The Inevitable Split of Derek Falvey and the Minnesota Twins

[David Maro]

If Joe is gone and Tom is in why not make changes. And just maybe Tom didn't like the manager choice and the last couple of moves made. I mean signing another veteran catcher and a marginal 1st baseman when the BP is a empty cupboard. And the signing of T Rogers is a head scratcher. His brother is the one who still has something left in the tank not him. And all the talk about the payroll is getting old. With the CBA coming up I believe baseball understands a cap is needed. It has been and always will be baseball the last one making changes.

[Patzky]

10 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

You're a stronger person than me to put up with them for 275. The job is yours!

"I effin won?"

[chpettit19]

19 minutes ago, David Maro said:

If Joe is gone and Tom is in why not make changes. And just maybe Tom didn't like the manager choice and the last couple of moves made. I mean signing another veteran catcher and a marginal 1st baseman when the BP is a empty cupboard. And the signing of T Rogers is a head scratcher. His brother is the one who still has something left in the tank not him. And all the talk about the payroll is getting old. With the CBA coming up I believe baseball understands a cap is needed. It has been and always will be baseball the last one making changes.

Tom signed off on the Caratini and Rogers deals. What are you talking about? Tom is the one pushing for them to "go big" and "be competitive in 2026." I'd go read some articles about Tom from the last 24 hours before you get too excited about him. He thinks this team is good. Like legitimately. As in "playing meaningful September baseball" were 4 words that came out of his mouth in that exact order just yesterday. By every report out there, Falvey was happy to go because Tom is/was forcing him to make those sorts of moves to be competitive in 2026 and Falvey knew there was no way that was actually going to work and he was just going to get canned during or after the season anyway.

Tom Pohlad wants us to judge the 2026 season on wins and losses because he thinks this team is good. That is the Pohlad in charge right now. That is the type of baseball knowledge we have running the show. Falvey had run his course. It was time for a shakeup. But we didn't get new blood. They aren't searching for an outside replacement. We just got the guy Falvey trained and we have a Pohlad who expects this collection of players to be playing "meaningful September baseball" leading him. Yesterday's news didn't help the Minnesota Twins in any way.

[Brandon]

4 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

I think you meant it would be interesting to see how Tampa Bay would do with the Twins payroll.

The last time the Twins were relevant, 2023, the Rays had less than half the payroll of the Minnesota Twins, but won 12 more games than the Twins.

I wish all teams spent the same amount on player payroll but that won't happen in my lifetime. 

Are there big fans of the Pohlad way of running the Twins? I would like to hear if there are voices for the owner's positions. That issue should not be confused by a lack of skill by the Twins front office. The teams that should receive your sympathy are the Rays, Brewers, Guardians, etc. 

Those teams all have set plans that they operate from.  The Twins plan is a moving budgetary target.  Falvey starts operating one way then gets a bigger budget and.then the budget gets slashed and slashed again and ...The Guardians and Tampa and Brewers don't have near the variance.  The Twins tried splashy moves to increase fan interest too.  It wasn't just for baseball but for marketing too and it didn't work.  I don't think we should be the outlierest team to succeed either.  

[mikelink45]

It isn't the split that fascinates me it's the timing. Like the Trump administration they chose a Friday afternoon, and so did the Vikings, to make this dramatic statement and change. Outside the new side the news cycle and over a weekend when people are distracted. 

[Major League Ready]

On 1/30/2026 at 11:20 PM, chpettit19 said:

Really? Almost every quote I see from Tom is him talking about them being competitive in 2026. He's giving very Monfort (Rockies owners) vibes of being so out of touch with the talent on the roster he refuses to trade his players because he constantly thinks they can win when they have 3 good players and a bunch of replacement level, or worse, players.

From Gleeman's article on The Athletic today:

“Yes, our payroll is down from last year,” Tom Pohlad said. “I think there are still some investments to be made between now and Opening Day. I’d also say, at some point, I’d love to get off this payroll thing for a second. Let’s judge the success of this year on wins and losses, and on whether we’re playing meaningful baseball in September.”

“We have to have a good season in 2026,” Pohlad said last week. “Just because I say we’re trying to build a team that can play a string of October seasons, that doesn’t mean we’re not all in on 2026. Frankly, for us to be able to build a team and build a business that can invest in a team, we have to have a strong 2026.”

