MINNEAPOLIS — Tom Pohlad is personally calling dissatisfied fans in an effort to rebuild trust with a fan base that is tuning out the Minnesota Twins.
To revitalize the team’s relationship with its most loyal supporters, Pohlad, who took over as the club’s executive chair in December, recently called 50 former season-ticket holders who announced they wouldn’t be renewing. At TwinsFest on Saturday, Pohlad and manager Derek Shelton are hosting an event for another group of former season-ticket holders, hoping to lure them back.
Pohlad also went to lunch with Twins players Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan and sat down with Pablo López after Friday’s media luncheon to provide his vision for the club’s direction after a 2025 season full of tumult and trades.
Pohlad’s message: The upcoming season is critical in turning around the organization following a rough patch on and off the field, and we need you on board.
“In a lot of things, we tripped over ourselves,” Pohlad said. “And we certainly didn’t do a good job communicating what we were going through and what we were trying to accomplish. You take that all together, and it’s a recipe for a very challenging time. We’re trying to hit the reset button — bring in some new energy, a different sense of urgency and accountability and figure out what we want to do going forward.”
Though he mostly reached voicemails, Pohlad acknowledged one fan hung up on him three times, convinced the phone call was a hoax. When Pohlad finally convinced the fan via text message he was, in fact, the new Twins head, Pohlad received an unkind response and a refusal to speak.
Pohlad isn’t surprised by Twins fans’ reactions.
Following a season in which an ownership group that accrued $500 million in debt and explored a transaction only to settle for a partial sale, and after the club traded 10 players in July, including star shortstop Carlos Correa, Pohlad knows fans have little patience left.
The Twins acknowledged their poor standing with fans repeatedly during a season-opening media session Friday afternoon. Whether it was Pohlad’s comments, chief revenue officer Sean Moore breaking down the business side or Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll discussing an ongoing roster assembly, the tone was clear that the Twins recognize they’re in a deep hole with little goodwill remaining after several disappointing seasons.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Moore said during a business briefing in which he didn’t mention the season-ticket renewal percentage, a staple of former president Dave St. Peter’s annual breakdown.
But unlike the past few seasons of poor messaging about “right sizing” payroll, how slashing the budget for 2024 was necessary without a full explanation, or how the club’s 2025 deadline activity was purely baseball related when Correa’s trade was nothing more than a salary dump, Pohlad wants to face the fans’ issues directly while also providing context.
He contended Friday that not all of the team’s recent financial woes were self-inflicted. He cited how COVID-19 wiped out what projected to be a monster 2020 season at the box office and the way baseball’s “difficult economic system” is playing a role along with a loss of TV revenue, among other factors.
However, Pohlad knows the team’s inability to get out of its own way the past few years from a messaging standpoint also played a significant role. While Pohlad hasn’t laid out many details for his strategy of turning the team around other than noting the Twins “want to be competitive,” he suggested slashing payroll by $30 million on the heels of the team’s first playoff success in 21 years was a misstep.
But with the club’s debt significantly paid down following the completion of a partial sale, Pohlad recognizes now is a critical period for the organization.
The Twins are looking to new manager Derek Shelton to put a competitive product on the field and bring fans back into Target Field. (Anthony Souffle / The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
“We’ve had a lot of time where we’ve had one good season, one bad season, one good season,” Pohlad said. “That’s frustrating to a fan base, and it doesn’t communicate, in my opinion, that we have a strategy. We’re just scattershot. We’re trying to do something different and build something sustainable. … For us to be able to build a team and, frankly, build a business that can invest in a team, we have to have a strong 2026. I think we’re going to do that. We’ve got to have a competitive product on the field, and we have to find ways to bring people into Target Field where they think the experience is worth the value of the ticket.”
After yet another slow-developing winter, the team’s roster building is once again picking up speed late in the offseason.
Over the past week, the Twins, whose last big-ticket addition was signing designated hitter/first baseman Josh Bell, added catcher Victor Caratini and reliever Taylor Rogers on free-agent deals, with more signings potentially on the way. On Friday, Zoll said that at this point a year ago the Twins had yet to sign Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe or Ty France, a note made as a suggestion more moves could happen before the team arrives at spring training.
“We’re really excited about the deals we were able to get done so far,” Zoll said. “We were trying to find that right balance and opportunity. … We’ve made some really good headway there so far, and we’re excited to work through these next few weeks where we think there’ll be a lot of opportunities to find more ways to improve the club.”
Despite the change in leadership from Joe Pohlad to his brother Tom only a month after he was hired, Shelton said ownership’s message to him hasn’t changed. He’s encouraged by what he’s heard, how it’s “upfront and transparent.” After making the rounds as part of the Twins Caravan the past few days, Shelton was focused on listening to disgruntled fans because he thinks they’re still willing to be engaged.
“The reception has been good,” Shelton said. “You sense the frustration and understand that, and I think we embrace that. There’s some ability to win trust back on the product we put on the field, how we handle ourselves, how we communicate. … If we had apathy from our fans, that would concern me. But the fact that there is concern … that’s the trust we’re looking to regain.”
As for how he’s operating, Tom Pohlad is doing what he deems best to bring those Twins fans back into the fold — even if it means getting an unpleasant response or two via text message. He thinks it’s important to make fans feel they’re being heard and to give them a sense of the direction ahead.
“I’m trying to hear people out and trying to offer a perspective and take accountability on what has happened, and hopefully paint a picture for what we’re trying to build long-term here, and get (fans) believing again in what we are trying to accomplish,” Pohlad said. “I’m going to keep putting myself out there. I’m going to try and do the right thing and be transparent and honest. I think that’s important. I think our organization wants that leadership, and I think fans want that level of accountability.”