New to role as Twins' primary owner, Pohlad prioritizes building trust

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Tom Pohlad is aware of the conventional wisdom regarding the 2026 Twins. He doesn’t buy it.

When Pohlad took over from his brother Joe as the Twins’ primary owner, he said he expected to be aggressive in adding talent to the roster. Minnesota has added several players in recent days, but a big splash has thus far eluded the club -- though Pohlad confirmed that the Twins did make a run at free agent lefty Framber Valdez, who signed with the Tigers.

But he stands by his contention, which he first made on the day he took over, that this is a club that can win. Pohlad addressed reporters on Monday morning, shortly after arriving for what will be a lengthy stay in camp.

“I want to be aggressive,” he said. “That’s my personality. But there’s only so much we can do given the timing that we were in. We tried to be aggressive on some things, those things didn’t work out, and here we are. But I also don’t want something to get lost in translation. We really like our team. We think we’ve got a good mix of veterans and really talented young people that want to make a statement. I think we’re going to exceed expectations.”

Informed that one sports book has Minnesota’s over-under set at 73.5 wins, he was more blunt.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said.

One challenge, Pohlad said, is that due to when he took over the club, the free agent market was already quite picked over. So the Twins have made a string of low-risk moves, signing relievers Liam Hendriks, Andrew Chafin, and Julian Merryweather, and trading for reliever Anthony Banda. But asked whether the club would be willing to take on significant payroll in trade, Pohlad didn’t hesitate.

“One hundred percent,” he said.

Pohlad has made it a priority to be engaged with the workings of the club to a degree that his predecessor, his brother Joe, was not. He said he’s spent the two months since taking over mostly getting to know people and building relationships. That process has included not only conversations with season ticket holders, but visits to meet with Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan, and an address in the clubhouse on Monday morning.

“It was great,” said manager Derek Shelton. “I mean, he dominated his message this morning. I think it really resonated with the players. It was passionate. It was from the heart. It was succinct. I mean, it could not have gone any better. Never been in a meeting where a manager spoke to a player group that was that good.”

It’s unusual but not unheard of for an owner to come by the clubhouse and address a team directly. Pohlad said it was important to him to do so.

“It’s just my style and the way I want to run this organization going forward and what I think is best,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t think that anybody else can. … I can’t outsource earning back the trust of our fans or of our employees or of the players. I think that work’s got to be done by me. So that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Pohlad has said on several occasions since taking over that he feels it is a top priority to regain trust in the organization -- from players, employees, and fans. Implicit in such a statement is an acknowledgment that trust needs to be regained.

That work can range from roster building to more prosaic things like the gameday experience. The Twins recently announced $2 pregame beers on Friday and Saturdays.

“Well, the point [of the promotion] is not to make money,” Pohlad said. “The point is to provide a bridge to fans and build some value in the experience at Target Field until actual games are being played and we see where our team stands.

“I’m under no illusion that the things we are trying to do are secondary to what is most important, which is winning baseball games. I’m under no illusion. But we have to do some of those things to get people re-engaged, and then hopefully the product on the field delivers and we build momentum that way.”