Dave St. Peter, Derek Falvey and Jeremy Zoll Take New Jobs in Huge Twins Leadership Change

[chpettit19]

18 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I'm not sure about the vast majority, but I'd agree fan engagement isn't helping revenue currently. They've needed someone better at this for about two decades now. They've been marketing to Grandma and Grandpa in Grand Rapids for far too long, even though those two no longer make a yearly trip to Minneapolis and struggle to figure out how to work the Roku.

I kind of assumed better fan engagment meant they needed someone with a marketing background. Or a college dropout with 10M followers on TikTok.

So I'm suspicious about the efficacy of this move and think it's more about being a good soldier, slimming expenses and doing the dirty work ownership wants to make the club more attractive to a future buyer. Because I think lower expenses is more attractive to future buyers than current year-to-year revenue, because billionaires are likely only buying sports teams for their future valuation.

My initial gut reaction would be that all of these moves are to save the Pohlads pennies while they get this thing sold. I have to believe anyone buying a billion+ dollar Major League Baseball franchise isn't tricked by any changes made to the payroll of the major league roster or in the front office over the last 24 months. Now maybe I'm giving these guys way too much credit, but I'd think they're doing (well, paying others to do) a little deeper dive into the books than looking at the 2024 revenues vs expenditures. So I tend to agree with this being about being a good soldier and slimming expenses as well.

I don't know what the answer is to fan engagement, but I know it's not what they've been doing. And I know when you're not being handed a check from an RSN it's even more important. Weird time to choose to sell, but hopefully Falvey knows more than DSP when it comes to driving fan engagement. The bar isn't high.

Falvey has to know any new owner is very likely to look at the entire organization and a multitude of business ops options and not just role with him. So I'd think it's more likely he's getting a nice little Christmas bonus while the Pohlads let St Peter "step down to spend more time with the people who really matter" and save themselves some cash. I just hope there's somebody out there looking at the Twins who sees some obvious steps to take that can get this thing to another gear. Like Lore and ARod with the Wolves. Prime example of getting the right people in charge and an entire franchise changing over night.

[The Great Hambino]

1 hour ago, Teflon said:

Will Falvey as team president have any responsibilities in the process of selling the team or will that be entirely up to the Pohlads / a 3rd-party representative of the Pohlads? 

Also wondering... With it looking like Minneapolis will shut down the HERC, if that parcel adjacent to Target Field would have any development potential - perhaps as a Twins-owned parking garage. That would seem to be a potential money-maker for the team if the city can be urged to clear and sell the land.

The ESPN article on these moves says that part of St Peter's  "strategic advisory" role will be helping the Pohlad's with the sale process, so perhaps Falvey will not have to worry about that.

 

[purplesoldier4u]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

"St. Peter had nothing to do with the operations of how to run the Twins."

Huh?

[LA Vikes Fan]

4 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

The decisions being made right now are specifically to improve the bottom line for a sale. Nothing more or less. I’ve been a part of a company prepping to be sold to a larger company, and saw pretty much the same things happening in the corporate world. 

Agreed. They're slimming down the organization by losing some of the less successful players. There's no way they could hire a good baseball GM right now - nobody good would take the job when ownership is likely to change in the next year and they could be forced out by a new owner., Rightly or wrongly, St. Peter wears the attendance drop and recent marketing failures. He gets kicked to the side in favor of the guy who presided over the team's improvement on the field and they promote and keep a guy as GM who has a good pedigree but to whom a new owner doesn't have to have any loyalty. No long term contract or commitment but maybe an opportunity. These are classic moves to reposition a business for sale. I would expect some additional slimming down/ retirements in other front office positions. The goal is to reduce overhead and give a new owner maximum flexibility to put his or her own stamp on the club coming in.   

Conversely, I don't expect any on the field changes until they have a buyer identified. Then we might see Correa kept or traded, free agents signed or not signed, trades to reduce payroll, etc. I think that when we see those kind of things that's a signal that a buyer is closing in and will get a sense for how that buyer intends to operate.  I personally think they were down to a handful of potential buyers when the announced the club was for sale. 

[Blyleven2011]

5 hours ago, CRF said:

It's probably too early to know if this is going to make any kind of difference down the road, but removing DSP out of any decision making process has to be a good thing...right?

