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Report: MN Twins Ownership Holding Up Offseason
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- Report: MN Twins Ownership Holding Up Offseason
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It's now mid-November, which for the Minnesota Twins means their season has been over for multiple months now. For most Major League Baseball franchises, the end of one season means immediately turning the page to the next.
In some ways, the Twins are no different. They've made some pretty monumental changes since the offseason started back on September 28, in a season finale loss to the Philadelphia Phillies that put a 70-92 cap on their disastrous 2025 season .
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The biggest change is at manager. Rocco Baldelli is out , after six seasons and three postseasons as Twins skipper ( 527-505 ). His former bench coach, Derek Shelton, is replacing his good friend as head of the MN Twins clubhouse.
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Joining him will be former Twins reliever, LaTroy Hawkins , who will make his debut as bullpen coach in 2026. Meanwhile multiple members of Baldelli's staff are now gone. That includes third base coach Tommy Watkins, who's on his way to Atlanta after 25+ years as a player/coach in Minnesota.
What about the Minnesota Twins 2026 roster plans?
But while all of this shuffling has been taking place on the managerial staff, we know next to nothing on the MN Twins' roster plans for next season. And that is a problem being the rest of the league has already been moving and grooving in that department for weeks now.
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The last time reporters attempted to get answers on how much money the front office will have to work with this offseason was during Derek Shelton's introductory press conference.
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There, everyone from Shelton to Falvey to Joe Pohlad refused to give any sort of insight on what president Derek Falvey will have or not have at his disposal this offseason to rebuild a Twins' roster that was half-deconstructed at the 2025 trade deadline.
Since that day, even the most historically devout Twins media members have shown some frustration, on the lack of direction of this franchise. How could they not have a sense of direction this late into the process? Hell, the general manager meetings take place THIS WEEKEND.
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Either those in charge are lying to us OR they really do not know what the plan is. Either way, it's not a good look. Thankfully, top MLB insider Ken Rosenthal did some digging behind the scenes and FINALLY pulled out some answers for the rest of a very confused baseball world.
MN Twins offseason mystery revealed
According to a story Rosenthal posted at The Athletic on Tuesday morning, Derek Falvey, his GM Jeremy Zoll and new manager Derek Shelton are not answering questions on the MN Twins' 2026 player budget because the Pohlad ownership group has yet to give it to them.
Ownership has yet to give the front office a clear direction on the 2026 payroll, according to sources briefed on the Twins' situation.
To no shock at all, the latest issue plaguing the Minnesota Twins stems back to ownership and their inability to give the front office a number they can work with while trying to rebuild, or continue their teardown, of this roster.
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So is this more Pohlad incompetence on display in real time? Well, for as long as that family owns our favorite baseball team, there will always be an element of that at play. In this case, the delay likely stems back to an announcement that clearly broke way too soon .
Back in mid-August , after 10 months of shopping the organization to billionaires who might be interested in owning an MLB team based out of the Twin Cities, the Pohlads pulled the Twins off the market and announced the addition of two mystery minority ownership groups, one local and one based out East.
Since then, we have found out that these new investment groups are set to take approximately 20% of the franchise, when the deal is done. But not only is the deal incomplete, we have yet to even hear about who is involved in either group.
Is there any hope on the horizon?
Best case scenario, the minority sale is finalized by the league's 29 other owners next month, during the MLB winter (owners) meetings. Other than that, we know very little about these new entities, other than they're expected to pay off most, if not all of the $450 million in debt currently haunting the organization.
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Notice, I wrote about the debt in a present tense. That's because, until these new ownership groups are finalized, that enormous debt remains, which means the Pohlads are still making massive interest payments that are coming out of whatever fund would be feeding baseball operations.
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If you are looking for a bright spot to all of this Minnesota Twins depression, I'd focus on what Ken Rosenthal wrote at The Athletic right before revealing the latest chapter in the franchise's money problems.
Pohlad and sources familiar with the sale said the investment would be used to pay down more than $425 million in debt. Putting some of that money back into the team would be a show of faith not to Shelton, but also the fans. Twins home attendance dropped from 1.95 million in 2024 to 1.77 million in 2025, the sixth-largest decline in the sport .
Rosenthal seems to believe that, should this deal still go through, the Twins could still end their deconstruction, keep Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez , and maybe even spend some money on talent, in an effort to compete for an AL Central title in 2026, even if it is on a budget, compared to recent seasons.
The MN Twins roster is currently set at $96 million or less next season, depending on where you look. Last year, before shipping off Carlos Correa , that number was closer to $150 million. In 2023, it peaked at $153.7 million.
In other words, the Pohlads could green-light $15-$20 million in offseason spending and still be nowhere near the cost of past rosters. Whether or not that will happen, or that this minority sale even gets finalized in the first place…
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I'll believe it when I see it.
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