
Timing seems odd with winter meetings right around the corner. Changing who is giving final approval to spending.
With family ownership, there are likely voices the couldn’t care less about the team and would rather not spend family money on it.
Why don’t they just re-sign Gary Sanchez? He’s a known entity and a free agent.
Sonny Gray, who worked with Gary Sanchez in both New York and Minnesota, and who is currently the Ace of the Twins, doesn’t like pitching to Gary Sanchez.
The Twins could go a LONG WAY toward filling their gap at catcher with a Rule 5 Draft pick of National’s 24-year-old AA catcher switch-hitting catcher Drew Millas, a strong defensive catcher who hit .305 in the Arizona Fall League.
This would leave the Twins plenty of money toward resigning Carlos Correa, pursuing starting pitcher Carlos Rendon, and perhaps signing another catcher, such as Christian Vasquez..