I think you have it backwards and Tom is the one pushing for them to try to compete this season because he falsely believes its going to drive revenue. That first quote, about judging the season on wins and losses and meaningful September baseball, is from his press conference today. Tom Pohlad expects the Minnesota Twins to be competitive on the field in 2026. Right now. Today. That is his expectation. 

If you are correct, and I think your assertions are very reasonable, we are screwed!  It sure looks like this is driven by delusion and desperation.  The "we have to have a good season in 2026" quote is really telling.  Never mind reality of the relative strength of the roster, and never mind we are unwilling to spend, "we have to have a good season in 2026" so let's bury our heads in the sand and insist we have a roster to contend.  I think we went from bad to worse. 

I am always reluctant to speculate about something like the separation with Falvey because we have limited insight.  However, with what we do know, I am a lot more inclined to think Falvey was going down the path of what he thought would be a relatively quick rebuild given the number of near ready players and what he anticipated getting from Ryan / Lopez, and perhaps even Buxton.  Joe shows up and insists we do a 180 and we do it without investing.  This is beyond idiotic and it's pretty easy to believe Falvey told him as much.  There is your clash and who is going to take that job if this is what really happened.  The only person taking it is someone willing to follow Joe's lead no matter how ill-conceived.  I think things just got a lot worse.  I think you hit this one on the head and we are screwed until the Pohlad's are out.  They have gone from no help to a major impediment.

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

If you are correct, and I think your assertions are very reasonable, we are screwed!  It sure looks like this is driven by delusion and desperation.  The "we have to have a good season in 2026" quote is really telling.  Never mind reality of the relative strength of the roster, and never mind we are unwilling to spend, "we have to have a good season in 2026" so let's bury our heads in the sand and insist we have a roster to contend.  I think we went from bad to worse. 

I am always reluctant to speculate about something like the separation with Falvey because we have limited insight.  However, with what we do know, I am a lot more inclined to think Falvey was going down the path of what he thought would be a relatively quick rebuild given the number of near ready players and what he anticipated getting from Ryan / Lopez, and perhaps even Buxton.  Joe shows up and insists we do a 180 and we do it without investing.  This is beyond idiotic and it's pretty easy to believe Falvey told him as much.  There is your clash and who is going to take that job if this is what really happened.  The only person taking it is someone willing to follow Joe's lead no matter how ill-conceived.  I think things just got a lot worse.  I think you hit this one on the head and we are screwed until the Pohlad's are out.  They have gone from no help to a major impediment.

FYI, Tom is the new Pohlad in charge, Joe was the little brother he replaced. But your overall point is well taken and agreed to. I was fully on board with the "Falvey must go, he's lost his mind and switching from rebuild at the deadline to half-assed trying to compete in the offseason is total incompetence." Don't get me wrong, I'm still on board with Falvey going. It's been 9 years and you don't get a shot at a rebuild after 9 years when you never showed top end team building skills. That isn't my fight here. But Tom Pohlad appears to be completely out of touch with reality and setting us up for even further damage to be done to this organization.

My biggest fear is that even if (when) this team struggles in the first half he still doesn't dive back into the rebuild. He holds Lopez and Ryan. Maybe even the expiring Jeffers contract. It's hard to imagine things getting worse at the top. I thought Tom actually came in sounding like an upgrade. He at least wasn't saying completely ridiculous things and being a PR nightmare right from the jump. Made it 3 press conferences in before he appears to have said "hold my beer..."

[USAFChief]

11 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

FYI, Tom is the new Pohlad in charge, Joe was the little brother he replaced. But your overall point is well taken and agreed to. I was fully on board with the "Falvey must go, he's lost his mind and switching from rebuild at the deadline to half-assed trying to compete in the offseason is total incompetence." Don't get me wrong, I'm still on board with Falvey going. It's been 9 years and you don't get a shot at a rebuild after 9 years when you never showed top end team building skills. That isn't my fight here. But Tom Pohlad appears to be completely out of touch with reality and setting us up for even further damage to be done to this organization.

