The Twins Are Placing a Clear Focus on Intangible Traits

[Nick Nelson]

Writing about invisible factors like leadership and clubhouse character is difficult, as an outsider. But we can't ignore how intentional the Twins have been (and continue to be) about building their team culture, and the results they've seen. It's worth talking about. 

Image courtesy of Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports

What's leadership worth? How do you quantify the value of a veteran player who is well-liked in the clubhouse – someone the younger guys can look to for advice and guidance? These feel like impossible questions to answer, but at the same time, they need to be asked as we assess the front office's team-building strategy. 

As guests at the Twins Daily Winter Meltdown last month, Louie Varland and Matt Wallner were asked about the veteran teammates who made a difference for them in 2023 as rookies learning the ropes. Both quickly named Emilio Pagán, who was frequently commended throughout his Twins tenure as an approachable and helpful presence in the clubhouse. It's striking that even Wallner, an outfielder, felt impacted by a relief pitcher with such a different role and routine. 

Many fans wondered why the Twins felt so attached to Pagán after a rough 2022 campaign, bringing him back last year as one of their highest-paid relievers. I suspect his intangible qualities played a part, and the club's bet paid off on both fronts. Pagán's value clearly went beyond his 2.99 ERA in 70 innings, leaving Minnesota's front office with more than just quality innings to replace.

Through this lens, we look at the signing of 36-year-old veteran Jay Jackson, made official Wednesday. It's a fascinating contract, given the circumstances: not just a guaranteed MLB deal for a 36-year-old who'd never had one before, but one worth $1.3 million, with a club option and $200,000 buyout for 2025. If that's exercised, Jackson will earn $3 million (plus incentives) in 2025. (For context, Caleb Thielbar is their highest-paid reliever in 2024, at $3.2 million.)

The total risk here for Minnesota is only $1.5 million, so it's not some high-stakes gamble. But the contract shows there was a real market for Jackson, who spent years pitching in Japan and has no meaningful track record of major-league success. Meanwhile, the relatively lucrative team option suggests the front office envisions a future for this partnership.

Not to downplay their belief in Jackson's on-field ability–his slider can be a weapon–but this signing seems to be about more than that. The well-traveled reliever will bring a unique and valuable perspective to a team largely reliant on youth and inexperience. This represents a common theme in how the Twins have invested their scarce resources this offseason.

The decision to tender a contract to Kyle Farmer back in November, despite known budgetary constraints, was striking. His $6-million salary has to be considered a luxury given his on-field role, but again, the Twins recognize an impact beyond the OPS+ and WAR. Farmer was another player quickly named as a veteran influence in the Winter Meltdown interview. 

The signing of free agent Carlos Santana, also announced on Wednesday, carried a similar undertone as Jackson's: late-30s vet who's been around the block, and might add as much to the locker room as the lineup in a part-time role. “This is a guy who is a leader, a tremendous teammate who shows up every day to play,” Derek Falvey said in describing Santana.

The Twins suffered some key losses to free agency in terms of veteran personalities. The front office has been more committed to mitigating that aspect this offseason than replacing the on-field production. Honestly, it may well be a smart strategy. Anyone who spent time around the team last year can tell you how infectious the energy was and how much that seemed to lift everyone. Pagán and Farmer (and another offseason loss, Jorge Polanco) played big roles in that. But it all routes back, of course, to Carlos Correa.

The Minnesota Twins signed Correa to a $105-million contract, and then after scrapping that, to a new $200 million contract. These accurate historical statements would have felt so funny to write in the not-so-distant past. This organization pushed well past its comfort zone when the opportunity to lock up Correa arose last winter, and there is zero question the decision was motivated by much more than his production and performance in games. 

Even coming off his worst season statistically, I'd bet the Twins felt he was worth his $35-million salary last year, and are glad to have him for the same this year, financial restrictions and all. Miraculously pivoting from Josh Donaldson to Correa was perhaps Falvey's crowning achievement, and certainly reshaped the clubhouse dynamic in fundamental ways.

