With the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in seven games over the Cleveland Indians to wrap up the 2016 season late last week, the Minnesota Twins were finally able to formalize two moves that have been in the works for some time now.
The first was hiring Chief Baseball Operator Derek Falvey, which was contingent on the dismissal of the Indians from the postseason since he was coming over as the No. 3 in command from the American League Champions. The Twins had a handshake agreement with the Indians to wait until that happened, and stuck to it as Cleveland took Chicago to the limit in one of the finest World Series’ in recent memory.
The turnaround for Falvey was fast, and will continue to be fast as he and his comrades will board a flight Monday night to head to the General Manager meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz. Free agency opens at 12:01 am Eastern on Tuesday morning, though players don’t typically sign until around Thanksgiving at the earliest. Still, it’ll be a crash course for Falvey not only to get up to speed with what the offseason has to offer and what’s available, but also what he has to deal with internally.
That includes Thad Levine, whom Falvey hand picked as his No. 2. Officially, Levine’s title is Senior Vice President, General Manager, and according to Twins CEO Jim Pohlad, the selection of the former No. 2 in command behind Jon Daniels in Texas was chiefly Falvey’s decision. “I don’t mean any disrespect to Thad, but I had not met him prior to last night,” Pohlad said at Monday’s press conference. “It was Derek’s entire decision to hire Thad, and we couldn’t be happier about the result of that. The opportunity to have both Thad and Derek is huge for us. Derek is responsible for the baseball department, and he can make any kind of decision he wants to by himself.”
Levine was beyond thrilled to be joining the Twins organization, and told Cold Omaha that working for the team is maybe a more enticing thing than people realize. “The thing about Minnesota is it’s a desirable job. People around the league would love to work there, and a big reason is the loyalty from ownership” Levine said. “But in the same vein, that loyalty means it’s difficult to get in.” Levine also shared that he was honored and energized to be following in Terry Ryan’s footsteps, calling Ryan “one of the finest baseball talent evaluators ever” before suggesting that he “honestly should probably be in the Hall of Fame.”
Falvey hit the ground running in the press conference as well, laying out his vision clearly and concisely while speaking with a confidence that didn’t come off cocky, but rather self-assured. Levine has a dry humor and a self-deprecating wit that will make him popular with media types and fans alike.
Falvey’s message was clear and to the point, and he didn’t pull any punches.
“The goal here is straightforward and measurable,” Falvey said in the introduction after thanking his family, the Indians and the Twins. “It’s to build a sustainable and championship-caliber team and organization that Twins fans across Twins Territory will be proud of. Thad and I know there are no shortcuts to getting there. We intend to relentlessly identify, pursue and advance top-performing people, cultivate world-class process and build a culture that’s collaborative and transparent to achieve our goals. At the core of any organization are its people. Our people don’t just work here for a paycheck; I’ve come to learn that. Minnesota Twins people care about this organization deeply. I’m looking forward to working continuously with those people to identify the need to change efficiently and respectfully, and execute that as we move forward.”
“The Twins Way will be to thrive together,” Falvey continued. “That’s important to me. Both Thad and I have grown and experienced a measure of success within organizational cultures that understand the value in creating balance systems, designing, implementing and evaluating processes and rewarding hard work and professional character, both on and off the field. We will root our decision making in evidence-based practices, both subjective and objective in nature, which means a commitment to understanding the metrics, but always making human decisions. That will never change. There is no substitute for the people and the input from our senior leadership group.”
Falvey also fielded questions on the team’s pitching, something that has struggled badly in recent seasons and also something that should, ostensibly, be his strong suit coming from a Cleveland organization that found Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, Carlos Carrasco and others in various ways outside of big spending in free agency — a process that rarely pans out.
Falvey and Levine plan to leave no stone left unturned — internally or externally — as it pertains to pitching. That includes not only pursuing avenues via trades, free agency and waiver claims, but also possibly overhauling pitching development at the base level.
“With pitching, I think you want to explore every avenue and opportunity to add talent,” Falvey said. “Whether that’s being opportunistic in the free agent market, or through trades, or through unique development philosophies, which I think are things that we will apply moving forward. There’s no one way to attack that. This year’s free agent market is a little lean on the pitching side, so I think we have to explore every opportunity that we have to develop the players we have internally, and figure out what it is that we need to do to develop the strengths into useful pieces at the major league level.”
Ultimately, it’s time to head down to Arizona for Falvey, Levine and Rob Antony, who will stay on with the team in what looks to be a role that has yet to receive a formal title. Right now, it looks as though Antony will retain his former role, though that’ll be as No. 3 in command in the new power structure. Both Falvey and Levine were effusive in their praise for Antony, not only in how he handled the rest of the season — including the trade deadline under such duress — but also how he’s handled the entire search, which can’t be easy for someone who had more or less been considered the heir apparent for quite some time now.
In Arizona, Falvey said the hope is that the power trio won’t be behind, but rather able to bring the best information from each of their respective clubs to the table to hit the ground running.
“I think we’ll spend time over the next week in Arizona to dig in and talk to other teams about needs and fits and what the landscape looks like for this offseason,” Falvey said. “We will commit to being collaborative in our approach to pitching development. It’s something I feel very strongly about. Utilizing different resources to help us develop the current pitchers that are on the staff and the players coming up through the minor leagues. We wouldn’t shut out any avenue to acquire or develop a player, and I expect that will be a slight change from how we’ve operated here, but I look forward to leading that.”
It seems fairly clear that Falvey and Levine “won the press conference,” so to speak. The spoke confidently and clearly about their visions, and now will have the opportunity to implement them with virtually no interference from ownership. Buckle up Twins fans, because this offseason is bound to be like nothing you’ve ever seen.
