Big moves and announcements seem to be coming every which way for the Minnesota Twins except on the field.
On Tuesday morning, the club announced that team president Dave St. Peter will end his 22-year tenure in that position and move to an advisory role. Change shouldn’t be a massive surprise to Twins fans, considering the Pohlad family has put the team up for sale. It also shouldn’t be shocking that the organization stayed in-house with their pick.
The surprise is that the team has elevated President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey as St. Peter’s successor.
Falvey will lead the Twins organization in baseball operations and on the business side for the foreseeable future. Minnesota has never had a president who works on the baseball and business side, but other baseball teams have created similar positions. The Toronto Blue Jays’ Mark Shapiro has been the team’s president and chief executive officer since 2015. Matt Silverman has also held both positions in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, albeit not simultaneously, because he’s currently Tampa Bay’s team president.
Announcing that the 41-year-old Falvey will run baseball and business operations is a huge vote of confidence. Falvey was an assistant general manager in Cleveland before taking over Minnesota’s front office in 2016, and he had limited experience running a front office.
Still, the Twins made him team president. He modernized Minnesota’s baseball operations after taking over for Terry Ryan, who came from a scouting background. Under Falvey’s leadership, the Twins have made the playoffs in four out of eight seasons, including breaking the infamous playoff losing streak in 2023.
By promoting Falvey, the Twins are doubling down on him to run the entire operation. It’s been a chaotic time at Target Field since their playoff success in 2023. Minnesota collapsed down the stretch and missed the postseason, and many of their young stars regressed. Ownership cut payroll by $35 million last offseason.
As a result, fan morale plummeted. Last year, 1.95 million fans showed up at the ballpark, their lowest total in over 20 seasons, not counting any COVID and labor-strike seasons. The Twins ended their ill-fated television deal and will stream games on MLB.tv for the foreseeable future. In this environment, Falvey must fix the team’s issues on and off the field.
The organization thinks highly of its highest-ranking baseball operations employee. According to The Athletic, the Twins have had the move to make Falvey St. Peter’s successor in the works for a while. Falvey would sit in on meetings and other activities to get familiar with the franchise’s business side. Falvey will take over St. Peter’s responsibilities in early 2025.
St. Peter’s tenure was likely coming to a close soon, but there was a chance that St. Peter would still be the team president for 2025 if the Pohlads weren’t selling the franchise. Another way to look at the announcement is that the Twins are streamlining their leadership structure for a potential buyer. It would show that the team has a young face leading the business end of the franchise who can help them with the transition.
It could also make it easier for a new owner to assess leadership if the same person leads the business and the baseball operations. However, that’s a positive and negative for Falvey. His promotion gives him an incredible amount of power in the building. However, it may be for a limited time, depending on whether ownership wants him to remain in a hybrid baseball and business role. Still, the new position is an opportunity for Falvey to build a resume of the business operations before new ownership comes in and makes any decisions.
The Twins also named assistant GM Jeremy Zoll their next general manager. That title has lost some weight since Ryan was the team’s GM and highest-ranking baseball operations member. Until he mutually parted the organization this offseason, Thad Levine had been Minnesota’s general manager and Falvey’s second in command.
Zoll’s role will be fascinating to monitor with the new title after running a Twins farm system from 2018-19. Is this just a title swap, or will he have more formal power in the organization? He will have more on-the-ground duties than Levine because Falvey must spend time on the business side. The Twins have said his role on a day-to-day basis is still being determined, with more hires in the front office still to come.
Zoll helped negotiate some of Minnesota’s recent trades, including acquiring Sonny Gray from the Cincinnati Reds and dealing Jorge Polanco to the Seattle Mariners. He was also involved in identifying minor league free agents.
The Twins must continue successfully negotiating trades and minor league free agency because they will keep payroll at $130 million for the 2025 season. Finding undervalued players in minor league free agency and trades to improve the club or clear salary has to be priority No. 1 for baseball operations this winter.
Before becoming assistant GM in 2019, Zoll was previously Minnesoeta’s farm director during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Elevating someone emphasizing player development like Zoll will be important for the 2025 season. Royce Lewis (.747 OPS), Brooks Lee (.585 OPS), and José Miranda (.736) have shown promise but also regressed at the end of last season. They must solidify themselves as members of Minnesota’s core. With MLB Pipeline top-100 prospects like Walker Jenkins (No. 2 in MLB), Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 29), and Luke Keaschall (No. 63), their development will be crucial for the Twins long-term success.
Time will tell how much of a presence Zoll will have in the new-look Twins front office. Still, Falvey will be the final decision-maker regarding any roster move. Zoll has been with Falvey since 2018, when the Twins started revamping the front office. Even if Zoll sees an increase in influence, this is Falvey’s organization. The Twins are giving him the keys to lead this team into 2025 through a potential ownership change.
The last six weeks have been a whirlwind for the Minnesota Twins. They’ve shuffled the coaching staff to a potential ownership sale and much more. Adding to the mix is St. Peter’s exit from the organization’s leadership, and Falvey is filling that void. In an era of uncertainty in Twins Territory with the future of the team, its payroll, or its TV situation, the club is doubling down in their belief that Falvey and his regime can be the ones to lead them into a new era of Twins baseball.
