Should Fans Trust the Twins' Front Office?

[Cody Christie]

Like any front office, Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have seen their share of ups and downs during their tenure. However, fans' trust in this front office might have hit an all-time low after back-to-back poor seasons and a lackluster trade deadline.

Image courtesy of Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins hired Derek Falvey and Thad Levine to head up their baseball operations department leading into the 2017 season. At the time, Minnesota had lost 90 games or more in five of the previous six seasons. A new direction was needed for a franchise stuck in some antiquated ways. Over the last seven seasons, the Twins have won two division titles, but the team has gone 0-for-6 in postseason games and had disappointing finishes for two consecutive seasons. It seemed like the 2023 campaign might be a make-it-or-break-it season for the front office, but they haven't treated it as such. 

Only some things have been doom and gloom for the front office in 2023. They have built one of baseball's best starting rotations through multiple trades in recent seasons. Over the last two winters, they have surprised the baseball world by signing Carlos Correa to multiple contracts. Despite these positives, the front office has avoided adding late-inning bullpen arms or a right-handed power bat. Those were the team's needs coming into the season and remain the same following the trade deadline. 

Falvey met with reporters in the hours following the deadline to discuss Minnesota's lack of moves. There were three clear messages from the front office, but each can be spun in multiple directions. If fans trust the front office, 

Message 1: Fewer Teams Ended Up Being Sellers
This message is valid on a surface level. Teams on the fringes of contention like the Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, and San Diego Padres didn't enter full-out seller mode. Some of that can is expected with baseball's expanded playoffs, including three Wild Card teams in each league. According to FanGraphs, six teams in the AL have a 65% chance or higher of making the playoffs entering play on Wednesday. That leaves one playoff spot for a fringe team, and that was enough to stop some from selling. 

With fewer teams selling, it might have made it harder for the front office to address the team's needs, but other teams traded for relievers and right-handed corner bats. Minnesota's front office knew the teams guaranteed to be sellers, and their conversations could have focused on players from those clubs. Also, the Twins could have made better offers for players they valued with the deadline approaching. The supply of players changed with fewer teams being sellers, and teams, like Minnesota, must adjust to the market. 

Message 2: Stick with the Veterans
For months, the Twins' front office has stressed that the most significant help to the team would come from the players in the clubhouse. Minnesota's highest-paid position players are Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, Joey Gallo, Christian Vazquez, Max Kepler, and Jorge Polanco. All six players have underperformed compared to preseason projections. Correa and Buxton should crush left-handed pitching, but the team continues to struggle, and some of that performance is tied to the streakiness of the team's top right-handed hitters. Gallo has been one of baseball's worst hitters for two consecutive seasons. Kepler and Polanco have spent time on the IL while providing inconsistent performance. Vazquez was considered one of the top catchers on the free agent market, and his OPS+ is the lowest since 2018. There is plenty of blame to go around. 

Yes, the Twins aren't going to reach their full potential without the team's top players performing better. There were still opportunities to make low-cost additions to supplement the roster. Also, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to future performance. Some of the team's younger players had sat behind veterans on the depth chart even when it seemed apparent the younger player should be in the lineup more regularly. The front office values depth (maybe too much), making it tough to move on from veterans. 

Message 3: No Room On the 26-Man Roster
Like the points above, the front office claimed that a lack of roster spots was another reason not to make a trade. Falvey and Levine felt there wasn't anyone on the 26-man roster that deserved to be passed over when acquiring a new player. In retrospect, this was the biggest falsity made by the front office in the wake of the trade deadline. 

Clearly, players on the team's roster deserve playing time over Gallo. He would be the most likely position player to move off the roster. Willi Castro also has the team's fifth most plate appearances with a 94 OPS+. It would be easy to add a better right-handed bat to take either of their roster spots. In the bullpen, the Twins carried Cole Sands for most of a week without him making an appearance. Minnesota has rotated through players in the eighth bullpen spot, which would make it easy to add a replacement. Jovani Moran has also struggled, and the team could have optioned him to make room. There are plenty of spots on the 26-man roster. 

A playoff cameo won't satisfy this fanbase, and it shouldn't satisfy fans. The front office is placing a large bet on the roster they assembled last winter, but that was before the hindsight of playing over 100 games. There are flaws with the Twins, and there was an opportunity to make minor additions to help this club. It might be time to move on from the current leadership group if the front office can't be trusted. 

