Since Derek Falvey became chief baseball officer in 2017, the Twins have been to the playoffs four times, including this season. And other organizations notice such things.
It’s not surprising that teams have reached out to hire Twins personnel in recent years, and again this week. The Red Sox called Minneapolis at least once in recent days to see if Falvey and/or Twins General Manager Thad Levine wanted to talk about running their baseball operation.
Teams that have any kind of success without being one of baseball’s big spenders are going to draw attention from other clubs. You can chirp all you want about the Twins mastering an American League Central division that wasn’t strong. Someone must win the division. It’s not the Twins’ fault that the Guardians, Tigers, White Sox and Royals are worse.
Why would a Twins boss be an attractive hire for Boston? Falvey’s arrival brought on the buildup of the Twins’ baseball operations department, the embracing of analytics, higher investments in player conditioning and better collaboration between scouting and development. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, but the team is fresh off winning a postseason series and looking primed to be competitive over the next few years. Part of the reason is the long-awaited unleashing of Royce Lewis, who was their first pick under Falvey and scouting director Sean Johnson. The arrow is pointing up.
There’s always been interest in staff members during Falvey’s tenure. Jeff Pickler left after 2018 and is a coach with Cincinnati. Tanner Swanson, Jeremy Hefner and James Rowson all left following the 2019 season. Pete Fatse, currently a Red Sox hitting coach, was a minor league hitting coach for the Twins. And Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton was the Twins bench coach in 2019.
It used to be that if you were liked by the Pohlad family and former GM Terry Ryan, you were a Twin for life. Times have changed.
The Massachusetts-born Falvey was offered a chance to interview to replace Chaim Bloom, Boston’s chief baseball officer for four years before being fired in September. Falvey declined the opportunity to leave one big chair for the other. That happens. Some don’t want to move their families and uplift their children from schools. Some are simply happy where they are.
The Red Sox, who have had to expand their search when other executives rejected their overtures, turned to the Twins’ No. 2: Levine. This is not the first time a club expressed an interest in the popular and loquacious Levine. He has turned down interviews with the Phillies and the Mets in recent years, and there might have been interest from elsewhere.
In the past, family considerations have influenced his decisions, as well as a fondness for Minnesota. But situations change, and Levine might want to run his own shop now.
This is a reflection of Levine’s reputation going back to his days with the Rangers, as well as a reflection of how other organizations view the Twins. Everyone blows a draft pick, makes a head-scratching trade or signs a free agent they regret. The Twins are no different, but they have done some things right to get to this point. Aside from that pesky issue of returning to the World Series, the Twins have had recent success, and the future is encouraging with the developing players they have on the roster.
If your employees aren’t being approached by other organizations, you are doing something wrong.