Tom Pohlad: Twins tried to sign top free-agent pitcher Framber Valdez

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Tom Pohlad became the Twins principal owner in early December, midway through the offseason, and he says that’s the reason the club will likely enter the upcoming season with its lowest payroll in nine years.

The Twins have been busy in the last week attempting to fortify their bullpen. They signed Liam Hendriks, Andrew Chafin, Julian Merryweather and Cody Laweryson to minor league contracts, and acquired Anthony Banda in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Pohlad confirmed there were attempts at bigger moves. The Twins made a late pursuit and multiyear offer for free-agent starter Framber Valdez, who was the last marquee player available this offseason. Valdez signed a three-year, $115 million deal with American League Central rival Detroit Tigers on Feb. 10.

“He was the best pitcher on the market at that point,” Pohlad said. “We would’ve had a hell of a 1-2-3 punch [in the rotation], and it would be crazy not to look at that.

“It would’ve been fun to make a splash and show the organization and the fans that we’re committed. I do know that payroll matters to people. I mean, it wasn’t just about adding to the payroll. It was a decision that [General Manager Jeremy Zoll] thought was in the best interest of the team, and if he thought that, then I was going to be willing to go there for us.”

Pohlad remains confident that the Twins will exceed external expectations this year. When he was told sportsbooks set an over/under win total at 73½ wins, he responded, “That’s ridiculous.”

“I want to be aggressive,” Pohlad said. “That’s my personality. But there is only so much we can do given the timing that we were in. We tried to be aggressive on some things. Those things didn’t work out, and here we are. But I also don’t want something to get lost in translation here: We really like our team.”

He made trips to visit Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan during the offseason, and he had a long one-on-one meeting with Pablo López at TwinsFest. Lately, he’s setting up conversations with Twins broadcasters and former players Trevor Plouffe, Justin Morneau, Glen Perkins and Denard Span to gauge how they believe the organization could improve.

“It’s just my style and the way that I want to run this organization going forward and what I think is best,” Pohlad said. “I can’t outsource earning back the trust of our fans, of our employees or of the players. I think that work has to be done by me, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

A lot of the conversations with former players, Pohlad said, is identifying missteps in the past and seeing how his communication style is resonating with them.

“I think it’s about when the time is right, being willing to invest, and when there’s a window for us to be really competitive and compete in the playoffs, we’ve got to be willing to put our chips on the table so to speak and go all in,” Pohlad said. “I think in the past, whether it’s the trade deadline in 2023 or, of course, the offseason after 2023, we haven’t made those moves, and we can’t do that going forward.”

Pohlad, who is still in the beginning phases of his search for a new president of business operations, has focused most of his time on the business side of the team. He meets often with corporate sponsors. He wants to make Target Field more attractive for fans, which included a $2 happy hour promotion for select ticketholders.

Pohlad said the Twins drew about 50,000 signups for their Twins.TV digital streams last year, and that other organizations like San Diego, Colorado and Arizona saw more growth in subsequent seasons after moving off a regional sports network.

“We talked about it a lot internally: Are we doing a good enough job educating people on how they can watch Twins games?” Pohlad said. “I remember last year, when I was trying to set up, I didn’t know what was going on.”

Pohlad was officially approved as the Twins controlling owner at the MLB owners meetings earlier this month.

As much as he is planning on the Twins surprising people this year and trying to rebuild trust between his family’s ownership group and the fan base, how will he react if the Twins don’t play well and attendance remains low? The Twins went through a devastating trade deadline sell-off last year.