Twins Front Office Stands Behind First 25-Man Roster

“I think when you look at a team and when you are building toward what we talk about all along -- a championship caliber team -- you need to build around a young core of players,” Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey said in the drizzling rain during Sunday’s workout at Target Field. “I think a lot of that core is here.”

Over in fair territory, Falvey’s inaugural 25-man roster took infield and batting practice on a gloomy and chilly Opening Day eve. Falvey, of course, did not construct the roster on his own. In replacing Terry Ryan, the Twins organization now has a two-headed decision-making monster in the form of Falvey and general manager Thad Levine. Combine that with the vital input from field manager Paul Molitor and suddenly there are multiple voices and influence over roster decisions in the new front office era.

While the three tenors are singing in unison, the process of finalizing the 25-man roster did not come without what Levine considered positive debate from the group in private.

“Everyone has a difference of opinion,” the Twins general manager said about the whittling of the roster. “I think one thing we are going to do throughout our careers here together is that we’re all able to air those conversations behind closed doors but when we walk out we are going to be in concert with one another. I think that’s healthy.”

Any analytical-slated front office worth its weight would tell you that spring training statistics are virtually meaningless. Heck, even the old-school scouting front office knows better than to trust spring training performances. Nevertheless, it was hard to dismiss Park or Alex Wimmers’ performance over the month of March. Sure, the games may be meaningless but Park was still mashing the ball. He was showing improvement on higher velocity fastballs. He was controlling the strike zone better. That had to account for something and that undoubtedly led to interesting internal discussions in the manager’s office.

“Quite frankly, I think if everyone thinks the same way and it’s quote a no-brainer we’re probably missing something,” said Levine. “So whether or not someone is specifically playing the devil’s advocate to make sure we’ve talked about the other side of it, I think that’s healthy towards the decision-making process.”

As Falvey tells it, emphasis on the final roster spots was placed on players who they believed can establish the identity of the team. Falvey said that the Twins believe they have the right core of young players in Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sano to build around, so they wanted to have experienced players who have a strong track record of being prepared and diligent about their work.

“We talked a lot about the culture we wanted to create in the clubhouse and how that leads to what we want on the field,” Falvey said. “Guys like Matt Belisle, Chris Gimenez and Craig Breslow, guys who have been around other organizations and some really successful moments in time. They know they have to hold themselves to high standards at two o’clock in the afternoon when no one is paying attention or nine o’clock in the morning on the backfield in Fort Myers.”

With the current roster working out on Target Field, Levine stresses not to focus on the here and now because that will change in an instant. As a veteran of the Texas Rangers’ front office, he’s seen how quickly the roster can churn due to injuries and performance. One of his strengths coming into the Twins organization is his ability to diagnose roster issues and swiftly respond.

“Unequivocally, we all put a lot of pressure on that 25-man roster for Opening Day but in practice, it’s going to change dramatically over the course of a year,” said Levine. “It may change dramatically over the first 10-to-15 days of the season, you never know.”

“Our focus at the beginning is to make sure you have the next wave of defense and the next wave of defense after that ready and lined up and I think that’s what a lot of spring training is nowadays. It’s less about who is making your Opening Day and who you believe can help you win games throughout the course of a year.”

That means Park, Vargas, Berrios, Wimmers and others better be ready in Rochester when their time is needed.

“Those guys will help us at some point this year,” Levine said. “We know that. We feel more confident about that coming out of spring training. It’s not an if, it’s a when.”