Tom Pohlad Has a Differing Vision for the Twins. That Might Be the Problem.

[HeresWaldo]

They just lost 92 games and are worse than they were at the start of last season. Regression might save them from a second consecutive 90 loss season, but they're currently not good, and it's crazy that ownership would claim otherwise. And if they trade away what's left of their good talent at the deadline again they might very well lose 90+ again. 

[cjvirnig]

As soon as Rocco was fired, I thought to myself that if I were Falvey, I would demand a contract extension and pay raise or else quit. Without additional job security, it's pretty obvious his head was next on the chopping block (as Nick points out). 

As for Tom Pohlad -- if you parse his words carefully (and read between the lines), what he SEEMS to be saying is basically: when the on the field product gets back to a place where it's legitimately competitive, payroll will be beefed up. I'm sure he means well by putting so much emphasis on the 2026 season bc the quicker the team turns things around, the quicker more investment will be made by the Pohlads. But as Nick points out, it's not only too late, this strategy doesn't match reality. The 2026 team is bound to struggle -- and will likely struggle UNTIL ownership ups the investment. It's a chicken/egg scenario. 

 

[TheLeviathan]

Quote

Opinions will vary on the effectiveness of his tenure, but no one can deny Falvey has been stifled and railroaded repeatedly in trying to do his job over the past couple years. Minnesota's 2023 success was immediately followed by a momentum-shattering payroll slash, with sharper spending limits imposed since. 

I agree with this.  It's certainly true that the Pohlad family pulled the rug out from the FO at several crucial times.  We might never have seen what Falvey really wanted to do.

At the same time....being a good "yes sir" employee got Falvey more power in this organization than basically anyone in baseball had.  He played the Terry Ryan game...he was a good soldier.  Fell on the sword publicly.  Followed whatever constraints that were given.  Praised his bosses ad nauseum.

At the end of the day this mess is partially owned by him.  He garnered a lot of "authority" and titles, but never garnered much sway with his bosses.  At the end of the day, he followed orders.  Even when those orders made our baseball team worse.

He was fired yesterday because his opinion was no longer appreciated because it no longer agreed in lock-step with a family of silver spoon delusionals.

[Squirrel]

23 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Somehow blaming Tom Pohlad for the state of our favorite baseball team is...wells let's just say missing the Forrest for a few trees. 

I don’t blame Tom, specifically. But I do blame ownership. Aren’t they the ones who hired Falvey and kept him there, and promoted him? I mean, sometimes it is ownership’s fault. I’m not sure why you give them a pass. I don’t disagree with Falvey going, but the buck didn’t stop at Falvey, it stops at ownership.

[Riverbrian]

When you consider that Shelton said in his introductory press conference. "I'm not using the term rebuild... but I think we're gonna develop young players". 

I'm starting to think that Shelton came to Minnesota with what Falvey said was going to happen. 

I'm starting to believe that this half measure go for it plan... just might be ownership driven. 

Tom, 

If this doesn't work... there will be a set back. 

[HerbieFan]

Hey Tom....I'll be skinny.  See, saying it out loud doesn't make it true!

[Thumbs Down Guy]

3 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Gotta love this site.  Whine for years about the direction of the team.  Team responds.  Whine about the direction of the team.  Like i've said for a long time:  The only thing Twins fans hate more than the team not doing what the fans want them to do is the team doing what the fans want them to do.  Twins fans wake up every morning thinking that someone pissed in their cereal and if no one did they do it themselves.

Loved the observation!

[USAFChief]

18 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

I don’t blame Tom, specifically. But I do blame ownership. Aren’t they the ones who hired Falvey and kept him there, and promoted him? I mean, sometimes it is ownership’s fault. I’m not sure why you give them a pass. I don’t disagree with Falvey going, but the buck didn’t stop at Falvey, it stops at ownership.

I don't give ownership a pass. 

But that doesn’t mean Falvey was anything but a colossal failure. Look at the state of the roster. 

[dxpavelka]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't think there's any contradiction in my stance since the deadline. I said then that I didn't think they were doing a full rebuild but instead were going to try to play both sides of the fence and rebuild while being competitive. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Joe and Falvey were planning on doing the full rebuild that I (and many others) hoped for. But I have that same stance today. And I think many others agree with it now. Whether they did before or not.

