Younger Twins executives generally favor business casual attire for their media appearances, usually a sportcoat over an open-neck shirt,. But Tuesday, at the club’s end-of-the-season media postmortem, executive chair Tom Pohlad chose a more formal look as he took a seat between general manager Jeremy Zoll and manager Derek Shelton: Dark blue suit, dark tie and brown shoes.
And while there were some moments of jocularity over the next 45 minutes, Pohlad carried a serious tone through most of it. He read a brief opening statement that got right to the point:
“We aspired to play meaningful baseball in September, and we aspired to finish with a winning record. We fell short on both of those fronts.”
Taking questions later, he said three things of particular interest to Twins fans, especially those still angry at the Pohlad family for not selling the team.
First: “This is an organization that, in my opinion, has been comfortable with the goal to be competitive. I clearly stated that our goal is to win a world championship. That is the reason we set high expectations for ourselves this year, maybe expectations that some in this room thought were unreasonable.”
Second: “I have said over and over that a $100 million payroll, or anything close to that, is not sufficient to be consistently competitive and in the playoffs. And so we intend to take the off-season and meaningfully invest.” (Note: Twins payroll this season was roughly $115 million per sportac.com, down significantly from its $156 million high in 2023. Pohlad declined to offer a payroll range for 2027, but says Zoll has the green light to add salary to improve the team.)
Third, and this points back to the first two: “People have been critical of a lot of words and not a lot of action. I get that. There hasn’t been a lot of opportunity to put action to words. We had that opportunity at the trade deadline. We have another opportunity in front of us. This off-season, we intend to use it.”
The Twins wrapped up their season where most people expected them to be, eight games under .500 and a distant third in the AL Central after a mild flirtation with the wild card race. Torching their bullpen last season at the trade deadline essentially tanked the Twins’ chances to be contenders this season. And though Zoll added some modest pieces at this year’s deadline, the moves couldn’t prevent another late-season swoon, a 21-30 finish over the final two months.
Even after a change in managers and chief baseball executives last off-season, many Twins fans remained skeptical and uninspired. Attendance dropped again this year, to 1,740,366 — 25th among the 30 clubs, and 28,362 fewer than 2025, per baseballreference.com. Both totals marked the lowest for a full, non-pandemic affected season since 2000 at the Metrodome.
Pohlad said the attendance drop-off didn’t surprise him because the season ticket base had “eroded,” though he wouldn’t say how badly. This marked the first season the Twins declined to cite a renewal figure; renewals ran 90% or higher every winter since Target Field opened. Pohlad added the Twins should be drawing 2.5 million, though that will undoubtedly take time, especially if a strike or lockout delays the season.
The Twins are way past the point of selling hope; fans want to see improvement and progress. The Twins do head into this off-season a young core of position players to build from. Shelton ticked off the names — infielders Brooks Lee and Kaelen Culpepper, and outfielders Luke Keaschall, Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Alan Roden. Zoll later added infielder Royce Lewis to that group.
Among pitchers, Pablo Lopez said he expects to finish his Tommy John surgery rehab in early March, giving the Twins a competitive front three with Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley. Shelton hopes to pull two more starters from another half-dozen or so candidates, a group that includes Bailey Ober, Dean Kremer and Zebby Mathews.
By firing pitching coach Pete Maki and assistant Luis Ramirez, the Twins conceded they weren’t getting enough out of their young arms and needed a different approach. The club clearly valued bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins’s extensive major league playing experience (21 seasons for 11 teams), and he’ll be back.
“At this point, we think what’s best for our group is to bring in some different skill sets and (put) a new structure in place,” Zoll said.
Lopez, Ryan, Kremer and Ober can be free agents after next season, and Zoll wouldn’t rule out trading one of them, possibly for the middle-of-the-lineup bat the Twins badly need. Nothing against Kody Clemens, the club’s super utility player who had a career year at the plate (27 homers with 81 RBI). But any team with Kody Clemens hitting third or fourth, as he did much of September, probably isn’t going anywhere; he’s a solid No. 6 on a contender.
Look for the Twins to pick up the $10 million option on DH Josh Bell (21 homers, 96 RBI), a Shelton favorite whom he regularly praised for mentoring the Twins’s young hitters.
And while catcher Ryan Jeffers, now a free agent, said he’s open to re-signing with the Twins, it’s unlikely to happen. Zoll tipped his hand with this comment: “Ryan Jeffers is set to become a free agent, which is a hole we’ll need to plug, given the production he had in the lineup.”
The Twins will likely extend Jeffers a one-year qualifying offer, worth about $22 million, to receive a compensatory draft pick if he signs elsewhere; most players turn it down. Veteran Victor Caratini, signed through next season, appears Jeffers’s likely replacement.
“We have a young, exciting core in place, and now it’s ownership’s responsibility to support them,” Pohlad said. “I want to thank the fans who got behind the team this year. I understand that patience in this market has run out, and I assure you we have a sense of urgency … Our goal this off-season is to field a roster so next spring, making the playoffs isn’t a hope, it’s the expectation that everyone in this room agrees is realistic.”
It helps that the Twins play in MLB’s worst division, and any significant improvement could make for an interesting 2027 season — provided, of course, there is one. MLB’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, with owners trying to impose a salary cap, and players steadfastly resisting. A delayed or shortened season seems inevitable.
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