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The Twins were serious about Framber Valdez.

Originally posted on Dose.ca | Last updated Feb 18, 2026 11:39 AM ET

Last year, the Minnesota Twins sold off almost everything of value, leaving the franchise in dire straits. And in order to rebuild a decent team, it seems that, according to new majority owner Tom Pohlad, the Twins were serious about Framber Valdez.

It would have been fun to make a splash and show the organization and the fans that we’re committed. I know that matters to people. I mean, it wasn’t just to increase the payroll. It was a decision that general manager Jeremy Zoll thought was in the best interest of the team, and if he thought so, then I was ready to go for it.” The payroll of the Twin Cities representatives is approximately $105 million. That means Valdez’s $38.3 million per year salary would have represented about one-third of the Twins’ current total payroll.

Twins owner Tom Pohlad says the Twins were in on Framber Valdez before he went to the Tigers. https://t.co/fRKF3qGBEU

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 16, 2026

Despite everything, the owner stands by his statement: his organization was in on it.

He was the best pitcher on the market at the time. We would have had a hell of a top-3 in the rotation, and it would be crazy not to evaluate that.

Pohlad also reiterated his desire to be “aggressive” as the team’s majority owner, a position he took over this winter from his younger brother, Joe.

That’s my personality. But there are limits to what you can do, given the timing we were in. We tried to be aggressive on certain things. Those things didn’t work out, and here we are. But I don’t want anything to get lost in translation here: we really love our team.

While Pohlad loves his team, that doesn’t mean it will be a guarantee of success, with the Twins projected to finish near the bottom of Major League Baseball in 2026. And that would have been the case even with Valdez in the lineup.

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This article first appeared on Dose.ca and was syndicated with permission.

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