Tom has changed lanes, making me undeniably correct now, and upsetting people. The team didn't respond. At least not in the way you seem to be implying. The team didn't fire Falvey, according to Gleeman, Bonnes, this article, etc. It truly was Falvey and Tom not agreeing on the strategy moving forward and Falvey was happy to get out of the way as Tom Pohlad was against a full rebuild and is truly thinking the 2026 Minnesota Twins will and should be competitive. That is not the team picking a direction in a responsible way in the big picture. That is Joe having picked a direction and Tom changing the direction but not actually giving the resources to meaningfully go in that direction. Well, unless you'd like the FO to trade away their entire farm system in some last-ditch effort to win in 2026. I don't think you'd find a single other poster on this site to back you up on that idea. 

Tom Pohlad expects the Twins to compete this year. Joe Pohlad had not been expecting the Twins to compete this year. Tom Pohlad took over as executive chair on December 17th. It was made clear to us fans up until that point that nobody could/would even give Falvey a 2026 payroll number until that point. Suggesting this is an example of successful leadership from ownership that should be making us all happy as fans is an interesting stance.

Edit to add: This is not a defense of Falvey. I think it was time for all parties to move on. I think the timing was awful and the Pohlads have handled things from the deadline to now about as terribly as you could (well from October 2023 til now, really), but Falvey has had 9 years, and it was time for a shakeup. This is just me saying the Pohlads haven't smoothly picked a direction. Handing the guy trained by Falvey the job 2 weeks before spring training with no plans to search for a replacement is not some significant change in direction and this has been far from a smooth transition of power between Pohlad brothers.

Ya'll wanted lanes changed, lanes have changed and still not happy.  Cereal comment stands.

[Riverbrian]

33 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

I don’t blame Tom, specifically. But I do blame ownership. Aren’t they the ones who hired Falvey and kept him there, and promoted him? I mean, sometimes it is ownership’s fault. I’m not sure why you give them a pass. I don’t disagree with Falvey going, but the buck didn’t stop at Falvey, it stops at ownership.

You are correct.

It's always the people who hire the people. 

[dxpavelka]

3 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

Great story.  Im not a Falvey fan and IMO he needed to go when Baldelli was dumped.  Anyway my guess is there was philosophical differences and in particular major payroll differences that Falvey didn't agree with.  This "mutual" parting of the ways comes at a peculiar time.  This organization keeps shooting itself in the foot.  Im guessing the payroll will stay between 100-110 This year and likely less.  I would expect the Twins to actively trade all or some of Lopez, Jeffers, Ryan, and Buxton.  We are going to become the Pittsburgh Pirates of the American league.  Maybe even the Miami Marlins.  Unbelievable.

Nice story.  IF they trade all four of those guys i MIGHT believe it.  

[Riverbrian]

We don't know the answer but the timing of this is stuck in my head. 

Based on what both of them said. We've had a disagreement in place for couple of months. 

If this has been on-going for a couple of months with resolution it could go on another couple of weeks, months. I wonder what specifically made yesterday the day.

What made Falvey go back into the office and rehash the disagreement. 

 

[chpettit19]

9 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

Ya'll wanted lanes changed, lanes have changed and still not happy.  Cereal comment stands.

I don't see too many people complaining that Falvey is gone. The vast majority of comments are praising that particular "lane change." But, yes, complaints will continue as long as every signal coming out of 1 Twins Way is that their current plan has every indication it is leading our favorite team straight to disaster. 

I'm not sure why it's confusing that fans are complaining that the new executive chair is claiming that the 2026 MN Twins roster is setup for success and the future of the MN Twins depends on the 2026 MN Twins roster being successful. Jumping from 1 dumpster that's on fire into the dumpster next to it that is also on fire doesn't automatically earn praise simply because we moved to a different dumpster.

[chpettit19]

Just now, Riverbrian said:

We don't know the answer but the timing of this is stuck in my head. 

Based on what both of them said. We've had a disagreement in place for couple of months. 

