MINNEAPOLIS — After four decades of ownership, the Pohlad family announced they are exploring the possibility of selling the Minnesota Twins.
Executive Chair Joe Pohlad released a statement Thursday indicating the family's intent to pursue selling the franchise comes "after months of thoughtful consideration" and will proceed in the process with both "care and intention."
“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul. This team is woven into the fabric of our lives, and the Twins community has become an extension of our family," reads the statement from Joe Pohlad. "“However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public."
Pohlad went on to say the intention is to find an ownership group of which fans and the state of Minnesota can be proud of, that will take care of the storied franchise.
The Twins have won two World Series titles - in 1987 and 1991 -since Carl Pohlad purchased the club from original owner Calvin Griffith in 1984. But critics and fans have often criticized the Pohlad family for perceived tight purse strings, and their unwillingness to spend and make the team competitive.
Those calls became louder when Joe Pohlad announced ownership would be cutting a reported $30 million from the Twins' $160 million payroll for 2024, following the most successful season in recent memory. Minnesota did not compete to resign starting pitcher Sonny Gray, a mainstay of the 2023 rotation that saw the Twins win one playoff series and nearly claim a second that would have put them in the AL Division Championship Series.
The 2024 Twins were in possession of a Wild Card playoff spot before an epic late-season collapse fueled by poor pitching, untimely hitting and injury problems. The decision to make no substantial moves to shore up the lineup prompted even more criticism of the Pohlads as division rivals Kansas City and Detroit both roared past the Twins to make the postseason.
Joe Pohlad blamed the payroll reduction on uncertainty surrounding the Twins' television broadcast contract in 2024. This week, it was announced that Twins television broadcasts would be taken over by MLB in 2025.
Reaction to the news of a potential sale was quick and predictable. Fantasy league guru Paul Charchian said in a post on X that fan outrage sent a clear message to the Pohlads, that "they couldn't continue doing business the same way they always had."
Retired sports scribe Duncan Goldberg commended the family for having self-awareness and coming to the realization their model would no longer work, and being willing to hand the franchise off to someone who will go "all in."