'We've lost trust': Tom Pohlad on replacing brother Joe atop the Twins

Tom Pohlad has stepped down from his role as chairman of Pohlad Companies to solely focus on replacing his brother, Joe Pohlad, as the executive chair of the Minnesota Twins.

"It's an exciting day in some respects, but it's also an emotional day in other respects, from a family perspective," Tom Pohlad said in an interview with WCCO-AM's Chad Hartman. In a separate interview, Tom told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the transition has been "hard on our family," with the newspaper reporting that Joe Pohlad wasn't initially on board with stepping down.

"This decision to make a transition within our family has been extremely difficult. It’s been hard on the relationship between Joe and myself, and it’s been especially hard on my dad [Bob] and my two uncles [Jim and Bill]. This is not the type of thing that we envisioned as we started to go from one generation to the next, and continue on our family business and continue on our stewardship of the Twins," Tom told the Star Tribune.

Joe was named the executive chair of the Twins in late 2022, taking over the day-to-day command of the organization from his uncle, Jim Pohlad. The Twins made the playoffs in 2023 and snapped an 18-game postseason losing streak while also advancing out of the wild-card round for the first time since 2002. Minnesota then slashed payroll and flopped in the second half of the 2024 season to miss the playoffs, followed by a failed 2025 season in which they finished with the fourth-worst record (70-92) in the majors.

Joe Pohlad, Minnesota Twin — Apr 13, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins executive chair Joe Pohlad addresses the crowd as the team unveils a statue of Joe Mauer before the game with the Detroit Tigers at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Amid mounting debt, payroll cuts, and dwindling fan support, the Pohlads, who put the team up for sale only to take them off the market and find three minority stakeholders, made the difficult decision to put Tom in Joe's place, with Joe releasing a statement saying he's stepping away from his day-to-day role with the Twins while continuing to "champion our employees and Twins Territory as our organization moves forward."

"As a family, the last 14 months, there was a fair amount of time to do some self-reflection and to figure out what could be better. We did that hard work. When we think back over the last number of years, we haven't won enough baseball games. We've put the financial foundation of the team in jeopardy, and we've lost the trust of Twins fans. When we think about how we best move forward, we gotta do what's in the best interest of this organization and the fans," Tom said in a press conference.

"And so we came to a very difficult decision, a very emotional decision, but I think ultimately the right decision, that bringing in somebody new — that would have responsibility for all aspects of the job — that that was in the best interest of the team. That we could bring a renewed sense of focus, a renewed sense of accountability, and ultimately, clear direction on where we're going to take this team."

Tom added that he's "well aware" that fans have "lost trust and confidence in our family as owners."

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