Front Office and Communication

[Loosey]

I am not going to rip on the front office of Levine and Falvey, however I am going to criticize them somewhat in their ability to communicate across the organization.

 

The whole mess with Byron Buxton seems to have really snuck up on and stung Buxton.  From all accounts I have read he was not aware he was going to have his season end in Rochester.  Then he finds out from his agent and AAA manager.  I know he is not currently a part of the big league club, however, he is sort of one of the faces of the organization and not being told directly by the major league club seems to be a little bit a slap in the face.

 

A personal call from either Levine or Falvey (if all the reports are true) a little bit prior to the decision being made public could have prevented the confusion and bruised egos.  For all we know there is a completely valid reason and plan in place to get Buxton back to where the team wants him to be.  But the team's executives let the messengers tell Byron the news, he was done, and they appear to have done it at the last moment. 

 

Another example was Mientkiewicz being let go.  Again, Falvey and Levine didn't communicate with Dougie Baseball.  He was apparently without cell service cleaning up after a hurricane last year and received a call from Brad Steil, not Falvey or Levine.  Steil either wasn't allowed to give a reason and who's decision it was or he himself didn't know.  Either way, another poor job of communication.  

 

These are two relatively high profile examples of poor communication.  I am not criticizing either decision, but the way in which they go about making their decisions has left bad tastes in people's mouths multiple times now.  Hopefully, this is an area they can improve on, or a reputation could be formed pretty quickly and hurt their ability to retain and attract talent.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Another example was Mientkiewicz being let go.  Again, Falvey and Levine didn't communicate with Dougie Baseball.  He was apparently without cell service cleaning up after a hurricane last year and received a call from Brad Steil, not Falvey or Levine.  Steil either wasn't allowed to give a reason and who's decision it was or he himself didn't know.  Either way, another poor job of communication.

I actually didn't mind the Doug M. handling, at the time. There's no good time around a hurricane, and it was a minor league pink slip -- Steil can handle that. Doug's "give me names and reasons" thing was just a pointless expression of frustration, really.

 

The more important cases are when you need to communicate with players and groups who are sticking around, and you need their buy-in. That's the Buxton situation, and that was the situation leading up to the trade deadline too, when Molitor and the team learned about the Escobar trade on TV. (Obviously Escobar wasn't sticking around, but Molitor and some of his teammates were.)

 

I mentioned elsewhere, but the Sano demotion in June went smoothly (in terms of communication -- not results yet).

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

From all accounts I have read he was not aware he was going to have his season end in Rochester.  Then he finds out from his agent and AAA manager.

I didn't realize it, but yes, this appears to be the case:

 

"The news was relayed to Buxton through his agents and by Rochester manager Joel Skinner."

 

https://www.twincities.com/2018/09/01/twins-hope-to-make-amends-with-byron-buxton-who-wont-be-recalled/

[USAFChief]

I didn't realize it, but yes, this appears to be the case:

 

"The news was relayed to Buxton through his agents and by Rochester manager Joel Skinner."

 

https://www.twincities.com/2018/09/01/twins-hope-to-make-amends-with-byron-buxton-who-wont-be-recalled/

Yeesh.

[TheLeviathan]

Well, yeah, that's a terrible way to handle that.  You know something like that is going to be a blow to the player, you better have the guts to deliver the message yourself.

[nicksaviking]

I'm sure he's not happy, and justifiably so, but who was supposed to relay that information to him? That sounds like the kind of thing the AAA manager would normally handle. Surely every minor leaguer on the 40-man hopes for a September call up and even a few off the roster have their fingers crossed also. 

[rv78]

I am not sold on these 2 running this team. This year they took a good team and made them worse. I have yet to see 1 of their Free Agent signees make a difference for this team. Cave is about as good as they have done. In the meantime they have gotten rid of one of the best players they had, Escobar, so in reality they didn't gain anything.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I'm sure he's not happy, and justifiably so, but who was supposed to relay that information to him? That sounds like the kind of thing the AAA manager would normally handle. Surely every minor leaguer on the 40-man hopes for a September call up and even a few off the roster have their fingers crossed also.

It's not just a normal AAA guy hoping for a call-up, though. This was their opening day CF 3 years running, who the front office optioned in July after a DL stint, telling him they would recall him when his bat heated up. Ignoring that context and suddenly treating him no different than Johnny Field or Jon Kemmer on Sep. 1 is kind of at the heart of the communication problem here.