If this has been on-going for a couple of months with resolution it could go on another couple of weeks, months. I wonder what specifically made yesterday the day.

What made Falvey go back into the office and rehash the disagreement. 

 

It sounds like the decision was actually made a number of weeks ago, but they decided to wait until after Twinsfest as to not overshadow all the excitement that they've been drumming up with their various overwhelming moves...

(That is not a joke, that is legitimately what the reports are. I just added some extra zest and sarcasm because there's nothing at all exciting about this offseason)

[Over The Hill Again]

Appropos of nothing, props to whoever coined “Tough Talking Tom”. It’s perfect. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

4 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't see too many people complaining that Falvey is gone. The vast majority of comments are praising that particular "lane change." But, yes, complaints will continue as long as every signal coming out of 1 Twins Way is that their current plan has every indication it is leading our favorite team straight to disaster. 

I'm not sure why it's confusing that fans are complaining that the new executive chair is claiming that the 2026 MN Twins roster is setup for success and the future of the MN Twins depends on the 2026 MN Twins roster being successful. Jumping from 1 dumpster that's on fire into the dumpster next to it that is also on fire doesn't automatically earn praise simply because we moved to a different dumpster.

It's leading us into becoming the LA Angels of the past many seasons. Or it could even be worse. Aside from that do you take the 2-4 seasons of worse now? Or wait 2 more seasons yet again before you face those 2-4 seasons? Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez and Byron Buxton aren't enough to keep us from where we are headed. But their replacements could very well make us much better in two seasons. 

[chpettit19]

4 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

It's leading us into becoming the LA Angels of the past many seasons. Or it could even be worse. Aside from that do you take the 2-4 seasons of worse now? Or wait 2 more seasons yet again before you face those 2-4 seasons? Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez and Byron Buxton aren't enough to keep us from where we are headed. But their replacements could very well make us much better in two seasons. 

The Rockies are the comp I've been using, but the Angels fit as well. Owners who know nothing about baseball who are too involved and think their rosters are more talented than they are and stop rebuilds from happening when they should. If Joe and Falvey were planning to continue the rebuild and Tom stopped it out of some misguided idea that they'll make more money this year by "going for it," this organization is in even worse shape than it already was. And it was in pretty darn rough shape.

[bunsen82]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

Tom Pohlad certainly has a flawed vision of the Twins chances in 2026. But he's been in the picture for what? A few weeks?

At the risk of repeating myself, let's look at the POBO's resume:

9 years into Falvey's tenure, the Twins have

- 2 above average position players: Buxton and a part timer in Jeffers. Only one of those came to the Twins during Falvey's time. The other is aging and a constant injury risk. That's it. Question marks or outright failures everywhere else

- zero bullpen assets. Zero. 4 or 5 mediocrities or worse, then squadoosh. For what many people here like to refer to as "the easiest thing to build" (those many people are way wrong, of course, but I read that often.) How do you get to a position where not one, single solitary reliever in an 8 man pen isn't someone you can depend on??

- 2 good starters, neither of which were developed under Falvey

- 1, maybe as many as 3, prospects that have a realistic chance at being above average MLBers some day. Whoop-de-doo. That and 5 bucks will get you a coffee. 

- a team that, if we're honest, has no chance of being cocompetitive in several years

 

No matter who owned the team, Falvey was a failure, by the standards he himself set when hired.  

They weren't perpetually competitive. Just the opposite. One strong team (2019) that he gets partial credit for, and a couple teams only in contention for the weak ALC. 9 years in, we're objectively terrible. 

Somehow blaming Tom Pohlad for the state of our favorite baseball team is...wells let's just say missing the Forrest for a few trees. 

 

 

I would argue 2023 was a better team.  You had pitching and hitting.  The depth was there on that team that was the best constructed team in the last decade.  Otherwise after 9 years if you only effectively have a couple trades and prospects to show for it,  granted a .520 winning % as well and 4 appearances in the postseason,  there is some validity to the vision and how to get there.   There is no bullpen because you traded it for some prospects.  That appears to be dictated by the family but that still isn't clear.   

Otherwise Keashall looks pretty good, Lewis still has upside,  and then you have Lee who may tap out as a 1-2 WAR per a year utility player.   

