"It happened with Yankees" - Ex-Marlins president David Samson claims Pohlad family isn't selling Minnesota Twins for financial reasons
After 40 seasons as owners of the Minnesota Twins, the Pohlad family announced their intentions to look for a possible trade for a franchise. There are speculations that the Pohlads are trying to gauge the market. However, some analysts like David Samson believe it is due to the children of the original owner having disagreements after they inherited the team.
On "Nothing Personal with David Samson" on Saturday, the former Marlins president speculated the descendants of Carl Pohlad might have differing opinions on where to invest the money they inherited. He compared the Pohlad family's situation to that of the New York Yankees.
"You don't think it is hard on siblings who inherit a team, we have seen it time and time again. Buss family anyone, Bowlan family anyone?
"This is normal where a patriarch or matriarch has a team and then children take over and they realise 'My name is Hal Steinbrenner, get out of here Hank'. Happened with the Yankees, Hal got rid of Hank so fast your head would spin," Samson said.
Samson was referring to Hal Steinbrenner getting control of the Yankees' day-to-day operations over his older brother Hank after their father George's illness in Nov. 2008.
Securing Pohlad legacy might be in selling
Carl Pohlad purchased the team in 1984 for $44 million from the Griffith family. The team is currently valued at more than $1.7 billion in the US market. The Pohlads have led the Twins to two World Series-winning campaigns, albeit both in the first seven years of their ownership, 1987 and 1991.
They have made it to 10 other playoff appearances but have not featured in the AL Championship Series since 2001. Last year's Wild Card Series win against the Blue Jays was their first playoff series victory since 2001. They missed out on the playoffs by a whisker, going 82-80 this season.
Twins fans have regularly called for increased spending, putting pressure on the Pohlads to sell the team if they don't go big. Despite promises, they instead made severe budget cuts that included salary adjustments worth $30 million, letting players go and other consignments because of a local TV deal that failed.