In some respects, the Twins’ offseason has been one of the busiest in recent memory.
The organization is going through major restructuring among its front office leadership, the team replaced four of its coaches — including the entire major league hitting staff — and it found a new television home, moving on from longtime partner FanDuel Sports Network North (formerly Bally) to Twins.TV, which will be produced and distributed by Major League Baseball.
Oh, and most important of all, the Pohlad family, which has owned the team for the past four decades, has been exploring a sale of the team.
And yet, even with all of that, it feels as if almost nothing has happened.
The Twins will hold their annual fan convention, TwinsFest, next weekend, and players will report to spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., in less than a month; yet the Twins have not made a trade or free agent signing involving a major league player. The roster, minus a surprise retirement and some free agent subtractions, looks very similar, currently, to the way it did at the end of last season.
With all that in mind, here’s a refresher to get you caught up on what has (and hasn’t) happened this offseason.
What’s going on with the sale?
Let’s start with the thing that will have the longest-lasting ramifications.
Carl Pohlad purchased the Twins from Calvin Griffith in 1984 for $44 million. Now, after more than 40 years of ownership, his family is looking to sell the team for more is expected to be well above $1 billion. Forbes valued the Twins at $1.46 billion last year, while Sportico had that number at $1.7 billion.
These things take time. Major League Baseball needs to vet all potential buyers, for example, and any new owner needs to pass a vote of approval from the existing ownership groups. But recent reports, including one from The Athletic, suggest the Twins could be sold by Opening Day, which is set for March 27.
Little is known publicly about the potential buyers, but Bloomberg first reported on the billionaire Ishbia brothers’ interest. Justin Ishbia would lead the bid, while his brother, Mat, would also be involved.
Justin Ishbia is the founder and managing partner of a private equity firm based in Chicago, Shore Capital Partners, and Forbes estimates his net worth is north of $5 billion. Mat Ishbia, the CEO and chairman of United Wholesale Mortgage, is the majority owner of both the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Justin also has an ownership share in the two basketball teams, as well as a stake in Nashville S.C., an MLS team.
What’s going on with the roster?
Well, not much — yet.
Right now, the most notable news has been who won’t be back. That list includes Alex Kirilloff, who made a surprising announcement early this offseason that he would be retiring at the age of 26, citing the mental and physical toll of his injuries over the years.
It also includes longtime right fielder Max Kepler, who inked a contract with the Phillies, and first baseman Carlos Santana, who signed a $12 million deal with the Cleveland Guardians. First base seemingly is one of the Twins’ greatest areas of need.
It was always more likely that if the Twins were to make a significant move, it would come via trade rather than free agency because of their payroll limitations, but they’ve yet to make a trade that would make a significant impact on the major league roster.
They did trade reliever Jovani Moran, who spent all of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, to the Red Sox for utilityman Mickey Gasper. They also acquired minor league catcher Diego Cartaya, formerly a Los Angeles Dodgers top prospect, for a minor league pitcher.
The only free agents they’ve signed to date have been on minor league deals. They also made an addition via the Rule 5 Draft, selecting reliever Eiberson Castellano from the Phillies.
The Twins will not land Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, the top player in the international signing class, but they did benefit from his decision not yet being made.
With the Dodgers needing to keep money in their international bonus pool available in case Sasaki chooses them, the Twins flipped teenage shortstop prospect Teilon Serrano, who had previously committed to Los Angeles. Serrano is among the group of players the Twins have signed that are within MLB Pipeline’s top 50 international prospects, a list that also includes infielders Santiago Leon and Haritzon Castillo.
What’s going on with the front office/team leadership?
Short answer: a lot.
The organization announced team president and CEO Dave St. Peter will step into an advisory role in the first quarter of 2025. St. Peter joined the Twins in 1990 as an intern and worked his way up, becoming the fourth team president in Twins history in 2002.
To fill his role, the Twins have tapped president of baseball operations Derek Falvey for the job. Falvey will remain in charge on the baseball side as he adds more business responsibilities to his plate.
Falvey’s longtime partner, general manager Thad Levine, left in October and the Twins replaced him with Jeremy Zoll, who had been an assistant general manager. A few days ago, the Twins promoted Sean Johnson, Alex Hassan and Josh Kalk to assistant general manager roles.
While manager Rocco Baldelli will remain in his role for the seventh straight season, the Twins made major changes to the coaching staff in the wake of a second-half collapse that kept the Twins out of the postseason. Four coaches — assistant bench coach Tony Diaz as well as the entire hitting crew of David Popkins Derek Shomon and Rudy Hernandez — were replaced after the disappointing finish.
Matt Borgschulte, a former Twins minor league coach, is returning to take the lead role with fellow assistant hitting coaches Trevor Amicone and Rayden Sierra also joining the staff. In addition to that trio, the Twins also promoted longtime minor league manager Ramon Borrego, who will be their first base/infield coach, and shifted first base coach Hank Conger to their assistant bench coach role.
While most of the movement this offseason has not been on the player side, it could be a busy few weeks for the Twins ahead of next month’s spring training report date.
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