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Latest On The Red Sox’s General Manager Search

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After firing chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, the Red Sox have seen their search for their next head of baseball operations face plenty of roadblocks, with Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, former Marlins president Michael Hill and former Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels among those to have previously been rumored as a potential candidate who have subsequently declined to interview (or, in the case of Hazen, signed an extension in Arizona).

The Athletic’s Chad Jennings adds another trio of potential candidates for the role who have declined an interview, noting that each of Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, Phillies GM Sam Fuld, and Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes have all declined to interview for the position. Fuld and Gomes had both previously been floated as potential candidates, though this is the first time Falvey’s name has come up regarding Boston’s baseball ops vacancy.

That said, it appears that Boston has a number of other potential candidates available. As previously noted, assistant GM Eddie Romero has interviewed for the role, with Jennings noting him as the favorite among potential internal candidates. Plenty of external candidates appear to be under consideration though, with Jennings noting that former Astros GM James Click remains in the mix after being previously reported as a potential option earlier this month. Meanwhile, WEEI’s Rob Bradford indicates that both former Pirates GM Neal Huntington and current Twins GM Thad Levine about the role, with Jon Heyman of the New York Post adding that Levine is expected to interview for the job. Meanwhile, Joel Sherman of the New York Post puts forth Cubs assistant GM Craig Breslow as a potential option.

The wide array of candidates still on the table speaks to Boston’s willingness to consider a number of potential options for the role. Romero, Levine and Breslow all have not yet controlled the helm of a baseball operations department during their careers, though that’s hardly a surprise after team president Sam Kennedy indicated that previous experience as the head of a baseball operations department was not a necessary quality for the club’s next GM. That hasn’t stopped the club from considering more experienced candidates, of course. Several known candidates remaining have considerable experience at the helm of a baseball operations department. Click led the Astros to ALCS appearances in 2020 and 2021 before winning the World Series in 2023, while Huntington helmed the Pirates from 2007 to 2019. Click is currently a special assistant with the Blue Jays, while Huntington currently works in the Guardians front office.

Another experienced potential candidate, of course, is former Marlins GM Kim Ng, who parted ways with Miami earlier today after leading the Marlins to their first full-season playoff berth since 2003 this season. While Ng has been floated as a potential candidate throughout the process, though Jennings notes that it’s currently unclear if the Red Sox plan to pursue Ng at this point.

MLBTR Poll: Is It Time For The Twins To Sell?

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After a disappointing 17-29 start to the season, the Twins aren’t decided sellers, but they might not be far off, writes MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Said GM Thad Levine, “We still believe in the team. We think it’s very talented, but we’re getting close to an inflection point where we’re going to need to see some more sustained momentum, as we believe we’re in a very competitive division, let alone league.” That sounds like a front office that’s readying to make the most of a bad situation.

The Twins are tied with the Orioles for the worst record in the American League after 46 games, roughly 28 percent of the way through the season. As of today, they sit 9.5 games behind the White Sox for the AL Central lead. They are 11 games out of a wild card spot. Only the Orioles and Tigers seem like definite sellers at this point in the AL, joined by the Pirates, Rockies, and Diamondbacks from the National League. The Twins could try to get a jump on the trade market and move some veterans while there’s still a large pool of potential buyers.

For context, on this date two years ago, the Nationals famously entered play at 19-31, 10 games behind the Phillies for the division lead, 8.5 games out of a wild card spot. So while there’s definitely precedent for turning it around at this stage of the game, it took a historic .661 win percentage the rest of the way to pull the Nats to 93 wins. The Twins will soon have to decide if they think this unit is capable of that kind of run.

They’re looking up at a crowded field in the American League where the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, White Sox, Astros, Blue Jays, A’s, and Indians look like contenders and the Royals, Rangers, Angels, and Mariners can make arguments in their favor. If the Twins decide to lean into a lost season, they certainly have some veterans on hand who could be helpful to contending teams. Nelson Cruz and his 138 wRC+ could certainly find a home, as might other veterans on short-term deals like Andrelton Simmons, Michael Pineda, Hansel Robles, J.A. Happ, or even Alex Colome.

More broadly, Miguel Sano could be shopped to a team needing power. Even someone like Max Kepler might fetch a juicy return given his team-friendly deal. The Twins have no need to move Kepler, but with young players like Trevor Larnach and Alex Kirilloff on hand, he might be someone a savvy team looking for outfield help might ask after.

