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.

 

[HarmonK03]

We have no idea what exactly Falvey's role, it was announced as a Senior advisor which may or not include personnel changes.  Stearns isn't just going to fire the people he brought in so Falvey can bring in the people he wants.

And I don't see how it hurts our front office and development program.  We have been a sub .500 team for the last 10 years, so I am not sure the front office and development program is as strong as we want to think it is.

[C-Gangster]

3 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

We have no idea what exactly Falvey's role, it was announced as a Senior advisor which may or not include personnel changes.  Stearns isn't just going to fire the people he brought in so Falvey can bring in the people he wants.

And I don't see how it hurts our front office and development program.  We have been a sub .500 team for the last 10 years, so I am not sure the front office and development program is as strong as we want to think it is.

It is, we just don't have the money.

[MeleMouth]

3 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

We have no idea what exactly Falvey's role, it was announced as a Senior advisor which may or not include personnel changes.  Stearns isn't just going to fire the people he brought in so Falvey can bring in the people he wants.

And I don't see how it hurts our front office and development program.  We have been a sub .500 team for the last 10 years, so I am not sure the front office and development program is as strong as we want to think it is.

Regardless of Falvey's title, one of the first things Stearns is going to ask Falvey is if anyone in his network could help the Mets.

[Linus]

Of the too many things in life that I worry about getting guys poached from our underperforming front office is about 92nd on the list. In fact it might help. 

[MeleMouth]

Just now, Linus said:

Of the too many things in life that I worry about getting guys poached from our underperforming front office is about 92nd on the list. In fact it might help. 

Somebody needs to do these jobs. The Twins need a plan for what they will do if it happens. They also need to be sure they have the best leader to deal with it. The suggestion is that someone outside the organization could address losses in player development better than Zoll.  

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, Linus said:

Of the too many things in life that I worry about getting guys poached from our underperforming front office is about 92nd on the list. In fact it might help. 

The worst ones are the least likely to be poached.

[Linus]

11 hours ago, ashbury said:

The worst ones are the least likely to be poached.

Correct and I’m still not worried. 

[bean5302]

Falvey's considered an administrative advisor from my understanding. That's a huge step down and clearly identifies how the league views him. I'm not worried about Falvey hiring away guys who shouldn't be employed here much longer as the front office should be washed clean by a new GM. If the new GM doesn't clean house, I'm also not worried about losing front office folks from a team that's made the playoffs 1 time in the past 6 years despite typically having the highest average opening day payroll in the division.

[MeleMouth]

38 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Falvey's considered an administrative advisor from my understanding. That's a huge step down and clearly identifies how the league views him. I'm not worried about Falvey hiring away guys who shouldn't be employed here much longer as the front office should be washed clean by a new GM. If the new GM doesn't clean house, I'm also not worried about losing front office folks from a team that's made the playoffs 1 time in the past 6 years despite typically having the highest average opening day payroll in the division.

Again, it's less about losing people and more about (1) having a plan to replace them and (2) having the best GM to replace them, although I also believe that the problems with the Twins reside more in leadership and there are more good people in the Twins organization than you may think. In particular, the Twins have done a good job of identifying amateur talent and good players off the waiver wire.

[wesnewy]

I'm pretty sure they worked together in Cleveland, so this really could be Stearns doing his buddy a solid. 

[MackMan]

I have a feeling that even if Stearns does talk to Falvey about who or who not to would be a decent fit comes down to one thing: They've been with Minnesota who has been a joke for the last 15 seasons because they have no clear direction they want to go. They want to field a competitive team with what they've got, but what they've got isn't competitive outside of our weak division. The team is too young, too inexperienced, and frankly, just not a good team. We've got a few individuals that are good, but right now the front office cannot put together a cohesive unit to be consistent on the field. I definitely think Shelton did a good job with what he had to work with within the constraints he was given from the top brass. Were there times I think he could have made things better by putting someone else in the game that should be there? Absolutely. But every manager has those moments, its just a matter of not letting those moments happen all the time. 

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, MeleMouth said:

Again, it's less about losing people and more about (1) having a plan to replace them and (2) having the best GM to replace them, although I also believe that the problems with the Twins reside more in leadership and there are more good people in the Twins organization than you may think. In particular, the Twins have done a good job of identifying amateur talent and good players off the waiver wire.

But yet the can't produce a winning team with any consistency.