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Oct 16, 2024

General Manager Thad Levine parts ways with Twins

Twins “I kind of liken myself to Mary Poppins — the kids know how to clean up their rooms now and take their medicine. They don’t need someone singing in the background to do it.” By Phil Miller When

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“I kind of liken myself to Mary Poppins — the kids know how to clean up their rooms now and take their medicine. They don’t need someone singing in the background to do it.”

By Phil Miller

When Thad Levine was hired as Derek Falvey’s second-in-command in the Twins front office in 2016, the idea was to give Falvey an experienced partner, one who held a similar sidekick role for a decade in Texas, as he embarked on building a major league roster for the first time.

Eight years later, the job is done. Falvey, now president of baseball operations, has developed his own approach, restructured the front office as well as the roster, and become an experienced executive himself.

So on Friday, Falvey dissolved the partnership with his only general manager.

“Organizations evolve. People evolve. This is the way growth happens sometimes,” Falvey said in announcing Levine’s departure. “I am incredibly thankful for the friendship that I’ve shared with Thad, the partnership I’ve had along the way. And I’m excited for his opportunity to make an impact wherever he decides to make an impact. Because he will.”

The change in Twins leadership had nothing to do with the team’s on-field collapse in August and September, Falvey emphasized. It was a natural evolution, because as Falvey expanded his staff, hired assistant GMs and spread out responsibilities, “opportunities are thinner as the group is built out,” he said. “That sometimes leads to people exploring the idea [that] maybe I want to do something else. Maybe I want to do more. Maybe I want to have a different kind of impact.”

Indeed, Levine has been a candidate in recent offseasons for take-charge roles with the Mets, Phillies and Red Sox. He sensed as strongly as Falvey that his original role as in-house guru had run its course in Minnesota.

“I would have been somewhere between a failure and a categoric one if Derek needed me the same way he needed me on Day One. … At the beginning, it was a little bit closer to 50/50 in terms of how I was complementing him. Today, that’s certainly different [and] appropriate,” Levine said. “I kind of liken myself to Mary Poppins — the kids know how to clean up their rooms now and take their medicine. They don’t need someone singing in the background to do it.”

Safe to say, Levine’s talent for phrasing, developed in previous stints with the Dodgers, Rockies and Rangers, was unique in the Twins organization. Levine mused on the timing of his departure, for instance, by saying, “You want to be the pitcher who is taken out one inning too early, rather than one batter too late.”

The Twins have won three AL Central titles and made four playoff appearances with Levine, 52, as the general manager, and he said he hopes to achieve that success and more, wherever he winds up.

“What resonates with me is working with exceptional people who are open to me elevating them to a level maybe they never thought they could achieve, and similarly being willing to invest in me to help me achieve things I never thought were possible,” Levine said. He is eager, he said, to experience “this mystical panacea called free agency. … It took me 25 years to get there, so I’m a little bit intrigued at the notion of what free agency may have in store for me.”

Falvey and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli also addressed some staff changes they made earlier this week: Informing infield coach Tony Diaz and hitting coaches David Popkins, Derek Shomon and Rudy Hernandez that the would not return for the 2025 season.

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“Sometimes the players need a different voice with a different message, and sometimes we have to make very difficult decisions,” Baldelli said. “When we look at our team and the way our season went this year, it’s pretty easy to break down that we would go through long periods where we would struggle to put together good at-bats. … More consistency will allow us to win a lot of games, because there were a lot of games that were tight, very tough ballgames where we couldn’t muster anything.”

As for Diaz, one of the first coaches Baldelli hired upon becoming manager six years ago, Baldelli said: “We’re implementing a lot of different things, from the work that we do before the game on the field to the work that we’re going to be doing before the game off the field. From preparation to the mental side of the game, there’s going to be a lot of new things being implemented and as hard as it is to do, I thought having a new infield voice being able to take that project on from the very start would help us.”

Phil Miller has covered the Twins for the Star Tribune since 2013. Previously, he covered the University of Minnesota football team, and from 2007-09, he covered the Twins for the Pioneer Press.

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