The biggest fish would be Jose Berrios, Taylor Rogers, or Byron Buxton, all of whom have just one season left of arbitration before free agency. Moving any of the three would be a difficult call on the Twins’ part, however, considering the damage that kind of deal might do to their ability to contend in 2022. All that said, prospects are the currency of the game, and a strong development pool is the surest way to build a consistent winner.

The Twins are weighing their options, but let’s make this easy on them. Is it time to sell?

(Poll link for app users)

Should The Twins Sell?
Yes 68.06% (4,919 votes)
No 31.94% (2,308 votes)
Total Votes: 7,227

Latest On Rockies’ GM Position

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For the first time since 2014, the Rockies are in the market for a new general manager. Jeff Bridich spent the past six-plus years as the Rockies’ GM, but he and the team went their separate ways Monday. Colorado will appoint an interim GM for the rest of the 2021 campaign – likely scouting director Bill Schmidt or assistant GM Zack Rosenthal, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports – and then hire a permanent replacement for Bridich after the season.

Although Bridich has only been out of a job for a few hours, a potential successor from outside the organization has already emerged. Twins GM Thad Levine is “[t]he leading candidate” for the opening in Colorado, Nightengale writes. There’s familiarity between the Rockies and the 49-year-old Levine, who worked in their front office in various roles – including senior director of baseball operations – from 1999-2005. He then left to become the Rangers’ assistant GM, but not before earning the respect of Rockies owner Dick Monfort, according to Nightengale.

Along with president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, Levine has helped lead a turnaround in Minnesota since his hiring after the 2016 season. The Twins, then coming off a 59-win season, have gone to the playoffs three times and won two American League Central titles during the Falvey-Levine reign. As a result of the positive on-field results, Levine has garnered interest from other organizations during his time with the Twins. The Mets wanted to interview Levine for their GM job back in 2018, and he was a legitimate candidate to take over the Phillies’ front office this past offseason. Levine backed out of the running for that post, which ultimately went to Dave Dombrowski.

It’s not known whether Levine would have interest in leaving Minnesota for Colorado. Levine is currently under contract with the Twins through 2024 on the extension he signed in 2019.

Twins GM Thad Levine Discusses Offseason

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Twins general manager Thad Levine provided some general updates on his team’s winter plans during a podcast interview with SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson (audio link).  With J.A. Happ signed to the rotation earlier this week, more additions could still be in the offing, since Levine feels “we’re starting to see things really de-congest” in the free agent market.

“We’re not done.  We still have some flexibility, we’re still having ongoing conversations, we still see many ways we can improve this team both from a qualitative standpoint and from a depth standpoint,” Levine said.

As you might expect, Levine declined to get into detail about many names, but did note that the Twins are “staying in touch” with reliever Tyler Clippard and “are in constant conversation” with Nelson Cruz’s representatives.  Interestingly, Wolfson opened the pre-interview portion of the podcast by noting that talks have been “pretty dead” between Cruz and the Twins, and it has been some time since the club presented Cruz with an offer.  As Wolfson puts it, however, “all it takes is one new call” to reignite talks, as both sides are pretty familiar with each other’s positions.  As has been the case all offseason, Cruz’s situation might not be resolved until there is firmer clarity on whether or not the National League will use the DH in 2021.

In terms of specific needs, the Twins are always interested in more arms (“If in doubt, add more pitching,” Levine said), particularly as pitchers re-adjust to throwing more innings in the wake of the abbreviated 2020 season.  Beyond pitchers, Levine is open to all possibilities on the position-player front, due to Minnesota’s versatile roster.

“When we look at the free agent market, we do not feel limited in terms of bats that we can go recruit….We do have such amazing flexibility within our team [that] you could almost recruit a player at about any position on the field and still make it work,” the GM said.

The Twins are also exploring options on the trade market, and Levine said that technically, there aren’t any so-called untouchable players on the roster — as a general principle, the organization has to be open to anything should an opportunity arise, but obviously the Twins are “less inclined” to shop or discuss certain top-tier players and prospects.  Levine also added that the Twins had received trade interest in “over 30 distinct players” within the organization over the last year, which the general manager considered a positive endorsement of Minnesota’s talent depth at both the Major League and minor league levels.

NL East Notes: Scherzer, Dombrowski, Realmuto, Braves

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While Nationals ace Max Scherzer is taking a “year by year” approach as he nears his 14th Major League season, Scherzer isn’t eyeing retirement any time soon.  “I still love everything it takes to go out there and pitch at a high level. Still love pitching as much as I ever have.  I don’t feel like I’m slowing down whatsoever and I want to continue to have as long a career as possible,” Scherzer tells NBC Sports Washington’s Todd Dybas.

