In a stunning move, the Pohlad family announced Thursday its “intent to explore a sale of the Minnesota Twins.”

Banker Carl Pohlad bought the team in 1984 and just two years ago Carl’s grandson, Joe, succeeded his Uncle Jim as executive chair of the Twins.

But Twins fans, columnists, and sports talk radio hosts have hammered Joe Pohlad and the Pohlad family in recent days for cutting the Twins payroll by about $30 million for the 2024 season. Several people have made public calls for the Pohlads to sell the team.

The Twins seemed destined for the 2024 playoffs but had a massive collapse in the final weeks of the season. They finished 82-80, which was 10.5 games out of first place in the American League’s Central Division.

In late November 2022, when Jim Pohlad passed the leadership baton to his nephew Joe, he was 69 years old, and Joe was 40. Jim’s brothers, Bob and Bill, were in their late 60s.

In a November 2022 memo to Twins employees, Jim Pohlad stated a long-term Pohlad family commitment to owning the Major League Baseball team.

“My father Carl Pohlad purchased the Twins in 1984 with a sense of civic responsibility and a belief that baseball—more than any other sport—truly brings community together,” Jim Pohlad wrote in the 2022 memo. “Four decades later, our family continues to embrace that belief, and remain fully committed to owning the Twins for years to come.”

What a difference two years makes.

On Thursday, in a statement released by the Twins, Joe Pohlad thanked Twins fans for their longtime support of the club and explained the family’s desire to find a new owner for the franchise.

“We’ve never taken lightly the privilege of being stewards of this franchise,” Joe Pohlad said. “However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.”

The Twins stated that inquiries regarding the potential sale of the Twins should be directed to Steve Greenberg of Allen & Co. The New York-based Greenberg is an attorney who has represented owners of professional sports teams from Major League Baseball, the NBA, NHL, and NFL in the purchase and sale of teams. He’s also been involved in negotiating sports television rights agreements.

The Star Tribune’s baseball writer Phil Miller reported Thursday that the Twins may be worth $1.5 billion. “A sale, which could net Carl Pohlad’s three sons and eight grandchildren more than $1.5 billion, typically takes about six months, from identifying potential buyers to negotiating the terms to receiving approval of Major League Baseball’s other 29 owners,” Miller reported.

“Carl Pohlad paid former owner Calvin Griffith $44 million when he purchased the franchise in 1984, and it was inherited by his sons upon his death in 2009,” the Star Tribune reported.

“We truly respect and cherish what the Twins mean to Minneapolis, St. Paul, the great state of Minnesota, and this entire region,” Joe Pohlad said in a Thursday written statement. “Our goal is to be as informative as possible with the team, staff, and you, the fans. You deserve that, because in so many ways, this team doesn’t belong to any one family—it belongs to all of you. It’s our objective to find an ownership group who all of us can be proud of and who will take care of the Minnesota Twins.”