[Doomtints]

 

The whole mess with Byron Buxton seems to have really snuck up on and stung Buxton.  From all accounts I have read he was not aware he was going to have his season end in Rochester.  Then he finds out from his agent and AAA manager.  I know he is not currently a part of the big league club, however, he is sort of one of the faces of the organization and not being told directly by the major league club seems to be a little bit a slap in the face.

 

Yes.

 

"Gosh, I guess we didn't talk to Buxton much this year. What a shame, it seems like he really coulda used that. We'll try again next year."

"Yes, I'm here at the Winter Meetings to represent the Twins. I still haven't spoken to my new bosses yet. I think I'm being traded so I'm not sure why I'm here."

"I heard I was being fired as a minor league manager via phone call from a middle manager in the org. While I was doing yard work."

 

What the heck is this?

[Thrylos]

Buxton is a AAA player.  The message was delivered by his boss, the AAA manager and his agent.

 

That is the chain of command.

 

Too much reading into it, regardless how special and different than the rest of AAA players Buxton might believe he is entitled to be.

 

I bet that none is complaining that Falvine did not call up Jake Reed to tell him the same news.

 

 

[gunnarthor]

 

I am not sold on these 2 running this team. This year they took a good team and made them worse. I have yet to see 1 of their Free Agent signees make a difference for this team. Cave is about as good as they have done. In the meantime they have gotten rid of one of the best players they had, Escobar, so in reality they didn't gain anything.

I agree but I'll give them one more offseason before I call for their heads. But they better make some real changes, starting with the manager.

[brvama]

IIRC, on Sundays pregame Levine said he did make the call to Buxton after he called his agent. However, Buxton did not answer the call. He then hears it from his agent. So, if that is true, I'd have to say this communication angst is much ado about nothing.

[KirbyDome89]

 

I bet that none is complaining that Falvine did not call up Jake Reed to tell him the same news.

If Reed had spent part of 3 seasons on a major league roster, won the pitching equivalent of a platinum glove, was left off the expanded roster solely because of service time manipulation, and had to find out via his agent & manager of the club he was rehabbing with my guess would be that posters would feel the same.

[Thrylos]

 

If Reed had spent part of 3 seasons on a major league roster, won the pitching equivalent of a platinum glove, was left off the expanded roster solely because of service time manipulation, and had to find out via his agent & manager of the club he was rehabbing with my guess would be that posters would feel the same.

 

Career 80 OPS+ and 2018 4 OPS+ might tell you how terrible Buxton has been with the bat.  20% worse than the average MLB hitter in his career and 96% worse this season.

 

Last time I checked, baseball did not have a designated fielder...

[Otto von Ballpark]

IIRC, on Sundays pregame Levine said he did make the call to Buxton after he called his agent. However, Buxton did not answer the call. He then hears it from his agent. So, if that is true, I'd have to say this communication angst is much ado about nothing.

I still think the "when" is more important that the "who" or "how". It probably should have been communicated before Sep. 1. As far as we know, Buxton was directed in July to get his bat warmed up at AAA before they would recall him.

[KirbyDome89]

 

Career 80 OPS+ and 2018 4 OPS+ might tell you how terrible Buxton has been with the bat.  20% worse than the average MLB hitter in his career and 96% worse this season.

 

Last time I checked, baseball did not have a designated fielder...

Nobody is touting him as a silver slugger here.

 

The point is that Reed's situation isn't even remotely similar to that of Buxton. 

[nicksaviking]

It's not just a normal AAA guy hoping for a call-up, though. This was their opening day CF 3 years running, who the front office optioned in July after a DL stint, telling him they would recall him when his bat heated up. Ignoring that context and suddenly treating him no different than Johnny Field or Jon Kemmer on Sep. 1 is kind of at the heart of the communication problem here.

Yeah but he was sent down on a rehab assignment and stayed there long past the recovery. What did he think was going on?

 

If Levine screwed up, it was in not understanding the blowback of the non-promotion. Criticizing the GM because the AAA manager give Buxton the news sounds like it's just an excuse to pile on. This particular aspect sounds pretty SOP.

[The Wise One]

 

Career 80 OPS+ and 2018 4 OPS+ might tell you how terrible Buxton has been with the bat.  20% worse than the average MLB hitter in his career and 96% worse this season.

