Minnesota Twins Front Office Attempting to Emulate Highly Rated Counterparts in Cleveland, Tampa Bay

[Cody Christie]

Baseball’s front offices follow a copycat format, with teams trying to steal ideas (and personnel) from other organizations. Minnesota has clearly tried to emulate top organizations in recent years, with mixed results.

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The Twins front office has always been a puzzle wrapped in a mystery, and the latest rankings from The Athletic only serve to underscore that point. In a trend that might surprise some (but not die-hard Twins fans), the organization slipped from a tie for 8th in last year’s assessment to a humbling 15th overall in 2025. There are a few reasons for the recent drop that are clear to Twins fans. 

While the team’s regular-season record has been adequate, the lack of postseason punch over the last decade is an increasingly glaring inefficiency. Off-field factors also lead to uncertainties, including the Pohlads’ attempts to sell the club and Derek Falvey stepping into his expansive role as president of baseball operations and business. The picture begins to blur into one that raises more questions than it answers.

It’s no secret that the Twins have long eyed the blueprints of front-office success from the Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Milwaukee Brewers. These clubs have delivered consistent regular-season excellence and carved out niches through innovative strategies and smart personnel decisions. According to the article, “All but two ballots included some combination of the Rays, Guardians and Brewers, the industry’s low-payroll darlings. Cleveland and Milwaukee have reached the postseason in six of the last 10 years, and Tampa Bay five times.”

When you look at the current state of Minnesota’s front office, you have to wonder: What went wrong? The answer isn’t simple, but it seems to boil down to a mix of unmet postseason expectations and the growing complexity of running a modern big-league franchise.

The signing of Falvey was initially seen as a signal that the Twins were serious about replicating the success he had while working in Cleveland. Under his watch, Minnesota has strived to develop a pitching pipeline reminiscent of Cleveland’s long-standing model, a strategy that has helped them remain in contention despite payroll limitations. The Twins have started to see the benefits of Falvey’s restructuring of the team’s pitching development system. Homegrown arms like Bailey Ober, David Festa, and Zebby Matthews have already begun impacting the big-league roster, and there are other pitchers on the way. 

However, there is a slight disconnect between the Twins’ regular-season performance and the lack of consistent performance in October. It’s a narrative where good ideas and investments need to translate into that extra gear in the high-pressure postseason environment. The trio of “darling” teams mentioned above have played October baseball more consistently than the Twins, and have done so with lower payrolls. None of those three has had much more success than Minnesota once the playoffs come around, but since they've made it that far more consistently, they rightfully get more credit.

Adding to the mix is the ongoing drama off the field. With the Pohlads working to sell the club, the Twins are navigating the competitive landscape on the field and the intricate world of ownership and management transitions. This scenario introduces a layer of uncertainty into the organization’s long-term planning. While many owners and executives have weathered such storms before, the Twins’ current situation demands a careful balancing act between stabilizing the present and planning for the future.

Interestingly enough, the organizational identity that Minnesota has been trying to cultivate is also tied to the man at the helm. Take Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, for instance. With prior experience in the Tampa Bay Rays front office, Baldelli brings a perspective that leverages both analytical acumen and a pragmatic understanding of game-day strategy. One of his most notable contributions has been the shift in managerial tactics that echo his Rays days.

Baldelli’s approach is a blend of traditional baseball instincts with a heavy dose of modern analytics. In Tampa Bay, he observed how the Rays’ front office wasn’t afraid to embrace data-driven decisions, a mindset that has influenced his managerial choices here in Minnesota. For example, he has shown a tendency to mix up the batting order situationally and used a unique bullpen approach. He favors a more flexible use of bench players, capitalizing on platoon splits. All of these elements have become hallmarks of his Rays-influenced approach, aimed at squeezing out every bit of value from players on both sides of the ball.

