Mets hiring Falvey could hurt the Twins

[MeleMouth]

Maybe nobody cares if Steve Cohen's Mets hire Derek Falvey, rots of ruck and all that, but it could really harm the Twins off the field.

Falvey, backed by Cohen's mega-wealth, could hire away some of the Twins' baseball ops people. Even while Falvey was here, other teams would poach staff, and with Falvey in New York he will know who to go after. If he does, the Pohlads would unlikely to match Cohen in money, and besides that, what would keep people here? The lack of a clear direction? An owner who doesn't know what he doesn't know but nonetheless involves himself in decisions? Esprit de corps from battling and losing repeatedly? Sure, how Cohen made his wealth might be yucky, but the league admitted him as an owner and baseball people want to win. The lure of the Mets could be strong.

If that happens, the Twins' front office and development program as currently constituted could be in trouble. Zoll was part of Falvey's team, which means he was part of Falvey's network. If much of Falvey's network follows Falvey, which would be common, Zoll could have to pick among the rest and look for others who might be interested in taking new jobs. There's a good chance that going to the Twins may not be attractive in the current environment, because, in addition to the questions about ownership, there are questions about whether Zoll is a true leader and whether the major and minor league players in the organization are sufficient. Clearly, the team needs to rebuild it's "pitching pipeline (tm)," as evidenced by pitching staff on the twinsdaily.com minor league all star team. Also, the decision to trade instead of rebuild at the deadline this year further depleted the cupboard.

Therefore, the person who may be most immediately negatively affected is Zoll. To the extent that ownership thinks he's ill-equipped to restock either the front office or development program, or the major and minor league rosters, ownership would be well-advised to promptly look for a new general manager from outside the organization, who could bring in his or her own team. People may be available, but being part of building something new may be more attractive than joining an operation that's sputtering. If Pohlad committed to keeping his hands out of baseball decisions, that could further improve the attractiveness of working for the Twins, and the cherry on top would be if he committed to spending more on the team and the organization.

Finally, when hiring a new baseball ops leader, Pohlad should not make the mistake his family made with Falvey, where he insisted he do nothing for a year. Hire the best person you can and let them do what they think is right. If the person is wrong, they will have to replace him, but continuing these middle-ground methods, such as hire new, but keep the old; and rebuild, but compete; has proven to be the least successful path of all.