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

[miller761]

Very simple. Derek was Joe's boy. Now that Tom bumped Joe a rift has developed between Derek and Tom. As usual with almost anything this club does the timing could not be worse or make things more difficult. How I wish for this change to be the right one long term. 

[farmerguychris]

1 hour ago, Ex-Iowegian said:

Best news I’ve heard out of Minneapolis in weeks. 

I can't disagree more.  I think Falvey at least tried to put a winning team on the field.  Now with Pohlads making a change, I expect someone added that knows going in we're not going to put a decent team on the field because making money is the only thing that really matters to this family.  

[Twodogs]

1 hour ago, Dawgzilla said:

I think it was time for a change, same like with manager change, but I do think it was more Falvey's move rather than the Twin's ownership!  The reason for the "mutual decision" was because Falvey needed more money to make team successful and ownership, right now, wouldn't oblige.  I think Falvey basically said he had enough with one hand tied behind his back...and I don't blame him.  Give him the wherewithall monies of the Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, etc. and he would be a genius and baseball front office legend.  Joe Torre was a good manager, but he had the options....and money to be a good manager.

I don't think he just gives up that position.  If tomorrow or sometime next week he ends up working for the Red Sox or something like that then ill agree with you.  But he was probably making good money as president of baseball operations and you don't just voluntarily walk away from that unless you have an equal or better opportunity that you are moving to.  To say you want to spend time with family just kinda tells me that the agreement wasnt so mutual.  He probably felt like it would look better if he mutually agreed rather than getting fired.  JMO

[tony&rodney]

Falvey was hired in October of 2016. It was time for him to go. 

Wish him all the best. He will almost certainly find a job in the business world at some point.

The Twins direction? Who knows.

Zoll is going to be getting a ton of texts and calls from other clubs about players. Sharks circle.

The next month could be interesting.

[stringer bell]

More sympathetic than most to the box Falvey has been in since November of 2023. I don’t know if he handled “rightsizing” well, but not an easy job to stay competitive with a decreased payroll. It’s the old “do more with less” demand that is tough to do. 

[JDubs]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

At the least, not a "half measure."

I dunno. Having the top of the org leave with clearly no plan for his replacement is pretty much the ideal Pohlad poorly thought out half measure

[farmerguychris]

1 hour ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I'd like to think this marks a big shift or change in direction (in a good way) but I don't see Zoll doing anything differently - at least not enough to move the needle. Until the franchise (Tom Pohlad) develops a different philosophy, the Twins are kind of stuck in neutral.

Why would Tom have a different philosophy than any other Pohlad who has ever run the team.  Objective #1 - Make as much money as we can.  Objective #2 - Try to scam the fans to believing we care if we win or lose.

[bunsen82]

39 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.

Just to clarify,  you are saying Zoll was the decision maker on the tear down and not Falvey or Joe Pohlad?   the Pohlads are giving constant mixed signals.   Tear down,  telling front office they can't even have budget and start to plan trading off Ryan and Pablo,  then give them updated guidance the day before winter meetings.   To now all of sudden firing Falvey.  What is the advantage of firing Falvey now,  what was the necessity of firing him now.  

Does Tom think he can sell more tickets with Falvey fired.  Was Falvey unwilling to step aside from the business operations roll.   What has changed in 2 months if you didn't fire him after the season.  They have to have something suddenly that shows he was in violation of team policies,  over stepped with another organization or incompetence became so apparent they decided they couldn't move on.  Otherwise Tom appears just as herky jerky as previous iterations of Pohlad management.  

[Rigby]

Hopefully Korn-Ferry's number disappeared from the Rolodex....

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

If the team was losing so much money at the payroll they were at that means the front office was inefficient with the money they were spending with the results they were getting. Perhaps this is the effect of the investors. Falvey had no answer to spending less. 

Except this years team is looking ok with a lower budget.  COVID-19 and the TV deal fallout hurt revenue's.  So did cutting payroll.  But it looked like things were trending in the right direction for this season with one or two more relievers the roster would be set with a strong rotation and decent bench and decent group of position players with 4 strong prospects at AAA.  And in the pen we would have potential with a few converted starters and depth.  Not as good a pen as last year but passable considering the budget.  

