Article: Can Derek Falvey Be The New Andy MacPhail?

[Cody Christie]

The Minnesota Twins of the early-1980's were bad... like really bad... like almost as bad as the Twins of the last handful of years. There was a 100-loss season in 1982 as well as multiple 90 loss seasons as a new age of young players took their lumps. After these players gained their footing, Minnesota would win two World Series titles in a five year span.

 

When Calvin Griffith sold the Twins to Carl Pohlad, the new ownership group looked for a young, up-and-coming executive to bring the team back from the abyss. Andy MacPhail, a 33-year old with two years experience as an assistant GM, was handed the reigns and the rest is history.Putting trust in a young, unproven leader worked for the Twins in the late-1980's. Now Twins fans hope that history will repeat itself.

 

Sources point to the Twins hiring 33-year-old Derek Falvey from the Cleveland Indians as their new president of baseball operations. Minnesota wanted a new voice at the front of their baseball operations and Falvey is half as old as former GM Terry Ryan. To put this in more perspective, Falvey is the same age as current Twins player Joe Mauer.

 

Falvey has moved swiftly through the Indians organization as he started as his baseball career as an intern in 2007. In less than a decade, he moved up to assistant general manager. During the last calendar year, he will have moved from director of baseball operations to assistant GM and now to president of baseball operations.

 

As I mentioned at the end of last week, Falvey's young age and rapid rise in the Indians organization could all help his cause. The Twins don't switch front office personnel very often so a young, passionate person could hold down the spot for years. It's going to take a massive shift to move Minnesota from the bottom of the standings and a lot will be riding on the shoulders of Mr. Falvey.

 

MacPhail has gone on to work as the Preisdent and CEO of the Cubs, the President of Baseball Operations in Baltimore, and he currently serves as the President of the Philadelphia Phillies. Even with all of these stops, one of his biggest accomplishments might have been rebuilding the Twins pitching staff leading into 1987 and overhauling the rotation going into 1991.

 

Frank Viola, Bert Blyleven and Les Straker led the 1987 rotation with Jeff Reardon in the closer role. Jack Morris, Scott Erickson, and Kevin Tapani were the top three starters in 1991 with Rick Aguilera as the closer. "We had to turn the entire pitching staff over in a four-year period, which was no easy feat," MacPhail said. He went on to say it took "a little bit of everything" to turn the pitching staff around.

 

Now Falvey is tasked with a similar challenge including turning around a pitching staff with an AL's worst ERA. Falvey's current team, the Indians, are on their way to winning the AL Central and their pitchers have the AL's best ERA. Falvey currently oversees the Indians' whole pitching program and that might be one of the main reasons he is ending up in the Twins front office.

 

Only time will tell if Falvey can find some of the same magic that surround MacPhail and the Twins two World Series rosters. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, and Jose Berrios could end up following in the footsteps of Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, and Scott Erickson.

 

Those days seem a long ways off but Falvey provides some hope for a better tomorrow even if a World Series title seems years away.

 

What can Falvey do to overhaul the rotation? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

 

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[birddog]

It's the new blood we were all demanding. He comes from an organization that has had success--especially with pitching. Their budget is I'm sure comparable to the Twins. We won't know for a few years but it's new blood, not the same old same old. Will he be required to keep Moli? What will he do with Mauer? I hope he has the correct answers to our countless questions.

[Monkeypaws]

Sounds like Falvey has even more experience than Andy did, and given his knowledge of the modern game, why not?

 

Then again, monkeys might fly out of Rob Antony's butt.

[Otwins]

If he can fix the pitching problem it does not matter what he does with Molitor or Mauer

[Rosterman]

He now has the power to hire a general manager. And with the GM should be able to pick his field staff. Will be interesting to see where all the lifelongs in the Twins front office end up

[old nurse]

I hope that Falvey is not the new Andy McFail. After Calvin's players got old  look at what shape was the team in?   Augment and win then run  so it may take a few more years for people to realize you were lucky.

 

 

[ThejacKmp]

I really hope that Berrios isn't Scott Erickson. Yeah 1991 was sweet and Erickson had a 15 year career but it was pretty disappointing when all was said and done.

 

P.S. Looking at 1991 Cy Young Race. The Twins had the #2, #4 and #7 pitchers in the Cy Young voting that year. That is awesome but it's also weird that the Angels had the #3, #5 and #6 pitchers - it went Clemens, Twin, Angel, Twin, Angel, Angel, Twin. Strangest still, Kevin Tapani got a first place vote and I don't think anyone would argue he was more than the 3rd best pitcher on that team.

[DocBauer]

Energy. That might be the best thing he can initially bring.

[Doomtints]

Even in that terrible 1982 season, the Twins had three-fifths of a good rotation.  The same story goes for 1983-1986, though 1983 had some Viola growing pains.  The bullpen, however, was horrific in those years.  

 

The Twins won the series in 1987 with a worse starting pitching staff than in previous years but a very good bullpen.  

 

Whoever gets the job with the Twins now has a much tougher task as far as pitching concerned. 

 

Note that firing the manager was probably the biggest thing that turned that team around.  Billy Gardner was terrible at managing the pitchers.  

Edited September 27, 2016 by Doomtints

[dxpavelka]

I think that statement was about the period from 1987 to 1991.  And since no Twin who pitched in the 1991 World Series was on the roster in 1987 the statement is anything but disingenuous.

[Doomtints]

 

I think that statement was about the period from 1987 to 1991.  And since no Twin who pitched in the 1991 World Series was on the roster in 1987 the statement is anything but disingenuous.

 

That's right.  I was familiar with that quote but still managed to misread it.  

