Twins Announce GM Thad Levine Will Not Return for 2025

He has taken the team as far as he could with the resources he has. It probably is time to move on 

This doesn't change anything...except we can't use "Falvine" any more. Is he doing this on his own? Or was he encouraged to leave? Was he the mastermind of all the exceptional...uh, great...uh, good...uh marginal...ok, terrible trades we've made over the last few years? Did he get tired of working under Falvey? I'm sure we'll never know. Best of luck to him...looks like he apparently escaped. 

With hindsight, this move was probably inevitable after the trade deadline. Levine says he's the risk taker and Falvey is risk averse. They didn't make any deals which implies they aren't listening to Levine anymore.

I’m guessing he’s getting out of baseball unless he can land a job in a major market. It’s going to be a very rocky time for all but a handful of teams the next 5 years. 

Not surprised at all.  They still missed on Rocco and Falvey.  A total house cleaning should now be done including Dave St Peter.  And yes we need someone from the outside.  Internal candidates for the GM job would only bring the same Falvey/Rocco totally boring baseball.

10 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Where is this quote? I'd truly like to read that article or interview.

Twins GM Talks Draft, Risk-Taking – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners (shamasportsheadliners.com)

It'll be interesting to see if he's got something new lined up already; if he doesn't it would suggest that he was ushered out rather than jumping ship.

Have to wonder if the process with the BoSox changed his thinking about being in MN and his tenure.

I hope they have a robust search process and at least are considering external candidates. i do believe in promotion from within and it can be very healthy...but at the same time you have to keep open to new ideas and sometimes you need an external figure to disrupt groupthink.

I too feel like someone from  outside the org would be nice to have. Fresh eyes on this organization would be a good thing after nearly a decade of the same thought processes, etc.   

I’ve never understood the division of duties or what his responsibilities specifically were so it’s hard to judge the situation. Lots of different job titles listed in the article. 

17 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

But people are forgetting how truly awful this organization was before this FO arrived. Truly awful. 

You can't make comments like this.  There are too many people out there that won't acknowledge the positive steps this FO has made

41 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

So, not sure Levine leaving really moves the needle. 

There is an unspoken ceiling with this team.  Unless this team greatly overachieves, has surprises, luck, or all, this team will habitually max out as "good to very good", never great.

The only true needle-moving thing that could happen would be a new owner.

Big picture, I think the front office has done a good job modernizing the organization and maintaining a good farm system while supplementing in the majors.  Not sure how much to put on Levine, but I think his overall performance is probably good enough to merit keeping him.  Not clear how much of the decision was ultimately Levine pursuing other opportunities.  Might have been entirely his choice.

In terms of talent evaluation in trades and free agency, it feels like the organization has been pretty average.  There have been some very good trades; Joe Ryan easily the best, Odorizzi, interestingly also a fleecing of the Rays, Sonny Gray - I think Chase Petty will be a major league starter, but I doubt he'll be good enough to make the trade look bad.  There have been some real flops too.  Getting handcuffed by ownership was obviously the main problem last year.

In terms of moves where Levine might have been most most heavily involved, the Garver trade with Texas was fairly average.  IKF was up and down and wouldn't have been a bad return for Garver if not flipped.  Henriquez has not been as good as I think the FO believed (and perhaps still believe).  The Gallo signing was not good.

I think a GM with a strong scouting background, in the mold of Terry Ryan (20 or more years ago) could be an interesting complement to Derek Falvey.  They have player valuation models in place now, and having someone who's good at making the choice between 2 guys when the models say they are basically the same might be an extra edge that they need.

Assistant GMs Adler and Zoll seem to be guys who've taken fairly similar paths to Falvey and Levine.  Zoll has had some experience in a player development role but I don't think he's ever had a job really resembling scouting.  Sean Johnson maybe would fit the bill, not sure how easily he'd transition into the other parts of the role.

Probably a nice guy, but things need to change.  Now, that being said, the Pohlads' need to sell the team to be "competitive", with the recognition they received a new funded stadium to do just that, yet the salary is lower, let alone "mid-tier" in comparison to league average, meaning fans were screwed.  MLB has a major problem with the "haves" and "have nots", using "small market" as the usual excuse!

I like Buxton a lot, but I would trade him for a player that actually is capable of playing mostly a full season for a change.  Correa looks to go on the D.L. o 2-3 times a year for his foot problem, which is chronic apparently.  Then you have the Twins always going after retread pitchers, pitchers coming off a major surgery, etc. that can't make it through the first 2 months.  Who heck is the medical team doctor when acquiring pitchers??????????!!!!

Lastly, two more points:  1)  Payroll needs to rise to at least 150 million  2)  Television needs to get fixed for outstate residents, whom can't make games regularly!  You lose total interest if there are television rights that people can watch, with the caveat can afford too!!!!