Given the connotations about analytics-driven front offices, one might consider it ironic that the Twins have leaned into intangibles and leadership qualities as predictors of success. But Falvey, Thad Levine, and the rest of Minnesota's decision-makers are not ignorant to the human element. If they ever were, they sure aren't now, having lived through the Donaldson era, and having seen the effect of disgruntled mercenaries like Lance Lynn. 

Despite those hiccups, you could argue that this emphasis can be traced to Falvey and Levine's very first year at the helm, when they used the No. 1 overall draft pick to select Royce Lewis, whose exceptional makeup and character elevated him above others at the top of a much-debated 2017 class. 

We're seeing the payoff now, with Lewis becoming an integral part of the clubhouse culture that the front office has built, and that Rocco Baldelli spearheads as manager. Baldelli runs as committed and harmonious a clubhouse as anyone in baseball, but it helps that he and the front office have been so intentional about what kind of people they enfold into that group.

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[Oldgoat_MN]

Nice post. I believe that positive energy has an impact. 

Great comments from Pablo regarding C4.

[Cory Engelhardt]

Also lends to the reason they haven’t been tied to some players over the years in free agency, like Clevinger or Bauer or Chapman. They want good people in the clubhouse. That’s a good thing 

[old nurse]

Some clubs have done well with the disgruntled types. Even the Yankees had to move on from Donaldson. 

[Hrbeks Divot]

I think it’s another thing small and mid market teams need to get right. If you’re the Yankees you can more easily buy your way out of Donaldson if you don’t like the fit. If you’re the Twins it’s a much tougher pill to swallow when trading or buying your way out.  And let’s be honest, we’re MN. We like nice. 😊 

[Eris]

The culture/values of an organization/clubhouse is probably as important to success as some physical skills. 

[Johnny Ringo]

You never know about these things. Take the '87 Twins for example.  Hrbek and Gaetti had their little cabal (Bruno, Bush). However Kirby, at best, was a fringe member of that,  Viola was in his own orbit. Bert was in a different one. Senor Smoke was carrying state secrets and a huge bag of potato chips in his famous silver briefcase. Everyone was terrified of Don Baylor. Gladden hated Lombo. Everybody hated Gladden.

The truth of the matter is if you look at the list of the best players of all-time, there are a lot of dubious characters in there and even a few reprehensible ones.

Being nice is great. Being great is nicer. 

[Parker Hageman]

This is definitely an emphasis of the Falvine front office. 

One of the first huddles Falvey did right before the 2017 season started, he talked about why they brought in the players they did:

“I think we talked a lot about the culture we wanted to create in the clubhouse and how that leads to what we want on the field, guys like Matt Belisle, Chris Geminez and Craig Breslow, guys who have been around other organizations and some really successful moments in time, they know they have to hold themselves to high standards at two o’clock in the afternoon when no one is paying attention or nine oclock in the morning on the backfield in Fort Myers. That’s part of the approach here to make sure we embrace that, we wanted to make sure that we made clear it was a priority.”

[Cory Engelhardt]

4 minutes ago, Johnny Ringo said:

You never know about these things. Take the '87 Twins for example.  Hrbek and Gaetti had their little cabal (Bruno, Bush). However Kirby, at best, was a fringe member of that,  Viola was in his own orbit. Bert was in a different one. Senor Smoke was carrying state secrets and a huge bag of potato chips in his famous silver briefcase. Everyone was terrified of Don Baylor. Gladden hated Lombo. Everybody hated Gladden.

The truth of the matter is if you look at the list of the best players of all-time, there are a lot of dubious characters in there and even a few reprehensible ones.

Being nice is great. Being great is nicer. 

You can have personality and still be great in a clubhouse. 
 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Excellent article. Thank you for writing so very well about this important subject. I have found this to be true in other organizations in which I have been a member, such as my law firm, my church, my civic clubs, and when I was in the army.  A good leader leads by example and pulls the others along in the right direction toward the ultimate goal, whatever that may be. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

21 minutes ago, Johnny Ringo said:

You never know about these things. Take the '87 Twins for example.  Hrbek and Gaetti had their little cabal (Bruno, Bush). However Kirby, at best, was a fringe member of that,  Viola was in his own orbit. Bert was in a different one. Senor Smoke was carrying state secrets and a huge bag of potato chips in his famous silver briefcase. Everyone was terrified of Don Baylor. Gladden hated Lombo. Everybody hated Gladden.

