The Minnesota Twins Are Stuck In Limbo After Their Sale Falls Through

The theme of the Minnesota Twins offseason was waiting for something that never arrived. The wait will continue indefinitely as the anticipated sale of the franchise has fallen through according to The Athletic’s Jon Greenberg.

Justin Ishbia, the founder and managing partner of Chicago-based private equity firm Shore Capital Partners, was working to complete a sale of the Twins for an unspecified amount. With an estimated net worth of $5.1 billion, he and his brother, Mat Ishbia, are part-owners of the Chicago White Sox, Phoenix Mercury, and Phoenix Suns.

Making matters worse for Minnesota, the Ishbias will seek to increase their ownership stake in the White Sox. They became minority owners of the Twins’ AL Central rival in 2021. It stands to reason that they’re positioning themselves to eventually take the reigns from Jerry Reinsdorf, The White Sox’s 88-year-old principal owner.

The Twins announced their intention to sell the franchise following the 2024 season, and were said to have robust interest from prospective buyers in January. Now that Ishbia has pulled out of the bidding, their goal of selling the franchise by Opening Day is in jeopardy. The franchise has an estimated value of $1.46 billion.

The Twins have been owned by the Pohlad family since 1984 when Carl Pohlad purchased the team for $44 million. His son, Jim Pohlad, took over after his death in 2009. Joe Pohlad, Carl’s grandson and Jim’s nephew, became the executive chairman a little over two years ago.

On the field, Minnesota fell from 87-75 in 2023 to 82-80 last season, collapsing with a 10-23 record after August 24 and falling out of the playoff race. Ownership was widely criticized for cutting payroll by $26.4 million in the 2023-2024 offseason and chants of, “Sell the team!” rang through Target Field in September.

While attempting to oblige those chants, the front office was largely paralyzed this winter. They didn’t acquire a player for their 26-man roster via a trade or free agency until early February when they signed outfielder Harrison Bader and lefty reliever Danny Coulombe. They added first baseman Ty France a week ago on a non-guaranteed contract as well.

Meanwhile, four players from last year’s Twins signed Major League contracts with other clubs in free agency. The team’s expected Opening Day payroll this season will be $149.6 million according to Cot’s Contracts, which is more than it was last year, but $4.1 million less than in 2023.

Replacing Max Kepler and Carlos Santana with Bader and France will hardly give fans confidence that the club can improve on last season’s disappointing finish. If the sale of the team drags on into the summer, it will imperil their ability to bolster the roster at the trade deadline. Last year, the only deadline move they made was to add low-cost reliever Trevor Richards, and their complacency led to their late-season swoon. If the transaction takes even longer, it could affect the following offseason too.

For now, the Twins remain in limbo, and we’ll see how robust interest in purchasing the the franchise really is. Fans have to hope for resolution sooner rather than later so the franchise can chart a path forward.