What The?!: Derek Falvey to Depart Minnesota Twins Front Office

[Richie the Rally Goat]

56 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

OK, I was going to type that this is the right move but the wrong time as this doesn't make any sense. But I think I got it.

Falvey was hired to be in charge of the baseball part of the operations. He then got promoted to run the whole show after Dave St. Peter was fired retired. Which was still a baffling move because Falvey cut his teeth scouting pitchers, not negotiating TV deals and approving marketing campaigns.

However, the TV deals and marketing campaigns almost certainly are what the new ownership group is most concerned with, as their primary goal right now is to reverse the downturn in revenue. Putting someone with experience in those areas in charge should have been a no-brainer this whole time.

But I bet Falvey didn't want the demotion so I bet they 'mutually parted ways.'

Bingo! From Gleeman via @jharaldson ‘Tom Pohlad says he "will immediately begin a search for a president of business operations who, along with GM Jeremy Zoll, will report to me."‘

[Richie the Rally Goat]

30 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

This screams to me a fundamental difference on the business side of the organization. I'm guessing they are getting killed on ticket sales, and more importantly suite/advertising sales from companies around the area. 

Zoll remaining as the baseball guy also screams same old same old. Unless he decides to grow a spine and take advantage of this opportunity. 

Zoll supposedly led the fire-sale. I’m guessing his idea of leading with courage and yours might be different.

[ArraezChicken]

The timing is so weird. I have to wonder if Tom Pohlad sat down with Falvey and told him they'd be cutting to the bone for the next few years and Falvey saw no way to actually be competitive so he just said "A'ight. Imma head out" so he could leave with his rep still somewhat intact.

...or they were going to strip him of the baseball side or business side and he said "No thanks."

[CRF]

WTF! This is a shocker. I wonder what prompted this unexpected development?

[SF Twins Fan]

What I do wonder is, will they be able to pluck a good candidate from a well-run organization this late into the offseason?  Also, with the Pohlad's still potentially selling after the new CBA comes into effect would someone want this GM spot knowing they may have a new boss in a few years?

[Cris E]

Oh, a couple other thoughts:
I expect taking this team into the season with one more crappy bullpen arm in order to sell tickets, and once the season tickets are as sold as they're going to get there will be a major sell-off over the course of the summer. 

Within a year you'll start seeing the good work that Falvey did come to fruition. the pitching pipeline that you all mock so much is going to start launching good careers: Abel, Bradley, Mathews and so on, plus the hitters coming through are going to be pretty good eventually. If anyone here has any integrity you should be acknowledging this administration's work.

In 2027, after the CBA is settled, I expect one of the minor partners to buy up 51% and ride the kids to the ALCS before 2030. They'll spend what the Pohlads were always afraid to and win.

[Squirrel]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

An off-season move that definitely moves the needle.

Which direction? Putting Zoll in charge doesn’t exactly scream a move for the better. Not that I’m a fan of Falvey, I just think it’s odd timing. Right before P&C report.

[howeda7]

The timing just rolled down from the ownership transition. Tom went and personally met with Buxton, Joe Ryan etc to "audit" what had gone wrong. And clearly Derek was seen as a big part of that. 

[Cris E]

How would anyone separate Zoll from Falvey? They worked together for years, Falvey practically  raised him. Maybe a difference of opinion on the sell-off? a coup? There's quite a story hiding here.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

56 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

A change based on lack of results would be reasonable.  There is also the possibility he started down the path of a rebuild which you would have to believe was blessed by ownership.  Was the decision to stop in the middle of a rebuild made by management?  In other words, did thy do a 180 in the middle of a rebuild.  If so, that's a no win situation for a CBO, especially if they insisted on keeping the spending level down which certainly looks to be the case.  If that happened, one could see why Falvey would want out.

Absolutely agreed! On the baseball side of things it could have been Pohlad:”why haven’t you signed anyone?” Falvey:”because you changed direction 2 months too late”

[Bodie]

The writing has been on the wall since the trade deadline.   That was the moment Failvey had to go face his contemporaries and say "I failed, come pick over the bones."

Surprised it took this long.

[howeda7]

1 minute ago, Cris E said:

How would anyone separate Zoll from Falvey? They worked together for years, Falvey practically  raised him. Maybe a difference of opinion on the sell-off? a coup? There's quite a story hiding here.

Zoll is likely gone eventually. Someone has to be interim. 

[rdehring]

WOW!

Since the day he was given total control of both the business and baseball sides I thought it couldn't work.  Why Joe P did that, I don't understand.  Thanks to those of you confirming Tom P will be finding a person to lead the business side, not the baseball side.  At least for now, that will be Zoll.  Hopefully, he is of the opinion that a baseball team consisting of all left-handed hitting corner outfielders and first basemen doesn't work.  Unfortunately, there isn't time remaining to fix it for this year.  Maybe there still is time to get another bullpen arm.

[garn from vancouver]

maybe there's a new theo epstein in the pipeline ... a new kid we've never heard of that they're hiring. 

 

 

or not. 

[Original_JB]

1 hour ago, Chembry said:

Wondering if this is fallout from the deadline fire sale. 

Not that it doesn't have anything to do with it, but I wonder if T Pohlad's phone calls with STH all had the same 'vibe', and knee jerk or not, this is the result.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 minute ago, rdehring said:

WOW!