Right ,   since I heard he was partially to blame for blylevens dismissal  , I haven't  had much time for him ,,, 

Dick and Bert were good for tv fans , entertaining   , my dog was named Blyleven  and he was smart enough to circle people to ...

[Lasorda_This_Out]

What did Mr. St. Peter do for 22 years as President of the Minnesota Twins?

[The Great Hambino]

15 minutes ago, Lasorda_This_Out said:

What did Mr. St. Peter do for 22 years as President of the Minnesota Twins?

Said "Yes" to people named Pohlad

[tony&rodney]

4 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I don't see how anybody on the baseball side would think extending Buxton, Lopez and signing Correa to long term deals a year before dropping payroll is a good idea.

I understand that you have one view of Derek Falvey. You do a good job of defending his work on numerous occasions. 

My belief is simply that there is complete transparency between the front office types with each other and that Falvey has known all along since he was hired (day one) the guidelines and barriers inherent to putting together the roster. Falvey is the architect of this team. On numerous occasions Falvey has stated that he has been given all the resources necessary to do his job. We can say he is a liar or maybe just believe him. 

Would I prefer the barrier be $200-250M for the Twins? Yes. However, I am also aware of the competition in the AL Central and the Twins, under Falvey, have been funded adequately.

You seem to think there was non-communication within the corporation, which is possible, while I find it unlikely. I would actually be flabbergasted if Falvey didn't know and understand all of his parameters.

Let us hope for some things, whatever that may be, to happen where the Twins are watchable in 2025.

[Doctor Gast]

1 hour ago, purplesoldier4u said:

Huh?

I believe that St Peter was more involved in marketing & business end & never poke his nose into what the philosophy should be, who to sign, who to trade, who to play 2B etc. (operations)

[LewFordLives]

4 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

 

Assuming this is a bit tongue in cheek but I'm continuously fascinated by the things we think they do that they obviously do not.

 👌

It's tongue in cheek, but the point being that there's a lot that goes into operating a major sports franchise. Personally, I'd rather Falvey kept his focus on the baseball side of things.

[nicksaviking]

5 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

I understand that you have one view of Derek Falvey. You do a good job of defending his work on numerous occasions. 

My belief is simply that there is complete transparency between the front office types with each other and that Falvey has known all along since he was hired (day one) the guidelines and barriers inherent to putting together the roster. Falvey is the architect of this team. On numerous occasions Falvey has stated that he has been given all the resources necessary to do his job. We can say he is a liar or maybe just believe him. 

Would I prefer the barrier be $200-250M for the Twins? Yes. However, I am also aware of the competition in the AL Central and the Twins, under Falvey, have been funded adequately.

You seem to think there was non-communication within the corporation, which is possible, while I find it unlikely. I would actually be flabbergasted if Falvey didn't know and understand all of his parameters.

Let us hope for some things, whatever that may be, to happen where the Twins are watchable in 2025.

Not defending him at all. I've said multiple times this is a questionable promotion. But this nonsense where if you like a guy you have to believe every move he makes is justified and well done and if you DISLIKE a guy you have to villainize everything that he does needs to end. It's not black and white, these people operate on a sliding scale. Just because you don't like Falvey, doesn't mean he's responsible for every terrible move this club has made.

And I don't think there was non-communication between the front office, as I said, I think the operations side was naïve and oblivious to the changing economic environment of the game. If somebody better suited to the job was running the show, maybe there would have been a different game plan. Not sure Falvey is that person, and his resume suggests he's not, but in either case, I'm glad St. Peter is gone, because he and the Pohald's 100% pulled the rug out from under the baseball side of the equation last year. Even a casual baseball fan wouldn't give those contracts if they knew payroll is going to get slashed in 12 months.

[Mike Sixel]

21 minutes ago, LewFordLives said:

It's tongue in cheek, but the point being that there's a lot that goes into operating a major sports franchise. Personally, I'd rather Falvey kept his focus on the baseball side of things.

Based on what?

[Richie the Rally Goat]

7 hours ago, bean5302 said:

This is huge, but cronyism is obviously a major component in these moves. Falvey strikes me as the type of communicator who is more careful with his words than a guy like St. Peter, but I question whether or not Falvey has the communication style and savvy to run the whole show. That said, it's pretty obvious Falvey is an excitable, younger guy who may be better equipped to understand the problems with the fan experience moving forward. I suspect the move is largely cost cutting from an administrative measure by the Pohlads; they've given up on the Twins' potential revenue streams increasing from attendance, and I believe they're in full sell mode. Falvey probably sees this as a huge opportunity to pad his resume.

