Twins Hall of Famer might end up playing a role in the team getting sold

There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Minnesota Twins and it goes beyond what the team may or may not do this winter. Free agency will open after the World Series wraps up, and when it does the question will be whether the Pohlads approve some spending or are once again frustratingly frugal.

It's not the only question fans have about the Pohlads. More pressing than what the team will look like in the future is who will be the owner.

The Pohlads announced earlier in October that they were exploring selling the Twins. A sale would mark just the third time in franchise history that the team has a new owner, but it's been cause for excitement throughout Twins Territory akin to the Ewoks dancing at the end of Return of the Jedi.

We don't know a ton about what happens next, though.

Everything about the sale is being kept close to the chest, with only rumors and speculation leaking out to satiate the masses. The timeline for a sale is unclear, there aren't any prospective buyers yet, and the fact of the matter is Twins fans might be stuck with the Pohlads -- and vice versa -- for the foreseeable future.

When a sale does happen it might include one of the greatest players in franchise history serving as a savior.

Joe Mauer might enter the fray as part of a new Twins ownership group

Take it with a grain of salt or a fistful of potential Fool's Gold, but there's a potential chance that hometown hero, first-ballot Hall of Famer, and franchise icon Joe Mauer ends up getting involved in the sale of the Twins. Nothing has been concretely reported, but then again that's true of just about every tidbit revolving around the situation with future ownership.

Charley Walters from the Pioneer Press mused, among other things, that it wouldn't be surprising if Mauer was sought as a limited partner in the sale of the Twins. To be clear he's not reporting that a group is being put together, but it also doesn't take a lot of mental gymnastics to reach the same conclusion about Mauer that Walters did.

Whoever ends up buying the Twins will not only have a Major League franchise to tout but also perhaps the lowest bar to clear in terms of winning fans over. There will be an extended honeymoon phase with the team's new owner as the grace period with fans will be pretty hard to screw up. The biggest issues with the Pohlads has been the transparent profit-first mentality, which has eroded the relationship with fans to the point of dissolution.

Bringing Mauer in, who is one of the most beloved figures in franchise history, is akin to A-Rod and Marc Lore including Kevin Garnett in their acquisition of the Timberwolves. Getting KG back in the building with more respect than Glen Taylor ever showed him is a much bigger deal, but the vibes are almost the same as Mauer's championship ceiling was capped by the Pohlads utter refusal to spend on a winning team.

Who knows if there's even any interest in this from Mauer's end, but the chance for a hometown hero to own a piece of the team he loved as a kid would be an amazing addition to his already legendary mythology.

To have him be the one closing the door behind them on their way out would be a lovely little twist to how this all ends.

Of course, this is all purely speculation at this point even it's pretty delicious fodder to chew on. Time will tell what ends up happening with the sale, but this is a reminder of just how much better and more fun the Twins will be once we're all free from the Pohlad's reign.

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