MLB Commissioner Mad at MN Twins Owners

Just about one year ago, rumors and reports first started surfacing that the Pohlad family was putting the Minnesota Twins up for sale. Even though the team was about to miss the playoffs, the news brought a sense of hope back to the fanbase rather quickly.

What’s one more losing season if it meant getting rid of the Pohlads, right? Wrong. Instead of moving forward with a majority sale, the Pohlads found a couple minority partners to be named later, a sweetheart deal that’s believed to have paid off most, if not all of their $400+ million in debt.

Once the minority investor deal was unofficially wrapped up, the Pohlads took the rest of their shares off the market, and announced their intentions to move forward as Twins majority owners… at least for now.

The Pohlads’ decision to keep the Major League Baseball team they have owned since June 22, 1984 has not gone over very well around Twins Territory, where fans would cheer a billionaire paper sack, if it meant they didn’t have to deal with the Pohlad family any longer.

Rob Manfred mad at Pohlads for not selling Minnesota Twins

But according to Charley Walters (Pioneer Press), fans weren’t the only ones mad at the Pohlads for being bamboozled. Interested purchasing parties were caught off-guard, too, as was the MLB commissioner himself.

In fact, “a little birdie” tells Walters that, not only was Manfred surprised when he found out the Twins were being pulled off the market, but he’s “not happy” about it either.

A little birdie says baseball commissioner Rob Manfred wasn’t happy with the Pohlad family’s announcement two weeks ago that it had decided to retain ownership of the Twins after exploring a sale for nearly 10 months.

At least one member of the prospective buyer’s group was taken by surprise at the Pohlads’ reversal to sell and immediately called Manfred’s office, seeking explanation. Manfred also was taken by surprise — he had indicated to a group in Cooperstown, N.Y., at the recent Hall of Fame inductions that a Twins sale would soon be announced.

Charley Walters – Pioneer Press

Related: Twins’ New Ownership Groups May Include Familiar Billionaires

We knew the Pohlads surprised a lot of people a couple of weeks ago, when they decided to keep the Minnesota Twins. Still, it is surprising to find out that Manfred was appalled by their decision-making process, just like fans were. Even more surprising was that he seemingly had no idea it was about to happen.

I figured, if there was one person Joe and Jim Pohlad would have called before voiding their sale and bringing on two minority partners would have been Manfred. But, that’s not at all what it sounds like Charley’s sources are telling him.