Should fans trust the front office and its process? Will the front office survive if the Twins don't win the division? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

 

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[Finlander]

Two points to make off the top of my head: 

A trade or DFA of a current roster member may have jolted the team out of their funk. They're collectively not performing like a playoff-worthy team.

With so many hitters not coming anywhere close to meeting expectations, I am still skeptical about the effectiveness of the coaching. The hitting approach of many players border on downright painful. The strikeout totals bear this out. So the front office may need to be called out for more than player personnel decisions.

[Karbo]

Gallo has been one of baseball's worst hitters for two consecutive seasons. 

Yet he starts almost every day against righties, and takes up a roster spot that should be used for a player that can contribute. Time to admit they missed and cut ties. The hitting philosophy seems to be an all or nothing approach, and that is resulted in a bottom third of the league offense. The grand plan for Buxton at DH has been another miscalculation, and batting him and Correa at the top of the order has been a disaster

Great that we finally have a really good starting 5, but to ignore the bullpen this past off season was another huge mistake. Might be time to look at the talent evaluators.

[kenneth frank]

I am fine with Falvey and Lavine standing pat at the trade deadline. A year ago the trades at the deadline only served to decimate the farm system. By not trading any prospects they have strengthened their position for the upcoming off season while still being able to achieve this years goal (win the division and make a run in the playoffs) My question is, who is responsible for signing Gallo? I asked this question the day after they signed him...check your blogs.

[Peter]

I trust the front office. They’ve won 2 division titles back to back years in ‘19-‘20 but failed in playoffs. That will change this year. I feel winning division this year is very important in their future along with Rocco but they seem to have woken up and have started to distance themselves from Cleveland. Games with them will decide division. Say what you want about FO/Rocco but they’ve done ok. Best thing was staying put at deadline. We have the team to make noice in playoffs especially with our starting pitchers. Have feeling twins end losing streak and will make deep run in playoffs this Year.

[JD-TWINS]

Fans can trust the Twins FO just as much as any FO in the game. None of them are transparent. Not a problem.

Miranda - CC - Polanco - Buxton - Vazquez - Larnach all underperforming are not things that were nor should have been anticipated by the FO nor anyone.

Gallo was a risk & squarely falls on the FO.

They are dragging Gallo along to the roster expansion date just in case they need him due to injury. Now he’s filling in for Kirilloff at 1B…..not the end of the world. It gets very tricky from a roster standpoint when Buxton - Lewis - Kirilloff are all ready to play. May have to creatively “option” pitchers to get to September 1 roster expansion. Who knows, Gallo may “pull a hamstring later this month”?

[saviking]

14 minutes ago, kenneth frank said:

I am fine with Falvey and Lavine standing pat at the trade deadline. A year ago the trades at the deadline only served to decimate the farm system. By not trading any prospects they have strengthened their position for the upcoming off season while still being able to achieve this years goal (win the division and make a run in the playoffs) My question is, who is responsible for signing Gallo? I asked this question the day after they signed him...check your blogs.

A bigger question is, what does Gallo have on Falvey and Lavine? It's obvious to the entire fanbase Gallo is a bust. It used to pain me every time he came to the plate but now I actually catch myself hoping for him to strike out over and over again just to put pressure onPalvey to cut him loose.. Are they just that stubborn they don't want t to admit their mistake..

The travesty is that they put the development of Larnach at the major league level back a year .. That's criminal

[Fat Calvin]

There is so much to dislike about the manager and the FO.  The money they spent on Buxton and Correa alone is enough to send the boy wonders packing with their uninspiring manager in tow.

[Eris]

Not sure that trust is the right word. I thought the Twins should have been sellers at the trade deadline. I question the direction the team is going. Almost every position player has seen an increase in Ks vs previous years and the quality of at bats at times has been very poor. There seems to be a lack good situational hitting. 

[terrydactyls]

12 minutes ago, Eris said:

There seems to be a lack good situational hitting. 

This is my nominee for Understatement of the Year.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Fans can trust the Twins FO just as much as any FO in the game. None of them are transparent. Not a problem.

Miranda - CC - Polanco - Buxton - Vazquez - Larnach all underperforming are not things that were nor should have been anticipated by the FO nor anyone.

Gallo was a risk & squarely falls on the FO.

They are dragging Gallo along to the roster expansion date just in case they need him due to injury. Now he’s filling in for Kirilloff at 1B…..not the end of the world. It gets very tricky from a roster standpoint when Buxton - Lewis - Kirilloff are all ready to play. May have to creatively “option” pitchers to get to September 1 roster expansion. Who knows, Gallo may “pull a hamstring later this month”?