[bunsen82]

8 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

The Rockies are the comp I've been using, but the Angels fit as well. Owners who know nothing about baseball who are too involved and think their rosters are more talented than they are and stop rebuilds from happening when they should. If Joe and Falvey were planning to continue the rebuild and Tom stopped it out of some misguided idea that they'll make more money this year by "going for it," this organization is in even worse shape than it already was. And it was in pretty darn rough shape.

Thats my stance,  Ryan and Lopez have more value than everyone we traded last year combined.  So if this was the purge year to begin the rebuild,  and to fully stock up the prospects to give it a run,  what does Ryan and Pablo give you this year, if you can't be competitive.   .500 is the mark I have effectively stated.   Those season ticket holders aren't coming back because you kept Lopez and Ryan.  If that was his thought process, yes its clear he is not fully cognizant of the situation.  

Where would you personally be if they rebuilt a bullpen with 25-30 million and a trade.  

Raisel Iglesias  16 million

Dominguez   10 million

Rogers    2 million 

Orze Trade  (needed something more) - other than Brock Burke nothing great on the trade market

Sands

Topa

Funderburk

Festa

That is effectively $26 million more than we spent,  but effectively you are a little lighter on the closer role, I might like Dominguez a little better than Jax,  and Festa could fill in the role Varland had.  They aren't as good,  but that would be a solid bullpen and I think most would say they did decent with the trades,  got a higher draft pick but you did rebuild the pen.  At that point the position players becomes the primary focus.    

 

 

[NYCTK]

2 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Always such a ray of sunshine for Twin’s fans!

Anyone that thinks this is a winning team is delusional. Fans are under no obligation to follow their team by shoving their head in the sand. 

Minnesotans, more than anyone in the country right now, know that you probably shouldn't believe the words from the malevolent billionaire assuring the population that they know best. 

[bean5302]

Falvey isn't a scapegoat. He used other people as scapegoats. Falvey was the NUMBER ONE reason the Twins have failed. He was given substantial enough budgets to win the division every single year and yet the Twins managed only 1 playoff appearance in the past 5 years.

Falvey didn't decide to part ways. He was fired, but given the opportunity to step down to save face.

[Pat]

The only real word to describe the Twins organization is dysfunctional.

[gman]

4 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Tom - you don’t have a shortstop on the roster.

I'm not sure he knows what that is.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

3 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

Tom is the one who changed Ownerships  directions to Falvey.   Tom needs to improve ticket sales,  and think magically saying the Twins will be competitive in 2026 will make it happen.   You either had to spend or trade money to rebuild a bullpen. If expectations were not met,  then that was going to fall on Falvey.  Now Tom gladly accepted Falveys resignation,  but now he is bearing all of the weight of the Twins moving forward.   

I said it would take $25 million to rebuild a competent bullpen and maybe trade a decent prospect.  1 high leverage reliever,  2 -7th/8th inning guys (1 signed 1 traded for) then another arm like Rogers.  All we got is Rogers Orze who no one is confusing as a 7th/8th inning guy.  4 players to add to the bullpen, with Funderburk, Sands, and Topa and transition someone like Festa.  

I do think Joe and Falvey were comfortable with a tear down all things considered.  That was their plan coming into winter meetings,  then Joe got kicked to the curb.   That is not to say I think Joe was good in his role.  I also don't think Falvey did everything right.   He had faults.  He also had some pretty good positives as well.  You don't have a .520 winning % over 9 years without doing something right even in a weak division.  

I am always the guy looking at the positive side of things.   This is a situation where the odds things go well are slim.  They do have some young players coming up,  but most likely we are out of contention at the deadline,  so will Tom have the guts to trade Ryan and or Lopez?  As of his press conference I don't get the sense he will.   

agreed, 

My complaint about Falvey has been his indecisiveness, especially since Levine left that man has been incapable of making a direction, getting worse with the full financial weight on his shoulders.

then he and Zoll traded away 40% of the roster, very decisive, but then using the remainder of the season on scrap pickups rather than prospects (back to the dithering).