Yet while Baldelli’s methods have had mixed on-field results, they also underscore a broader philosophical debate at the Twins’ core. Success in the regular season is as much a numbers game as it is about enduring the long grind. October is a whole different beast. Therefore, the Twins’ recent ranking decline isn’t simply a critique of one individual’s ideas. It reflects systemic challenges that span scouting, development, game management, and the overall cadence of the front office’s decision-making—plus, some luck. If the team were to get to the postseason with their best players healthy, some year, it could change everything.

In many respects, the current state of affairs is emblematic of a team in transition. It is a classic “between-eras” moment where fresh ideas collide with the weight of established expectations. The climb back up the rankings will likely necessitate innovative tactics on the field and a more cohesive front-office strategy that can integrate short-term adjustments with long-term vision. 

The Twins remain a captivating study in modern baseball management. Their recent ranking drop is a reminder that in today’s game, excellence must be measured in multiple facets. As the organization grapples with both on-field strategies and off-field ownership changes, one thing is clear: the journey toward sustained postseason success is far from over. Every decision, from pitching pipelines to managerial quirks, now carries even more significance, as the team tries to compete with baseball’s other top front offices.

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Do you agree with the updated front office rankings? What can the Twins do to improve their ranking? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

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[tony&rodney]

Quick thought would be that Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and Milwaukee all target more athleticism than the Twins and see defense as a strategy to include within the larger schemes. Those teams are also involved in trades. Someone could do a deep dive but I'm not seeing any similarities.

[Parfigliano]

3 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Quick thought would be that Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and Milwaukee all target more athleticism than the Twins and see defense as a strategy to include within the larger schemes. Those teams are also involved in trades. Someone could do a deep dive but I'm not seeing any similarities.

Agreed.

[In My La Z boy]

I do wish Falvey would have emulated them in not saddling us with a $37M shortstop. That financial commitment changed everything. Small market teams cannot have a $37M player. One player cannot be 30% of the teams total payroll in my opinion, and with Buxton & Lopez we are devoting 60% of the teams total payroll to 3 players. Falvey did not emulate them when he concocted this allocation of resources. This is going to force a Lopez trade at the deadline if we stink. Ugh.

[LambchoP]

Twins need to be both more willing, and better at trades. We look like we may have developed a decent pitching pipeline, but need hitters to go with it. Guys that can produce but also stay on the field long term is something the Twins haven't been able to do in a long time. 

[Mike Sixel]

Untrue. They haven't traded one veteran early. They never traded Kepler. They are nothing like those teams. 

edit: see below, they've traded pitchers .....

[nicksaviking]

11 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Untrue. They haven't traded one veteran early. They never traded Kepler. They are nothing like those teams. 

Agreed, they hang on to just about everyone too long. Not just vets like Polanco and Kepler, but also young guys like Miranda and Julien. If they make the right read on Miranda, they can probably trade him nearly straight up for Luis Castillo instead of trading Steer plus others for Mahle. They are poor at evaluating their young talent, and poor at evaluating the decline of veterans.

Also, Cleveland never had a pitching pipeline.

The traded for just about every one of their good starting pitchers either when they were already top prospects in the high minors, or after they debuted at the MLB level. Last we did this exercise, I think I found Danny Salazar was their only home-grown arm of note while Falvey was there.

And I'm fine with that strategy. Nothing is more finicky as a pitching 'prospect' in A ball. Trade for them when they are more of a sure thing. Worked with Joe Ryan. 

[bean5302]

Ahhh, the vaunted pitching pipeline we've been hearing about for 9 years now which has produced one single successful starting pitcher (Bailey Ober). Unfortunately, Falvey was unable to come up with even a single starter from all the inherited pitching prospects, but it does finally look like Festa and Matthews might join as the only other two drafted starters to ever come through Falvey's system.

I think it's safe to say even Baldelli's staunchest supporters have finally accepted he comes with a fair amount of problems to his ever changing approach since it never really seems to work.

Falvey gets credit for adopting a new methodology, dramatically updating and improving the technology used in the front office. Apart from that, his regime been lousy at drafting, slow to develop players, and absolutely plagued with endless injuries and disappointments.