The truth of the matter is if you look at the list of the best players of all-time, there are a lot of dubious characters in there and even a few reprehensible ones.

Being nice is great. Being great is nicer. 

Good leaders aren't always nice. They motivate by example. I hated my drill instructor in basic training. Sargent Duckett was not nice to us. I remember one cold, rainy December morning at 0600 hours in the dark before dawn at Ft. Dix, as we stood in the soaking, freezing, cold sleet and rain, dreading a long day ahead of hard physical training in this weather, he told us: "Gentlemen, Let's get going. It does not rain on the infantry." And the interesting thing was, even though I was "Outstanding in the rain"...I believed him. But in 8 weeks he broke me down from being a smart-ass college graduate and made me a soldier who obeyed orders without question and who was prepared, and willing, to kill the enemy, whoever that may be. He'd yell: "What's the spirit of the bayonet! and we'd scream, "TO KILL!" Friends, that is no small feat.  Sgt Duckett was a motivator and a leader. He was "outstanding in the rain" with us.

[Nashvilletwin]

A huge, huge goal/issue for the Twins organization to truly be World Series competitive year in and year out is developing their young talent to the most of their abilities.  And that development, most importantly, 100% must continue, if not accelerate, upon being promoted to the big club. World Series can be won if players like Wallner, Julien, Lee, Lewis, Ryan, Ober, Varland and so many others nearly here or on the way reach their true potential.

Coaches obviously play a critical role in that ongoing development. But so do other players.  Our FO understands that. Culture, leadership, and ultimately young player development can be as much driven by veteran players as from the staff.

The FO has assembled a strong group of vets capable and eager to show the young guys how to be a pro’s pro and build a tremendous career. CC, Farmer, BB, Santana, and Lopez all are players who show up everyday and do the big and little things to maximise potential. They are super examples and “in the foxhole” teachers for the young guys. 

From a “commercial” standpoint, it’s smart to pay bit extra for that: there is nothing that could possibly pay off more for a small/mid-market team like the Twins than to see their controllable, cheap talent play ball at their highest level as opposed to filling those positions and production with high priced FAs like other franchises attempt to do.

Oh, and by the way, it works both ways.  If the young guys are developing quickly and producing, the vets tend to catch that spark and produce at higher levels as well.  We definitely saw some of that last season. So here’s hoping that CC and BB, in particular as our two highest paid players, catch a little of that spark and produce a bit more in terms of individual production this season.

There is a lot to like about the FOs approach and this team’s makeup.

[Mike Sixel]

How many leaders do they need? Outside Wallner and Julien, who is young and not a leader? Because we're told Lewis is one. 

I'm not downplaying the importance of mentors, I've been pretty clear about their importance my whole life....I just wonder if that's why these signings are happening. I think Santana is here because he's always healthy and a potentially league average player. 

[Fatbat]

It’s probably ok if they have 1 bad apple if he is a superstar. Not that they have one or want one.  Was baldelli too nice to Gallo when he was failing? Will they be too nice to Gordon if he fails this year? At some point, leaders have to be real and sometimes that involves making nasty decisions. 

[Trov]

I have long said that in baseball the "chemistry" of the team is more important that any other sport.  Having leaders and having teammates you want to play for and make sacrifices for team success goes a long way.  Unlike other sports, or jobs, these 26 plus players will see each other just about every day, for most of the day, from mid-February, to what we hope is late October.  They get no weekends away from each other.  For the off-days on the road you are still basically with them.  If you do not like each other, it makes it hard on your mental health, and the mental game in baseball is huge. 

When a player is willing to play a different position, that could hurt their long term financial value in FA, but they do it because best for team, that helps the team.  When a player does the little things to help the team win, but may hurt their personal numbers, that may hurt their financial future, but the players know they are for the team.   When each player know the other will sacrifice for the team, not pass blame on others, and do what it takes to help the team, it generally makes all players step up.   