 

Last time I checked, baseball did not have a designated fielder...

 

 

Nobody is touting him as a silver slugger here.

 

The point is that Reed's situation isn't even remotely similar to that of Buxton. 

To say that a hitter that is OPSing somewhere in the mid .700s at AAA should be in the majors is also a pretty bogus condition. Why wouldn't a team be trying to swing a deal for Vargas if a .750 ops in the minors was a must have thing?  Game should be offense and defense. An mlb ops+ in the 80 range is not must have. It it very very rare I say this, but thrylos is right

[Otto von Ballpark]

To say that a hitter that is OPSing somewhere in the mid .700s at AAA should be in the majors is also a pretty bogus condition.

That's including his OPS while he was rehabbing a broken toe. Since Buxton was optioned off of his DL/rehab stint, with the specific instruction to warm up his bat before they would recall him, his OPS has been .901.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Yeah but he was sent down on a rehab assignment and stayed there long past the recovery. What did he think was going on?

 

If Levine screwed up, it was in not understanding the blowback of the non-promotion. Criticizing the GM because the AAA manager give Buxton the news sounds like it's just an excuse to pile on. This particular aspect sounds pretty SOP.

Don't think it's necessarily piling on, it's more two sides to the same coin. If the plan was more than just "warm up his bat", or if the plan changed with his wrist injury in mid to late July, they should have communicated that then; failing that, and waiting until Sep. 1, they probably shouldn't have left the explanation to an intermediary.

 

As for "what was going on", the articles around his July 2nd option all reference the front office's stated desire to see his bat get going before a MLB recall. Buxton had no reason to believe he was on a Sano-style project assignment (if that's even the case now, or if it's just the most convenient excuse ).

[Blackjack]

 

I agree but I'll give them one more offseason before I call for their heads. But they better make some real changes, starting with the manager.

 

No matter what the results are you need to give them at least five years before you start calling for their firing. It takes at least that long for your changes to coaches, players, methods, etc. to truly take hold.

[The Wise One]

 

That's including his OPS while he was rehabbing a broken toe. Since Buxton was optioned off of his DL/rehab stint, with the specific instruction to warm up his bat before they would recall him, his OPS has been .901.

June 29 he went off the dl for the toe at Rochester. What date are you arbitrarily saying he was done rehabing from a broken toe?  His dl time in July was for a wrist strain. 

[gunnarthor]

 

No matter what the results are you need to give them at least five years before you start calling for their firing. It takes at least that long for your changes to coaches, players, methods, etc. to truly take hold.

I disagree and I won't give them five years. They inherited an incredibly good situation - a number of  young talented players and top prospects, a high draft position, no major payroll issues, a great ballpark and they've already had a chance to chime in on the manager. 

[Tomj14]

 

I disagree and I won't give them five years. They inherited an incredibly good situation - a number of  young talented players and top prospects, a high draft position, no major payroll issues, a great ballpark and they've already had a chance to chime in on the manager. 

don't forget a loaded farm system. I mean it has to be right, we on TD seem unwilling to trade anybody from it?

[diehardtwinsfan]

I wonder how much of this is TD overreaction. I've seen very little in the media about Buxton being upset. To be fair, he should be, to the extent that he wasn't called up, but at the same time, if his agent is any good, his agent is pointing out that this isn't terribly surprising.

 

Buxton was terrible this year. He was bad before the injury. He was bad after. He didn't earn his callup, and at one point that's on him. Even in his supposed success in AAA his K/BB rates were awful, and not to mention his hot streak screams SSS. I like Buxton, and I think he can be a star, but the Twins would be foolish to hand him a starting job in 2019. He's not ready, and all they are doing is wasting service time while he figures it out. A smarter organization would have gotten him more MILB at bats in 2016, and if they had done this, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. 

 

If he feels humiliated due to being shut down, there's a bigger problem... His performance this year should be what is humiliating, not the fact that he didn't get some meaningless at bats in September. 

[Major League Ready]

 

I disagree and I won't give them five years. They inherited an incredibly good situation - a number of  young talented players and top prospects, a high draft position, no major payroll issues, a great ballpark and they've already had a chance to chime in on the manager. 

