Minnesota Twins fans were shocked by the hoped-for yet still unexpected news that the Pohlad family, which has owned the team for 40 years, announced it will seek new ownership for the Major League Ballclub.
The patriarch of the family, Carl Pohlad, bought the team in 1984. After he died in 2009, ownership of the team passed to his sons. On Thursday, on the heels of the team's collapse from the American League playoff race, executive chairman Joe Pohlad announced via statement:
"After months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins," Pohlad said. "As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.”
As part of the statement, Pohlad noted the family’s goal to “find an ownership group who all of us can be proud of and who will take care of the Minnesota Twins.”
Speculation began immediately regarding who could form an ownership group to buy the Twins. Minnesotans may not have to look far, in fact, a future owner could have been witnessed not long ago in Target Center, home of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
A group headed by 22-year MLB veteran Alex Rodriguez and e-commerce billionaire Marc Lore has thus far been hampered in attempts to buy the Timberwolves from current owner Glen Taylor.
Taylor and the Rodriguez/Lore group are currently preparing for arbitration to settle their disagreement after Taylor alleged that the group failed to meet a funding deadline for a reported $1.5 billion sale.
According to James Herbert of CBS Sports, Rodriguez has vowed to continue the ownership fight. However, an avenue exists for the Rodriguez/Lore group to set their sights just a baseball throw away from where the Timberwolves play and buy the Twins instead.
Sportico ranks the Twins 19th in MLB with a franchise value of $1.7 billion. In the world of franchise valuation, that's not much more than what the Rodriguez/Lore group agreed to buy the Timberwolves for.
For that slightly added cost, the group gets a team that plays in a 14-year-old, state-of-the-art stadium rather than the ancient and obsolete Target Center, which the Timberwolves currently play in. Rodriguez and Lore could also wash their hands of the current mess of their prospective Timberwolves ownership.
Rodriguez's link to baseball is undeniable. He played for three teams in a 22-year MLB career, hitting 696 home runs with a .295 lifetime batting average.
Whether Twins fans could accept their team being owned by a player who hit .316 with 51 homers, 130 RBI, and 116 runs scored in 150 games against them is another matter entirely.
However, if "A-Rod" and his business associates could bankroll a winner in Minneapolis, it is likely Minnesotans will forgive and forget.
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