Colin Cowherd talked about the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday. That’s notable because he’s a national sports broadcaster, and national sports broadcasters usually don’t talk about the Twins.
“Juan Soto is available to any billionaire,” Cowherd told Ryen Russillo on his podcast. “They all make choices. Six of the 10 richest owners, maybe it’s five, are like [the] Detroit [Tigers], [Seattle] Mariners, Twins (own mid- to small-market teams). Do you think Juan Soto to the Twins would fill the stadium? Absolutely.”
On Wednesday, Soto signed a record-breaking 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. Steve Cohen bought the Mets in 2020, and they had a $314.7 million payroll last year, the largest in the majors. Cohen is worth $22 billion, rich by baseball owners’ standards. To Cohen, signing Soto is the equivalent of a person with a $100,000 net worth spending $3,500.
However, the equation is different for the Pohlads. Forbes estimates their net worth to be $4 billion. Last year, they slashed $35 million from the payroll to “right-sizing the business” to sell the Twins for $1.5 to $2 billion. Cohen bought the Mets for $2.4 billion, and they play in America’s largest market. Meanwhile, Minneapolis-St. Paul is market No. 15.
Still, the Pohlads must do their best to maintain an attractive team situation. They are promoting Derek Falvey, who has engineered winning seasons with limited resources, to team president. Rocco Baldelli managed the Twins to their first playoff series win since 2002 and would have had more success last year with a larger payroll.
Most importantly, the Twins are close to securing the backbone of their roster. Every good team needs a quality center fielder, shortstop, catcher, and ace pitcher.
- Byron Buxton is one of the best players in baseball when he’s healthy. However, the Twins must find a viable long-term backup for him because of his injury history.
- Carlos Correa is a world-class shortstop on a reasonable deal. However, the Twins must resist the temptation to let a big-market vulture poach him in the offseason. Recently, Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, assured everyone he’s happy in Minnesota.
- The Twins must figure out their catcher situation. Ryan Jeffers hit like Joe Mauer at the beginning of the season and John Ryan Murphy for the rest of the year, aside from a spurt in August. Still, he might be able to form a viable long-term tandem with Jair Camargo.
- Pablo López isn’t Spencer Strider or Paul Skenes, but he delivered against the Houston Astros in the playoffs two years ago. Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober are also solid complementary pitchers, and Minnesota’s pitching pipeline started to manifest last year.
The Twins probably won’t be able to secure their spine until new ownership comes in and spends enough money to build a bona fide contender. However, the Pohlads must keep it together to maintain the foundation of a winning team. This is not just about the paying customer; it will also help them sell the team for closer to $2 billion.
There is no such thing as a “Twins curse;” they just didn’t have a shortstop until signing Correa. Minnesota can become a viable contender with López and Correa locked into reasonable contracts and several pitching prospects reaching the majors. However, they will need investment from ownership in an increasingly Marxist league.
“It’s not Fox’s responsibility to worry about the [Tampa Bay] Rays,” Cowherd said on Russillo’s podcast. “That’s Major League Baseball’s problem. Once the regional networks died, the bottom eight teams [have become] Triple-A baseball teams.”
“I cannot believe what baseball allows to happen at the bottom end,” Russillo responded. “And I don’t know if that’s why it’s a decline in the product nationally.”
“There’s like 18 major league teams,” Cowherd offered, “and like 12 Triple-A teams with some major league players.”
The Twins must ensure they remain one of the 18 major league teams. However, until ownership changes, they’re a broke team in a broken league. The traditional cable bundle is failing, and without support from regional sports networks like FanDuel Sports, smaller markets must either take cut-rate deals or partner with MLB.
Like other mid- and small-market teams, the Twins have chosen the latter. That means ownership must cover losses until MLB figures out how to package television deals for the teams outside the big coastal cities and create a viable long-term TV revenue stream. Teams like the New York Yankees, Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers have their own television networks, insulating them from the cable bundle. Like many other teams, the Twins do not.
“I believe that billionaires make bets,” Cowherd said. “The [San Diego] Padres have made a conscious decision, in a small market, we’re gonna have [Fernando] Tatis, we’re gonna be active at the trade deadline, we’re gonna outbid people for Manny Machado, now they’ve drafted well, they have that rookie (Jackson Merrill).
“This is one of the most aggressive stretches of any professional sports team and what they’ve tried to do.”
Market size matters because it determines how many potential households the team can reach and how much they can charge for admission. Advertisers pay more for ads in New York and Los Angeles because they reach more viewers. Teams can charge more for ticket prices because they’re drawing from a larger population that can attend games. Therefore, teams in larger markets can make money with more expensive payrolls.
Baseball is always going to be unfair. The Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers have an inherent advantage because of where they play. However, there are always disruptive teams like the Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals. The Twins must become one of them.
Cowherd doesn’t care about the Twins. He doesn’t have animosity toward the Pohlads or Minnesota. He’s speaking as an outsider with a national radio show. Cowherd believes baseball will become more relevant over time because its biggest stars are in the biggest market. Still, everyone loves an underdog, and the Twins can become a plucky disruptor. They can compete for attention in a more stratified league.
However, for that to happen, they’ll need substantial investment from ownership. In his new role, they must allow Falvey to become Billy Beane, not a bean counter.