[Patzky]

26 minutes ago, In My La Z boy said:

I do wish Falvey would have emulated them in not saddling us with a $37M shortstop. That financial commitment changed everything. Small market teams cannot have a $37M player. One player cannot be 30% of the teams total payroll in my opinion, and with Buxton & Lopez we are devoting 60% of the teams total payroll to 3 players. Falvey did not emulate them when he concocted this allocation of resources. This is going to force a Lopez trade at the deadline if we stink. Ugh.

We can more afford a Lopez trade than a C4 or Buxton trade from a success standpoint but honestly it will hurt this fan a lot more.

[nicksaviking]

31 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Ahhh, the vaunted pitching pipeline we've been hearing about for 9 years now 

Who outside of the fans that weren't paying attention were vaunting the pitching pipeline? That was not the Cleveland model, not sure why anyone thought it would be the model here.

[chpettit19]

41 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Untrue. They haven't traded one veteran early. They never traded Kepler. They are nothing like those teams. 

I wouldn't say "nothing" like those teams, but this is the key difference, in my opinion. They are similar to those teams in many on-field strategies, and the pitching development strategy is essentially exactly the same as Falvey helped develop in Cleveland, but the Twins don't replenish their farm with trades like those other teams do.

It's a little complicated, though. Because the Twins shouldn't trade as many guys as those teams do because they spend more. Part of why those guys don't win championships is because they trade the Lindors, Burnes, and Snells of the world. The Twins can afford to keep more of them. And Kepler isn't them. He's not bringing back the kind of prospect return those guys do. So, the equation is, or should be, a little different. But I fully agree that they aren't the same because they so frequently let guys go for nothing in return instead of trusting younger players like those teams do and moving vets for more shots at prospects to fill their farm.

They also simply don't develop position players like Milwaukee and Tampa do. And to be fair, they did trade Cruz for Ryan, so they traded one veteran, technically. 

[laloesch]

42 minutes ago, Patzky said:

We can more afford a Lopez trade than a C4 or Buxton trade from a success standpoint but honestly it will hurt this fan a lot more.

Really?  Giving up the team's #1 starter over C4 or Buxton?  Buxton is easily #3 in comparison to the other two IMO.

[DJL44]

Let's emulate Cleveland, Milwaukee and Tampa and their combined zero World Series championships since 1948. I know they punch above their weight class, but they haven't been able to get to the promised land.

Why not copy St. Louis? They have the same market size and a LOT more success.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, In My La Z boy said:

I do wish Falvey would have emulated them in not saddling us with a $37M shortstop. That financial commitment changed everything. Small market teams cannot have a $37M player. One player cannot be 30% of the teams total payroll in my opinion, and with Buxton & Lopez we are devoting 60% of the teams total payroll to 3 players. Falvey did not emulate them when he concocted this allocation of resources. This is going to force a Lopez trade at the deadline if we stink. Ugh.

You may be correct that the Twins cannot afford Correa. I won't agree or disagree with that point. Fangraphs has the roster payroll at $147 million. Others sites have it higher, to $150+ M. Correa ($37.33M) plus Buxton ($15.17) = $52.5M, which is short of 36% of the total payroll. 

More importantly, this leaves about the same amount of money left (after CC & BB are paid) as Cleveland spends on their entire payroll. The composition of the roster is what determines the success of a team. Money becomes a factor once clubs are willing to spend well above the money spent by the Twins, Cardinals, and others in the $150M range. Aaron Gleeman has been consumed with holding the Pohlads accountable for their spending, but he has yet to examine the role of how the team has been built. The Pohlads bought the Twins to make money and it is surprising when people are startled by their business decisions considering that Carl is dead and his sons and grandchildren have other concerns. Pretty much everyone I know believes the Twins have struggled, to be kind, with public relations and marketing. The money spent in total though has been greater during the Falvey era than any of the other AL Central teams and our friends in Milwaukee as well. 

