Before the 2026 season began, the Minnesota Twins' front office was anything but popular. After trading nearly 40% of their active roster at last year's trade deadline, the Twins entered the 2026 season with a significantly lower payroll than the prior season. In fact, Minnesota began slashing payroll after the magical 2023 season in which the club won a playoff series for the first time in 21 years.
Twins' current payroll is ...
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) February 9, 2026
... $35 million below last Opening Day.
... $60 million below 2023.
... $70 million below MLB average for 2026.
Granted, the Twins entered the season with a new head of baseball operations, Jeremy Zoll, after parting ways with president Derek Falvey in the offseason. Additionally, the payroll slashes and trade deadline fire sale likely had more to do with ownership. But that doesn't mean the front office was popular among fans.
Another thing the Twins did to try to get back in the good graces of fans was to have Tom Pohlad take over as the organization's controlling owner, a title previously held by Tom's younger brother Joe. After taking over, the older Pohlad said all the right things, making it clear he wanted the Twins to win and acknowledging fans' frustration. However, the Twins still entered the 2026 season without making any significant offseason additions.
Pohlad gave Zoll the green light to buy ahead of this year's trade deadline, showing fans that winning is indeed a priority. Not to give the Twins too much credit, as they didn't do much in the offseason, but they at least deserve a bit of praise for adding some pitching help in an attempt to make the postseason this year.
The Twins' aggressiveness at the deadline earned national attention, as FanSided gave Minnesota's front office a solid "B" grade largely for the organization's willingness to buy at the deadline.
Twins' aggressiveness at trade deadline didn't go unnoticed
Before the Aug. 3 deadline, the Twins acquired right-handed relievers Jeff Hoffman and Tommy Nance from the Toronto Blue Jays, right-handed starter Dean Kremer from the Baltimore Orioles and left-handed reliever A.J. Minter from the New York Mets.
Those weren't necessarily blockbuster moves, but they made the Twins a better team. Kremer, Hoffman and Nance are under team control past this season, while Minter is set to hit free agency this offseason.
The Twins added payroll by acquiring those pitchers and gave up several promising prospects as well. Minnesota didn't surrender Walker Jenkins or anything, but the club gave up several minor leaguers from the organization's top-30 prospects list (MLB Pipeline).
Add us as a preferred source on Google