[Dman]

No question having good vibes in the club house with everyone having each others back keeps confidence up in a sport where failure can run rampant.  Having players like Cruz, Correa and Gray and many others say they enjoyed their time in Minnesota and say good things about the Team and organization in general when they leave, makes the Twins a team players like to play for.  Guys with good attitudes generally also have a good work ethic and just bring positive energy which is important in a long grueling season. 

I see the value. I see the importance, but being a nice, team player etc. doesn't make you a good baseball player.  You have to have some crazy good talent to get there.  Players come from all over the world, have all kinds of different personalities and beliefs about how the world should work.  It is the talent they bring that makes them valuable regardless of personality.

Sure if you have two players of fairly equal skill and one looks like a better fit for the clubhouse go with the guy that fits.  Sure getting a bad apple can really mess up team chemistry, but how many bad apples are out there?  It seems about 90% of the players are well liked or at the vary least aren't clubhouse disrupters.  It doesn't feel like this a "huge" problem in baseball.

Yes having good team chemistry is important and when it creates a band of brothers mentality a team can be greater than the individual talent that makes it up,  but it is only one component of many that go into winning.  Do I like that the Twins have created a good culture for the team and its employee's?  Do I think having a manager who helps create good chemistry is important?  Do I think players perform better when there is little to no conflict amongst them?  I do think those things are important and that they help.  However I still think talent is the most important thing.  Great talent is the rarest commodity in baseball and we see how much teams are willing to pay for unique talent because that is what wins games and championships. Intangibles are nice addon qualities, but they only take you so far.

[Riverbrian]

It seems more like a reverse get out of jail free card. 

Belisle has intangibles so we want him despite his 10 plus ERA. 

Josh Donaldson has been painted over and over again as the guy lacking intangibles. 

However... it should be pointed out that Josh Donaldson has been to the playoffs 9 times with 6 different teams. 

The 6 different teams could be considered a failure of having those intangibles because his instability could be taken as let's get the jerk out of the clubhouse. However, at the same time after he gets tossed out of the boat... whatever shore he washes up at... he still finds his way into the playoffs so I question how much damage the guy with the lack of intangibles causes. 

I don't know the personalities of any major league player so I have no ability to say what is right and what is wrong... but... call me skeptical about anything used to justify a lesser player getting a roster spot. 

Belisle cost us Nick Anderson. His intangibles will not justify it.   

 

[arby58]

1 hour ago, Hrbeks Divot said:

I think it’s another thing small and mid market teams need to get right. If you’re the Yankees you can more easily buy your way out of Donaldson if you don’t like the fit. If you’re the Twins it’s a much tougher pill to swallow when trading or buying your way out.  And let’s be honest, we’re MN. We like nice. 😊 

The Twins have had their share of great people as leaders. Harmon Killebrew was about as nice a person as you would ever want to meet (having met him years ago). Tony Oliva is/was the same way. Kirby Puckett always had a smile on his face, and Joe Mauer embodied humble class - four HOFers cut from the same cloth.

[Riverbrian]

3 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Good leaders aren't always nice. They motivate by example. I hated my drill instructor in basic training. Sargent Duckett was not nice to us. I remember one cold, rainy December morning at 0600 hours in the dark before dawn at Ft. Dix, as we stood in the soaking, freezing, cold sleet and rain, dreading a long day ahead of hard physical training in this weather, he told us: "Gentlemen, Let's get going. It does not rain on the infantry." And the interesting thing was, even though I was "Outstanding in the rain"...I believed him. But in 8 weeks he broke me down from being a smart-ass college graduate and made me a soldier who obeyed orders without question and who was prepared, and willing, to kill the enemy, whoever that may be. He'd yell: "What's the spirit of the bayonet! and we'd scream, "TO KILL!" Friends, that is no small feat.  Sgt Duckett was a motivator and a leader. He was "outstanding in the rain" with us.

I love your story. These type of examples add color to a post and make them enjoyable to read.  

However... Sgt. Duckett is Rocco Baldelli. 

Jay Jackson, Carlos Santana, Emilio Pagan... They are Bob From New Jersey, Levon from Georgia and Steve from North Dakota... they are standing right next to you getting motivated by Sgt. Duckett. 