I know I may be in the minority but I am not a fan of this move at this time.  If a teardown occurs, I will be out as a fan.  

[amjgt]

The Vikings couldn't even let the Twins lead the local sports news for 2 hours.

Kwesi fired

[Over The Hill Again]

Weirdly overshadowed by a move by another Minnesota sports franchise today…..

[Twodogs]

10 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

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.

I agree, it will depend on who takes over.  I feel they need to pair a baseball guy with an analytics guy.  Not just one or the other.  They need to use analytics to get better, but they need to have a baseball guy who can feel the pulse of the team to win big games.  But you are 100% correct that we may be wishing for Falvey to be back especially if they replace him with someone worse.  I know many times I've wished for Terry Ryan to be back.  

[Twodogs]

1 minute ago, amjgt said:

The Vikings couldn't even let the Twins lead the local sports news for 2 hours.

Kwesi fired

I guess he didn't mutually agree???

[amjgt]

For the people that like the move but not the timing.... How many more bad moves (or non-moves) do you want Falvey to make before the "right time" comes along?

Is this timing ideal? No. But whatever. Tom felt a change needed to be made, so he made it. 

[Parfigliano]

52 minutes ago, Cris E said:

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.

I will happily admit I was wrong about Falvey when the roster/player moves he made prove me wrong.

[LA Vikes Fan]

What the !? Falvey first, now Kwesi? Is this really happening or a parallel universe? 

[Russ]

Good news leading up to Spring Training

[bunsen82]

Kwesi fired today now too.  There may be something more at hand here which signifies the odd timing on both.   

[TFRazor]

2 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

Never should have let Darnold walk.

oh wait wrong guy 😂

Don't worry. He just got fired too 😀

[DJL44]

24 minutes ago, Twodogs said:

To say you want to spend time with family just kinda tells me that the agreement wasnt so mutual. 

Every fired CEO who says they want to spend more time with their family is lying.

[Fred]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

There are a lot of Hispanic ballplayers, but not many actual Spanierds 😁

[LA Vikes Fan]

You have to wonder what Dereck Shelton is thinking. The guy who he knew in 2019 and who hired him now just got fired. Is he safe and if so, is that just for now? this could rapidly spin out of control unless someone does some serious triage. Here's looking at you, Tom.  

[Parfigliano]

45 minutes ago, Cris E said:

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. 

I think diale everything back and see how the new CBA goes has been the plan since the bullpen blowup.

[Linus]

Who knows but I’m guessing Tom wanted to wait a couple of months to see how things were working first hand before he started making high level decisions. Came to the conclusion that Falvey wasn’t his guy. 

[ziggy]

2 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Every fired CEO who says they want to spend more time with their family is lying.

Hey now, don't tell my wife!

[LewFordLives]

Minnesota sports fans taking care of all family business today.

[BSLinPA]

It appears Falvey, Levine and Zoll have established a decent minor league pipeline, mostly on the P side. However, as PBO, Falvey has apparently operated at/created a nearly a half a billion-dollar deficit......so not even break-even while the Twins have had one (maybe two?) solid season in the past eight years.  Falvey's MLB program was simply not successful and a money loser. My guess is a potential deal or two were in place to bring in a reliable RP/Closer (or bat?) and they were nixed by ownership.  Falvey's credibility with agents is diminished and trade leverage reduced while the 2026 team is mired in mediocrity and losing $$. 

Seems one of these deals.  FALVEY:  "Well if that's how you feel about me and what I'm trying to do, then why am I here?".  JPOHLAD: "You're here to do what you can pending our approval".  FALVEY: "I can't work like that".  JP: "OK then we'll find someone who can".  That's a textbook mutually agreed upon parting.

 

[Parfigliano]

21 minutes ago, amjgt said:

The Vikings couldn't even let the Twins lead the local sports news for 2 hours.

Kwesi fired

Falvey and Kwesi fired same day.  I'm issuing a commerative coin.

[Fred]

There are so many theories thrown out here that one has to be correct. However, a betting man would take the "we will never know which theory is correct" bet.