Brunansky, Davis Will Not Return To Twins Coaching Staff

I'm not surprised to see Bruno and Davis go.  It'll be interesting to see if they go out of the org or bring up Chad Allen.  Keeping Glynn, Vavra and Eddie doesn't surprise me and I'd go either way with Neil Allen.  Nice to see things happening right from the get go.

What is "names manager"? 

Pitching coach? Maybe there is a limit on the number of changes allowed?

Allen was also well respected as a pitching coach in Durham.  He is probably known to both Falvey and Levine.  He also wrote some internal paper about the Rays way of fastball control being taught at the lower levels, which the Twins are not doing.  

This may be a total change in philosophy for the Twins

I would guess the new bosses did not like the outfield play. There goes Davis.  I would guess they do not like undisciplined  hitting. There goes Bruno and watch the trades for who else goes.

The new bosses liked the pitching?

You can only work with what you have.  Twins did not have much in the pitching department. Will be interesting to see if the change in philosophy will have some pitchers here do more time in the minor leagues learning the new way(fastball control).  This may slow the Twins young pitching talent by about a year for most of them.

Organizationally speaking, that's how it's often done.  Not sure how many people have been through acquisitions and mergers, but rarely do heads roll right off the bat.

 

Falvey and Levine will add some positions, and make sure they are filled with qualified people that they trust.  Over the next year, some people will quit or be fired.  Some contracts will likely not be renewed next year... The good ones will stay.. or at least, that's what I hope.

Agree.  I believe the phrase is "knee-jerk reaction".

I just don't see Falvey and Levine as being those type of people.  Something needed to be changed throughout the organization, as far as MiLB training goes.  There may still be more changes.  But with Falvey's background in Cleveland, I bet any pitching coach/philosophy change may be a little later.

I find Falvey/Levine's approach... Interesting, to say the least. They're not overhauling the organization right off the bat.

 

I expected that, to a point... But keeping the entire front office and most of the coaching staff is a surprise. I expected them to discard at least pieces (and possibly a majority) of each almost immediately.

 

It makes me wonder if that's their Year Two plan. Tackle the big, hard issues first (drafting, development, analytics) through expansion and then worry about the other stuff when you feel comfortable with the changes you have in place.

No question with these 2 guys.  It's a 2 year plan.  Bruno and Davis, IMHO, were kinda  'low hanging fruit'.  Hitting and defense were problematic.  No pitching staff can be successful with that.  So, out with Bruno and Davis. 

I see pitching, especially with Flavey's background, really getting a workover in year 2. Need to gather those stats before making changes.

Echoing other thoughts here. Seems these were probably necessary changes. Just not sure about Allen. But I didn't expect pink slips passed all the way around right off the bat.

If you're the new marshal and sheriff in town, you probably don't come in and get rid of all of the deputies in one shot.

******     Conspiracy Theory Alert    ******

The reason for the firing Brunansky is that new Twins management has struck a deal with JOE MAUER to be the new Twins Hitting Coach!!

Aren't pitching coaches and managers usually joined at the hip? Molitor and Allen might both go at the same time.

Regarding front office hires, the new boss thinks there are too FEW people working in that area. It makes sense to keep the experienced people you have and add to the organization rather than getting rid of decent employees and starting over completely.

Teflon Joe Vavra dodged another bullet.

Not sure what it is he does so well, but why isn't he a manager somewhere by now?

I find Falvey/Levine's approach... Interesting, to say the least. They're not overhauling the organization right off the bat.

 

I expected that, to a point... But keeping the entire front office and most of the coaching staff is a surprise. I expected them to discard at least pieces (and possibly a majority) of each almost immediately.

 

It makes me wonder if that's their Year Two plan. Tackle the big, hard issues first (drafting, development, analytics) through expansion and then worry about the other stuff when you feel comfortable with the changes you have in place.

These guys are doing exactly what I'd do: Take the gig, then refrain from major changes until you can see how the organization works and is run.

In most cases, new CEOs of companies don't overhaul staff right away. But over the following months you start seeing resignations from top management, etc. I'd imagine that some of the top people in the Twins FO will ultimately leave simply because it'll be different management.

In this case, my guess is that Falvine (Falvey + Levine) did not decide to dump Bruno but went on the recommendations of Molitor and Antony. 

This is the right idea, IMO. They don't know enough about the organization yet to make major changes, I think. And as long as Molitor is going to be the coach one more year he might as well have major say on the coaches. And they'll have their hands full building front office staff.

Is this what we have been waiting for?  Did I miss something.  Was our hitting worse than our pitching?  How long have our new leaders been planning this big upheavel?  What an exciting development!