Article: Twins Looking To Hire President Of Baseball Operations

[Seth Stohs]

According to a tweet by Ken Rosenthal, the Minnesota Twins are looking to hire a president of baseball operations type. That person would then be in charge of hiring a new general manager and other front office types.

 

This has become the trend in the last decade or so throughout baseball, and it would seem to be a good direction for the Twins to go as well.Here is the tweet from Rosenthal:

 

 

This is a direction that Nick presented back in May, even before the announcement that GM Terry Ryan had been fired.

 

He wrote that he believes current Twins president Dave St. Peter does his job well as it is currently laid out, but adds that the duties associated with that title are changing across the majors. Nick wrote:

From everything I know, Dave St. Peter is good at his job. He manages people and projects, has an excellent grasp on business relationships, interacts with fans, and admirably handles the tremendous responsibility and pressure inherent to his title as Twins President. ... He's not a baseball mind. But maybe that's part of the problem here.

St. Peter would likely remain in his current role of running the Twins business, but this new president of baseball operations would be more involved in roster construction and such.

 

Few names have been mentioned as potential candidates over the last month or so. Ben Cherington appears to be a favorite. Darren Wolfson has reported that he is very much interested.

 

The Twins hired a search firm, Korn Ferry, to conduct their search and make recommendations.

 

A new president of baseball operations would likely come in and evaluate current Twins front office personnel, including interim GM Rob Antony, along with outside options to determine the new general manager and other front office posts.

 

Presumably, the Twins will want to hire a president of baseball operations by the end of the season so that person could get his or her staff in place. They would certainly want to have new staff in place by organizational meetings (which could be pushed back).

 

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[wsnydes]

This would be a welcome direction to head in.  Also a welcome change in management structure, which should shake things up nicely.

[markos]

I agree with wsnydes. This is the right move. Now they just need to pick the right person.

[Vanimal46]

This is a step in the right direction. Let St. Peter do what he does, and get another guy who can build this baseball team. 

[d-mac]

Nice. I just hope they get the right person in place to lead the team. What are some people that we should consider for the job? I'd like to see someone from the Theo Epstein group or from the Pirates, Cardinals, Houston orgs. 

[Doomtints]

Wow.  Big changes are really coming!

[Vanimal46]

 

Nice. I just hope they get the right person in place to lead the team. What are some people that we should consider for the job? I'd like to see someone from the Theo Epstein group or from the Pirates, Cardinals, Houston orgs. 

All of the above works for me. Perhaps someone from the Rays who helped make them competitive on a limited budget. Someone from the Mets who helped identify all of their awesome SPs. 

[wsnydes]

 

All of the above works for me. Perhaps someone from the Rays who helped make them competitive on a limited budget. Someone from the Mets who helped identify all of their awesome SPs. 

How many of that Rays FO are left though?  Didn't several leave with Friedman?  Or at least at the same time or since?  If not, that's a great place to look.  Even if some did go with Friedman, that would be a place to look too.

Edited August 26, 2016 by wsnydes

[markos]

 

All of the above works for me. Perhaps someone from the Rays who helped make them competitive on a limited budget. Someone from the Mets who helped identify all of their awesome SPs. 

I am down on the Rays and Astros.

 

Rays have seemed rudderless over the past few seasons (especially since Friedman and Maddon left) and have really struggled to develop their own draft picks. Interesting fact - the Rays have only won 9 more games than the Twins since 2013. 

 

I think the Astros have made a lot of questionable decisions over the past few seasons. They took Appel over Bryant, had the messy situation with Aiken, traded a lot for Carlos Gomez, traded a ton for Ken Giles, gave up arguably too early on several players like JD Martinez, Grossman, Villar, Carter, decided to go with 4 starters with sub-90s fastballs. They are currently an 85 win team with a substantial core (Altuve, Springer, Keuchel) that all pre-date the current regime. 

[SarasotaBill]

Rays traded Wil Myers for Stephen Souza who at the time was in AAA. Not sure of the remaining Rays.

 

Go with the most sure thing - Ben Cherington. He worked under Theo, built up the prospects, traded for Porcello, and Boston wanted to keep him after they hired the new President. One blemish is the Sandoval signing.

 

[bluechipper]

 

How many of that Rays FO are left though?  Didn't several leave with Friedman?  Or at least at the same time or since?  If not, that's a great place to look.  Even if some did go with Friedman, that would be a place to look too.

I hope it's not a pure numbers guy that the Twins hire. We saw what Friedman just did to the Dodgers in potentially upsetting the entire team right as they were rolling with the Ellis/Ruiz swap. I'm not saying Friedman is a bad GM (or whatever his title is), but there needs to be a balanced perspective at the top.

[Vanimal46]

 

How many of that Rays FO are left though?  Didn't several leave with Friedman?  Or at least at the same time or since?  If not, that's a great place to look.  Even if some did go with Friedman, that would be a place to look too.

Yeah I have no idea. I'd just want someone from that era where they built a sustainable team on a very limited budget. 

[wsnydes]

 

I hope it's not a pure numbers guy that the Twins hire. We saw what Friedman just did to the Dodgers in potentially upsetting the entire team right as they were rolling with the Ellis/Ruiz swap. I'm not saying Friedman is a bad GM (or whatever his title is), but there needs to be a balanced perspective at the top.

Agreed.  I'm not into the advanced metrics as much as many, I think gut and passing the eye test is also important.  Numbers are helpful, but I'm not a believer of relying on them solely.  There are things that the numbers can't show that are required to make a successful major league player.

[Brock Beauchamp]

This is the best Twins-related news I've heard in five years.

[nicksaviking]

This should come as a relief to all of us who were worried that Jim Pohlad didn't have the baseball acumen to make the right call.

