{"id":576536,"date":"2026-04-10T19:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/576536\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T19:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:56:07","slug":"twins-leader-tom-pohlad-takes-the-reins-and-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/576536\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins leader Tom Pohlad takes the reins \u2014 and the heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few hours before the Twins home opener, club executive chair Tom Pohlad took a seat on a heated bench in the home dugout at Target Field and took questions from reporters. Above him, the skies darkened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ten minutes later, with the questioning still ongoing, it started to rain. So Pohlad \u2014 who has done enough of the sessions now to recognize most of the regulars \u2014 asked several reporters to get under the dugout roof so they wouldn\u2019t get wet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was the smallest of gestures, a kind one, in a time and place where kindness is in short supply.<\/p>\n

In the four months since Tom Pohlad replaced his brother Joe as head of the organization, he\u2019s heard and read all manner of vitriol from the loudest, most frustrated segment of Twins Territory \u2014 the ones who blame the Pohlads for everything that\u2019s ever been wrong with this franchise throughout their four decades of ownership.<\/p>\n

That it\u2019s gotten this vicious and nasty shouldn\u2019t surprise anyone who lives here and follows baseball. Cutting payroll in 2023 after the Twins won their first playoff series in 21 years still chafes, and last summer\u2019s trade deadline selloff angered fans even more. That the Pohlads ultimately held on to the club instead of selling was the last indignity for many of them, who took to social media to rip the family. The club\u2019s failure to publicly condemn the ICE takeover of Minneapolis hasn\u2019t sat well, either.<\/p>\n

Related: Winning games won\u2019t be enough. How the Twins can start to win back fans<\/a><\/p>\n

Any talk about this team going into spring training was decidedly negative. In late March, The Athletic published what it called a \u201cHope-O-Meter<\/a>,\u201d a non-scientific poll of more than 11,000 fans about how optimistic they were about their favorite club. The Twins finished dead last, with only 4.3% optimistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think I didn\u2019t read that?\u201d Tom Pohlad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody likes to read that kind of stuff. I\u2019m not surprised by it. I\u2019ve been very clear about what we\u2019ve been through as an organization. Inside these walls, there\u2019s a palpable buzz and energy about what we\u2019re building here. I know there is skepticism outside these walls. But the feeling in this stadium is very positive and hopeful about where we\u2019re going, and I think where you see it the most is the competitiveness you\u2019re seeing day in and day out on the field right now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trust with the team<\/p>\n

Pohlad, 45, is an experienced senior business executive; he oversaw several Pohlad companies but had never been involved with the Twins until last winter. He\u2019s big on establishing relationships and trust. And he\u2019s been more visible than any Pohlad ever in charge.<\/p>\n

He spent time in Fort Myers at spring training, meeting people and learning how the club prepares for the season. At the home opener, Pohlad and his father, Bob, were on the field for batting practice. After the 10-4 Twins victory over Tampa Bay, Pohlad entered the clubhouse to hug and congratulate Tristan Gray, the journeyman infielder whose grand slam and five RBI keyed the victory, and starting pitcher Bailey Ober.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday, when the Twins honored Byron Buxton in the clubhouse for his ten years of major league service time, Pohlad attended and gave Buxton a Rolex watch. Earlier in the week, he made his first appearance at CHS Field in St. Paul to watch the Saints and top prospects Walter Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Gabby Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very hands on, very involved,\u201d said pitcher Pablo Lopez, recovering from Tommy John surgery. \u201cIn spring training I told him he should put some pants on and take batting practice. He laughed, but he wouldn\u2019t. He\u2019s a very relatable person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the stuff nobody outside the club sees. Pohlad texted Lopez after his surgery, then sought him out in Fort Myers to follow up. He also texted condolences to a training staffer whose mother passed away. And he continues to pick the brain of manager Derek Shelton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest component to me is his willingness to ask questions, his willingness to learn and his willingness to take feedback on things that are not his expertise that he\u2019s trying to learn about,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cHe has done that since the day he took that over, and he continues to do that. It\u2019s never, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re going to do this, this and this.\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2018What are your thoughts here, what are you doing?\u2019 It\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Minnesota Twins\u2019 trade deadline selloff was anything but a \u2018retooling\u2019\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Look: Fans have a right to feel what they feel, and Pohlad knows what he\u2019s up against. The animosity towards the Pohlads began with grandfather Carl, whose ham-handed attempts to lobby for a new stadium in the late 1990s and perceived eagerness to contract the franchise in 2001 created much of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some way, shape or form, our family has gone through the wringer, for good reasons and bad reasons, over the course of 40 years of ownership,\u201d Tom Pohlad said. \u201cIt comes with the territory. I think the new thing that I\u2019ve sensed, being in the chair I\u2019m in, is the weight of responsibility I feel toward the people who work for the Minnesota Twins. They\u2019re the ones who come to work every day wanting to hold their heads high.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow fans feel makes them hold their heads higher or lower. I feel a great sense of responsibility to turn this franchise around first and foremost, for them. As I said to them this morning when I had an all-staff meeting, I\u2019m in this position because of my last name. I have to deal with this. They don\u2019t have to deal with this. They choose to be a part of this organization. That\u2019s the responsibility we have as a family to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The product on the field<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that the Pohlads are much more popular with their employees than with rank-and-file fans. The Twins and Kansas City were the only MLB teams that didn\u2019t furlough full-time employees during the pandemic. The choice contributed to the $500 million debt the club incurred, and the decision to explore a sale.<\/p>\n

While the new $2 Friday happy hour beer promotion proved an instant hit, Pohlad knows there\u2019s a lot more work to be done to win back fans. The club\u2019s attendance problems since 2019 are well documented. The Twins drew 36,042 for the home opener, but cold weather limited crowds the rest of the homestand. The Twins (7-6) finished it off by sweeping four from the Tigers, with a different pitcher recording a save in each victory. When last checked, the Hope-O-Meter had risen to 27.7% \u2014 not nothing, but still not great.<\/p>\n

Friday, the Twins announced another goodwill gesture to fans \u2014 free tickets for another game to anyone who attended the home opener, a make-good after a power outage delayed the start for almost an hour. Folks who bought tickets through the Twins will receive an email with a link for four freebies for the April 17 game against Cincinnati, a Friday night, featuring the pregame happy hour with live music and postgame fireworks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nearly impossible to sell patience given where we\u2019re at, which is why what happens on the field is the only thing that\u2019s going to matter at the end of the day,\u201d Pohlad said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can sell all the $2 beers we want. We can have all the concerts we want. But people want to see a winner. I think the product we put on the field is ultimately what is going to drive hope, if you will, within our fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few hours before the Twins home opener, club executive chair Tom Pohlad took a seat on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,3,99],"class_list":["post-576536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}