Five Things the New Minnesota Twins GM Needs To Do
Once hired, there are five things the new Minnesota Twins general manager must take care of.
The Minnesota Twins officially announced the hiring of Derek Falvey on Monday. He will become the Executive Vice President and Chief Baseball Officer.
Falvey, 33, will be one of the youngest executives in baseball. He is working for the Cleveland Indians as the assistant general manager.
After the Indians are eliminated from the playoffs, he will start working for the Twins.
Falvey enters a franchise in need of a new perspective. The Twins have gone through too many seasons will dismal baseball. Maybe hiring someone on the younger side is the answer.
Many failures and successes are revealed after going through the past 15 or so years of Twins baseball.
Primarily based on the failures, there are five improvements Falvey can make to the Twins organization. Falvey can reverse specific repetitive actions made by the past Twins front office.
He needs to make the necessary changes to correct certain areas where the Twins have failed in the past.
While he won’t be able to address all of them at once, completing each of the following goals will eventually help the Twins return to its winning ways and beyond.
Next: Have an American League State of Mind
The new general manager needs to treat the Minnesota Twins as an American League team.
Newsflash, the Twins are still in the American League. At least it’s news to the front office as they continue to build the Twins as a National League team.
Management continues to use the designated hitter as a “half off day” for players. It’s time to use the DH properly. It is designed for a great hitter who is insufficient or struggles in the field.
Had Byung Ho Park hit consistently overall, he would be a great DH.
Working on a Twins general manager piece, I started digging into the team's DH stats. Some aren't pretty. Which is a point I'll be making. pic.twitter.com/bwX2jvVWAP
— Martin Schlegel (@mschlegel34) September 28, 2016
Park isn’t the first player to fail as the Twins DH.
In 2008, there was Craig Monroe. He was capable of playing the outfield but was aging and certainly at the end of his career. In 117 at-bats as a DH, Monroe hit four home runs, drove in 19 RBI and slashed a lowly .214/.292/.376.
It gets worse.
In 2006, Rondell White received the most at-bats as a DH (191). He slashed a miserable .199/.220/.283 while hitting two home runs and driving in 18 RBI.
One would think at age 34, White shouldn’t reprise his role next season.
Wrong. Instead of releasing him from the two-year $5 million contract he signed before 2006, he returned as the DH and hit just as bad in 2007.
Other players have underachieved as the DH. Players such as Jose Offerman, Lew Ford, Bobby Kielty, Matt LeCroy in 2004 (worst year statistically as a DH), Jason Tyner, and Mike Redmond. They all had no business serving as the DH.
The last time the Twins had a “real” DH, was Ryan Doumit. Before him came Jim Thome.
A longtime Twins killer, Thome quickly became a fan-favorite for his monster home runs but will forever be remembered for his walk-off home run against the White Sox. It was a move that worked out well for the Twins at the time.
Doumit had his moments with the Twins in 2012, his best year with the team.
Doumit and Thome clearly fit the mold of a typical DH.
If Park adjusts to major league pitching, he could be the future DH. However, Miguel Sano currently suits the role the best. He has struggled to stay healthy in the outfield, and has had multiple fielding issues at third base.
It’ll be up to the new general manager to fill the DH role more effectively. The National League style of Twins baseball needs to end.
Next: Have Patience with the Prospects
The Minnesota Twins new general manager needs to show patience as the prospects develop.
The Twins have had bad luck recently with its top prospects not being major league ready.
It could be due to impatience from the front office. Another possibility is the front office is overrating the prospect’s numbers in the minors. It could even be the front office feeling pressure from the fans.
Regardless of what actually is the case, it’s rather pointless to speculate why certain prospects are skipping Triple-A.
What needs to change, however, is the analysis of the organization’s prospects.
The new general manager needs to remain unbiased and realize when a talented, young player still needs seasoning in minors.
The most recent example of a player brought up too soon is Byron Buxton.
Several Twins observers quickly labeled Buxton a bust, at 22-years-old.
As pointed out by a fellow baseball expert, in an alternate universe Buxton was drafted in the first round of this year’s June amateur draft.
Thankfully, the Twins have a long history of showing patience in its top prospects. Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune compares Buxton’s climb to the majors to past Twins stars. Names like Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau and more.
Baseball observers pay closer attention to the minor leagues compared to 15 years ago. Twins fans would react no differently if Hunter was the present day Buxton.
Thus patience from the front office will be key in developing its players, especially during a time when fans are quick to judge.
Next: Execute Good Trades
Every trade the new Minnesota Twins general manager executes needs to bring more value, not less.
Trading players during a rebuild phase is equally important as a contending team trading at the deadline. Every trade needs to make the team better.
Seems elementary, yet the Twins have executed questionable trades which made the team lousier.
The Johan Santana trade is right up there with the worst in team history. The Twins turned Santana into Carlos Gomez, plus others. Gomez was eventually traded for J.J. Hardy, who the Twins exchanged for Jim Hoey.
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The Twins fumbled on a few other trades too when the team traded Denard Span and Ben Revere for young pitchers.
Trevor May remains the only player on the roster from any of those deals.
Despite the bad trades, the Twins have made some savvy deals that helped the team with multiple division titles.