Whether Scherzer’s baseball future is in the District or elsewhere has yet to be determined, as Scherzer is entering the final year of his contract.  Nationals GM Mike Rizzo recently stated that there hadn’t yet been any extension talks with the right-hander, and Scherzer also said he hasn’t heard anything about negotiations.  Obviously, there’s plenty of time before the season for the two sides to discuss continuing what has thus far been an incredibly successful relationship, though Scherzer still sees 2021 as more unfinished business.  “I still have another year left to really try and execute this contract,” Scherzer said.  “That’s just kind of how I try to work.  I’m not going to sit here and try to reflect upon six years when I’ve still got a year left.”

More from around the NL East…

  • The Phillies’ hiring of Dave Dombrowski as their new president of baseball operations caught many around in the sport by surprise, including Dombrowski himself on some level.  As Jayson Stark of The Athletic (subscription required) writes in his chronicle of Philadelphia’s front office search, “In a little more than 30 hours, Dave Dombrowski had gone from ’sorry’ to ’when do I start?’ And he’d never seen it coming.”  Stark’s piece details the many ins and outs of the Phillies’ search, which a close but ultimately fruitless courtship of Twins GM Thad Levine, and Dombrowski himself twice rejecting the team’s overtures to focus on his position as part of a group attempting to bring an MLB franchise to Nashville.  After Dombrowski learned that MLB was unlikely to either expand or relocate a team any time soon, he gave renewed consideration to the Phillies’ pitch and a deal came together quite quickly.
  • On paper, “the match seemed perfect” between J.T. Realmuto and the Mets to line up on a free agent deal, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes.  However, “the Mets wanted to move more quickly than Realmuto,” so New York pivoted away from Realmuto to sign the next-best catcher on the market in James McCann.  Time will tell if either side might have erred, whether it was the Mets by being too aggressive or Realmuto by not being aggressive enough.
  • The Braves officially announced their 2021 coaching staff, including the additions of Bobby Magallanes as a second assistant hitting coach and the hiring of Drew French as the new bullpen coach.  Magallanes has been with Atlanta’s organization for the last two seasons, first working as a hitting coach at the Triple-A level in 2019 and then as an assistant hitting instructor in 2020, which already included a lot of work with the MLB roster.  French has spent the past five seasons with the Astros, working in such roles as Triple-A pitching coach in 2019 and instructing at Houston’s alternate training site last season.

Latest On Phillies’ Front Office Search

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DEC. 8: Byrnes has decided to stay with the Dodgers, Jayson Stark of The Athletic tweets. Hill is among those still in the running.

DEC. 4, 10:02pm: Levine is no longer a candidate for the Philadelphia job, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. He’s content to stay in Minnesota.

3:56pm: The Twins have given the Phillies permission to interview Levine, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets.

10:12am: It’s been two months since Matt Klentak stepped down as the Phillies’ general manager, but there’s still no resolution to the team’s front-office search. A group of potential candidates is coming more clearly into focus, however, as NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury reports that Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes and former Marlins president of baseball ops Michael Hill are in line for second interviews. Additionally, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports (via Twitter) that Twins general manager Thad Levine is a “significant” candidate for the Phillies.

Per Salisbury, the Phils aren’t seeking a general manager but are instead focused on hiring an executive who could assume the president of baseball operations role in their organization, then hire a GM of his own. By that criteria, each of Byrnes, Hill and Levine fit the bill. Byrnes, in addition to his current role with the Dodgers, is a former general manager of both the Padres and Diamondbacks. Hill, of course, held the president of baseball ops title in Miami.

Levine was an assistant GM with the Rangers before being hired by the Twins as general manager back in 2016. He’s currently No. 2 on Minnesota’s hierarchy behind president of baseball ops Derek Falvey, so if the Twins indeed allow Levine to interview (or have already allowed him to do so), he could be hired away given that the president role in Philadelphia would be a promotion. Of at least minor note, Levine is a Virginia native who played college ball at Haverford College — about 25 miles from Citizens Bank Park. Of course, that was more than 25 years ago, so those local ties may be little more than anecdotal at this point.

There’s still no clear timeline as to when the Phillies might finalize a decision — nor is it even certain that they’ll make a hire this winter at all. Assistant general manager Ned Rice was elevated to GM status on an interim basis while the team conducted its search, and Phillies president Andy MacPhail suggested more than a month ago that Rice could very well hold that title into 2021 if the team doesn’t find a candidate to its liking.