Dave St. Peter's contributions to the Twins have been numerous over the years, but he's not the leader the Twins needed, and his failure to adapt to the changing times led to this outcome. I hope he's able to enjoy the additional flexibility afforded by the changed role.

Agreed, both directly reducing overhead and also likely retention efforts by Pohlads to keep Falvey and Zoll from taking laterals knowing at some point they’ll be fired. DSP getting a “demotion” keeps him as a voice to help shepherd Joe and keep DSP on the board.

[Vanimal46]

I was listening to SKOR North’s Twins Show. Declan Goff and Judd Zulgad said a firm has been hired to facilitate the sale so it sounds to me like the Pohlads are very serious about selling. 
 

 

[AceWrigley]

OMG, that photo with Terry Ryan. I swear he's thinking, "If anybody brings up David Ortiz, I'm gonna fling this water bottle at them." Good find Seth.

[bean5302]

18 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I was listening to SKOR North’s Twins Show. Declan Goff and Judd Zulgad said a firm has been hired to facilitate the sale so it sounds to me like the Pohlads are very serious about selling.

...and yet the interested parties have yet to be identified at all. Glen Taylor is the only party I've seen as a likely potential buyer, and it sounds like the Timberwolves case arbitrators are hoping to get their wheels greased by unnecessarily dragging out the decision process or something. No ruling is expected now for a few months.

Then again, the Twins operate like an intelligence agency for a reason I can't fathom so cloak and dagger is par for the course, even if there were interested parties already.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Not defending him at all. I've said multiple times this is a questionable promotion. But this nonsense where if you like a guy you have to believe every move he makes is justified and well done and if you DISLIKE a guy you have to villainize everything that he does needs to end. It's not black and white, these people operate on a sliding scale. Just because you don't like Falvey, doesn't mean he's responsible for every terrible move this club has made.

And I don't think there was non-communication between the front office, as I said, I think the operations side was naïve and oblivious to the changing economic environment of the game. If somebody better suited to the job was running the show, maybe there would have been a different game plan. Not sure Falvey is that person, and his resume suggests he's not, but in either case, I'm glad St. Peter is gone, because he and the Pohald's 100% pulled the rug out from under the baseball side of the equation last year. Even a casual baseball fan wouldn't give those contracts if they knew payroll is going to get slashed in 12 months.

... little miscommunication here. I don't dislike anyone connected with the Twins ownership and office group and didn't suggest you like them. Rather I simply believe that the organization proceeds according to a plan and are as aware of all of the contingencies in the industry as they could possibly be. I don't see the naiveté or obliviousness. 

FWIW, I was not surprised by the $25M cut in budget from 2023 to 2024 and don't believe it hamstrung Falvey. I understand there is very widespread disagreement with that.

[Vanimal46]

51 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

...and yet the interested parties have yet to be identified at all. Glen Taylor is the only party I've seen as a likely potential buyer, and it sounds like the Timberwolves case arbitrators are hoping to get their wheels greased by unnecessarily dragging out the decision process or something. No ruling is expected now for a few months.

Then again, the Twins operate like an intelligence agency for a reason I can't fathom so cloak and dagger is par for the course, even if there were interested parties already.

It’s unlikely we’re going to hear about an interested party until the deal is 99% done. Then we will get a Jeff Passan bomb on Twitter saying Jeff Bezos is finalizing a deal to buy the Twins. 

[tony&rodney]

9 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

but maybe Derek is a marketing genius.

who knows - this may be his expertise.

[chpettit19]

12 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

who knows - this may be his expertise.

You'd think he'd have known better than to announce a payroll decrease a month after their first playoff series win in 2 decades then, but we'll see! Maybe he's a quick learner.

[chpettit19]

11 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

It’s unlikely we’re going to hear about an interested party until the deal is 99% done. Then we will get a Jeff Passan bomb on Twitter saying Jeff Bezos is finalizing a deal to buy the Twins. 