The trade of A.J. Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants for Boof Bonser, Joe Nathan, and Francisco Liriano set the Twins up with an all-star closer.
The best trade the Twins made recently came last winter when the team traded Chris Herrmann for Daniel Palka.
Palka, 24, hit 34 home runs and drove in 90 RBI between double-A and triple-A this season. Meanwhile Herrmann had a career year with the Arizona Diamondbacks that he likely won’t repeat.
Overall, trades aren’t all that easy to make. In most cases, like the ones previously mentioned, it’s easy to judge them in hindsight than it is when the trades occur.
Falvey and his crew need to make trades that improve the team, not downgrade it.
Next: Use Good Judgement in Free Agency
With a new Minnesota Twins general manager comes a new philosophy on signing free agents.
While Terry Ryan did make some good signings, he also made some awful ones too. The new general manager could learn from Ryan’s mistakes by never repeating them again.
It’s time to layout the new free agent model for the Twins. Stop signing “second chance starting pitchers.”
Most of the terrible signings came within the last few seasons during the team’s rebuilding phase.
While it isn’t fair to expect Cy Young performances out of every pitcher, it is fair to judge them based on the team’s view of them.
In most cases, the front office thought they were getting potentially a No. 1 or 2 starter. At the very least the team was adding a solid No. 3 man in the rotation.
Nearing the end of my Twins GM piece. Hear I dug into free agent pitching stats and total $ spent. No surprise, most aren't good. pic.twitter.com/eKFcmpUexw
— Martin Schlegel (@mschlegel34) September 29, 2016
None of the pitchers lived up to the potential of a No. 1 or 2. The only exception being Phil Hughes in 2014 when he finished seventh in the AL Cy Young Award voting.
Three pitchers posted a winning record. Additionally, only one pitcher registered more than 180 innings pitched.
When the stats are this bad, the fans notice. Certainly the general manager ought to notice.
What is troubling is Ryan’s lack of acceptance with reality. In other words, Ryan previously displayed denial with the facts.
In 2012, after signing Kevin Correia, Ryan said in a CBSSports.com article,
He knows what he’s doing on the mound. He’s a guy we’ve seen quite a bit. When you start cracking his numbers, they’re very respectable.
Correia pitched slightly above league average in 2013 but was mediocre in 2014. He owned a 4.94 ERA in 2014 and won just five games in 23 starts.
In 2015, Ryan spoke highly of bad pitching again. When asked about Mike Pelfrey‘s slow start Ryan said,
He can do better. We expect him to do better. I wasn’t worried about his pace. I was worried about him putting away hitters.
Pelfrey did rebound from horrible to barely league average. He started 30 games, winning six of them. He had a 4.26 ERA with a .304 batting average against. Pelfrey’s numbers that season were the best in his Twins career.
Moving on, last winter Ryan sounded like a man trying to convince himself Ricky Nolasco is a good pitcher.
He told a fan it’s unfair to think Nolasco can’t pitch because of his past injuries.
Before the Twins traded him, Nolasco was having the best season statistically with the Twins. He won four games in 21 starts, the lowest win total in his Twins career. On the flip side, he recorded his lowest ERA with the Twins (5.13).
So much for injuries being the problem.
Don’t even bother wondering why the Twins gave Livan Hernandez 23 starts in 2008, it might hurt to think about.
Clearly, this way of thinking needs to end. No more signing league average starting pitchers and propping them up like born again aces.
The new general manager needs to stop going after the cheaper starting pitcher options in free agency as well.
It’s not easy with the increasing asking price for good pitchers, but at the very least, the new general manager needs to admit when the signings aren’t going to work out.
Next: Take Down the Evil Empire
The new general manager could earn extra praise if the Minnesota Twins defeat the New York Yankees.
It would much appreciated if the new general manager could help the Twins beat the New York Yankees.
Obviously any general manager can’t directly affect their team’s success against any particular team. Unless of course you ask a Boston Red Sox fan after the 2004 playoffs when the Sox broke the team’s long-standing curse against the Yankees.
The goal to beat the Yankees is more of a personal goal than any of the other goals.
Growing up with the Twins in the early 2000s, the arch-enemy was always the Yankees. It was extremely deflating to see Yankees in the first round of the playoffs seemingly every year.
To some, this applies to many other teams the Twins historically don’t play well against.
Regardless, there’s no denying Twins continue to struggle against the Yankees.
Terry Ryan’s first stint as the general manager started in 1994 and ended in 2007.
From the end of the 1994 season to the end of 2007 the Twins owned a 38-67 regular season record against the Yankees. The .362 win-loss percentage is the worst of any team to play the Twins.
When Ryan came back in 2011, the record against the Yankees didn’t get any better. The Twins 13-29 regular season record, or .310 win-loss percentage, is among the worst win-loss percentages against any team.
In total, the Twins are 51-96 against the Yankees in the regular season and 2-12 against the Yankees in the playoffs with Ryan as general manager. Furthermore, the only season series the Twins won against the Yankees was in 2001.
It’s not the most urgent task the general manager should focus, but it would be nice to see the Twins beat the Yankees. Especially, if it came in the playoffs.