Twins owners plan to sell the franchise: Now what happens?

Can we look to the sale of the Orioles earlier this year to set expectations for the sale of the Twins?

Apr 3, 2017; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Fans enter Target Field for the Opening Day game between the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

What's next for the Minnesota Twins after the historic news that the Pohlad family plans to sell the franchise after 40 years of ownership?

For starters, the timing of Thursday's announcement is interesting because it came two days after the Twins announced plans to end its partnership with Diamond Sports Group and Bally Sports North in favor of having MLB.TV produce and distribute its games in 2025.

The Twins said in a press release that the decision to sell the team became a topic of discussion over the summer: "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."

Were those discussions the reason why the Twins did almost nothing at the trade deadline when they had an opportunity to improve a roster that was in the running for one of the top records in the American League? The lack of activity certainly played a role in Minnesota's collapse that saw them win just 12 of 39 games to end the season at 82-80, four games out of a playoff spot.

How fast could a sale happen?

The last MLB team to be sold was the Baltimore Orioles, which happened quickly as previous owners announced plans to sell in January 2024, and the $1.725 billion sale was finalized just three months later. The result was a fresh start for the Orioles, leading to an aggressive approach in free agency and at the trade deadline that saw them win 91 games and reach the playoffs.

The speediness of the Baltimore sale doesn't mean it will happen the same way with Minnesota, but it's also unclear how far along the exploratory process the Pohlads are.

The Orioles had the 18th-highest valuation of the 30 MLB teams in Sportico's 2024 rankings. The Twins were right behind them in 19th place with a $1.7 billion valuation.

Will new owners bring in new front office personnel?

That's a mystery, but when the Orioles were sold to a Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, the front office from the 2023 season was kept intact. Mike Elias has been Baltimore's general manager since 2018 and he survived the transition and remains in charge to this day.

For the Twins, there's already been change with general manager Thad Levine stepping down last week after eight seasons with the team. Interestingly, Derek Falvey, entering his ninth season as the Twins' chief baseball officer, indicated that the team had no plans to replace Levine, instead relying on the staff around him to pick up the slack from Levine's exit.

Is Rocco Baldelli safe?

The Twins announced after missing the playoffs that Baldelli would return for the 2025 season. If there's an ownership change, anything could happen, but for now it appears that Baldelli will remain the manager.

Brandon Hyde was hired as manager of the Orioles in 2019 and he survived the ownership change earlier this year and the team has indicated that he'll be on the bench leading the O's again in 2025.

What happens to the payroll?

The Twins slashed payroll by nearly $30 million in 2024 after spending a team-record $153 million on the roster in 2023. Exceutive Chair Joe Pohlad has said he doesn't anticipate another reduction in payroll for 2025, but that was before news broke that the Pohlads are looking to sell.

According to Cots Baseball Contracts, the Orioles' 2024 payroll jumped to $90 million after being at $60 million in 2023 and $43 million in 2022. Clearly, new ownership funneled more money into building a more competitive roster this season and it's yet to be seen how they'll approach spending this winter.

The Mets' payroll has skyrocketed since Steve Cohen bought the franchise in 2020. They had a $195 million payroll in 2021, $264 million in 2022, $330 million in 2023 and $328 million in 2024.

John Sherman bought the Royals for $1 billion in November 2019. Covid hit in 2020 so payroll numbers were skewed, but Kansas City carried an $89 million payroll in 2021 and it has since climbed to $115 million this season.