He isn't gonna pull any pitches.

[Whitey333]

This is one of the worst front offices the Twins have ever had.  We have a joke of a manager that can't go anywhere without his laptop telling him what to do.  It's the most boring team, most frustrating team we've had in years.  Yes we will win the division.  We may win it by a lot idk.  We have an "easy" schedule compared to others.  But winning the Junior Varsity AL Central isn't much of an accomplishment.  No one in the division is very good including the Twins.  They will win the division and pat themselves on the back by telling us what a great job they did.  Then we will be forced to endure the same lackluster style of baseball for several more years.  This team has no self discipline.  They are terrible, just like Rocco, at making jn game adjustments.  Where's the sanity in moving Correa in a horrendous slump again from leadoff to clean up hitter?  Where is the sanity in keep sending Gallo out there to strike out and provide little else.  Surely any AAA player could do better than that.  Where us the sanity in letting many underperformed veterans play and continue to impede the progress of some of their prospects.  Where is the sanity of doing nothing at the trade deadline?  Yes maybe they couldn't find the right deal.  But not trading players on expiring contracts and getting nothing for them is worse.  Where is the (in)sanity?  It's in the Front Office.

[Dave The Dastardly]

This is baseball, not Monopoly. "Winning" the trade market doesn't guarantee making the play-offs.

Not making a trade is the least of the Twins problems. Tying up a good chunk of the payroll on two unproductive "stars", signing declining vets instead of promoting in-house prospects, rigid, unimaginative coaching by stats, puzzling lineups, swinging for the fence on most every pitch, leading the league in strikeouts, poor bullpen management... the list is practically endless.

The only "trade" that will fix the Twins is a swap for a whole new front office and coaching staff.

[Blyleven2011]

Trust them ???

It should be are they really leaders of the team ...

Leaders lead by not going the long way around the barn , be straight forward on their definitions to the players and fans  , if they continue to confuse the fans and media with their comments then what are they telling the players ...

Them telling us one thing and then they do something different  is not a good leader ...

[Cory Engelhardt]

17 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

This is one of the worst front offices the Twins have ever had.  We have a joke of a manager that can't go anywhere without his laptop telling him what to do.  It's the most boring team, most frustrating team we've had in years.  Yes we will win the division.  We may win it by a lot idk.  We have an "easy" schedule compared to others.  But winning the Junior Varsity AL Central isn't much of an accomplishment.  No one in the division is very good including the Twins.  They will win the division and pat themselves on the back by telling us what a great job they did.  Then we will be forced to endure the same lackluster style of baseball for several more years.  This team has no self discipline.  They are terrible, just like Rocco, at making jn game adjustments.  Where's the sanity in moving Correa in a horrendous slump again from leadoff to clean up hitter?  Where is the sanity in keep sending Gallo out there to strike out and provide little else.  Surely any AAA player could do better than that.  Where us the sanity in letting many underperformed veterans play and continue to impede the progress of some of their prospects.  Where is the sanity of doing nothing at the trade deadline?  Yes maybe they couldn't find the right deal.  But not trading players on expiring contracts and getting nothing for them is worse.  Where is the (in)sanity?  It's in the Front Office.

Did Stu set you up for this guy from Chaska?

[Five minute major]

As I've stated in prior threads, this FO is criminally inept.  They are getting worse instead of Baldelli who IMO has actually learned from some of his mistakes in prior seasons especially with the pitching staff.

• Signing Joey Gallo and them keeping him on the roster far too long.   They are hoping that he starts hitting to cover up this mistake.
• They did the same thing when they protected Jake Cave over Lamonte Wade.  Kept him on the roster two season too long.  Everybody saw it.
• The Correa contract alone should be enough to dismiss them.  Overrated to most knowledgeable baseball minds and then forced them to put Lewis in the OF where he ended up with ACL tear last season.
• Acquiring damage goods in Tyler Mahle for two absolute stud hitters.  I immediately called out this trade and it's even worse than I imagined.  Steer is going to be a cornerstone on an up and coming Reds team for years.  CES is going to be an all star and going to haunt the Twins like David Ortiz did.  Look up their stats if you have not already.
• Cano for Lopez.   Lopez had really only proved himself for less than a half a season..
• This team has more injury issues than any team in sports.  There has to be something with either the training department or the culture of the program.  
• Trading fan favorite Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez.

