Minnesota Twins CEO Joe Pohlad has shot down supporters’ hopes that Minnesota will be the team to break the bank for one of the “Boras Four.”
“The players that are out there right now, that, most likely, a lot of fans are talking about, we’re not in the market for,” Pohlad told WCCO radio Tuesday afternoon. “But there are definitely other players that can have a positive impact on our team that [president of baseball operations Derek Falvey], I’m sure, is looking at.”
With players throughout the league reporting to spring training over the last week, many fans have been wondering if their team will be the one to sign one of the top remaining free agents on the market, all of whom are clients of super agent Scott Boras.
Third baseman Matt Chapman, left-handed pitchers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, and centre fielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger are collectively known as the “Boras Four” around the league.
In response to a question about signing a remaining big-name free agent, Pohlad stated that the Twins are “going to live where we’re at right now.”
Following a record-high payroll in 2023, the Twins notably went out to decrease expenditures this winter, a factor linked to a missed TV rights broadcast deal (until recently), despite the organization winning its first postseason series in more than two decades last season.
“I think in today’s game, you can see there are a number of different ways to win,” Pohlad said when asked about reducing payroll this offseason. “You can see that both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles have lesser payrolls, producing highly successful goods on the field while still investing in other parts of the company. That is what we are doing. But, without a doubt, the television scenario is affecting our business, but we’re simply attempting to right-size it. That also factors into it.”
The Twins are one of several North American sports organizations whose media contracts have been called into question when Diamond Sports Group declared bankruptcy last year. Diamond Sports Group owns the Bally Sports Regional Network, which has the rights to dozens of NBA, NHL, and MLB games around the country, including the Twins.
Minnesota’s broadcast contract with Bally Sports North terminated at the end of the 2023 season, sparking a lengthy legal procedure that culminated in the Twins and BSN signing a one-year arrangement in early February that will keep the team’s games on Bally airwaves in 2024.
“What I will say about some flexibility is, when Derek (Falvey) and his team think there is the right opportunity in front of us, we don’t live hard and fast by a specific number,” he said. “That said, we’re not going to spend $30 million on a player right now.”
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