Twins President Derek Falvey is In Over His Head

[bean5302]

Ownership role: Make reasonable assets available when setting budgetary guidelines. Approve organizational goals. Hold executive leadership accountable.

Last 3 years, opening day payroll, 2023-2025
MIN = $154, $127, $142, total = $423MM
CHW = $181, $123, $74, total = $378MM
DET = $122, $98, $145, total = $370MM 
KCR = $92, $115, $126, total = $333MM
CLE = $89, $98, $100, total = $287MM

The Twins are the only team in the AL Central who hasn't run a sub-$100MM opening day payroll in the past 3 years.

[bean5302]

No idea how Falvey runs the shop. I just know the results haven't been good on the field or in the stands. Falvey is the last stop for roster construction, front office performance, and now game day experience. He's been given more autonomy and assets to work with than any of his divisional rivals.

Generally speaking, that's when responsible leadership (in this case ownership) pulls the plug.

Colorado is supposedly looking at Thad Levine. That would be interesting.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Why would we believe anything they say when they can't even state the correct number they're in debt? If the economics of owning a mid/small market team is as bad as the Pohlads portray them to be, we would have up to 15 teams closing shop. If the economics is that bad, they would have taken the $1.5 B offer from Ishbia immediately and died laughing that someone was stupid enough to offer that much. 

It feels mean to ridicule and demean pretty much everything the Pohlad kids spew forth but there it is .... I used the word "spew" which is not a favorable much less neutral word choice. Twins fan are between a rock and hard place and it seems to just bring out a person's bad side to even think about much less comment on the reality of the present situation of the Twins franchise. Things are spiraling and I feel I need to step away. Things are not good.

FWIW, your comment basically hits it square. Then again, honesty is a trait that gets people arrested in 2025 U. S.

[Blyleven2011]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

No idea how Falvey runs the shop. I just know the results haven't been good on the field or in the stands. Falvey is the last stop for roster construction, front office performance, and now game day experience. He's been given more autonomy and assets to work with than any of his divisional rivals.

Generally speaking, that's when responsible leadership (in this case ownership) pulls the plug.

Colorado is supposedly looking at Thad Levine. That would be interesting.

That would be awesome if Levine could turn Rockies into a winner and that would definitely prove who the idiot is in our organization ...

[Sjoski]

12 hours ago, rv78 said:

In 9 years Falvey has made this team an unwatchable product.

Absolutely true. I use to watch 80% of Twins game...this year...probably saw 20%. Several times...just turned the game off 

[lukeduke1980]

'Consider yourselves lucky to have a 100 million dollar payroll because we're losing so much money because you don't come to games.' combines well with 'We're banking on hope and that the next manager can develop this wave of minor leaguers into fully functioning members of the proven Falvey baseball system'.  

I think Falveys just a Yes Man for a very prestigious roles in MLB, that he gets to keep by being a Yes Man.

[old nurse]

20 vice presidents of something. 22 Senior directors. It is really poor writing to say that someone is in over their head in an organization that you really don’t have any idea who does what, who has some autonomy, how much better or worse departments are working on the business side.  Joe Pohlad supposedly oversees the day to day operations.  Jim Pohlad makes the money decisions. The former was announced in stories here, the later should be obvious from the Correa trade. 

[Sjoski]

Anyone know of a contest for the understatement of the year award?

I was going to nominate this article Matthew has written. 

[Robert Gauthier]

Funny how Levine is being considered for GM in CO, he worked there before, so that may be why, or he may be good.  It seems like Falvey is  trying to get rid of everybody who is a threat to his authority.  Get rid of scouts ?  Sounds great if you want no one to question about choices.  Falvey is  stuck in the past, it looks like the game is slowly evolving away from an analytic only viewpoint. There seems to be more emphasis of player development as well as motivation. Falvey seems to be stuck in the past. And the team team builds reflect it.  Slow, swing for the fences, ignore point to point baseball, focus on speed and spin rate while his pitchers go down with multiple injuries. That is the focus of the front office of the twins. Baldelli will be a successful manager when he gets a job elsewhere. I love how player development was being fobbed off on him at the year end press conference.  The front office added a tremendous number of specialists, analysts, and technicians, to no apparent result. Until this general manager is gone, I think we are stuck with this below, average mediocre team and ownership..

[old nurse]

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

No idea how Falvey runs the shop. I just know the results haven't been good on the field or in the stands. Falvey is the last stop for roster construction, front office performance, and now game day experience. He's been given more autonomy and assets to work with than any of his divisional rivals.

Generally speaking, that's when responsible leadership (in this case ownership) pulls the plug.

Colorado is supposedly looking at Thad Levine. That would be interesting.

Attendance has pretty much followed wining. The 2 exceptions were Paul Molitor playing and the opening of Target Field. There is no comeback for Molitor, there is no native son that will be able to be added as a star from another team anytime soon. 

[1985Fan]

He’s definitely over his head in both roles. He sounds like and appears to be a micromanager. To do both of the roles he’s assigned, he would have to delegate some of the responsibilities. To do that you have to trust people you’re delegating responsibility to. Doesn’t seem like he trusts anyone to do the work. Remember, we’ve all observed his most prominent character trait is that he sees himself as the smartest man in the room at all times. He’s his own worst enemy. Thats why he’s failing at both roles.  

