Reusse: Love meter shows Twins rank low on Minnesota’s list

Bob Verdi was a hero of mine among sportswriters when he was penning pearls for the Chicago Tribune. He had many famous lines as a Tribune wordsmith and another you were sure to hear when covering the same event.

Call it an off day at a World Series, media access at the ballpark, and then a confab in the hotel bar. Someone would ask, “Are you going to dinner with us, Bob?” and the scenario rarely changed.

Verdi would dismiss the idea with a shake of the head and say: “I have to make a few calls.”

This could be a stretch, but when baseball holds its annual December gathering called the winter meetings, the reports on the Twins’ activities consistently remind me of Verdi leaving a hotel bar:

The Twins are always assuring reporters on the scene, “We’re going to make some calls.”

The latest instance of this involves Roki Sasaki, 23, a right-handed pitcher from Japan and believed to have phenom potential. Derek Falvey, the baseball boss and soon-to-be team president, said the Twins had made calls and were planning to meet with Sasaki’s negotiators.

Let’s see here:

The Dodgers are also interested in Sasaki. They are World Series champions and have invested more than a billion dollars in two stars from Japan: three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The Twins have a right-sized payroll and ended the 2024 season winning 12 of their final 39 games.

Short term, the Twins could offer a small contract worth a few more bucks, but I don’t see choosing the L.A. option as a tough decision for Sasaki.

The real conversation on the Twins came Friday. Bloomberg News first reported that Justin Ishbia, a private equity billionaire, had been in contact with the Pohlad family about a potential purchase of the franchise.

Ishbia’s brother Mat was the principal owner in purchasing the Phoenix Suns (and Mercury) for $4 billion in 2023. They are partners, so it would be a case of changing the name at the top if the Ishbias were to get into the baseball business.

The new owners tried to assemble an All-Star team in Phoenix. The Suns were swept in four games by the Timberwolves in last season’s first round. They now are a middling Western Conference team facing salary-cap jail.

This would not be a problem in baseball, where there’s no salary cap — as the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets have proved.

Twins followers turned rabidly on the Pohlad ownership last season, in the belief that the cost-cutting was what led to the horrendous collapse starting in mid-August.

New ownership would be celebrated, although would even owners such as the Ishbias spend $1.5 billion (or more) to buy a franchise, then keep doling out scores of millions to reinforce a team with these obstacles:

An outdoor stadium in a northern climate, a mediocre fan base and a local TV deal destined to bring in scraps compared to the $50-plus million the Twins were receiving from Bally Sports North as recently as 2022?

Maybe these private equity multibillionaires don’t care, but don’t celebrate just yet.

What’s true is that the Twins have never been so securely in last place for popularity for the Minnesota franchises in the four true major leagues of men’s professional sports.

When the Twins were bad from 1993 to 2000, the NHL was gone, so we held on to baseball.

When the Twins started the quick ruination of a new ballpark mystique in 2011, the Timberwolves remained a solid last in interest while missing the playoffs for 13 straight seasons.

And now we have this.