twins/mlb

Responding to legislative defeat, the Twins said Tuesday that they will ask Major League Baseball to allow team owner Carl Pohlad to explore his "options beyond a local solution."

In a step that pushed the team's stance from veiled threat to direct action, Jim Pohlad, one of Carl's sons, visited acting baseball commissioner Bud Selig in Milwaukee Tuesday to take "the first step" toward asking about franchise movement, Twins president Jerry Bell said.

"The close of the session indicates that - although there are certainly many good memories, a long history and a recognition that the Minnesota Twins are a community asset - the public through the Legislature believes the effort and investment required is greater than can be justified," Bell said in a statement issued by the team Tuesday.

American League owners are scheduled to meet in Philadelphia next month. Bell said that if the league grants the Twins' request to examine their options, "we would begin that process immediately."

The team is tied to its Metrodome lease through the end of the 1998 season.

Selig said: "They haven't asked permission to begin exploring options, and I'm not going to engage in any what-ifs. It is incumbent on the whole community in Minnesota to find a solution to this problem. Since they've done that everywhere else, I don't think it's asking too much in Minnesota."

Jim Pohlad was unavailable for comment.

Carl Pohlad, who has said he needs a new ballpark to keep the Twins economically competitive against other big-league teams, sent a letter to legislative leaders earlier in the day, saying he was "extremely pessimistic" because of "an attitude of legislative indifference."

Bell added: "We will continue to include a Minnesota solution as one of those options. We do not believe, however, that, given the political realities, the 1998 Legislature can be expected to take action."

Pohlad's options are to sell the team locally; to sell it to an out-of-town owner who would petition major league owners to move, or to try to move the Twins to another city himself.

"Our family wants to continue to own this baseball team," he told the Star Tribune last week. "I haven't even thought about a buyer. We are going to work out our problems and will keep baseball here." Not part of special session

Gov. Arne Carlson and legislative leaders said Tuesday afternoon that the ballpark issue will not be included in the special session, which is expected to focus on K-12 education.

Another special session, to address Red River Valley flood relief, might be held this summer. But even Morrie Anderson, Carlson's chief of staff and a chief negotiator of ballpark legislation, acknowledged, "We'd have to do a lot of work with the Twins" for a stadium bill to be ready for a flood special session. Legislative leaders have said they are loath to combine the flood and baseball issues.

Asked if this was a full-blown threat to leave town, Bell said, "A headline writer might write that. But I would say we're kind of forced into the position that we're in today. We tried everything within our power not to do that."

Henry Savelkoul, chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, noted that the Twins' threat Tuesday "is the first one that's come from them. They've always said it indirectly. They've let us see the numbers and draw our own conclusions. Now they've said it." Looking to stay

The Twins can announce their escape from the Dome at the end of this season and can leave after the '98 season.

No major league baseball team has moved since 1971. Charlotte, N.C., has been viewed as a possible site for the Twins, but George Shinn, owner of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Hornets and potential Twins buyer, said last week that he doesn't think Charlotte can support pro basketball, football and baseball.

"That's what Shinn said," Bell said. "I have no comment."