The Minnesota Twins and President of Baseball and Business Operations Derek Falvey “mutually parted ways” on Friday, and the decision has drawn a mixed reaction.
On the one hand, Falvey’s departure is another sign of the Pohlad family’s ineptitude. After slashing payroll, they’re cutting back on front-office spending and getting more involved in the day-to-day business, tightening their grip like a boa constrictor until Falvey finally had enough.
On the other hand, Falvey’s departure could be seen as a positive sign at the end of a tenure marred by poor free-agent decisions, prospects who hit a wall in the major leagues, and enough word salad to feed a small army.
It’s understandable if fans aren’t sad to see Falvey go. But it’s also interesting to wonder what would have happened if the 2020 season had gone as planned.
Many Twins fans have lamented that the franchise didn’t capitalize on the momentum of the 2023 season. Still, it was an unforced error compared to what happened in the build-up to the 2020 season.
To understand, we have to go back to the end of 2019. The team known as “The Bomba Squad” grabbed the attention of fans. While they didn’t win a playoff game, they had momentum with a team that won 101 games and set the major league record with 307 home runs.
Jorge Polanco, Miguel Sanó, Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, and Max Kepler were all in their mid-20s. Nelson Cruz provided a jolt of electricity, smashing 41 homers at age 38. Luis Arráez earned Rookie of the Year votes, and José Berríos was starting to look like an ace.
The championship window for this core was starting to open. Falvey acted accordingly, signing Josh Donaldson to a four-year, $92 million contract that was the largest free-agent deal in franchise history and swinging a trade to acquire Kenta Maeda from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Twins made some minor moves from there, adding Rich Hill and Homer Bailey for rotation depth and Tyler Clippard to shore up the bullpen. The moves made Minnesota not only a favorite to repeat as division champions but also a contender for one of the best teams in the American League, and there was a genuine buzz among fans.
Then, two weeks before the start of the season, the COVID pandemic hit.
Like the rest of the world, the Twins stood still as league executives sorted out the details of a shortened season. In the end, they played a 60-game season rather than the traditional 162-game slate.
Life wasn’t all that bad for the Twins that year. Maeda was the runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award, going 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 11 starts. Minnesota also won the division for the second straight season. But like many teams, the shortened season eliminated any grace for missteps along the way.
Several players had down years coming off the 2019 campaign, but some of it could be chalked up to a short season. Players typically ride highs and lows during a normal season, which balances out their stats. However, in a two-month sample size, players like Mitch Garver (.167/.247/.264, 2 HR, 5 RBI) and Polanco (.258/.304/.354, 4 HR, 19 RBI) stumbled out of the gate and never recovered.
Injuries also became a major theme. Bailey, Hill, and Jake Odorizzi all dealt with injuries on the mound. Donaldson and Buxton also suffered injuries that knocked them out of the lineup and prevented them from playing in a Wild Card series with the Houston Astros.
What would have been a series played around Memorial Day was being played in October, and the Twins couldn’t shake the rust off in a two-game sweep. MLB also hadn’t adopted the current playoff format until 2022, meaning the Twins wouldn’t have played this series if the 2020 season gone as planned.
There were more issues off the field. The minor league season was scrapped due to the pandemic, robbing top prospects, including Alex Kirilloff and Royce Lewis, of development time.
MLB also played the games without fans due to safety concerns. With no one coming through the gates, the Twins weren’t able to capitalize financially on the excitement the 2019 season created, helping the Pohlads accumulate over $500 million in debt over the past few years.
Nobody wants to talk about payroll. But the extra money they could have earned in 2020 might have prevented the post-2023 season slash and given Falvey the resources to capitalize on that group.
These are all factors to consider when evaluating the 2020 season and its impact on Falvey’s tenure. If the stands are full, the prospects get an extra year to develop, and the Twins aren’t in a 60-game sprint, there’s a good chance the team has a brighter future. Another division championship and a run to the ALCS or World Series raises the spirits of the fan base, and Falvey’s plan begins to hit another gear.
Of course, Falvey had his share of mistakes. Alex Colomé almost single-handedly wrecked the Twins in 2021. A year later, they coughed up future All-Star Brent Rooker in the Chris Paddack trade. Things came together during the 2023 season. However, the clubhouse was mercurial, putting together stretches of great baseball followed by mind-numbing collapses in 2024 and 2025.
The early returns of last summer’s fire sale haven’t been promising, and it would have been interesting to see where the Twins would have gone if Falvey stayed through the upcoming season. But The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman noted that “one-high ranking team official in a different MLB front office suggested…that Falvey would be ‘back in the big seat somewhere’ as soon as next season.”
It’s hard for Twins fans to sort through that as his tenure ended with the team missing the playoffs in four of the past five seasons. But if the 2020 season goes differently, fans could have felt another way about his sudden departure.