The focus should be on the folks who put together the team and make the roster and playing decisions. The general philosophy of what constitutes an exciting and competitive team would be a worthy examination. It would also most likely have some correlation to attendance. Personally I have no idea what the goals are for this front office, but I can see that the team struggles in some areas, such as defense and team speed, which could affect both success and how the public views the team (attendance). When I watch Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Tampa Bay I see a different type of baseball. Still, I watch the Twins and hope they win the World Series. Crazy, huh?

[Craig Arko]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Untrue. They haven't traded one veteran early. They never traded Kepler. They are nothing like those teams. 

Donaldson?

[Mike Sixel]

5 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Donaldson?

We're talking about trading veterans while they have excess value and are still helping the team. That's what both those teams do, especially Tampa. Kepler would have been traded two years before he left, for example. Same with polanco. Jax this year. 

I'm not saying that's right or wrong....

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

Who outside of the fans that weren't paying attention were vaunting the pitching pipeline? That was not the Cleveland model, not sure why anyone thought it would be the model here.

It was a comment on the article's reference to the pitching pipeline. The article also talked about the Tampa Bay Rays. Is it okay to reference the pitching pipeline now?

I find it hard to believe people are still trying to debate whether or not Derek Falvey was hired largely because he oversaw Cleveland's highly successful pitching program. It's true that Cleveland relied on trades and other methods to create their sustainable rotation which led to guys like Kluber, Masterson, Carrasco, Salazar, Bauer, etc. At the time of his hire, the Guardians looked like savants at developing and building a rotation.

Maybe Derek Falvey was hired to advise the Pohlads on fashion choices, but I find it more plausible he was hired because of his specific background and experience.

[nicksaviking]

25 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

It was a comment on the article's reference to the pitching pipeline. The article also talked about the Tampa Bay Rays. Is it okay to reference the pitching pipeline now?

I find it hard to believe people are still trying to debate whether or not Derek Falvey was hired largely because he oversaw Cleveland's highly successful pitching program. It's true that Cleveland relied on trades and other methods to create their sustainable rotation which led to guys like Kluber, Masterson, Carrasco, Salazar, Bauer, etc. At the time of his hire, the Guardians looked like savants at developing and building a rotation.

Maybe Derek Falvey was hired to advise the Pohlads on fashion choices, but I find it more plausible he was hired because of his specific background and experience.

The rotation has been the team's biggest strength for awhile now, so I'm not sure what there is to complain about in that regard. 

I want to clean house and Falvey hasn't done enough to adjust offensively since the league deadened the ball so he's out too, but I'm not going to mark down 'failure to build a rotation' during his exit interview.

[LonelyseatinMOA]

Derek should hire a stylist, cuz he looks awful in that photo. I know he can darn well afford one. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Maybe Derek Falvey was hired to advise the Pohlads on fashion choices

This.

[Linus]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

We're talking about trading veterans while they have excess value and are still helping the team. That's what both those teams do, especially Tampa. Kepler would have been traded two years before he left, for example. Same with polanco. Jax this year. 

I'm not saying that's right or wrong....

Don’t know if these qualify but Berrios and Pressly had over a year remaining and Taylor Rogers one year. 

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, Linus said:

Don’t know if these qualify but Berrios and Pressly had over a year remaining and Taylor Rogers one year. 

Good points! Oddly, all pitchers. Interesting. 

[TheLeviathan]

5 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Quick thought would be that Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and Milwaukee all target more athleticism than the Twins and see defense as a strategy to include within the larger schemes. Those teams are also involved in trades. Someone could do a deep dive but I'm not seeing any similarities.

This is it for me.  Tampa always seems to have a couple speedy young players on the horizon.  Or position players with huge upsides.  Milwaukee is always churning out good defensive players.  Cleveland has a lot of well rounded players.

We're trying to win a beer league softball game it feels like.