Why would this be unlikely? Maybe I'm out of touch and things have changed, but isn't the norm the exact opposite and there are lists of interested parties for almost every sale of pro sports teams in every major US sports league? The Marlins sale wasn't 99% done before we started hearing rumors about numerous potential buyers. The Orioles recent sale is the only one I can think of that was kind of a quietly done one that was suddenly just an "oh, by the way, the team is sold." Otherwise, every sale comes with a list of people looking to buy the team. Curious why you think it's unlikely we'll hear anything until the deal is 99% done.

[TheLeviathan]

15 hours ago, Lasorda_This_Out said:

What did Mr. St. Peter do for 22 years as President of the Minnesota Twins?

Horrifically mismanage all things broadcast/public relations.

[nicksaviking]

40 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Why would this be unlikely? Maybe I'm out of touch and things have changed, but isn't the norm the exact opposite and there are lists of interested parties for almost every sale of pro sports teams in every major US sports league? The Marlins sale wasn't 99% done before we started hearing rumors about numerous potential buyers. The Orioles recent sale is the only one I can think of that was kind of a quietly done one that was suddenly just an "oh, by the way, the team is sold." Otherwise, every sale comes with a list of people looking to buy the team. Curious why you think it's unlikely we'll hear anything until the deal is 99% done.

I agree, the strategy is usually to drum up interest by leaking who OTHER interested parties are.

However, if there was a local buyer, and they were deep into negotiations, then I could see the cloak and dagger angle.

So it probably all depends on this firm that is 'facilitating' the sale. Is this firm made up of underwriters and Title people? If so, then this sale is probably actually getting somewhere in which case they'd play it close to the vest. If these 'facilitators' are actually head-hunters, then they aren't even at square one and the hoopla hasn't even begun yet.

[LambchoP]

We sure have had a lot of change in management at the top levels so far. All this with the potential sale of the team in the background. Will be interesting to see how all this drama effects the off-season. I sure hope they don't use all this chaos as an excuse to stand pat and not make any additions or changes to the MLB roster.

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, nicksaviking said:

I agree, the strategy is usually to drum up interest by leaking who OTHER interested parties are.

However, if there was a local buyer, and they were deep into negotiations, then I could see the cloak and dagger angle.

So it probably all depends on this firm that is 'facilitating' the sale. Is this firm made up of underwriters and Title people? If so, then this sale is probably actually getting somewhere in which case they'd play it close to the vest. If these 'facilitators' are actually head-hunters, then they aren't even at square one and the hoopla hasn't even begun yet.

That's my thoughts. Basically, if the Pohlads already had a buyer when they announced they were starting their search and they're really just wrapping things up at this point we aren't going to hear anything other than "we've sold the team," but if they really are just starting the search there will be rumors and a bunch of "so and so is putting together a group to try to buy the Twins." Or at least that's how it's been in the past with basically every other team that's ever sold.

[Rhyno006]

22 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

The decisions being made right now are specifically to improve the bottom line for a sale. Nothing more or less. I’ve been a part of a company prepping to be sold to a larger company, and saw pretty much the same things happening in the corporate world. 

Exactly this- mostly keeping people who already know what's going on (St Peter, Falvey, Zoll) to make any transition to new ownership more smooth knowing they are probably going to be let go once that happens. Makes me think of Office Space lol

 

 

[TopGunn#22]

"Lasorda" asked "what did St. Peter do for the Twins organization for the last 22 years?"  Answer:  Not a darn thing that amounted to anything GOOD.  He was always part of the problem in my estimation.  Never have been a fan of his.

Falvey gets a chance to make his mark this season, but if there IS a sale, there is absolutely no guarantee that he's a part of the new ownership groups team.  I would say a playoff appearance and one series win is the hurdle Falvey has to clear to have a chance to remain.  

And I agree with whoever commented that under the current circumstances with the Twins, you would never have gotten a top GM candidate to take a position.  To me, the odds are that the new ownership group will clean house and start with their own people unless the Twins have a VERY successful 2025 season. 

That's going to be very difficult with a self-imposed $125 million dollar budget.  Someone just posted what their off season plan would be with a $143 million dollar budget and it looked pretty good.  But many people correctly pointed out that he was $18 million over budget.  Something has got to give there.

Falvey may or may not realize he is auditioning for a job with a new ownership group.  It's up to him to convince the Pohlad's that to maximize their sale, spending $15-$25 million dollars more in 202 is a good investment.