Falvey, Twins' brass don't blame 2024 results on payroll cuts

MINNEAPOLIS -- Twins executive chair Joe Pohlad, the day-to-day representative of the ownership family, acknowledged that he, too, was still processing the impact of the collapse that pushed the organization out of the playoff picture altogether, a scene that he described as akin to “watching a train wreck.”

Though the reality of the club’s more than $26 million cut in Opening Day payroll has long been discussed as a constraint on the front office’s decision-making starting last offseason, when Pohlad publicly discussed the need to “right-size” the business, both Pohlad and president of baseball operations Derek Falvey indicated on Sunday they did not feel the payroll cuts were to blame for the team’s fate.

“The harder part for me as I sit here today is that this stretch of baseball and us not being where we need to be was not about payroll,” Falvey said prior to the Twins' 6-2 season-ending loss. “It just wasn't. There's no other way to put it. This was about the team that we had, on the field, that was 15, 17 games over .500 and capable of playing baseball the way we needed to down the stretch and didn't play it.”

A Twins source indicated that the organization does not anticipate further payroll cuts for the 2025 roster. Pohlad also defended the cuts he made ahead of the ‘24 campaign as a business decision while acknowledging the challenges posed by the juxtaposition of that sharp decrease in payroll following the huge step forward the organization made with its playoff wins in ‘23.

“Everybody owns this a little bit, and I played a role in that,” Pohlad said. “It’s been well-documented, this payroll decision, and as I kind of reflect on my role in all of this, we were at an all-time high last year, right? Fans were all-in. Players were all-in. We were headed down a great direction and I had to make a very difficult business decision.

“But that’s just the reality of my world. I have a business to run, and it comes with tough decisions, and that’s what I had to do. I wouldn’t make any other decision, because that’s the position that we were in. That’s our reality.”

While Falvey asserted again that the cuts weren’t to blame for either the collapse or for the Twins’ relative inactivity at the Trade Deadline, he did acknowledge that decision-makers in his position would always accept more resources -- though he again stated that he felt he plenty capable of fielding a playoff team within the constraints allocated to him.

“We were plenty capable in mid-September of getting there, and we didn’t get there, so that’s not what I view as the reason of why we’re sitting where we are today at this point where we are with this team,” Falvey said. “I just don’t believe that.”

“Yes, there are always some restrictions,” Pohlad said. “But I thought -- and I know that -- there was agreement that they had everything they needed. Throughout three-quarters of the season, we were in position. So I don't think that this is a resource conversation right now.”

This has been a challenging season for Twins fans in that they have also had to deal with the club’s absence from the television screens across a large swath of Twins Territory for several months due to the lack of agreement between Diamond Sports Group and Comcast.

The club’s agreement with Diamond Sports Group expired at the conclusion of the ‘23 season -- and, after a one-year stopgap deal was reached for ‘24, the organization will again find itself in a position of television uncertainty this offseason.

Amid all that, Pohlad stated his belief that a winning product -- regardless of payroll -- will bring fans to the ballpark.

“I view my job as kind of running our business on behalf of this team and our fans,” Pohlad said. “And I’m trying to manage our business so that we can put out a winning team, both in the short term and in the long term.”

Amid that challenging context, the Twins will look inward following a difficult ‘24 -- and seek answers.

“To find ourselves in this position is just, it’s embarrassing,” Pohlad said. “It’s angering. It’s all of the feelings, right? And we’ve got to really look inward and figure out what the hell happened, because it’s not acceptable at all. We’ve got to sort some things out, for sure.”