Days before spring training is supposed to begin — as noted by many across social media — the Twins have shockingly announced that the club and chief of baseball operations Derek Falvey, who was hired in 2016, have decided to go their separate ways.
None of this is good, of course. This is the kind of move a team makes immediately after a season ends, not before a new one begins, which suggests there was a clear and recent difference of opinion between the Pohlad family and Falvey about what was best for the Twins.
But what was that dividing line?
I think it’s fair and obvious to say that ownership didn’t come to Falvey wanting to spend gobs and gobs of money to make the team better, because if that were the case, why would he leave? What baseball executive wouldn’t want that?
I’m almost certain it has to do with the opposite scenario — that ownership is still more interested in cutting payroll than adding to it, and one wonders if recent agreements to retain pitcher Joe Ryan, sign catcher Victor Caratini and first baseman Josh Bell, were a bridge too far?
But unless Falvey acted unilaterally, which seems unlikely (he’s not spending his money, of course), how could ownership find fault with those deals? Ryan is set to earn roughly $6 million, Bell $7 million and Caratini $14 million over two seasons, all of which are pretty modest salaries in the grand scheme of major league baseball salaries (see the Los Angeles Dodgers).
So, again, what was the key difference of opinion between the owners and Falvey? Perhaps it’s some existing salaries the Pohlads would like to say goodbye to.
For example, Pablo Lopez is set to earn $21.75 million this season, while Byron Buxton is set to earn $15 million in base salary, but he also has the potential to earn an additional $11 million in performance and bonus awards, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
You want to move on from Lopez? Fine, go ahead. But don’t trade Buxton. Like Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek and Brad Radke, Buck has proven his value to the Twins and deserves to end his career in Minnesota. Fans won’t miss Lopez, but they will certainly remember the day that Buxton was traded.
Extra innings…
–The Twins have also said goodbye to infielder Eddie Julien, who was traded with pitcher Pierson Ohl to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for minor league pitcher Jace Kaminska.
Julien made quite the splash for the Twins in his rookie season of 2023. He slashed .263/.381/.459 with 16 home runs and 64 walks, good enough to pick up a few Rookie of the Year votes.
But Julien, at least in Minnesota, didn’t adjust to pitchers as they adjusted to him and his hitting numbers fell across the board, quickly becoming better known for the strikeout. In his three seasons for the Twins, Eddie struck out around 32 percent of the time, about 10 percent higher than the MLB average.