It's a big day baseball fans! The Lee County Sports Complex is coming to life Thursday in Fort Myers, Florida as Minnesota Twins pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.
That means we are just nine short days away from the first spring training game and six weeks from the season opener March 27th in St. Louis.
On Wednesday, Twins President of Baseball and Business Operations Derek Falvey joined WCCO Radio's Chad Hartman to talk all things Twins including the payroll, the roster, his new duties taking over for team President Dave St. Peter, and much more.
Here's that conversation, all you need to get you set for baseball in 2025.
With Falvey's new, expanded role which focuses on the business side as well as the on-field product now, how much time is spent on the baseball side compared to the business side?
It's been a busy winter and as you just said, I'll first start with Dave St. Peter. Obviously, he's been here a tremendous amount of time, his investment in this franchise in the region, and he cares more than anybody I've ever met about Twins baseball, and about how we show up every day.
I've gotten a chance to work alongside him for the last eight years and going on nine here, and he's been great, and us discussing what this transition looked like. The best part is, he's not going anywhere. He'll remain an advisor for us and certainly we'll be an advisor going forward.
I would say to answer your question, you know, it's a little bit split between both. In many ways, it has been in the past too. I've gotten a chance, at the urging of the Pohlads and certainly with Dave, to understand a lot of our business over the last number of years. This will just force me into the seat to make a few more of those decisions, but ultimately, I feel really good about the team we have around us. It's about making sure that we're putting people in positions to be successful and I'll hopefully carry that torch and move it forward."
People are very curious about the sale (of the team) and a timeline. Anything you can share for individuals who are curious about that transaction and that process?
Candidly, not much. Ultimately, the Pohlads have put out they're exploring this part of the sale and there's an ongoing process which is handled by a group called Allen and Company, who handles some other transactions across sports. Quite frankly, their process and what they handle, it's kind of like a realtor to a house. They're doing it external from where we are right now, and ultimately they'll come back and give us some updates along the way. I don't have anything to share today, but as on a day-to-day basis, I've got plenty on my plate inside the business, trust me. That's my focus and we'll get some information from that as the process proceeds.
There are plenty of Twins fans right now, whether they've been Twins fans for one year or 40 years. frustration is out there about the payroll. It's not an automatic that you spend a lot and you win, but it gives you that opportunity. For the fans who want to be more a part of it, but are frustrated by the payroll, what do you say to that group?
I think you outlined it well. Certainly, we always want to invest in this team. And when we look at this roster and what we've been able to invest over the years, we've led and continue to lead right now, the division in payroll in terms of the American League Central. We get that there's a disparity around the game and some big numbers and some big markets that are - that are different than ours. But the investment in this team has been very consistent and even in just the last week to 10 days, you know, and the ability to push us up a little bit further, add some guys to the team that are only going to make us better.
As we sit here today, we have to go prove it. We have to go earn it. We believe in this team. We believe, you know, as some of the recent publications have put out, that we're right there at the top of the division as we enter this season.
Now, we have to go dethrone Cleveland. They did a great job last year. They found a way to navigate to the top of the division after we took it from them in 2023. So this is a competitive division. There were multiple playoff teams, Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland, all playing in the postseason last year, winning postseason games. So we know it's going to be competitive again, and this will be a fun summer with a group of players led by the likes of Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez, some of the best players in the game. And then young talent like Royce Lewis and others that have stepped up for us. Young pitching, who we saw last year. So we feel great about this group, especially as we enter camp here in a fully healthy state and a chance to go compete in 2025.
What do you think is the biggest strength of your team? What part of your team gives you the most pause at this point?
I think when you look at our group, we're pretty flexible. You know, we have a number of guys that have played in a different number of spots across the field. Obviously, Willi Castro has stepped up for us in being able to be kind of that Swiss Army knife, but I hope we have a little bit more depth, ultimately than we had last year. Because of the young players who got a ton of experience. I think our pitching staff, in aggregate, is a really good staff. Publications and others that kind of track this stuff have said the same. We feel like we deepened the bullpen group by adding Danny Coulombe to it too. But with Johan Duran and Griffin Jax, the emergence last year of Cole Sands, I feel good about where that back end is.
And then on the starting side, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober have really anchored the top three spots for the last few years and I think have emerged, each of them, as guys who can pitch in meaningful games and make a big impact. Then behind it, a healthy Chris Paddock, who just came in, I had a chance to chat with him today, he feels as good as he's felt in a long time. You add in guys like Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa and Zebby Matthews, who all got innings for us last year. I feel like that, that pitching group is a little deeper.