 

Was it really "an incredibly good situation".  The two young guys that were supposed to be superstars certainly have not met expectations. What about the rest of the infield? Dozier went to crap this year. Our SS was suspended and Mauer is a below average 1B.

 

Our SP staff was always mediocre and the bullpen was certainly not anywhere near the type of shutdown bullpens of the top teams. As it turned out, none of the free agent SPs were worth signing this year.  We had very little impending help in the high minors and the guys that are there no are fringe guys or at least no yet fully ready. I would not describe the situation they inherited as incredibly good.

 

They did not pick Jay instead of Benintendi or Gordon instead of Nola.

 

 

[gunnarthor]

 

Was it really "an incredibly good situation".  The two young guys that were supposed to be superstars certainly have not met expectations. What about the rest of the infield? Dozier went to crap this year. Our SS was suspended and Mauer is a below average 1B.

 

Our SP staff was always mediocre and the bullpen was certainly not anywhere near the type of shutdown bullpens of the top teams. As it turned out, none of the free agent SPs were worth signing this year.  We had very little impending help in the high minors and the guys that are there no are fringe guys or at least no yet fully ready. I would not describe the situation they inherited as incredibly good.

 

They did not pick Jay instead of Benintendi or Gordon instead of Nola.

Yeah, it was a great situation. I mentioned this a lot last year but 10 players got 400 or more at-bats last year and 8 of them had been top 100 prospects and the two that weren't were Escobar and Dozier. The FO had Buxton turn in a 5 WAR season and Sano turned in an all-star season. Berrios arrived. Gibson looked like he fixed something in the last half of the year and Santana was a cheap, solid vet in the rotation. They actually had SP depth in the minors with Romero, Gonsalves, Meija and others in-line. Klaw ranked their farm system 11th despite the graduations. Ownership said they'd spend money after the team stayed in the bottom third in payroll (obviously, relying on Pohlad's to spend is a fools errand but there were promises). They had the #1 pick in the draft and a high pool.

 

There really aren't that much better starting positions for a new GM unless you have an owner who is going to give you a 200m+ payroll to play with.

[nicksaviking]

 

Don't think it's necessarily piling on, it's more two sides to the same coin. If the plan was more than just "warm up his bat", or if the plan changed with his wrist injury in mid to late July, they should have communicated that then; failing that, and waiting until Sep. 1, they probably shouldn't have left the explanation to an intermediary.

As for "what was going on", the articles around his July 2nd option all reference the front office's stated desire to see his bat get going before a MLB recall. Buxton had no reason to believe he was on a Sano-style project assignment (if that's even the case now, or if it's just the most convenient excuse ).

 

All things being equal, I'd leave Buxton down and keep the extra year of control. But things aren't equal, that year of control may not be worth the chaos and disharmony that it's causing.

 

I'm just disagreeing that Falvey or Levine should have been the one to give Buxton the news. That's the managers job, they tell guys when they're promoted, they tell guys when they're released, they tell guys when they need to pull their act together. I assume what's why in professional baseball they're called managers instead of coaches like they are in college and high school. The president of my company doesn't fire me for chatting on TD too much, that's what my immediate manager is for.

[Otto von Ballpark]

June 29 he went off the dl for the toe at Rochester. What date are you arbitrarily saying he was done rehabing from a broken toe? His dl time in July was for a wrist strain.

It is not arbitrary. July 2nd, the Twins activated him from the MLB DL (for the toe) and optioned him to Rochester. (He went on the minor league DL later for the wrist.)

 

You can see it in his MLB.com transactions list:

 

http://m.mlb.com/player/621439/byron-buxton

 

July 2, 2018

Minnesota Twins optioned CF Byron Buxton to Rochester Red Wings.

 

June 19, 2018

Minnesota Twins sent OF Byron Buxton on a rehab assignment to Rochester Red Wings.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I'm just disagreeing that Falvey or Levine should have been the one to give Buxton the news. That's the managers job, they tell guys when they're promoted, they tell guys when they're released, they tell guys when they need to pull their act together. I assume what's why in professional baseball they're called managers instead of coaches like they are in college and high school. The president of my company doesn't fire me for chatting on TD too much, that's what my immediate manager is for.

If the president of your company personally gives you a specific assignment (the front office optioning Buxton on July 2nd), then it's pretty careless of them to let a middle manager or other intermediary give you unspecific feedback in terminating it.