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<\/p>\nMINNEAPOLIS \u2014 He\u2019s \u201cliving and dying\u201d with every pitch, breaking television remotes after the Twins lose and isn\u2019t proud of how, overnight, he\u2019s developed into a superstitious fan. New Twins controlling owner Tom Pohlad is apprehensive enough about changing his team\u2019s fortunes that he sat through miserable rain for all nine innings on Monday night because he refused to vacate his front-row seat after the offense started scoring runs.<\/p>\n
As he navigates his first season as the club\u2019s executive chair and CEO, Pohlad knows he has much to learn about navigating the ups and downs of a baseball season.<\/p>\n
A month in, Pohlad regrets he wasn\u2019t in place at the start of the offseason to instill an aggressive mindset as the club\u2019s roster was assembled. Pohlad, who took over in mid-December, hopes the Twins will have an opportunity to add to the roster at the trade deadline and that the team remains competitive.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Pohlad likes how the Twins didn\u2019t hesitate to quickly promote pitching prospects like Connor Prielipp, Kendry Rojas and Andrew Morris to try and address shortcomings on the roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a learning curve trying to manage my own emotions and understand what a winning streak means and doesn\u2019t mean, and understand what a losing streak means and doesn\u2019t mean,\u201d Pohlad said. \u201cI also want to make sure we have a sense of urgency on things. I want to make sure we\u2019re building on momentum, and I also want to make sure we\u2019re finding ways to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The consensus across baseball was, if the Twins intended to compete this season, they needed to improve the bullpen after trading five relievers at the deadline last July.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, a bullpen bolstered by minimal offseason additions again struggled, as the Twins lost for the 10th time in 12 games, this time 7-1. Through 30 games, Minnesota\u2019s bullpen is 4-7 with a 5.13 ERA, the sixth-worst mark in the sport.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n This season, the Twins are relying on in-house options, like Kody Funderburk, to fill the bullpen. (Matt Krohn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The poor performance is a sticking point with fans dismayed by the team\u2019s low payroll. Three seasons removed from a club-record $153 million, the Twins have dropped to $106 million, per Cot\u2019s Contracts.<\/p>\n
The bullpen\u2019s struggles aren\u2019t surprising after last season\u2019s trades of Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Louis Varland, a trio largely replaced with in-house options, free agent signee Taylor Rogers and veteran Anthony Banda, who the Twins traded for after the Los Angeles Dodgers designated him for assignment in February.<\/p>\n
For much of the offseason, the Twins\u2019 front office didn\u2019t know which direction the team was headed or what its payroll would be. The group had to wait for the close of a partial sale of the club, one that wasn\u2019t finalized until Dec. 17.<\/p>\n
Though Pohlad instantly came in with an aggressive mindset, most of baseball\u2019s top free-agent relievers had already signed, thanks to a rapidly moving market that materialized at MLB\u2019s Winter Meetings.<\/p>\n
The only notable signings after his arrival were Pete Fairbanks, who was placed on the IL on Tuesday, and Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez, who has a 4.50 ERA this season. Outside of Banda, the Twins didn\u2019t make any notable bullpen additions via the trade market, either.<\/p>\n
Yet, as dismayed as fans may be, Pohlad, who\u2019s been seated in the front row of the Champions Club next to the Twins dugout for most games this season, hasn\u2019t heard a ton of pushback.<\/p>\n
There was an incident with a fan wearing a \u201cSell The Team\u201d beanie earlier in the month that gained some traction on social media, but Pohlad described 99 percent of his fan interactions as positive. Even when he has heard from angry fans, he understands why they\u2019re upset.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I might take issue with how some fans choose to display their displeasure emotions, I think it\u2019s rooted in a pretty good place,\u201d Pohlad said. \u201cThey want this team to be successful and we haven\u2019t done our job as of late to fulfill what these fans want from this organization. That motivates me and I can understand where they\u2019re coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n
A full participant for the first time in his life, Pohlad\u2019s own Twins fandom has grown far more than he ever anticipated. Initially, Pohlad wondered how many games he\u2019d attend and if he\u2019d watch when the Twins were on the road.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Pohlad, who was in Baltimore for Opening Day, said he\u2019s attended all 15 of the team\u2019s home games and has watched every road game, too. He was so bummed for the clubhouse after the Twins rallied from five runs down in New York last Thursday before falling 10-8 that he broke his TV remote.<\/p>\n
Recognizing he\u2019s a newcomer to the grind of a 162-game schedule, Pohlad is relying on general manager Jeremy Zoll, manager Derek Shelton and communications leader Dustin Morse to keep him honest. While he wants the Twins to be aggressive to stay competitive, Pohlad is allowing the baseball people to make measured decisions and is staying out of the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m surprised at how intense it is and how much I love being a part of every single out and at-bat,\u201d Pohlad said. \u201cI do have those impulses. But I know my place and I know what I don\u2019t know and trust the people that have been here and have seen this before. I have to take them at their word that, \u2018Hey, this will turn. This player will get going or we\u2019ll go on a winning streak.\u2019 But I also think, me having the conversation with them, they hear the sense of urgency.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomewhere in there, we find the middle and the right thing to do at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the team\u2019s shortcomings, Pohlad remains upbeat about Minnesota\u2019s chances. He likes how the clubhouse is operating under Shelton\u2019s leadership. Describing Zoll\u2019s decision to promote three of the club\u2019s top four pitching prospects as more aggressive than in years past, Pohlad thinks the Twins are doing what they can in the moment to improve the club.<\/p>\n
Now, he\u2019s hoping the Twins can stay relevant long enough to make an impact in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been aggressive, we\u2019ve been creative,\u201d Pohlad said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing the best we can with what\u2019s in our control at this moment in time. As we go throughout the year and more opportunities present themselves for us to put action to words, so long as we do that, I\u2019ll be happy. \u2026 We owe it to our fan base as much as we owe it to (Shelton), (Zoll) and the players, to do everything we can to improve our team at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 He\u2019s \u201cliving and dying\u201d with every pitch, breaking television remotes after the Twins lose and isn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,2364,591,85],"class_list":["post-638644","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\/638644","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=638644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}