Since the day he was given total control of both the business and baseball sides I thought it couldn't work.  Why Joe P did that, I don't understand.  Thanks to those of you confirming Tom P will be finding a person to lead the business side, not the baseball side.  At least for now, that will be Zoll.  Hopefully, he is of the opinion that a baseball team consisting of all left-handed hitting corner outfielders and first basemen doesn't work.  Unfortunately, there isn't time remaining to fix it for this year. 

Joe is gone for a reason

[The Great Hambino]

3 minutes ago, SF Twins Fan said:

What I do wonder is, will they be able to pluck a good candidate from a well-run organization this late into the offseason?  Also, with the Pohlad's still potentially selling after the new CBA comes into effect would someone want this GM spot knowing they may have a new boss in a few years?

Because there's no equivalent of Zoll on the business side (as far as I know), they don't need to hire a head of baseball right now.  And your potential pool for candidates on the business side is much deeper since that person doesn't necessarily need to come from baseball.

Now that I think of it, I don't ever recall hearing or seeing much of Zoll at all until the ownership structure changed.  Then all of a sudden he was at the big kid table for pressers and whatnot.   Excuse me while I go get the Reynolds Wrap; I think I need a new hat

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 minute ago, The Great Hambino said:

Because there's no equivalent of Zoll on the business side (as far as I know), they don't need to hire a head of baseball right now.  And your potential pool for candidates on the business side is much deeper since that person doesn't necessarily need to come from baseball.

Now that I think of it, I don't ever recall hearing or seeing much of Zoll at all until the ownership structure changed.  Then all of a sudden he was at the big kid table for pressers and whatnot.   Excuse me while I go get the Reynolds Wrap; I think I need a new hat

[nicksaviking]

23 minutes ago, LewFordLives said:

But that doesn't really make sense either. I always just assumed Falvey taking over the business side was a temporary thing because of the uncertain ownership situation. That's now resolved, for now.   Why would Falvey want to continue on the business side. You would think he'd be uncomfortable in a job for which he has zero qualifications.

I doubt few people in those positions are uncomfortable with holding the top position in a company outside of the owner.

I'll bet just about every single one of them is uncomfortable when the owner tells them they are losing their title and job responsibilities though.

[Rhyno006]

This franchise I tell ya... sheesh!

[Vanimal46]

19 minutes ago, I Never Bet On Sports said:

I could never figure out what the strategy was other than - let's wait to see what falls in our lap.

For years we talked about the pitching pipeline he was going to build. And this year when the cards were cleared to actually move ahead with the pitching pipeline, Falvey won't be here to see it through. 

[Cris E]

I will say this is almost certainly not performance related. Nothing has changed since the transition last month, so either he should have been canned then or he should be allowed to keep going now.  Some other decision, news, development away from the field had to have triggered this. Maybe it was sales info, new ownership money problems or news on the CBA front, but this was not rooted in anything visible to the public. Maybe they just got a line on a new head of baseball ops and want to install him immediately. My fear is it's a more mundane cause like deciding that no one in ownership has the cash to step up right now so they're going to dial everything back for a year and see how the CBA goes. 

[nicksaviking]

16 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Zoll supposedly led the fire-sale. I’m guessing his idea of leading with courage and yours might be different.

I always thought we tied Falvey and Levine/Zoll too tightly together. 

If these guys all did the same jobs, the Pohlads wouldn't have been paying two people to do them. Totally agree Levine and Zoll likely made most of the detailed personnel decisions and Falvey likely was the one who made the blueprint and stamped his approval when he liked what they came up with.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Hey guys.  I slept in this morning.  Anything new?

[farmerguychris]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

Shocking news. I've wanted this to happen, but right now? Less than a couple weeks before spring training? The timing is bizarre

I don't care for this move at all.  I have a feeling the Pohlads were telling Falvey that the payroll available for players in the future is not going to allow Falvey to put a competitive team on the field and Falvey wasn't interested in that any longer as he's already had to put up with that for 2 years.  I prefer Falvey's leadership to what the Pohlads probably want to put in place - a owner 'YES' man.

[T.O.]

May not help much at this point but....

[chinmusic]

Must be a lot of eye rolling from the players.

[DJL44]

Derek Shelton is on the hot seat

[ziggy]

12 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

 Excuse me while I go get the Reynolds Wrap; I think I need a new hat

Quote

I prefer Falvey's leadership to what the Pohlads probably want to put in place - a owner 'YES' man.

I always thought Falvey's hands were tied also. BUT....tin hat time, if Falvey goes to Colorado, Ohl wins the Cy Young award and Julieen wins the batting title then we will know this was planned by Falvey.  It would be a great FU to the Pohlads from Falvey.

[FlyingFinn]

49 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

If this really truly was a mutual decision - and that's a pretty big if - then the most plausible explanation I can think of given the comments about "ownership transitions" and "leadership an structure of the club" is that the new people in charge saw that it was not a good idea to have one guy running both business and baseball ops, and Falvey wasn't too hot on the idea of a demotion.

I have no explanation for the timing.  Seems like the kind of decision that should've been happening when Tom took over

To me the timing of this has to be Falvey wanted to spend more, at least in the future, and ownership said we are going to make a profit (and thus reduce future spending). Not a huge Falvey fan, but as others have said, be careful what you wish for. Hard to believe but we could be wishing for Falvey in the future if we become the A's of the recent past.