My biggest fear is that even if (when) this team struggles in the first half he still doesn't dive back into the rebuild. He holds Lopez and Ryan. Maybe even the expiring Jeffers contract. It's hard to imagine things getting worse at the top. I thought Tom actually came in sounding like an upgrade. He at least wasn't saying completely ridiculous things and being a PR nightmare right from the jump. Made it 3 press conferences in before he appears to have said "hold my beer..."

Tom Pohlad didn't take over until mid December. If Falvey wanted to trade any or all of Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers or Buxton he had from July until then to do so.

I think not doing so was Falvey's plan, not Tom Pohlad's

 

[chpettit19]

50 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Tom Pohlad didn't take over until mid December. If Falvey wanted to trade any or all of Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers or Buxton he had from July until then to do so.

I think not doing so was Falvey's plan, not Tom Pohlad's

 

It was pretty widely reported that the front office wasn't even given payroll numbers or directions until Tom Pohlad took over. It was all framed around the minority ownership stuff. It's now being pretty widely reported that Joe Pohlad and Falvey had 1 plan and Tom Pohlad has a different one and Falvey and Tom didn't see eye to eye on things.

[Major League Ready]

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Tom Pohlad didn't take over until mid December. If Falvey wanted to trade any or all of Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers or Buxton he had from July until then to do so.

I think not doing so was Falvey's plan, not Tom Pohlad's

 

Trades for players like Ryan and Lopez don't happen in November.  Peralta was not traded until 1/21 and Gore on 1/22.  So, to say he had months to make this type of trade just does not reflect a realistic scenario.

[ashbury]

On 1/30/2026 at 9:20 PM, chpettit19 said:

From Gleeman's article on The Athletic today:

I want to add another snippet from Falvey's remarks in the article, because it hits hard for me.

Quote

“We had that [2023 playoff] series against Toronto and I’ll never forget the way the fans made me feel,” Falvey said. “Just the fact everyone could experience that in this ballpark. It was absolutely on fire. I’ll never forget that. I wish we were able to carry that forward. I wish that momentum had continued.”

My two grown sons and I flew in from our respective corners of the continent to attend that series. I can only echo Derek's description. It was electric for us.  A Twins memory I'll take to the grave. Derek says he'll never forget that; why weren't the Pohlads similarly moved?

It absolves Falvey or Rocco of nothing, to say that ownership punted it all away when they right-sized.

[Cris E]

On 2/1/2026 at 9:47 AM, USAFChief said:

Tom Pohlad didn't take over until mid December. If Falvey wanted to trade any or all of Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers or Buxton he had from July until then to do so.

I think not doing so was Falvey's plan, not Tom Pohlad's

 

I don't think it's as clean as Tom vs Derek.  

I think Joe was spend spend spend until until the end of 2023 and then he got cold feet. Falvey was on a path of building and was coaxing him along through the collapse in 2024 and the tepid start to 2025, but by the deadline in 2025 Joe made him burn it down.  

I think Tom came in when the huge debt made the team unsellable. I can't speak to who dug that hole, but it pre-dates the end of the RSN contract and there's never been a Padres-like run for the title so it had to be a business-side stripping of resources. Regardless, he stepped into the baseball side after the season and started saying We Can Win out loud but wouldn't commit to a budget increase.  

I think Falvey has a long term, very Cleveland-like plan to build the franchise. It starts with getting the pitching development going via draft and trades, and then he's got a pile of position players on the verge that look pretty good too although there hasn't been as much in the way of player development on that side of things. The other half of winning is to spending what he can to augment major league roster to fill in around the development organization he's built. Looking at the team at the end of 2025 they were regularly playing Jeffers, Lewis, Lee, Keaschall, Wallner, Buxton and Larnach, all of whom they drafted. I wish there was a real 1B to be had, and Bader had to take over a bunch of OF playing time because the corners were pretty weak against LH pitching, but the bones were there to field average guys around the field and replace them with better when possible. The pitching was good, sourced from whereever, with a bunch more youth on the way.

Going into 2026 Tom felt a need to win to sell tickets and streaming subs, but Falvey mostly  felt a giant pain in his bullpen area. If you have good pitching, both rotation and a deep bullpen, you can mark time waiting for the next set of youth to mature. But cutting the bullpen loose meant that they'd have to outscore the other teams to win, and that can't happen with this group. Tom keeps talking big because he needs them to win to make some money, and Derek knew it can't happen right now, so they split.