This offseason has illuminated just how toxic the Pohlads are and how badly they handcuff their Twins leadership. No wonder Falvey has been incompetent! How could anyone succeed with this level of chaos in the ownership.

while I feel for Falvey being out of a job, glad to see him gone. He was on his way out anyways.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

2 hours ago, Squirrel said:

I don’t blame Tom, specifically. But I do blame ownership. Aren’t they the ones who hired Falvey and kept him there, and promoted him? I mean, sometimes it is ownership’s fault. I’m not sure why you give them a pass. I don’t disagree with Falvey going, but the buck didn’t stop at Falvey, it stops at ownership.

Joe is gone for a reason

[bunsen82]

3 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

agreed, 

My complaint about Falvey has been his indecisiveness, especially since Levine left that man has been incapable of making a direction, getting worse with the full financial weight on his shoulders.

then he and Zoll traded away 40% of the roster, very decisive, but then using the remainder of the season on scrap pickups rather than prospects (back to the dithering).

This offseason has illuminated just how toxic the Pohlads are and how badly they handcuff their Twins leadership. No wonder Falvey has been incompetent! How could anyone succeed with this level of chaos in the ownership.

while I feel for Falvey being out of a job, glad to see him gone. He was on his way out anyways.

To be fair he choose this.  There is likely some type of payout occurring.   He is still highly regarded in the MLB community and if he wants it will get another GM job or will be the #2 in an organization.     Personal feelings aside,  overall has led a pretty good organization that then got handcuffed by ownership.  I think a lot of MLB people are going to give some leeway on the last 2 years.  

[bunsen82]

@Richie the Rally Goat -  1 other thing.  I understand your opinion on Falvey maybe wasn't cutting anymore.  But 1 then this analogy came into my head which we have seen happen plenty of times.  New person gets the CEO job (Tom) with no experience,  tells 10 year manager we are going to do (A,B,C,D) - the manager tells the CEO why this isn't feasible.   CEO says I don't care this is what we are doing.  Manager decides this isn't the job for him anymore if he isn't going to be respected and the CEO is going to burn the business.  CEO is initially happy because he is getting rid of someone who is telling him his ideas are wrong.  What we are left with is a company who has no manager and a CEO who knows nothing about baseball operations.  

Yikes.    

[gman]

I think the way that Tom has run roughshod over people in the organization that we have seen, leads me to believe that he has been the heat behind multiple bad decisions the last several years if not longer. I'm sure his fingerprints are on the decisions following the 2023 season. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't the one behind the $500 million in loans attached to the Twins balance sheet. 

[Blyleven2011]

I look forward to the baseball season starting but I dont look forward to the long season of losing ...

Players need to step up as professionals ballplayer and play with more passion , you have passion you can succeed at anything  ...

With falvey and baldelli gone the players have a new dugout voice ( shelton ) , the players should play harder to make the roster in spring training and they should play harder during the season to keep their position as a ballplayer  , don't play for just the money cause other players are trying hard to take your position from you ...

With no real wisdom in the front office , Shelton should be able to play his , the players and fans style of baseball  ...

It sure should be a more exciting style of baseball  , win or lose  ...

Shelton in my opinion should connect better with  the players better than Rocco  , it's a win win situation  and now with falvey gone it's a bigger win  ...

What took so long , did the owners finally get new glasses and hearing aids  ...

I will root for Shelton to succeed , I was never able to root for baldelli and falvey especially after how they played the 2019 playoffs , catastrophic starting a rookie dobnak in front of Yankee fans that are the worst fans for an opposing team ...

I knew then that this group of falvey  , Levine and baldelli  would never win a world series with the twins , i stated that many times on twins daily since October of 2019 ...

I look forward to a new beginning with personal  , now the owners need to find a buyer after the work stoppage or strike of 2027 ...

I am happy and I know it , stomping the ground ...

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 minute ago, gman said:

I think the way that Tom has run roughshod over people in the organization that we have seen, leads me to believe that he has been the heat behind multiple bad decisions the last several years if not longer. I'm sure his fingerprints are on the decisions following the 2023 season. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't the one behind the $500 million in loans attached to the Twins balance sheet. 

Effectively Tom went from CEO of Pohlad Company to VP of a division of Pohlad Company. Looks like he got a demotion too