What's next for the Minnesota Twins' ownership after suitor drops out
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A potential buyer for the Minnesota Twins has decided to look elsewhere.
Justin Ishbia, co-owner of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, reportedly is no longer eyeing the Twins, and instead has turned his attention to increasing his minority ownership stake in the Chicago White Sox.
The Twins’ owners announced in October that they're looking for a buyer. The Pohlad family has owned the Major League Baseball franchise since 1984, estimated to be worth $1.5 billion.
Michael Rand with the Minnesota Star Tribune has been following the ownership bidding and joined Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer with an update.
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Do we know how serious Ishbia was about buying the Twins?
“I don't think we know exactly how serious he was, because what ended up happening is he bought a larger stake in the White Sox, who went up for sale, the Chicago team that went up for sale, not long after the Twins. And it's hard to know [whether] was he comparing these two, [or] was he just interested in getting into a larger bit of the baseball business in general,” Rand said.
“He already had ties to the White Sox. He already has other business interests in Chicago. So I do wonder at a certain point how serious the Twins pursuit was, but he was at least the only known suitor, the only publicly identified suitor. And so that's kind of what has gotten people a little bit curious about the state of the sale of this team.”
So that means that we don’t know of any other buyers who could be in the mix?
Despite rumblings, “nobody else has been publicly identified in terms of, like, who is interested in buying the team,” Rand said. “And sometimes, this is kind of how sales go. This is how kind of big-time transactions take place. Even like trades in sports — you don't hear about them until they happen, because the parties involved want to keep this secret in case it doesn't come to fruition.”
If the sale drags on, how might the uncertainty affect the team’s operations?
“What we've seen in the last couple of years is the Pohlad family has kind of brought down payroll because of various factors — the biggest one being the uncertainty over television revenue,” Rand said. The Twins have lost “quite a bit” of regional revenue this year and last, compared to 2023, he explained.
“So you do wonder, right, if the Pohlad family keeps the team, they're going to want a competitive product, but they're also going to want to keep costs down. They're not going to want to spend too much. They haven't authorized a whole lot of off-season spending this year, maybe a tiny bit more than we anticipated.”
However, the Pohlads aren’t going “all in” on signing high-priced free agents. The free agent period is coming to an end, but the trade deadline is just a few months away.
“What if the sale isn't in motion by then? What happens? Will they be active in those markets to add players that might add payroll,” Rand questioned. “I think it does have the potential to at least impact some of the operations of the team.”
Wednesday morning, the Twins announced a planned leadership transition would go forward on Monday: Derek Falvey is ascending to president of baseball and business operations and current President Dave St. Peter is stepping into the role of strategic advisor. The Pohlad family decided on the succession plan back in November.
Could the Pohlads reverse and take the Twins off the market?
“I think they're in a spot where that's possible, but I don't think that's something that's on the table right now,” Rand said. “They've only been on the market for a few months. And again, I think there is still interest from other people.”
How are fans feeling?
“I've told a lot of people, the Twins could sure use a good April this year,” Rand said. After a decent year through mid-August, “they fell apart at the end of the season” with a 12-27 record in their last 39 games. What “looked like a sure playoff spot dissolved into disappointment.”
“So people are already frustrated with how that season ended and with the payroll cut to take it off to a bad start this year, and there's no movement on the ownership front. Yeah, I can imagine there being some fan angst for sure.”
