On Thursday, Derek Falvey oversaw one of the darkest and most depressing days in the history of the Minnesota Twins. An unprecedented deadline fire sale saw the team part ways with not only a handful of rental players, but also several key fixtures in what was supposed to be their ongoing contention window.
The Twins wiped out their bullpen for years to come, traded Carlos Correa for nothing, and announced to the world that they’ve given up on the blueprint they spent years and years carefully crafting. Not only will Minnesota struggle to field a full major-league roster for the remainder of 2025, but the ’26 club has been kneecapped around Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis, Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan. How many of those four will even still be around next April?
It’s a complete disgrace. On Thursday evening, as the rubble of his demotion settled and smoldered, Falvey stepped up to deliver his version of accountability. He went on a Zoom call with a bunch of reporters, who had no real opportunity to challenge or press him on anything, and spouted off the usual stream of empty corporate-speak.
Given the opportunity by KSTP’s Chris Long to send a message directly to fans who might be dismayed over the dismantling of the team, Falvey gave a rambling and side-stepping response, offering assurances that the Twins will play “fun baseball games” over the next few years. (Woo-hoo!)
In his message, Falvey invoked a couple past examples of deadline “seller” moves that worked out well under his watch, so as to validate the approach being taken now. Trading Eduardo Escobar in 2018 was hard, he said, but it got us Jhoan Duran. Trading Nelson Cruz in 2021 was hard, he said, but it got us Joe Ryan.
Of course, the problem with these examples is that they aren’t comparable to what just occurred. Escobar and Cruz were impending free agents. There was no reason not to trade them if you thought those teams were going nowhere (they weren’t). What happened on Thursday was a thorough gutting of the team’s structural essence. Correa, Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland and Brock Stewart were all under control for multiple more seasons. The club’s most miraculous free-agent signing ever and four of its biggest bullpen development success stories in decades, gone in exchange for coin-flip prospects and James Outman.
Falvey states that he believes in a remaining core led by Buxton, Lewis, Ryan and Lopez. It is, in my opinion, a core worth believing in. But at the same time he fails to address why he stripped down the 2026-27 rosters surrounding those players, disingenuously portraying this as some routine trade deadline operation. It is exactly why people like me have stopped trusting Falvey or having any patience for his tired shtick.
I’m not naive enough to think he’s making all of these decisions singlehandedly. I have little doubt that there was a directive from above to cut future financial commitments aggressively, and his front office went about trying to do what they could under those parameters. But by now, they owe it to the fans to be a little more up-front and honest about that.
“At my core, I’m a fan,” Falvey pandered in his presser on Thursday night. Are ya bud?? Then my question is why he makes no effort to actually engage with fans and address their concerns in a direct manner. There are many opportunities to do so if he’s willing to move past the boundaries of buttoned-up mainstream media appearances, which his ultra-old-school predecessor was oddly far more inclined to do.
If you’ve been a follower of Twins Daily for long enough, you might recall that we used to put out an “Offseason Handbook” at the end of every season, and each year, general manager Terry Ryan was kind enough to sit down with a blogger for a candid and open conversation about the state of the team. This included the late stage of his tenure where the Twins lost 90 games in several successive years. He knew the conversations would be critical and at times very annoying, but it was clear TR saw his primary obligation as being to the fans. He didn’t back down from his decisions or philosophies.
I don’t see Derek Falvey doing anything like that. If he (or Jeremy Zoll) wants to connect to the fans and actually explain these decisions there is no shortage of avenues for doing so: blogs, podcasts, web shows. There happens to be a pretty popular podcast that Falvey’s former GM just appeared on a few weeks ago. He could even choose to show up in these less formal environments as a more genuine and substantive interviewee. Imagine!
If not, then there should be little question as to whether this organization makes a leadership change when an ownership transition takes place. At some point, this charade has to end. It’s a farce that fans are expected to place their faith in Falvey’s “vision” when all evidence points to regression, dysfunction, and a leadership group that shields itself from real accountability.
This franchise just blew up years of planning and player development in a single day, and its architect won’t even bother to face the music in a transparent or challenging setting. If Falvey can’t defend his decisions with honesty, clarity and respect for the people who actually care about this team, then he has no business continuing to make them.