[old nurse]

Collaboration has been a Falvey buzzword. There is collaboration of sorts. It starting to seem to me that Jim Pohlad still controls the money supply and Falvey was his hire. Changing that is not happening  Little Joe has worked his way up the ladder doing things in the organization to now having some day to day control.  Something that he said when they announced 2 investors was that they would bring in new ideas to the organization. That struck me as Gen3 has different ideas than Gen2 Pohlad. Of course a bunch of 70 year olds are old school .  It may well be just as Falvey couldn’t fire Molitor without reason, Joe can’t fire Falvey without Jim’s approval. Joe is setting up Falvey to fail much like Falvey set up Molitor to fail in year 2. Stretch him thin, hit the organization where Jim will do something about it.  

Just a thought

[old nurse]

5 hours ago, 1985Fan said:

He’s definitely over his head in both roles. He sounds like and appears to be a micromanager. To do both of the roles he’s assigned, he would have to delegate some of the responsibilities. To do that you have to trust people you’re delegating responsibility to. Doesn’t seem like he trusts anyone to do the work. Remember, we’ve all observed his most prominent character trait is that he sees himself as the smartest man in the room at all times. He’s his own worst enemy. Thats why he’s failing at both roles.  

History does repeat itself. 

[bean5302]

It feels fairly clear at least that ownership sets the guideline for the maximum budget for the next year before the current season ends based on historical quotes/articles; however, it also seems clear they're willing to adjust that guideline (Correa x2) if the front office makes a case.

Joe Pohlad is not an owner. He's a spokesperson for ownership and liason between ownership and the front office.

Whether or not Falvey is a micromanager, I have to believe that's pure speculation on the part of everybody making a comment here. 

I base my opinion on results Falvey's leadership has brought. Regardless of what his management style is, the results haven't been there. 

[gil4]

23 hours ago, S Bart said:

The quality of the concerts makes a difference. Does Falvey sing?

Never heard him sing. He's just OK at tap-dancing despite a lot of practice.  (Timing still isn't great.)

[Sjoski]

13 hours ago, Robert Gauthier said:

Baldelli will be a successful manager when he gets a job elsewhere.

Depends on where he goes and what he does under a different FO...it will be interesting to see what unfolds.

[Sjoski]

10 hours ago, 1985Fan said:

Remember, we’ve all observed his most prominent character trait is that he sees himself as the smartest man in the room at all times.

Really hard to say what someone is thinking....but the votes speak for themselves...70-92

[1985Fan]

I just listened to the pre-game for the Brewers-Cubs. Craig Counsell, Cubs manger, was praising Pat Murphy (Brewers manager) for shaping the Brewers into playing Murphy’s style of baseball. Jimmy Rollins and Curtis Granderson both echoed the same thing; Murphy has the Brewers playing his style of baseball. 
This struck me as a contrast to Baldelli supposedly being a Falvey robot and not responsible for the teams play on the field. Backs up my and others contentions here that yes, the manager does make a difference, and Twins need a baseball man to manage this team and push back on Falvey if he tries to micromanage. They need to hire a Pat Murphy to start getting this turned around. I hope Joe Pohlad is watching so he gets the message and either moves on from Falvey, or at least minimizes his impact on the manager hire. 

[twinsfansd]

Seems to me that there are a lot of people on here that think they know more about running a baseball team than the ones running it. I tend to think that most of them know very little about running a baseball team. 

I certainly don't think that current management has probably done a great job of running this team, but I sure wouldn't want to see what the team looked like if it was run by a collaborative effort of the writers and commenters on this site. 

I agree that people need to state their opinions on these subjects, but this has been months and months if non stop whining. Why can't we get back to talking about baseball and quit all the back stabbing and finger pointing

 There!! That's my opinion!

[thelanges5]

On 10/2/2025 at 11:37 AM, Vanimal46 said:

It’s truly a slap in the face to anyone with just a little bit of financial literacy. I missed these puff pieces written in the Star Tribune when they were published, but they were linked in the yahoo story…

https://www.startribune.com/why-the-pohlad-family-decided-to-keep-the-minnesota-twins/601455080

https://www.startribune.com/joe-pohlad-keeps-the-faith-even-after-twins-fire-sale-and-fan-backlash/601474514

Of course Glen Taylor who owns the Star Tribune has no issue carrying the water for another local billionaire family. 

I the first article Tom (Joes brother) tells us that we shouldn’t question their financial investment in the team but maybe the way/where that $$ was invested. Promoting Falvey after the 2024 collapse should definitely be questioned. 

[Sjoski]

5 hours ago, twinsfansd said:

Seems to me that there are a lot of people on here that think they know more about running a baseball team than the ones running it. I tend to think that most of them know very little about running a 

  I get that some folks think fan criticism is just whining, but let’s be real, this isn’t just venting for the sake of it. Fans buy the tickets, wear the gear, follow every move. When the front office doesn’t explain the plan or keeps repeating the same mistakes, what do you expect fans to do, just clap politely?  

 

If leadership won’t explain the plan, expect the fans on TD to reverse-engineer it.

[tony&rodney]

5 hours ago, twinsfansd said:

Seems to me that there are a lot of people on here that think they know more about running a baseball team than the ones running it. I tend to think that most of them know very little about running a baseball team. 

I certainly don't think that current management has probably done a great job of running this team, but I sure wouldn't want to see what the team looked like if it was run by a collaborative effort of the writers and commenters on this site. 

I agree that people need to state their opinions on these subjects, but this has been months and months if non stop whining. Why can't we get back to talking about baseball and quit all the back stabbing and finger pointing

 There!! That's my opinion!

Many of the comments are specific and actually somewhat analytical. It is doubtful that many of us agree on too many things. We are exchanging thoughts and ideas.

Plus ..... you do know that you have written several comments that are merely whining about what you call whining. Right? If you don't like a comment, that is perfectly fine. Just state your objection and offer a separate thought or solution. The topic - "Derek Falvey is in over his head". Do you agree or disagree and why?