Pohlad: Twins expecting to raise payroll for 2027

MINNEAPOLIS – The Twins held a year-end news conference on Tuesday with manager Derek Shelton, general manager Jeremy Zoll and chairman Tom Pohlad. The three addressed a wide range of topics from the roster to the coaching staff to the front office. Here are five takeaways from the session.

Pohlad intends for payroll -- and expectations -- to climb
He stopped short of naming a specific number, but as Hot Stove season approaches, Pohlad reiterated something he’s said repeatedly since taking over last winter: He intends and expects that the Twins’ player payroll will go up in 2027.

“I have said over and over that a $100 million payroll or anything close to that is not sufficient to be consistently competitive and in the playoffs, and so we intend to take the offseason and meaningfully invest,” Pohlad said. “I know everybody in this room wants me to define what meaningfully is, and I understand that that’s a subjective word. But I am confident that [Zoll], if he has conviction about a move that’s going to improve this roster and help us accomplish our goals, that this ownership group is prepared to support him with the financial resources he needs.”

One specific way that will show up is with regards to free-agent catcher Ryan Jeffers. Zoll said that the club has not made a decision as to whether it will tender Jeffers a qualifying offer, but said that he has no doubt that he has clearance from ownership to do so if the front office decides it’s the correct baseball move.

More broadly, though, Pohlad repeated another point he has made several times since taking over: that merely competing is not the goal.

“The work to build on the foundation we laid this year began [Monday],” he said. “We will assess every part of our organization to get better. We will raise the standard for how we support our players on the field. And we will exhaust our energy to invest meaningfully in this team. Our goal this offseason is to field a roster next spring where making the playoffs isn't a hope, it's the expectation that everybody agrees is realistic.”

Some injury news
Zoll gave a few injury updates at the start of the session, and while some were unsurprising, there were also a couple of new developments.

• Jeff Hoffman, on the injured list with right forearm inflammation, is expected to be fine after rest and should have a normal offseason.

• Zebby Matthews was also dealing with a muscle strain in his right forearm. He will receive a second opinion on the condition, but as with Hoffman, the current expectation is that rest and rehab will allow him to have a normal winter.

• Walker Jenkins will undergo surgery on his right elbow to clean up bone chips and a bone spur, and is expected to be “full go” for 2027.

• The club continues to expect that Byron Buxton (right hip surgery) will be ready for the start of the ’27 season.

• Anthony Banda (left lat surgery) is likely out until around the All-Star break of next season.

Byron Buxton isn’t going anywhere, and neither are the kids
Zoll was asked whether any players are untouchable, and of course he stopped short of applying that label to any player. But he repeated that Buxton is about as close as it gets. Buxton, of course, has complete no-trade protection and therefore can veto any deal, and has no desire to go elsewhere.

“I guess I’ll start off by doubling down on my comments from the summer about Byron,” Zoll said. “Still continue to feel that way about him. Obviously we need to get him through this rehab process, but he wants to be here, we want him here and we’re really excited about that future together.”

But it’s not just Buxton. While Zoll stopped short of calling promising rookies Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper untouchable, he made it clear there is no desire on the front office’s part to move pieces of the club’s burgeoning young core.

“We’re going to be open-minded,” he said, “but all these young players that we’re so excited about, it’s hard to imagine them being part of trade conversations because they’re going to help us in ’27 and they’re going to help us for ’28 and beyond.”

Pitching coach search is under way
The club announced Monday that it would be replacing pitching coach Pete Maki and assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez. Both Zoll and Shelton indicated that discussions have already begun regarding their replacements. Shelton was emphatic that there’s not one specific quality or skill set that he is seeking in a new pitching coach, but rather that the new coaches be part of a holistically effective pitching group.

“It's building a group,” he said. “It's not one specific person. … In this situation, we felt the skill set we had in our group was not getting the most out of our players. We want to redevelop what that group looked like. To say we're looking for one specific person, I can't tell you that. We have a list of names we're vetting and talking about, but it's going to be more about building a whole group.

“A perfect definition of that is what we did in the hitting space. We hired Keith [Beauregard] to come in with two guys that were already here. We built a really strong group. Foundationally, the really important thing is building it out. I think we're not looking at one specific skill set, we're looking at a group skill set.”

The Pohlad family intends to hold onto the team
Pohlad stopped short of flatly saying that his family would not sell the Twins. But he did say that since he took over as chairman, the family is “re-energized” as far as its interest in the ballclub.

“I’ve enjoyed this role,” he said. “I can’t say that my enjoyment in the role is the sole reason for how long we intend to be owners, but I can tell you we’re long-term oriented, I think.

“And I also speak for the partners. I think our partnership is working exceptionally well. I think if you were to ask all of our partners, it’s better than we could have hoped for. I think they are as emotionally invested as our family is, and I also think that we’ve got big goals and a lot of work to do and it’s going to take some time. So, we are in this for the long haul.”