 

 

 

[Craig Arko]

Should people trust the management of any major corporation?

[Jeff K]

2 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Fans can trust the Twins FO just as much as any FO in the game. None of them are transparent. Not a problem.

Miranda - CC - Polanco - Buxton - Vazquez - Larnach all underperforming are not things that were nor should have been anticipated by the FO nor anyone.

Gallo was a risk & squarely falls on the FO.

They are dragging Gallo along to the roster expansion date just in case they need him due to injury. Now he’s filling in for Kirilloff at 1B…..not the end of the world. It gets very tricky from a roster standpoint when Buxton - Lewis - Kirilloff are all ready to play. May have to creatively “option” pitchers to get to September 1 roster expansion. Who knows, Gallo may “pull a hamstring later this month”?

I pretty much agree with this.  Honestly, I was pretty happy at last years trade deadline.  I thought the moves they made looked good.  We all know they were disastrous.  In my defense, I'm neither a GM nor a talent scout; consequently, Falvine are accountable for those moves regardless of how they looked at the time.  And I never understood picking up Gallo which seemed(s) like a substitution for another failed slugger...Sano.  My biggest beef with the organization is how they managed to allow Buxton to turn from an obvious 5 tool player into a mostly one dimensional player when healthy.  To me, this is an organizational failure.  It may be irrelevant since Buck can't stay healthy.  That makes me sad.

[twinstalker]

Haven't read the article here, just came in response to the title.

"No."

[Major League Ready]

The failure has been the offense.  As a group, I think it would be fair to say in general we were confident in Correa / Buxton / Polanco Miranda and Vasquez.  Some criticized the Arraez trade.  It appears the FO felt they could get equal offense from some combination of Polanco and Julien.  The team is definitely better with Julien and Lopez vs Arraez alone.  There was a lot of Criticism of Jeffers and some wanted him moved.  When they realized Buxton could not play the field they got MAT who has been pretty good.  

Remember the calls for Nick Gordon to get more time or start?   How many people were betting Kirilloff was washed up?  We wanted Kepler gone.  He has been quite good.  We were right about Gallo.  That's the one they got wrong and we got right.

Where do we stand now that we are two-thirds of the way through the season.  How have position players performed over the past 2 months?  The stats below are the last two months for position players.   The problem is clearly Miranda / Buxton / Polanco / Vasquez and Correa, probably in that order.  All players that in general were endorsed here.  They believed they could build the rest of the team from existing options and that has gone very well.  They did a very good job putting together a starting pitching staff we can quibble about the BP.   It seems a bit hypocritical to distrust them because they believed in the same players we did?

Edouard Julien	164
Ryan Jeffers	161
Royce Lewis	149
Matt Wallner	142
Max Kepler	135
Donovan Solano	130
Trevor Larnach	104
Michael A. Taylor	103
Alex Kirilloff	102
Willi Castro	89
Kyle Farmer	89
Carlos Correa	87
Byron Buxton	76
Joey Gallo	68
Christian Vazquez	57
Jorge Polanco	46
Jose Miranda	-57

[Jocko87]

56 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Should people trust the management of any major corporation?

Well, yes, if they earn it.  There are still a lot of good, solid corporations out there despite what the internets say.  I chose to continue work for one of the biggest rather than retiring simply because of how they conduct themselves and treat employees. 

The thing is, its a two way street.  Understanding that a corporation (the Twins) priority isn't earning Johnny fanboys trust is the starting point.  Just as I chose to work for my current employer, I chose to follow the Twins and sometimes give them some money.  Do I trust them?  Who cares?  I recognize that they can't be remotely transparent with me which means I can't make a real statement on trust.

What I can do is deploy my BS detector and try to evaluate why they may do things.  I see a lot of signs that they run a good organization and try to do the "right" thing by players.  They probably did Jorge Lopez a solid getting him closer to his son, they are giving guys like Pagan, Kepler, Gallo, Miranda all the room in the world to get it together, they are most likely giving a hitting coach every chance to figure it out, they are not making public examples of firings or cuttings, the culture is universally praised and on and on.  Watch what they do with Gordon and Mahle coming up.

So many traits that make a successful "real" business are present here.  Enjoy it while we can. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I think you are conflating business operations with baseball operations. 

[JoeCool]

Time will tell, but I think they are doing a better job than they get credit for as a duo calling the shots.

