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<\/p>\nMINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Tom Pohlad is personally calling dissatisfied fans in an effort to rebuild trust with a fan base that is tuning out the Minnesota Twins.<\/p>\n
To revitalize the team\u2019s relationship with its most loyal supporters, Pohlad, who took over as the club\u2019s executive chair in December, recently called 50 former season-ticket holders who announced they wouldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Pohlad also went to lunch with Twins players Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan and sat down with Pablo L\u00f3pez after Friday\u2019s media luncheon to provide his vision for the club\u2019s direction after a 2025 season full of tumult and trades.<\/p>\n
Pohlad\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a lot of things, we tripped over ourselves,\u201d Pohlad said. \u201cAnd we certainly didn\u2019t do a good job communicating what we were going through and what we were trying to accomplish. You take that all together, and it\u2019s a recipe for a very challenging time. We\u2019re trying to hit the reset button \u2014 bring in some new energy, a different sense of urgency and accountability and figure out what we want to do going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Pohlad isn\u2019t surprised by Twins fans\u2019 reactions.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Twins acknowledged their poor standing with fans repeatedly during a season-opening media session Friday afternoon. Whether it was Pohlad\u2019s 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\u2019re in a deep hole with little goodwill remaining after several disappointing seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work to do,\u201d Moore said during a business briefing in which he didn\u2019t mention the season-ticket renewal percentage, a staple of former president Dave St. Peter\u2019s annual breakdown.<\/p>\n
But unlike the past few seasons of poor messaging about \u201cright sizing\u201d payroll, how slashing the budget for 2024 was necessary without a full explanation, or how the club\u2019s 2025 deadline activity was purely baseball related when Correa\u2019s trade was nothing more than a salary dump, Pohlad wants to face the fans\u2019 issues directly while also providing context.<\/p>\n
He contended Friday that not all of the team\u2019s 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\u2019s \u201cdifficult economic system\u201d is playing a role along with a loss of TV revenue, among other factors.<\/p>\n
However, Pohlad knows the team\u2019s inability to get out of its own way the past few years from a messaging standpoint also played a significant role. While Pohlad hasn\u2019t laid out many details for his strategy of turning the team around other than noting the Twins \u201cwant to be competitive,\u201d he suggested slashing payroll by $30 million on the heels of the team\u2019s first playoff success in 21 years was a misstep.<\/p>\n
But with the club\u2019s debt significantly paid down following the completion of a partial sale, Pohlad recognizes now is a critical period for the organization.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n 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)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of time where we\u2019ve had one good season, one bad season, one good season,\u201d Pohlad said. \u201cThat\u2019s frustrating to a fan base, and it doesn\u2019t communicate, in my opinion, that we have a strategy. We\u2019re just scattershot. We\u2019re trying to do something different and build something sustainable. \u2026 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\u2019re going to do that. We\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
After yet another slow-developing winter, the team\u2019s roster building is once again picking up speed late in the offseason.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really excited about the deals we were able to get done so far,\u201d Zoll said. \u201cWe were trying to find that right balance and opportunity. \u2026 We\u2019ve made some really good headway there so far, and we\u2019re excited to work through these next few weeks where we think there\u2019ll be a lot of opportunities to find more ways to improve the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the change in leadership from Joe Pohlad to his brother Tom only a month after he was hired, Shelton said ownership\u2019s message to him hasn\u2019t changed. He\u2019s encouraged by what he\u2019s heard, how it\u2019s \u201cupfront and transparent.\u201d 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\u2019re still willing to be engaged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reception has been good,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cYou sense the frustration and understand that, and I think we embrace that. There\u2019s some ability to win trust back on the product we put on the field, how we handle ourselves, how we communicate. \u2026 If we had apathy from our fans, that would concern me. But the fact that there is concern \u2026 that\u2019s the trust we\u2019re looking to regain.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for how he\u2019s operating, Tom Pohlad is doing what he deems best to bring those Twins fans back into the fold \u2014 even if it means getting an unpleasant response or two via text message. He thinks it\u2019s important to make fans feel they\u2019re being heard and to give them a sense of the direction ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019re trying to build long-term here, and get (fans) believing again in what we are trying to accomplish,\u201d Pohlad said. \u201cI\u2019m going to keep putting myself out there. I\u2019m going to try and do the right thing and be transparent and honest. I think that\u2019s important. I think our organization wants that leadership, and I think fans want that level of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Tom Pohlad is personally calling dissatisfied fans in an effort to rebuild trust with a fan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,2364,591,85],"class_list":["post-433754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}