[jmlease1]

If you're going to be relying on younger players and guys coming up through your system, it makes sense that when you're picking your vets to come in and fill roles that you would look for guys that are going to have additional character traits and intangibles to bring to the table. While some young players are ready to be leaders out the gate, most aren't. And even ones with huge talent and the right makeup to excel can benefit be having mentors to show them all sorts of little tricks and habits that might otherwise take years to develop.

Sometimes a couple of a$$holes can crash a team, especially over the long grind of a season. You shouldn't pass on a superior talent for a lesser one just because the lesser talent is a good guy and the much better player has a reputation for being difficult, but limiting the number of jackwagons on a squad is often a good call. 

Good team guys can come in on a one-year deal or after a trade and be fine. The prickly/disgruntled/cranky guys can't always do that. Selfishness can rub off on people. 

 

[KBJ1]

Intangibles are important, but can only carry you so far. Their lack of a RH multi tool LF power hitter id likely going to be their downfall. Betting on Santana (a good fit for 1B platoon) to provide all of that missing player is wishful thinking. A player like Gurriel OR a #2 pitcher were needed.

[saviking]

5 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

If you're going to be relying on younger players and guys coming up through your system, it makes sense that when you're picking your vets to come in and fill roles that you would look for guys that are going to have additional character traits and intangibles to bring to the table. While some young players are ready to be leaders out the gate, most aren't. And even ones with huge talent and the right makeup to excel can benefit be having mentors to show them all sorts of little tricks and habits that might otherwise take years to develop.

Sometimes a couple of a$$holes can crash a team, especially over the long grind of a season. You shouldn't pass on a superior talent for a lesser one just because the lesser talent is a good guy and the much better player has a reputation for being difficult, but limiting the number of jackwagons on a squad is often a good call. 

Good team guys can come in on a one-year deal or after a trade and be fine. The prickly/disgruntled/cranky guys can't always do that. Selfishness can rub off on people. 

 

Intangible sounds like a word you use when you didn't have the money in the off-season to sign talent ..

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, old nurse said:

Some clubs have done well with the disgruntled types. Even the Yankees had to move on from Donaldson. 

He can’t hit anymore so I think that’s the Yankees real rub with him!…?!?

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Good leaders aren't always nice. They motivate by example. I hated my drill instructor in basic training. Sargent Duckett was not nice to us. I remember one cold, rainy December morning at 0600 hours in the dark before dawn at Ft. Dix, as we stood in the soaking, freezing, cold sleet and rain, dreading a long day ahead of hard physical training in this weather, he told us: "Gentlemen, Let's get going. It does not rain on the infantry." And the interesting thing was, even though I was "Outstanding in the rain"...I believed him. But in 8 weeks he broke me down from being a smart-ass college graduate and made me a soldier who obeyed orders without question and who was prepared, and willing, to kill the enemy, whoever that may be. He'd yell: "What's the spirit of the bayonet! and we'd scream, "TO KILL!" Friends, that is no small feat.  Sgt Duckett was a motivator and a leader. He was "outstanding in the rain" with us.

Sounds like Sgt Hulka………..

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

How many leaders do they need? Outside Wallner and Julien, who is young and not a leader? Because we're told Lewis is one. 

I'm not downplaying the importance of mentors, I've been pretty clear about their importance my whole life....I just wonder if that's why these signings are happening. I think Santana is here because he's always healthy and a potentially league average player. 

Correct - gotta be able to add value between the lines - no charity on the 26 man!

Santana v. taking a risk with Miranda for 1st, quality of play & then, secondarily, experience & leadership tips it to Santana.

[Guest]

Well done, thank you.  Character and makeup count as much or more than physical tools, see, e.g., Balasovic.   That's why Farmer's still around.