 

I feel a lot better knowing this is the direction they are going. Even if it doesn't work out, they still tried to do something modern.

[old nurse]

What was a GM is now called director of baseball operations. What was an assistant GM is now called a GM. Changing nomenclature is modernization.

[Doomtints]

 

What was a GM is now called director of baseball operations. What was an assistant GM is now called a GM. Changing nomenclature is modernization.

 

No.  The director position would be strategic.  The GM and his assistants would be the people running around executing the strategy.

 

This is dividing one position into two.  

[Tom Froemming]

 

Yeah I have no idea. I'd just want someone from that era where they built a sustainable team on a very limited budget. 

I think your guy would be Chaim Bloom, Rays assistant GM. He's been working for them in various roles since 2005. 

[mikelink45]

I will hold back my enthusiasm.  This is the team that chose contraction, that hired Bill Smith and then brought back the man who recommended him.  I am glad that something should happen, but the TWINS have had a lot of prospects on and off the field.  

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I'm encouraged by this direction, but like Mike above I would like to reserve judgment until results

[Vanimal46]

I think your guy would be Chaim Bloom, Rays assistant GM. He's been working for them in various roles since 2005.

Thanks for the name. Might as well fly him up for an interview.

[twinsnorth49]

Not overly surprised by this, I think the mere fact they let Ryan go was a pretty good indication that a major change was on the way. Couple that with the fact they hired a head hunting agency to seek the best candidates, along with the fact this is a growing trend in baseball and  it all adds up.

 

It's very positive news, although it really furthers my confusion over the commitment the Pohlad's made to Mollie. I can't imagine a President of Baseball Ops is going to be overly pleased by being handed his top field general.

[Deduno Abides]

Good news, but disappointing it took so long to occur. Just last year, which is within memory, the Phillies hired Andy McPhail, who should also be within memory, much earlier in the summer, for the same position. That should have been the template, yet it took the second team, the Twins, longer than the first team, the Phillies, to figure it out. It's pretty sad that the front office of Ruben Amaro, Jr., and the Ryan Howard contract could be quicker than the Twins.

 

 

Also, again just last year, Boston hired Dombrowski for this position within a couple of weeks of his availability. All you have to do is read media guides or, if you're cheap, mlbtraderumors.com, to know the trend.

 

 

Assuming the Twins were thinking of removing Terry Ryan at the end of the season for several weeks before his "sudden" departure was announced, this POBO leak just shows how slow the Twins process is, with "slow" possibly meaning "clueless."

[Brock Beauchamp]

Good news, but disappointing it took so long to occur. Just last year, which is within memory, the Phillies hired Andy McPhail, who should also be within memory, much earlier in the summer, for the same position. That should have been the template, yet it took the second team, the Twins, longer than the first team, the Phillies, to figure it out. It's pretty sad that the front office of Ruben Amaro, Jr., and the Ryan Howard contract could be quicker than the Twins.

Also, again just last year, Boston hired Dombrowski for this position within a couple of weeks of his availability. All you have to do is read media guides or, if you're cheap, mlbtraderumors.com, to know the trend.

Assuming the Twins were thinking of removing Terry Ryan at the end of the season for several weeks before his "sudden" departure was announced, this POBO leak just shows how slow the Twins process is, with "slow" possibly meaning "clueless."

Ryan was fired/left less than six weeks ago. This timeline is pretty reasonable. The process should be thorough and it should take a few months. The Twins aren't looking for part time work to fill checkout counter six, they're looking for a new head of the organization.

 

And your timeline with the Phillies is waaaaaayyyyy off. I suggest you do a bit more research. Macphail replaced Gillick, who held the interim title for nearly a full year.

[Deduno Abides]

Ryan was fired/left less than six weeks ago. This timeline is pretty reasonable. The process should be thorough and it should take a few months. The Twins aren't looking for part time work to fill checkout counter six, they're looking for a new head of the organization.

And your timeline with the Phillies is waaaaaayyyyy off. I suggest you do a bit more research. Macphail replaced Gillick, who held the interim title for nearly a full year.

The Twins knew Ryan was leaving much earlier than it was announced.

 

Don't understand your comment about the Phillies. Are you saying they didn't figure it out quicker because they already had the structure?

[Brock Beauchamp]

The Twins knew Ryan was leaving much earlier than it was announced.

Don't understand your comment about the Phillies. Are you saying they didn't figure it out quicker because they already had the structure?

No, they had an interim president for nearly a year.

[Monkeypaws]

Props to Jeremy for nailing this scenario back in July.

[Deduno Abides]

No, they had an interim president for nearly a year.

Yes, that's true, but I still don't understand your comment. Once they decided that Amaro would likely be done at the end of the year, their plan was to hire a POBO to decide what to do with the front office. MacPhail was in public negotiations for the position in the third week of June, which means they were probably talking to him for a while earlier. Assuming the change decision was made on April 1, it took them three months from then to hire the POBO (with cooperation from the long-term, WS-winning GM). The Twins have stated that Terry Ryan was informed that he would be gone at the end of the season a month before his resignation was announced, which means that the decision was made earlier. That means approximately 12 weeks ago. Within the same 12 weeks, the Phillies hired MacPhail.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Deduno Abides

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm thoroughly confused. Amaro was the Phillies GM. Macphail is the president. Macphail replaced Gillick, who was the interim president for 11 months.

[ashbury]

I can't imagine a President of Baseball Ops is going to be overly pleased by being handed his top field general.

That one's gonna get walked back, I'm pretty sure.

 

It depends of course on the timing of hiring the new guy in the big chair. If it's too late in the off-season, it may be expedient to keep Molitor for another season rather than shop the remainder bins.