I am not going to rip on the front office of Levine and Falvey, however I am going to criticize them somewhat in their ability to communicate across the organization.
The whole mess with Byron Buxton seems to have really snuck up on and stung Buxton.From all accounts I have read he was not aware he was going to have his season end in Rochester.Then he finds out from his agent and AAA manager.I know he is not currently a part of the big league club, however, he is sort of one of the faces of the organization and not being told directly by the major league club seems to be a little bit a slap in the face.
A personal call from either Levine or Falvey (if all the reports are true) a little bit prior to the decision being made public could have prevented the confusion and bruised egos.For all we know there is a completely valid reason and plan in place to get Buxton back to where the team wants him to be.But the team's executives let the messengers tell Byron the news, he was done, and they appear to have done it at the last moment.
Another example was Mientkiewicz being let go.Again, Falvey and Levine didn't communicate with Dougie Baseball.He was apparently without cell service cleaning up after a hurricane last year and received a call from Brad Steil, not Falvey or Levine.Steil either wasn't allowed to give a reason and who's decision it was or he himself didn't know.Either way, another poor job of communication.
These are two relatively high profile examples of poor communication.I am not criticizing either decision, but the way in which they go about making their decisions has left bad tastes in people's mouths multiple times now.Hopefully, this is an area they can improve on, or a reputation could be formed pretty quickly and hurt their ability to retain and attract talent.