Twins Targeted Wheeler, Bumgarner, Ryu Before Winning Donaldson Sweepstakes

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Before the holidays, the Twins offered Josh Donaldson a four-year, $84MM contract that would have made him the second-highest paid player in team history after Joe Mauer, writes Phil Miller in a profile well worth a read from the Star Tribune. Another interesting tidbit from Miller confirmed that Zack Wheeler had been the Twins’ primary target at the outset of the offseason, shifting only to Donaldson after missing out on Madison Bumgarner and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Donaldson offered a potent bat, of course, but the ability to improve their infield defense at third (and by effect, their pitching) also keyed the Twins on the Bringer of Rain. 

Donaldson and his agent Dan Lozano fielded recruitment efforts from all corners of the Minnesota Twins extended universe before committing, from Miguel Sano over video eagerly offering to accommodate Donaldson by changing positions, to a former tennis professional and friend of Donaldson’s who happens to be a Twins fan, to the substantial recruitment effort put in ink by Twins’ ownership when they offered him a four-year, $92MM contract. The fifth year, $16MM team option helped push the deal over the edge, especially once the Twins’ agreed to set the buyout amount at $8MM. If the option is picked up, the deal becomes a five-year, $100MM pact.

Some of the heaviest lifting was done in a meeting between Donaldson, Lozano, Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli, General Manager Thad Levine and Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey. Baldelli sold Donaldson on clubhouse culture and his plans for deploying Donaldson. The front office put together metrics on their 2019 success and profiled some of the talent on its way to Minneapolis from the minor leagues, establishing a belief that the Twins will remain in contention throughout Donaldson’s tenure.  

Misinformation persisted in the media throughout, with Lozano suspected of leaking the $110MM asking price in the hopes of a team with deep pockets (like the Dodgers) matching the number. It worked, in a way, as the Twins realized Donaldson must not have had the offer he wanted, so they set out with renewed enthusiasm (and more money). Obviously, $100MM turned out to be the magic number.

Twins To Extend Derek Falvey, Thad Levine

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3:48pm: In addition to the extension, Falvey’s title has been updated to president of baseball operations, Hayes tweets. Falvey was already the top decision-maker in the organization, but the nomenclature of his previous title, “chief baseball officer,” was rather atypical. This more closely aligns with industry norms and marks a clearer definition of his status both within the Twins organization and in relation to other executives throughout the league.

2:08pm: The Twins have agreed to contract extensions with the top two members of their baseball operations department, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine are set to sign new deals that’ll keep them in the organization through the 2024 season. Both were already under contract through 2021. The news comes less than a week after the organization announced another series of front office promotions.

It’s now been three years since Falvey was brought in to take over Minnesota’s baseball operations department and quickly hired Levine to serve as his top lieutenant. The Twins’ new-look front office duo made some small-scale changes in the 2016-17 offseason, and the 2017 Twins exceeded expectations with a surprise Wild Card berth. The 2018 campaign was a disaster that led to an overhaul of the coaching staff and a series of new additions on one- and two-year deals in the 2018-19 offseason.

The Twins, under Falvey and Levine, hired eventual Manager of the Year Rocco Baldelli to replace Paul Molitor last winter before signing Nelson Cruz, Marwin Gonzalez and Jonathan Schoop, claiming C.J. Cron off waivers and extending potential cornerstones Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco. Short-term deals for Martin Perez and Blake Parker proved less fruitful, but the majority of Minnesota’s moves paid off in spades as the Twins spent the bulk of the season in first place and ultimately won the American League Central by a margin of eight games.

The 2019-20 offseason will now bring increased pressure for the team to make impactful additions with an eye toward finally breaking through a near-unthinkable run of postseason futility over the past 15 years. Pitching will be of particular importance, as Jose Berrios is the only rotation member who is under team control; Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Kyle Gibson and the aforementioned Perez are all free agents. Minnesota’s front office duo spoke last winter of being aggressive once it becomes clear that the team’s window is open, and they’ve already stated that they intend to pursue “impact” pitching this offseason. With extremely minimal payroll commitments on the books in 2020 and 2021 and a fairly modest arbitration class, the Twins are currently more than $50MM south of their club-record payroll (set in 2018), so they certainly have the resources to make good on those intentions.

