Aaron Gleeman Chooses the Twins; Leaves The Athletic

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Aaron Gleeman sitting with former Minnesota Twins GM Thad Levine - Minnesota Twins
Credit: AaronGleeman.com

The Minnesota Twins have won two-straight games, as they attempt to keep their ship — now carrying a 18-23 record — from going full Titanic on the 2026 regular season.

Monday morning, however, the biggest news in Twins Territory was not a byproduct of the team itself.

Instead, we turn our attention to the happenings within the local sports media world, where this morning popular reporter/insider Aaron Gleeman announced he has left The Athletic, because they directed him to cease his Minnesota Twins coverage, an order he had no interest in following.

I’ve made the difficult decision to leave The Athletic after seven great years. They wanted me to stay, but change roles and stop writing about the Twins, so instead I’m taking a huge, scary risk by going all-in betting on myself and returning to my independent roots.

Covering the Twins for The Athletic was my dream job, in many ways. But what I learned is that the “covering the Twins” part is what made that true. And any job that wants to pull me away from covering the Twins, and scale back their overall coverage of the team, ceases being my dream job.

Aaron Gleeman – AaronGleeman.com

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I could not believe my eyes when this news was brought to my attention. Aaron Gleeman is arguably the most popular MN Twins media personality on the planet… which is exactly why he’s able to make a bold power move like this one.

Gleeman is one of the best I’ve seen in sports media at digesting the game he covers, then spitting it out in entertaining ways that make his readers/listeners smarter, which is probably why The Athletic wanted to keep him around, just not covering the Twins.

Unfortunately for his former employer, Gleeman — who started his MN Twins coverage back in 2002 — is a lifelong Twins fan and had no interest in a career change that led him away from that fandom.

Gleeman taking media path less traveled again

This isn’t the first time he’s been forced into taking his own path to media stardom. Gleeman was a journalism student at the University of Minnesota, after graduating from Highland Park High School in St. Paul.

A while after he was denied a spot on the writing staff for the Minnesota Daily, dropped out of school, and took matters into his own hands.

In the mid-2000s, he parlayed self-projects like AG.com and The Hardball Times into HUGE gigs at NBC Sports and Baseball Prospectus, before eventually being hired by The Athletic. Gleeman even announced a return of “Link-O-Rama“, which is low-key big news, in and of itself.

Twins coverage has unfortunately been shrinking almost everywhere and I fear, given my experience at The Athletic and the current sports media landscape, it’s only going to get worse. But not here. And not with me. I have never been more motivated to do this job and do it well.

You’ll receive my year-round Twins writing, including day-to-day thoughts and clubhouse tidbits, in-depth and unfiltered analysis and reporting, minor-league coverage and top prospect rankings, reactions to trades and signings, interviews, live chats, mailbags, and so much more. I’m even bringing back Link-O-Rama.

Aaron Gleeman – AaronGleeman.com

Gleeman also co-hosts an extremely successful Minnesota Twins podcast, called “Gleeman and the Geek”, with Twins Daily’s John Bonnes.

How much does Aaron Gleeman’s website cost MN Twins fans?

Given the independent success in the past, it was probably an easy decision to quit, when they pushed him to stop covering the team he (and we) love. And now, you can find his MN Twins coverage at AaronGleeman.com, where you can subscribe for $8 per month or $75 per year.

Gleeman made it clear that he will still be attending home games and covering them from the press box at Target Field, and says he will have the same access granted by the team, which he describes as “crucial”.

Additionally, the lifelong Twins fan is promising more articles and even better content than what he was being allowed to create at The Athletic.

So now I’m choosing to write about the Twins here, with the same in-depth and unfiltered approach that I’ve always taken, going all the way back to the summer of 2002 and the original AG.com. And, crucially, with the same level of access to the team that I had at The Athletic.

Twins coverage has unfortunately been shrinking almost everywhere and I fear, given my experience at The Athletic and the current sports media landscape, it’s only going to get worse. But not here. And not with me. I have never been more motivated to do this job and do it well.

Aaron Gleeman – AaronGleeman.com

I’m not here to beat up The Athletic, either. They have business decisions to make and it doesn’t surprise me that multiple writers on the Minnesota Twins beat isn’t at the top of their financial or baseball priorities. At the same time, this is a great decision for Gleeman, and I’m a bit surprised he didn’t do it on his own earlier.

Just given his and John’s number of dedicated paid Gleeman and the Geek subscribers and the size of his social media following, there’s little doubt subscriber counts at AaronGleeman.com will quickly make him forget about whatever paycheck was being provided by the New York Times.

Sometimes… a separation just makes sense for both sides.

With independence comes creative freedom, and I plan to use it and the endless possibilities. If you liked reading me at The Athletic, you’re going to love reading me here. No more having to treat the Twins as an afterthought. No more having corporate middlemen between us. I write for you.

I refused to give up my dream. Help me make it reality here. Welcome.

Aaron Gleeman – AaronGleeman.com
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