 

Nevertheless, the new front office has a tougher task than he did when he first came in.  

Edited September 27, 2016 by Doomtints

[sthpstm]

First and foremost, Falvey will change the philosophy of drafting, developing, and working with minor league and major league pitchers. Who he determines to fit into that philosophy, I couldn't guess, but my point is this will be less about the pieces changes and more about the system that produces and works with those pieces changing.

[Craig Arko]

I'm okay with him just being the new Derek Falvey.

[Doomtints]

 

I'm okay with him just being the new Derek Falvey.

 

What's wrong with the old Derek Falvey?

[Craig Arko]

 

What's wrong with the old Derek Falvey?

That's yesterday's news.

[Han Joelo]

A good portion of the Indians starting pitching consists of trade acquisitions. This is good, to the extent Falvey can repeat it.

[Deduno Abides]

If MacPhail is the comp, which seems reasonable, remember that he was called MacPhailure for a few years. Falvey will deserve a little time. If he does fail, however, I hope it's because he made his own decisions and not because he went along with what his bosses and (forced) inherited staff wanted.

[Doomtints]

 

If MacPhail is the comp, which seems reasonable, remember that he was called MacPhailure for a few years. 

 

I believe that's what he was called in Chicago, not in Minnesota.  It's fair to say he did not have the same success in with the Cubs (though his record there is more respectable than most people think).

[nicksaviking]

I hope that Falvey is not the new Andy McFail. After Calvin's players got old  look at what shape was the team in?   Augment and win then run  so it may take a few more years for people to realize you were lucky.

McPhail replaced Morris with a really good John Smiley and chili Davis with Dave Winfield. There's no reason to think McPhail wouldn't have at least continued to use free agency as a tool unlike Ryan.

 

If he wouldn't have continued to use free agency, that surely would have been on the owner, not him.

[Deduno Abides]

I believe that's what he was called in Chicago, not in Minnesota.  It's fair to say he did not have the same success in with the Cubs (though his record there is more respectable than most people think).

Google "MacPhailure" and "Orlando Sentinel" and you'll find a 1990 article calling him MacPhailure in reference to the Twins. We were first!

[Deduno Abides]

Fun Andy MacPhail phact: he traded Jim Hoey for J.J. Hardy.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Fun Andy MacPhail phact: he traded Jim Hoey for J.J. Hardy.

 

I want to respond to this, but the only thing that comes to mind would be something that would get me banned...

[S.]

 

Fun Andy MacPhail phact: he traded Jim Hoey for J.J. Hardy.

http://aarongleeman.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/tsuyoshi-nishioka-spring-e1332299809766.jpg

[DocBauer]

First and foremost, he's not going to fix the Twins rotation. His GM will do most of the heavy lifting there. So the first order of business is a forward thinking GM that works well with him.

 

Second is a hard look-see at the milb system and personnel; that includes scouts, field staff, coordinators, etc. I don't for a second think the entire organization is filled with bums at all. But there seems to be some disconnect that needs to be addressed. This might be his biggest influence on the organization.

[sorney]

 

I really hope that Berrios isn't Scott Erickson. Yeah 1991 was sweet and Erickson had a 15 year career but it was pretty disappointing when all was said and done.

 

P.S. Looking at 1991 Cy Young Race. The Twins had the #2, #4 and #7 pitchers in the Cy Young voting that year. That is awesome but it's also weird that the Angels had the #3, #5 and #6 pitchers - it went Clemens, Twin, Angel, Twin, Angel, Angel, Twin. Strangest still, Kevin Tapani got a first place vote and I don't think anyone would argue he was more than the 3rd best pitcher on that team.

The way Twins pitching goes....if they could get a 15 year career out of Berrios, I think they would be pretty happy, regardless if it was as a #1, or a #4.

[Deduno Abides]

I want to respond to this, but the only thing that comes to mind would be something that would get me banned...

That's what symbols are for. Anyway, maybe Phalvey will make some phun trades, like MacPhail (Ken Giles for 3/5 of a starting staff, more recently).

[Linus]

If MacPhail is the comp, which seems reasonable, remember that he was called MacPhailure for a few years. Falvey will deserve a little time. If he does fail, however, I hope it's because he made his own decisions and not because he went along with what his bosses and (forced) inherited staff wanted.

Maybe I'm Rip Van Winkle but didn't the Twins win the World Series in 87 and 91 with MacPhail in charge? Whatever he did I would take it all over again.

[Deduno Abides]

Maybe I'm Rip Van Winkle but didn't the Twins win the World Series in 87 and 91 with MacPhail in charge? Whatever he did I would take it all over again.

Yeah, um, that's the point. Plus he needed a few years, during which fans were not happy with him, so hopefully Falvey is allowed some patience.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I really hope that Berrios isn't Scott Erickson. Yeah 1991 was sweet and Erickson had a 15 year career but it was pretty disappointing when all was said and done.

Erickson turned out to be a pretty effective workhorse for a decade.  The shape of his career was admittedly a bit weird, but I'm not sure I'd be disappointed if Berrios basically doesn't miss a start for the next 10 years and posts a 105 ERA+ in that span.

 

Radke would be a step up from that, I suppose, although the difference isn't as great as it might seem.  Radke's career ERA+ was 113.  The big difference is that Radke's effectiveness lasted an extra two years, while Erickson got hurt at 32 and hung around until the bitter end.  Ervin Santana was maybe another step below (career 101 ERA+) although he's showing signs of better longevity right now.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

I hope that Falvey is not the new Andy McFail. After Calvin's players got old  look at what shape was the team in?   Augment and win then run  so it may take a few more years for people to realize you were lucky.

I disagree.