Central Notes: Twins, Reds, Senzel, Tigers

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Before hiring Rocco Baldelli as the 31st manager in franchise history  (just the fourth in the last 33 years), the Twins had him vetted by a pair of professional contemporaries currently serving Minnesota’s baseball ops department as special assistants: LaTroy Hawkins and Torii Hunter, per The Athletic’s Andy McCullough. Not long after Baldelli’s hire, he faced a similar grilling from another pair of special assistants: Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer. The quartet of Twins’ legends do more than serve as protective older brother types for Senior Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine – they’re active in a variety of capacities, from analytics, to hiring, to hands-on engagement with players at all levels of the Minnesota system. Levine said this of their veteran cabinet, “We haven’t acquired a single player at the major-league level without asking them to do makeup work on them.”  Subscribers to The Athletic should read this piece in full for a fascinating peak into the machinations of the Twins organization. While you do that, we’ll see what else is happening in the Midwest…

  • The Reds don’t expect Nick Senzel’s torn labrum to affect his defensive placement moving forward, per MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. Said Manager David Bell, “He’s so young that hopefully his shoulder — he gets through this and that won’t be a factor at all on what position he plays. I’m expecting a full recovery.” The organization was impressed with how quickly Senzel made camp in center, enough to let his future defensive home remain a dependent variable. Without a clear-cut alternative in center, however, Senzel’s likely to stay put in the near-term. There’s questions in the infield, too, where a handful of options speckle the 2020 landscape, though none of Freddy Galvis, Jose Peraza, Josh VanMeter, or Derek Dietrich have a firm hold on starter’s minutes. 
  • Tigers President and CEO Christopher Ilitch spoke with reporters yesterday about the direction of the franchise, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. Generally speaking, Ilitch didn’t provide any groundbreaking news. He appeared content with the speed of Detroit’s rebuild while focusing on continued progress as the organization’s only present mandate. Of course, he couldn’t say much to praise the Tigers’ current performance level without seeming disingenuous, and there would be little point in publicly denigrating a team that could well be on its way to a second top overall pick in three years. The primary takeaway seems to be an overall lack of urgency at the big league level – good news for prospect truthers, frustrating for those with hopes of seeing a competitive on-field product at Comerica Park in 2020. It seems there will be at least one more season of slow-and-steady as they continue to flesh out an increasingly well-regarded farm system.

Twins GM Predicts Busy August Waiver Period

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Baseball’s single trade deadline has passed, but there may yet be player movement on the horizon. Minnesota Twins GM Thad Levine even expects a head-spinner or two in August. With outright waiver claims still on the table, as well as other means of player acquisition, time remains for contenders to add personnel before the August 31 playoff eligibility deadline.

Said Levine on MLB Network Radio, “There will be a few players that change hands between now and the end of August that will leave some fans scratching their head that they were available just on an outright waiver claim.”

Presumably, Levine isn’t talking about the likes of Jonathan Lucroy, Tyler Austin, and Jung Ho Kang, some of the season’s earliest DFA casualties. A couple of intriguing names have hit the market – Brad Brach should catch on somewhere, Tony Sipp has a 2.76 ERA since April 15 – but Levine certainly suggests a sexier brand of ballplayer could find new homes in August.

Even before August trade prohibition there was the occasional outright claim of a large veteran contract. The White Sox claiming of Alex Rios in 2009 is an oft-cited example of this kind of roster action. Chicago was three games behind the Tigers in the AL Central when they relieved the Blue Jays of the five years, $60MM left on Rios’ deal. The Southsiders went just 22-27 from the date of the trade, falling to third place in finishing 79-83. To their credit, Rios did sandwich two productive seasons around a clunker in 2011 before the Sox would move him again in a trade with the Rangers.

Levine’s speculation here comes in part as a response to some disappointment in the new format. For the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who described this year’s deadline by saying “the life is getting sucked out of the sport,” further August action will be welcome. Writes Rosenthal, “The Astros and Diamondbacks rescued what otherwise might have been The Worst Deadline Day Ever on Wednesday, completing the Zack Greinke blockbuster with just moments to spare before 4 p.m. ET.” 

Of course, the single deadline figured to drive more last minute action, so discounting the most impactful moments would certainly temper the results. Fangraphs’ Ben Clemens measured Wednesday as one of the busiest deadline days ever, though the flurry of activity was driven in part by the slow month that preceded it.

Pinpointing waiver claim candidates won’t be easy, as obvious candidates are by definition disqualified from Levine’s characterization, but large contracts on non-contenders would be a give good place to start sleuthing. Purely speculating, Wade Davis, Daniel Murphy, Justin Smoak could qualify, while the Blue Jays’ Randal Grichuk would be a near repeat of the Rios claim.  Ultimately, whether Levine proves prescient or bombast likely depends on your level of excitement over “head-scratchers.”

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