I'd like to add to the player's evaluation. Player's evaluation is so important in how they do it because it affects drafting, trading & promoting players. A big stickler in promoting players, they often look at their bat & nothing else. To go along with that, they position players where they don't belong. Buxton was down a lot in former years & they had Cave as the primary backup & he was no CFer. They were determined that Polanco played SS for 2 yrs. on bad ankles. Julien was never a 2Bman, but that was where they tried to hide him for his entire pro career until this year. They spent a lot of time with Martin at SS, & then CF when it was easy to see he didn't belong at SS & was very green in CF (wasting a lot of time). A more recent example is Gabriel Gonzalez. He is a liability defensively; he's a stretch at RF, yet they are playing him a lot at a more demanding LF. 

One of my greatest frustrations with Falvey is when he goes out of his way to showcase his new acquisitions. Losers he picked up who were liabilities to the team, He constantly gives them opportunities when it's obvious they should be DFAed, while many of our in house players are neglected in those situations, compromising the team's performance & culture.

And pitchers, especially in the BP, like acquisitions Coulume', J Lopez, & Pagan, & in house Duffy were elevated to closer, while they were able RPs but unable or not ready to close, yet kept being called to close. Levine proclaimed the Twins were going to piggy-backing when they acquired Bundy & Archer, who were what they were only good for. Then Twins turned around & said ALL pitchers had to go 7 innings.   

He leads an organization that has poor player development/evaluation skills.  With a new season forthcoming, the fans are suppose to forget 2025 and come back in 2026.  Best of luck to Shelton, but the front office needs to go.

If everything you suggest is true (which I'm not prepared to weigh in on here) doesn't that suggest a person who would never resign because they are sure of their approach?

On 11/11/2025 at 4:18 PM, Russ said:

He leads an organization that has poor player development/evaluation skills.  With a new season forthcoming, the fans are suppose to forget 2025 and come back in 2026.  Best of luck to Shelton, but the front office needs to go.

Um, actually, forget last season and look to the next is what baseball has been about since long before any of us were born.  If I had a nickel for every team thru out the years who overcame situations far bleaker than that facing the local nine next season I'd have enough money to buy the club and (foolishly) spend all the money the fan base of said nine wants ownership to spend.

17 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

If everything you suggest is true (which I'm not prepared to weigh in on here) doesn't that suggest a person who would never resign because they are sure of their approach?

It sure makes it a lot more difficult. Years of saying trust the process & not seeing the desired results, you'd hope it'd sink in. Where pride takes precedence over the well-being of the team. Falvey has totally deceived the Pohlads that they, under Falvey's supervision, they still wanted control after they sold the team as part of the stipulation of the sale. & thought after not selling the team, that it was the best scenario for the team. 

The resignation of Falvey isn't the total solution to the problem. We'd still need to find a GM with a balanced approach & the ability to make essential trades happen.

“What really helped [Billy Beane] was his ability & courage to think out of the (old school) box, using analytics to come out ahead in trades. IMO, now, the pendulum has swung far to the other side, where analytics drives the sport & "in the box" thinking is analytics.”

There’s the problem explained in two sentences. Everyone wanted to be Billy Beane and embrace the numbers, while cutting back on scouting staffs. Looking at potential is great. But without guys who are proven judges of a players’ abilities (and weaknesses) on the field, well, we’re seeing the results.

What we need now is someone who has the ability and courage to combine some of that old-school approach. But that’s going to also require more scouts scouring the countryside for talent that the numbers alone may not show.

Great article.

19 hours ago, mluebker said:

“What really helped [Billy Beane] was his ability & courage to think out of the (old school) box, using analytics to come out ahead in trades. IMO, now, the pendulum has swung far to the other side, where analytics drives the sport & "in the box" thinking is analytics.”

There’s the problem explained in two sentences. Everyone wanted to be Billy Beane and embrace the numbers, while cutting back on scouting staffs. Looking at potential is great. But without guys who are proven judges of a players’ abilities (and weaknesses) on the field, well, we’re seeing the results.