The Good:

1) Recent Drafts:  Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee and Walter Jenkins are franchise altering talents.  Ryan Jeffers, Bailey Ober, Alex Kiriloff all look to be great picks.  They missed on Saboto and Cavaco, but the draft is very complex and with top picks they appear better than the prior regime who made a lot of whiffs with top picks. 

2) Attracting Top Talent: Before this regime top talents did not consider Minnesota.  This regime has attracted top tier players to this organization. They also have got the Pohlad’s to spend more and while not all talents worked out this is a great improvement from what he had seen historically.

 

3) Pitching: Particularly the starting pitching is the best we have seen in a long time if not ever.  The starting pitching depth is incredible.  We don’t have a Johan Santana, however he was a generational talent and we may have a few of those coming up in our system or even at the big league level.  

The Bad: 

1) Coaching Staff:  I am not sold on Rocco’s game management. The hitting coach also is a disaster and they continue to let it happen.  It would be great to see how Joe Masson would handle this club. Also a competent hitting coach could for sure get more out of this lineup.

2) Trades: Sonny Gray and Joe Ryan are both great adds.  Tyler Mahle, Emilio Pagan/Chris Paddack, Jorge Lopez were disasters that were masked by our deep farm system thankfully. I give the FO credit for having a deep farm system, but  we got fleeced in an epic way on those trades.  Perhaps Pagan/Paddack will still pan out better. 

3) Hanging on too long to failed projects: Too much talent is in the minors to allow Joey Gallo to take a roster spot. Same with Jorge Lopez and even to an extent Pagan who is performing now but was a huge reason for last years failures. We have too much young talent knocking at the door. We need to cut bait sometimes and much faster.  

Final Assessment: If they can upgrade coaching I sense this current roster could perform much better than today.  I would be for keeping them given how much they improved the short and long term prospects. With Lee, Lewis and Jenkins on the way. The future is bright for this team.  

 

[gunnarthor]

I'm honestly not sure why anyone would trust the FO but, importantly,  ownership seems to do it doesn't matter. So we're likely stuck with this type of product for a few more years.

But I think there is more then enough reason to move on from this FO

[Heiny]

My biggest question is "Why" for crying out loud, "Why is Gallo still on the team?"  As someone else mentioned, any AAA player can give you more production than Gallo has.  It's dumbfounding.  Secondly, this offense has been horrendous.  Someone has to be held accountable.  I put the blame here on Rocco and Popkins.  If what we are doing is not working, and this is quite obvious, adjustments need to be made.  We just HAVE  to get the bat on the ball more often.  

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, JoeCool said:

 

1) Recent Drafts:  Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee and Walter Jenkins are franchise altering talents.  Ryan Jeffers, Bailey Ober, Alex Kiriloff all look to be great picks.  

2) Attracting Top Talent: Before this regime top talents did not consider Minnesota.  This regime has attracted top tier players to this organization.

 

1. Franchise altering? 140 MLB PAs between the 3 of them. Jenkins has what? A couple dozen professional ABs? They haven't even altered the minor leagues.

BTW, Kirilloff was drafted under the previous regime.

2. Carlos Correa and?

 

[JD-TWINS]

4 hours ago, Eris said:

Not sure that trust is the right word. I thought the Twins should have been sellers at the trade deadline. I question the direction the team is going. Almost every position player has seen an increase in Ks vs previous years and the quality of at bats at times has been very poor. There seems to be a lack good situational hitting. 

Same “K situation” with nearly every guy that plays MLB. They are up and it’s just starting to be discouraged after years of going the other way.

Situational hitting has been essentially extinct in MLB for years. When do you ever hear the term hit & run………they made the bases 1.5” per side bigger & “the running game” has been reactivated. That’s 3” total between 1st & 2nd - has absolutely ZERO bearing on a stolen base.

It comes down to what is emphasized. The bad news is what’s emphasized doesn’t produce wins/runs often times. 

[Jocko87]

1 hour ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I think you are conflating business operations with baseball operations. 

I think they are the same thing, whether we like it or not.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

17 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

I think they are the same thing, whether we like it or not.

They are a universe apart. 

Start by asking how many non-player employees hire agents to represent them. 

[Jocko87]

5 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

They are a universe apart. 

Start by asking how many non-player employees hire agents to represent them. 

I'm not sure why that matters but I'll give it a shot.  Most of the front office types, the entire coaching staff, certainly the on air broadcast staff, the top of the training staff, most of the scouting staff.  I'm probably missing a few but that's off the top of my head.  

A better question is which of those operations survives without the other, longer.