[roger]

2 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Good leaders aren't always nice. They motivate by example. I hated my drill instructor in basic training. Sargent Duckett was not nice to us. I remember one cold, rainy December morning at 0600 hours in the dark before dawn at Ft. Dix, as we stood in the soaking, freezing, cold sleet and rain, dreading a long day ahead of hard physical training in this weather, he told us: "Gentlemen, Let's get going. It does not rain on the infantry." And the interesting thing was, even though I was "Outstanding in the rain"...I believed him. But in 8 weeks he broke me down from being a smart-ass college graduate and made me a soldier who obeyed orders without question and who was prepared, and willing, to kill the enemy, whoever that may be. He'd yell: "What's the spirit of the bayonet! and we'd scream, "TO KILL!" Friends, that is no small feat.  Sgt Duckett was a motivator and a leader. He was "outstanding in the rain" with us.

Great comment, tarheel.  I don't remember a lot of names, but I remember Sargent Moore from nearly 60 years ago.  I was fortunate regarding the weather, did my training at Fort Ord the summer of 1967.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Fatbat said:

It’s probably ok if they have 1 bad apple if he is a superstar. Not that they have one or want one.  Was baldelli too nice to Gallo when he was failing? Will they be too nice to Gordon if he fails this year? At some point, leaders have to be real and sometimes that involves making nasty decisions. 

Gallo hit poorly for sure - tough to justify, but he was a professional with experience and had the ability to play 4 positions as others healed & he posted whenever needed. There’s value in the lack of disruption & worry amongst the team - a real value. Gordon is a cheerleader type. - Totally Agree though, guys gotta perform & then the intangibles can be factored into their value.

[chpettit19]

I was watching the Top 100 Right Now show on MLB Network last night (they did numbers 80 to 61). They had a segment of the show where they brought in Dan O'Dowd and Steve Phillips to talk about how teams rank players/make decisions on players (they're both former GMs if you don't know who they are). O'Dowd started it off by talking about looking at production/performance/etc. projection and deciding who's going to be the best player moving forward then talked about the intangibles and how they'd take those into account. Phillips came next and started off by basically saying "intangibles are nice, but give me the performance all day." They went back and forth basically agreeing that performance/talent is the first, second, and third thing in the pecking order, and then you go to the intangibles after that as the separator. 

Intangibles are nice. They're important, and shouldn't be ignored. But talent is what wins baseball games. I'm glad the Twins are taking it all into consideration, but if they chose Santana over Soler (not saying they did, just an example) because they think Santana has better intangibles despite Soler being the much better hitter I'd be pretty annoyed. Intangibles need to be secondary to actual baseball talent.

[Jocko87]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

I love your story. These type of examples add color to a post and make them enjoyable to read.  

However... Sgt. Duckett is Rocco Baldelli. 

Jay Jackson, Carlos Santana, Emilio Pagan... They are Bob From New Jersey, Levon from Georgia and Steve from North Dakota... they are standing right next to you getting motivated by to Sgt. Duckett. 

That's not how the military works, even in boot camp.  With in two weeks of starting boot camp certain people are selected to fill leadership roles within your squad and assigned titles, roles and insignia on the uniform.  Sgt Duckett is more CEO sorting his organization than a dictator that controls every move.  Leadership roles are assigned and grown from the very beginning.  Jay Jackson, Carlos Santana, Emilio Pagan are more like division yoeman, master at arms and port watch section leader, to borrow lingo from a past life.  They are leadership roles.

Then, when you get to a duty station and probably start in the toilet cleaning brigade, a guy who has been on station one single day longer than you is in charge of showing you how the mop buckets work.  And so on goes the military leadership growth, until the model loses effectivness in the very upper levels, IMO.  It's not an effective model for a sports team or most businesses, but the fundamentals are the same.

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

How many leaders do they need? Outside Wallner and Julien, who is young and not a leader? Because we're told Lewis is one.

Lewis might actually be, but he's an outlier.  Even if he is, Correa will still box his ears if needed. Jax may be but he was one who was very fond of Pagan. Maybe he's ready to take the role from Pagan?  Other than that it's easier to look at the 40 man and say who might be rather than who's not.  I don't see too many in the mold that would be. Even alphas sort amongst themselves.

That's why the timing of this is so critical. There are so many young guys being relied on that don't have any idea what they are getting in to that need a veteran hand to show the way.  The Jackson's and Santana's have to produce, to be sure, but this roster is in a very impressionable state.  It's very smart to control who is molding those impressions with your culture.