Twins’ inactive offseason in danger of squandering last season’s momentum

Ideally, the Minnesota Twins would have followed up their first playoff series win in two decades by keeping the momentum and fan morale rolling with an entertaining offseason — announcing the details of a new era for widely accessible local television broadcasts, and making headlines with trades and signings meant to bolster the division-winning roster.

Instead, because the broadcast situation remains in flux and ownership decided to reduce payroll in anticipation of losing a big chunk of local TV revenue, the Twins have essentially done nothing all offseason. Any momentum the playoff run created has shrunk considerably, and their inaction has reopened the door for the usual complaints about spending and ambition.

Spring training starts in three weeks and the Twins’ lone addition of any note was signing Josh Staumont, a rehabbing reliever with a 6.09 ERA the past two seasons, to a one-year, $950,000 deal. Meanwhile, key free agents Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda quickly signed elsewhere and the team’s current $125 million payroll is $30 million below last season’s mark.

Twins officials have been upfront about the payroll drop, addressing it publicly as far back as early November in conjunction with the expiration of a long-term contract with Bally Sports North that paid $55 million annually. No other local outlet is interested in paying anything near that figure, and even the possibility of returning to BSN has gotten tangled in the slog of bankruptcy proceedings.

While the Los Angeles Dodgers and other big-market teams with massive TV contracts not tied to bankruptcy hearings continue to spend freely, teams under the Diamond Sports umbrella have closed their wallets. That includes the San Diego Padres slashing $90 million in payroll after losing their TV deal and the Cleveland Guardians ranking 26th in MLB with a payroll under $100 million.

There are still a few high-profile free agents waiting to get paid, but the median MLB payroll is down $25 million compared to last year. That means the Twins cutting their payroll by 20 percent has only dropped them from 17th to 19th in spending. Within the AL Central, the Twins’ main challengers, the Guardians and Detroit Tigers, trail them by $30 million and $20 million, respectively.

All of which is to say the TV situation is not the Twins’ fault, and is largely out of their control — they’re one of more than a dozen MLB teams in the same boat with a massive revenue stream at the mercy of destructive corporate decision-making and the rapidly worsening landscape for traditional broadcast options. It’s also reasonable, logically, to lower payroll if revenue is going down considerably.

But it’s even more reasonable for fans not to care about any of that. They simply want to watch their favorite team, as easily and inexpensively as possible, and to feel confident that tangible steps have been taken to build an…