Minnesota Twins are Cheaper Now Than Back in the Metrodome Days
By Eric Strack,
14 hours ago
Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images
Carl Pohlad bought the Minnesota Twins from Calvin Griffith in 1984 for a grand total of $44 million. 40 years later, the organization is still being run by the Pohlad family. Now valued at over $1.43 billion, the Twins would probably sell for closer to $2.5 billion, if put to market. The Baltimore Orioles just sold for $1.73 billion, for goodness sake.
And that’s why fans are mad. Their $30 million decrease in player payroll last offseason was unnecessary for a business that has $2+ billion worth of equity built up. The slash talent budget actually decreased player spending to a lower level than what it was back in the Metrodome Days, relatively speaking.
Multiple team sources with knowledge of the situation insist the Twins do not plan further payroll cuts for 2025 and that spending will remain around $130 million, but Pohlad’s refusal to say it on the record is reason for skepticism. And really, “next season’s payroll won’t drop any further” is just a positive way to spin “this season’s payroll drop is the new normal.”
During the Twins’ final five seasons at the Metrodome, their payroll was 23 percent lower than the average MLB team. Fifteen years and one taxpayer-funded ballpark later, their 2024 payroll was … 24 percent lower than MLB average. And if the 2025 payroll stays around $130 million while the league as a whole increases, they’ll actually fall below Metrodome-era spending.
Carl Pohlad passed away in 2009, and his son Jim became the face of the family business. In 2022, Jim passed those responsibilities onto Carl’s great grandson and his nephew, Joe Pohlad. One year later, the Twins went on their longest postseason run in two decades. They swept the Blue Jays in the ALWC , before falling to the Houston Astros in the ALDS.
Not long after their most successful season since 2002 , president of baseball operations Derek Falvey announced publicly that significant cuts were coming to the Twins’ payroll. That number ended up being $30 million, which handcuffed Minnesota’s PoBO to bargain bin shopping in the offseason.
Just about every single one of those clearance aisle purchases broke before the Twins could even use them. That caused a severe lack of depth just about everywhere on the field. It’s that lack of depth which cost the Minnesota Twins a chance at the 2024 MLB playoffs. Money isn’t everything. High spending organization flop all the time.
Seriously… why don’t the Pohlads just sell?
But baseball history shows us that teams willing to spend in the top-half of the league are usually the ones that come away with the most sustained success. Since the Pohlads are worried so much about padding their pockets, why not just sell?
Why not just take your $2-3 billion, and exit the baseball ownership business. The more you think about it, the more it makes sense. Remember, Carl Pohlad spent more time trying to unload the Minnesota Twins than he did trying to win games. So why not just finish the job Jim’s dad couldn’t? Complete the sale. Bring in an owner who cares.
Pass them off to someone willing to run the organization like it’s a multi-billion professional sports organization, not like a 1985 family-run business with an uncertain financial future.
It’s beyond time, and Minnesota Twins fans wouldn’t have to worry about the team leaving. Contrary to what they Pohlads might believe, there is too much money to be made in the Twin Cities to leave. You promised more spending if we got you a stadium, so we did. Now you are failing on your end of the bargain.
As long they own the team the city and state need too hold strong any anymore tax money going into into target field for any sort of upgrades make them pay for it themselves
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