[Major League Ready]

My complaint with their drafting practices is too many unathletic position players in the early rounds.  I hated the Sabato pick from the very start and I remember several others here who hated it.  I also hated the Cavaco pick even though he was touted as a good athlete because there was a better much more proven player available in the form of Corbin Carroll.  Kirilloff and Rooker, also unathletic.  I guess we all would have been fine with Rooker had he not taken so long to develop but the point remains.  More athletic players have higher upside and are more fun to watch.

[twinstalker]

7 hours ago, In My La Z boy said:

I do wish Falvey would have emulated them in not saddling us with a $37M shortstop. That financial commitment changed everything. Small market teams cannot have a $37M player. One player cannot be 30% of the teams total payroll in my opinion, and with Buxton & Lopez we are devoting 60% of the teams total payroll to 3 players. Falvey did not emulate them when he concocted this allocation of resources. This is going to force a Lopez trade at the deadline if we stink. Ugh.

To think, we could be spending on the hitting development side, the scouting, and the draft room, neither of which are anything but crap right now.  That's worth a ton more than Correa.

What would frustrate me if I were Falvey is all the success there is on the pitching side.  They can take pitchers from rds 4 to 20, target them, draft them, and develop them.  Anything on the hitting side, even early, is strictly bites at the apple or getting lucky with the lottery in the maybe the biggest top-end draft year ever.  The front office seems to be fooled by any success in the minor league hitting department, truly not understanding which performances translate to MLB and which don't.

[Woof Bronzer]

Emulating 2 organizations who have never won a World Series, and another whose last Series came nearly 8 decades ago, is extremely on brand for the Twins.  

[Jocko87]

So many things said in this thread simply do not matter if they could figure out how to get hitters over the hump in the major leagues.  So many guys destroying AAA and look lost on the big field.  

It’s also the root cause for a spotty trade record.  Something is missing in position player development that if figured out unlocks everything.  Especially using higher draft capital for hitters.

Pitching is the currency of the game and the way they go about it should lead to many options for roster building.  That ability should buy them a considerable amount of rope.  They just need an owner that will spend enough to allow good baseball moves.  The last few years aren’t a great raw evaluation but I think they deserve a lot of credit for how a tough situation has been handled.

[tony&rodney]

4 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

They just need an owner that will spend enough to allow good baseball moves.  The last few years aren’t a great raw evaluation but I think they deserve a lot of credit for how a tough situation has been handled.

I am totally in favor of ownership supporting good baseball moves. My confusion with this idea relates to who or what players one suggests as possibilities. Looking at two offseason back the main names on Twins Daily were Rhys Hoskins and Jordan Montgomery. These two did not interest me then and they are not a target for me now. This past offseason it seemed like there wasn't any consensus. I actually suggested Christian Walker at 3 years for $70M or something close to that or a trade with TB for Yandy Diaz. Initially I only wanted to sign Inglesias and made a number of trades. These were generally panned or ignored which seemed fair.

Ok, the past is past. Looking at the FA crop for next offseason I just don't see players the Twins will sign, mostly because I believe the players have other destinations in mind (Alonso and Tucker). Yes, guys will sign for the most money, but who. So I'm all ears and curious to hear what players the Twins could have signed or might be a value next time around. It doesn't seem like a money thing. 

[stringer bell]

I think Baldelli reflects the front office's preferences, by and large. I don't think that the front office has supplied the big league team with enough talent because of decisions made. First of all, too many bat-first position players and secondly too many injury-prone players. Also, I think the Twins have picked the wrong guy to move too often. Would the Reds have been satisfied with José Miranda? How about the Giants taking Jake Cave instead of LaMonte Wade Jr.? 

I don't think that the Twins are a small-market team. They are more accurately a mid-market team, so they don't have to keep payroll in the lowest reaches of all teams.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

I don't think that the Twins are a small-market team. They are more accurately a mid-market team, so they don't have to keep payroll in the lowest reaches of all teams.

Easy enough to agree with your statement. The Twins though are not currently in the lower reaches. Note - you didn't say they were. The lower reaches are below $120 million. The upper tier is near or above $200 million.