Souhan: Twins will sell, soon, for big bucks, and then we’ll learn the full cost

On Friday, the Twins held a luncheon for local media to highlight their traditional calendar of winter activities.

This get-together should have felt as awkward as a job review in which your employer mispronounces your name.

Strangely, it didn’t.

For better or worse, in good times and bad, through injuries and health, the Minnesota Twins have prided themselves on stability.

The Twins have been owned by one Pohlad or another since 1984. They have frequently promoted from within, lending a small-business feel to one of Minnesota’s most visible organizations.

That all might be changing.

The Pohlads are selling the team, with the likelihood that very rich and aggressive new owners willing to spend more than the Pohlads will soon take over.

Outgoing team President Dave St. Peter, who has worked for the organization since the ’80s and has held his current title since 2002, is transitioning into semi-retirement.

Typical of the Twins, his replacement is someone he hired, current Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey.

Falvey is promoting someone he hired, former Assistant General Manager Jeremy Zoll, to become just the seventh general manager in franchise history.

To the typical Twins fan, the Pohlads represented cheapness. To Twins employees, they represented steadiness.

Now the franchise faces the potential of sweeping change. Falvey can’t even be sure the new owners will approve of him taking over St. Peter’s role.

The question to Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was phrased thusly: “Is it strange to see a time of change for this franchise?”

“Yes,” he said. “Because there hasn’t been very much change. I think we have always continually tried to get better and adapt, but we’ve mainly been working with the same excellent leadership for an extended period of time.

“There’s no denying that, yes, change is coming. But we still have exceptional stability here. There can be change and also stability.”

Falvey was asked a version of the same question. “It’s different, for sure,” he said. “When Joe [Pohlad] and the family told me about the exploration of the sale, it hits you different because you’ve worked here a long time, and for that family. You know how much they care about not only the team but the franchise and what the Twins represent to the community.

“But with change comes opportunity.”

The most prominent of the likely ownership suitors are the Ishbia brothers, who own the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. They haven’t won big with the Suns, but two people with knowledge of their management style said recently that both are known for their work ethic and that they might be ideal owners because they have far more money than they need to buy the franchise and raise the payroll.

The current iteration of Pohlad ownership, led by Joe Pohlad, was rightfully criticized for slashing payroll after a playoff series victory.

The Ishbias, or suitors like them, could give the Twins the best of both worlds: stable leadership and a willingness to spend.

A realistic — if unpopular — view of the Twins: Their payroll size is about the only part of the organization that requires change.

They have quality veteran talent. They have quality young major league talent. They have a strong farm system with a few top prospects who could become stars.

They could use a first baseman who can bat in the middle of the lineup, and maybe another veteran starting pitcher.

Winning, losing and the hot stove league aside, the Twins, as an organization, should be congratulated for what they do every winter in hosting the Diamond Awards, TwinsFest and the Winter Caravan.

They encourage ballplayers who live in warm climates to fly to Minneapolis in January, and many of them hop in vans and drive around the state to survey our impressive array of black ice.

Friday, Pablo López and Griffin Jax attended the luncheon and they, Baldelli, Falvey, St. Peter and Zoll did something rarely seen in the modern sports world: They hung out and chatted with media members for hours.

Given the quality of the Twins’ ballpark and farm system, someone is going to pay a lot of money for this franchise, and soon.