As we look at the position player side, all our guys come in in a great spot. Carlos is healthy, Royce is entering in a great spot now. Byron Buxton, who played more than 100 games last year, is now coming in as excited as he's ever been, having had a normal offseason for the first time. So that group's really good.
I think we still are tested a little bit in the infield, certainly at first base, and making sure that we have enough depth there. But ultimately, I feel really good about the overall makeup of the club.
Let's let's talk about what Manager Rocco Baldelli said. He was very candid, including about a different approach. About all of you getting together, and feeling like, not running from the home run, not passing on the home run, but that this group is going to have an emphasis of getting the ball in play, let's be athletic, let's make solid contact. It doesn't have to be feast or famine as much. How do you balance that? The trend has been for years, let's turn this into more of a home run game, a walk game, and for some teams that really works. But when Rocco looked at the last, 40-some games of the season when the lineup was so quiet, you can't have that again. How is that gonna play out in spring training?
As Rocco articulated well to you when he was back up in the Twin Cities, is that it's more about a mindset and an approach. You're going to have to have power production to win at the big league level. There's no question about it. The data doesn't lie on that. You know what works in the postseason. You know you're gonna have to hit some doubles and some homers along the way to drive in runs. The pitching is just so good, it's so deep that it needs to become a part of it.
But it doesn't mean that that needs to be the goal and I think what we saw over the last four to five weeks of the season when we didn't hit the way we needed to, was a lot of guys going up there and thinking they needed to win the game with that one swing. Or they needed to get us back into it with that one swing. It's really about moving the line along and making sure that you take your at bat for the next hitter, and giving yourself a chance. I think for young players, you know, some of whom going through the first pennant race of their careers, felt like they were trying to have to put the team on their shoulders and win it with one. We want to get back to what we were doing for a good chunk of last year when we were performing well. It was a team that definitely, it struck out a lot less than the previous year. It put a lot more balls in play and it was focused on kind of taking it at-bat to at-bat.
We want to focus on that right from the get-go in spring training. That's gonna be something that I know is messaged as soon as position players get here and kickoffs.
As of now, Royce Lewis starts the season at what position in your infield?
At third base. He's spent the vast majority of his time there over the last couple of years, and that'll be the focus. You know, going back to last year, he's such a tremendous athlete who has the ability to play other spots, obviously, he came up as a shortstop. Going back to high school, he played some in the outfield, he played third, he played second, he's played all around and he's that kind of athlete. I think what we've always wanted to keep in mind for him is just thinking about, you know, where does it fit for him over the longer term of his career? He hasn't had as much time in terms of development as other players because of the well-documented injury history.
So, will he get some time in other spots? Yes. He's aware of that and he knows that's part of what he wants to be exposed to, and be aware of, as we continue to evolve him as an infielder. But the vast majority of his time will likely come at third base.
Does that mean Brooks Lee is gonna start start spring training working at second base more exclusively?
I think it's a good competition for a lot of guys. You know, Brooks is another one of those young players who came up last year and had a good start and then had some struggles toward the end of the season. He'd be the first to admit it. His first experience at the big league level was right in that pennant race and trying to hunt for that playoff run. And I think that'll serve a lot of these guys well and build a great foundation.
You know, two years ago, Eddie Julian was one of the best hitters on our team, especially down the stretch, and a guy that we really leaned into and performed well in the postseason. He's a guy that I know is looking forward to a chance for a bounce back year. There's other players on our team, whether it's Willi Castro and others, that have played at different spots in the infield, and will get some of that time at second too. We have a group that hopefully we can lean on that has some depth to it and we'll see where the competition shakes out as we get toward the start of the regular season.
Every time I see a top hundred prospect list, it's Walker Jenkins 3rd, it's Walker Jenkins 2nd, it's Walker Jenkins 4th. You got a guy who has a chance to be a star. If he has a normal, healthy spring training, where does he start the year in the minors?
Yeah, it's a good question. Certainly, as you said, we are ecstatic about what Walker has already done here with us. He's continued to get better. He gets more physical by the day. He's strong. He just has that kind of elite talent, the baseline, but he's also a great kid and a hard worker and ready to take on whatever's in front of him.
We want to focus on that first part, Chad, which is make sure that he has a fully healthy spring training, make sure he's tracking in a good direction. Obviously, high A, AA are the conversations for us around where he's at, to make sure that he can track, but he's still really young and he's had that first major league, or first professional season now under his belt. He's learned a lot, gone through some ups and downs, and we'll make that decision as we get toward the end of spring training. But he's a very talented young player that we want to bring along and hopefully we'll see in Minnesota sooner than later.