Conflicting reports came out in the last couple of days about the ongoing process of selling the Twins. Dan Hayes of the Athletic reported that the process has stalled, with potential buyers balking at the Pohlad's lofty price, the collapsed TV revenue and the debt that remains on the books. Alternately, Phil Miller from the Star Tribune refutes that report, with sources saying there have been potential buyers doing diligence, taking tours of Target Field, and that the process is now closer to the end than the beginning.
Whichever of these reports you put the most wait in is probably a good measuring stick for your approach to the team, to the media and perhaps even life in general. Cynical, probably younger and more online people not only have grown to appreciate Hayes' sense of humor and social media prowess, and a general disproval of the Pohlads seems to run through the veins of this group. Then there are those who still rely on legacy media and remember that the Pohlads brought Minnesota our most recent men's championship (Thank you ladies, for actually being able to win stuff in multiple sports), and generally can't believe how much money athletes make these days. Pessimism and optimism. The duality of Man. And Twins Fans.
I'm guessing it's somewhere between the two. The original slate of potential buyers probably has tucked tail and ran away, not unlike the Ishbia brothers, but there are also likely to be some potential investors who see an opportunity. The Pohlads, given the the team situation as well as the way sales have been going lately, probably are asking for too much money, but if they are really interested in selling, they will find a way. That family is as resilient as a cockroach.
All of this tumult, and the on field product is out there earning their debt inducing paychecks. The Twins are back up into second place in the AL Central, in position for a wild card spot, and trailing only the league's best Detroit Tigers for control of the division. This is all without much investment in the team over the last couple of years. One thing that unifies readers of Dan Hayes or Phil Miller is a readiness to point to all of the flaws in the organization, but with the noise around ownership and limited resources, the Twins must have something going for them, because it could be so much worse.
This week is probably the perfect week to have information about a potential sale come out, because it gets people like me to write posts like this. They are currently playing in Tampa, where the Rays are playing in the Yankee's spring training facility after their own stadium, Tropicana Field, was ravaged by Hurricane Helene last fall. They will fly to Seattle (thanks for that, MLB) for a weekend series, and then go to Sacramento, where the A's are also playing in a AAA facility because their owner was so desperate to leave Oakland, he didn't wait for their new facility in Las Vegas to open.
Regardless of what happens with the sale, the Twins will continue to play home games at a beautiful outdoor facility, where the only natural disaster the Twins have to worry about is the penchant for exploding UCLs in this market. The Twins aren't moving, and there isn't a stadium issue to extort the team over. In this regard, the Twins are sitting pretty.
They aren't paying for free agents, and looking at the Yankees, Mets, Phillies and Dodgers, you would be justified in thinking that spending into contention is the only way to win. Perhaps it is, but maybe not on player salary. The next highest payrolls belong to the Blue Jays, Rangers, Astros, Braves, Red Sox, Padres and Angels. Only the Astros and Padres are above .500, but only the Padres have a better record than the Twins.
The Twins invested heavily in scouting under the Terry Ryan and Andy MacPhail eras, while the shift has been to analytics with Derek Falvey. The team has mostly drafted well, and has mostly traded well. The investments in the leadership and analytics (both through scouting and statistics), as well as training on the farm have led to a sustained ability to contend. This is why the Twins are the Twins and other teams in similar environments, like, say, the Pirates, well, they are the Pirates.
It's certainly not perfect here in Minnesota, but a road trip like this one, and an assessment of the ownership situation are all decent reminders that things could always be worse.
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