Minnesota Twins: Jim Pohlad says money not a factor in trade negotiations

The Minnesota Twins owner has a frugal reputation but says that money will not be a factor as the team looks to upgrade its pitching staff at the trade deadline.

Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad doesn’t exactly own the title of one of the fan-favorites in the state of Minnesota. After his father, Carl ran the Twins at a notoriously cheap level since purchasing the team in 1984, Jim took over the organization’s controls prior to the 2009 season with his dad’s reputation fresh in everyone’s mind.

Despite opening Target Field in downtown Minneapolis shortly after he took over, the Twins haven’t made too many big financial splashes outside of Joe Mauer‘s massive contract extension. Because of this, many Twins fans are fearful that despite the club’s magical start to the 2019 season, Pohlad will veto any trade that would help the team if it’s deemed too expensive.

Although that falls in line with the history of a franchise that was once volunteered for contraction by its own owner, the younger Pohlad painted a different picture in an interview with Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

While the Twins front office duo of Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine are scouring for pitching prior to the MLB trade deadline, Pohlad says that cost of a player will not eliminate any potential candidates from being acquired by the club and says that it’s more of an issue of what the Twins will have to give up to get these deals done.

"“I don’t really think, especially in these trade deadline deals, that money is the issue,” Pohlad said to Hartman. “It’s what you have to give up, really, and it’s not what you have to give up in terms of money, it’s what you have to give up in terms of players.”"

Pohlad’s comments seem to make sense when you consider that the Twins would not be paying a player a full year’s worth of salary. While some of the Twins’ targets such as Madison Bumgarner and Marcus Stroman may cost the team in the pocketbook, they’ll also require the Twins dealing several of their top prospects, which could be something the team might not want to do, especially for a rental player such as Bumgarner.

On the other hand, Pohlad’s reputation is still something that has Twins fans leery of a potential move. After missing out on a midseason free agent frenzy involving Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel, many are still skeptical that the Twins would make a big move to help bolster their roster in time for a playoff push.

In the end, Pohlad is the one that controls the Twins checkbook and while a quote like this may be asserting, the real test will be to see if he’ll actually sign off on a move that will cost the Twins on and off the field.