Twins players and coaches gathered in Minneapolis over the weekend, meeting with fans, signing autographs and discussing their anticipation for the upcoming season. But now that TwinsFest, the club’s annual celebration, has come and gone and with mere weeks to go until pitchers and catchers report to spring training camp, many of the same questions that faced the Twins to begin the offseason still remain.
Namely, where will games be televised and what will the roster look like come Opening Day on March 28 in Kansas City?
The two questions are, at least in some part, connected. Uncertainty because of a lack of a television deal — the Twins’ long-term pact with Diamond Sports Group, which operates Bally Sports North, ran out after last season — has bled into the baseball side of things.
And the quickly-evolving television landscape isn’t just impacting the Twins.
“I think that’s definitely a factor,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said, of uncertainty around television deals causing a slower-moving offseason. “I’d be crazy and naïve not to say that, even for just us. You follow enough of the news, whether it’s locally or among the teams that are in unclear positions — that’s true in other markets, too. I don’t want to speak for them, but I assume it’s having some impact.”
The Twins received around $55 million in television revenue last year. The amount they receive this year is expected to be less than that, a factor in the Twins lowering their payroll. The Twins have made just one major league addition this offseason, adding reliever Josh Staumont on a one-year deal. That contract was for less than $1 million.
They hope to have further clarity on their new television home in the near future, but they understand that it’s out of their control.
“The reality is that this process has been plagued by twists and turns, starts and stops, and it’s a result of a rapidly-changing media environment,” president and CEO Dave St. Peter said. “… Secondly, it’s largely the result of being in bankruptcy court with our previous partner since really May of last year, so as Diamond sorts out what they’re going to do, that’s really not just exclusively in their bucket. It’s really at the discretion of a judge, and that judge, while he’s a baseball fan, isn’t quite on the same calendar that I would be on if I was making the decision.”
In the last year of their television deal, Diamond Sports Group missed a payment to the Twins in March 2023, setting off what has become a long saga. A judge later ruled that Diamond must pay the Twins in full.
While one option for the Twins could be going back to Bally Sports North on a shorter-term deal, the Twins could also work out an arrangement with Major League Baseball, as other teams have. Other options beyond just those two exist for the Twins, as well.
No matter what direction, the Twins go in 2024, St. Peter said he believes this is a situation that he thinks “is going to remain fluid over the next couple of years.”
“I’m not a bankruptcy lawyer, but I’m starting to feel like I play one on TV,” he said. “It is frustrating. But it’s also the process and we also believe that there are still good outcomes ahead and we’re continuing to do everything we can do within our power to mine for those outcomes.”
While that process has been slower than the Twins may have hoped or expected, reshaping next year’s roster has also been exceptionally slow.
This Twins’ front office has shown its willingness to be patient in previous years — last year Carlos Correa signed in January, the Pablo López trade was completed in the same month and the Twins brought in Donovan Solano after the start of spring training — but this is perhaps at a new level. There’s still plenty of work for the baseball operations department to do in the coming days as it looks to reinforce a roster that won the American League Central last year.
Pitching depth, both in the starting rotation and the bullpen, is a focus “maybe as much as any other focus that we have for the remainder of the offseason,” Falvey said. While Falvey said the Twins were “exploring a ton of things” on the trade side, there’s also the possibility of adding another free agent.
“Hopefully we’ll gain a little more clarity soon,” Falvey said.
On multiple fronts.
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Twins still searching for television deal, roster upgrades as February nears - St. Paul Pioneer Press
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