Minnesota Twins: Why extending Derek Falvey is the right move

The Minnesota Twins are reportedly finalizing an extension with their Chief Baseball Officer after making the playoffs in two of the past three seasons.

The Minnesota Twins have already been hard at work this offseason just two days after their dream season came to a disappointing finish. After reports surfaced that the Twins would be keeping Nelson Cruz by exercising his 2020 option, another report from ESPN’s Buster Olney dropped the news that the Twins are also working on an extension for Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey.

According to Olney, the news makes sense to keep Falvey around not only considering his success with the Twins, who won 101 games last season but also because of the threat of the opening in the Boston Red Sox front office after the firing of Dave Dombrowski last month.

The news of Dombrowski’s firing is setting off a wave of extensions for front office personnel across Major League Baseball at the moment as Olney noted that Arizona General Manager Mike Hazen received an extension after rumors persisted he could be leaving to head to the Northeast. While nothing had perked up, Olney noted that the Red Sox job also could appear attractive for Falvey.

“Falvey would be a natural candidate for the Red Sox, given the respect for him in the game and his Massachusetts roots,” Olney said of the Lynn, Mass. native. “But Falvey is highly valued by the Twins’ leadership, and for good reason: Minnesota not only as made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, but Falvey and general manager Thad Levine have built what is considered by peers to be an increasingly effective baseball operations department.”

Some Twins fans would be quick to point out Falvey’s mismanagement of the trade deadline where the Twins only came away with Sergio Romo and Sam Dyson (who only threw 11 1/3 innings thanks to a severe shoulder injury) while failing to upgrade the starting rotation. Even with that, Falvey’s body of work seems to suggest it’s a smart move.

Since joining the Twins following the 2016 season, Falvey has revamped the Twins farm system and has brought in solid talent in return for their pieces such as Devin Smeltzer (from the Brian Dozier trade in 2018) and Jhoan Duran (Eduardo Escobar in 2018).

Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine have also added their own talent drafting top prospects Royce Lewis, Trevor Larnach and Brent Rooker to add to a core that already had Alex Kirilloff. To add to his credit, he also hired Rocco Baldelli as manager last year, who helped transform the culture in the clubhouse.

The Twins ending to the 2019 season was a disappointment, but with Falvey likely here for the long haul, things should continue to get better over the next couple seasons.