What we need now is someone who has the ability and courage to combine some of that old-school approach. But that’s going to also require more scouts scouring the countryside for talent that the numbers alone may not show.

Great article.

Thanks! 

Exactly, we need a GM who has the baseball smarts, ability to make good trades & the courage to go outside the "analytical box". That could revolutionize any team.

We are in a very difficult situation with our catching. I could see it years ago. Yet, the Twins fail to see the gravity of it. Twins had a perfect opportunity to help ease the situation when Rortvedt became available through the waiver line. Rortvedt is a former LH-hitting Twins catcher from Wisconsin. He's a proven MLB defensive catcher who has had his hitting thrown off wack but still IMO could improve. He put up an amazing .429/.500/.571 line in four games before Smith took over in the postseason for LAD. LAD had to let him go due to their ongoing roster crunch. Twins missed another one, Maybe they are counting on an expensive, inferior FA or a Cartaya or hoping Gasper will do the trick.

On 11/14/2025 at 4:03 AM, Doctor Gast said:

We are in a very difficult situation with our catching. I could see it years ago. Yet, the Twins fail to see the gravity of it. Twins had a perfect opportunity to help ease the situation when Rortvedt became available through the waiver line. Rortvedt is a former LH-hitting Twins catcher from Wisconsin. He's a proven MLB defensive catcher who has had his hitting thrown off wack but still IMO could improve. He put up an amazing .429/.500/.571 line in four games before Smith took over in the postseason for LAD. LAD had to let him go due to their ongoing roster crunch. Twins missed another one, Maybe they are counting on an expensive, inferior FA or a Cartaya or hoping Gasper will do the trick.

Thanks doc , always appreciate thinking outside the box and being ahead of the next guy  ...

No one can convince falvey to do so , even when the answer is right in front of him on a daily basis that something isn't right on this team , maybe these coaching changes will help in 2026 ...

Twins had a top-notch catching strength with Tanner Swanson as MiLB catching coach, catching depth in LH-hitting All-Star Jason Castro, who they picked up, Mitch Garver, who should have been an All-Star, a good hitting 3rd catcher, Ryan Jeffers & promising upcoming LH hitting Ben Rortvedt.

IMO, Thad Levine must have been responsible for that because after '19, when Falvey started to take over more control. Swanson was not promoted but was allowed to walk & Castro was not extended after '19. Falvey hand-picked backup catcher Jeffers & tore down the rest, leaving only Jeffers as the primary catcher. That has been a disaster. They picked up Vazquez as an expensive band-aid. Throughout that time, they had done nothing to strengthen & establish a future backstop. Here we are again, left with Jeffers as our primary catcher, in his walk year (if he isn't traded, which he should be, but because nothing was done, Twins may not have a choice).

Falvey's actions have shown that he has put zero importance on catching. Letting Swanson walk, trading away key pieces, hiring the new MLB catching coach, Conger, who has failed to draft, develop or trade for a respectable catcher. LAD talked Falvey into picking up Cartaya when they couldn't develop him, In the hope MN could, when they had been failing to do so with everybody else. Yet when a proven MLB catcher was DFAed (Rortvedt) by LAD they failed to pick him up, but instead went with a more expensive catcher that has been rejected by most of the MLB teams as I predicted.

Conger had done absolutely nothing to help us with catching, which he was hired to do. Maybe that is why they decided not to hire a catching coach? Funny, they have several pitching coaches, hitting coaches, INF & OF coaches, but no catching coach. I guess they don't deem it important. That they can figure it all out with analytics.

I contend that we have went backwards even further in the catching department in the past two months. Vazquez is out and Jackson is in. Vazquez knew how to work with a pitching staff and has proven over and over again that he is up to the task of being in tandem at the ML level. His hitting is typical for a catcher. Jackson has yet to prove that he is up to the task in any department yet here he is in a tandem catching role. Aside from a 10 day stretch he has been awful.  Mistake after mistake happening right before our eyes. Twins are a poorer team than even the hapless bunch from the last half of the season was.