More major organizational changes are underway for the Twins. After general manager Thad Levine stepped down earlier in the offseason and chairman Joe Pohlad announced his intent to explore a sale of the franchise, president and CEO Dave St. Peter announced that he is stepping down after 22 years and moving into an advisory role. Derek Falvey will assume many of St. Peter’s duties and now hold the title of both president of baseball and business operations. Falvey, who’s been running Minnesota’s baseball operations since 2016, will have a new general manager working alongside him as well. The Twins promoted assistant GM Jeremy Zoll to the GM role that was vacated when Levine left the organization.
“This is a difficult decision because this [team] has been my life,” St. Peter tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller. “This has been my journey. I’ve given everything I have to this organization and have been proud to do it. … I feel truly convicted that Derek is the right successor, and I want to support him in every way and set him up for success, hopefully, over the long haul. The move is important because it signals, I’m hoping, to the broader organization and to our partners that there is stability and continuity.”
Falvey was originally hired away from Cleveland, where he’d been an assistant general manager. The Twins initially tabbed him with the seldom-used “chief baseball officer” title before promoting him to president of baseball operations and extending him in 2022. St. Peter tells Miller that Falvey has been preparing for a shift of this type for years, participating in discussions and meetings regarding the team’s business, media and partnerships for some time.
Similarly, Falvey explained to Miller how Zoll, 34, has been taking on a larger role in baseball operations over the years. Per Falvey, Zoll ran point on numerous free-agent and trade negotiations, including Minnesota’s acquisition of right-hander Sonny Gray back in 2022. A product of Pennsylvania’s Haverford College, Zoll has been working in baseball ops for more than a decade. He worked with the Reds and Blue Jays before joining the Angels as their director of advance scouting in 2014 and then moving onto the Dodgers, where he held the title assistant director of player development. Falvey hired Zoll as the Twins’ director of minor league operations in 2017, and he was elevated to assistant general manager two years later.
“I’ve always tried to throw myself at whatever opportunity was in front of me to the best of my ability,” Zoll tells Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. “When this all finally came to pass, it’s in a real way a validation of a lot of hard work and being able to know that so many people around me have been able to help accomplish a lot of successes to put me in this position.”
Changes atop the organizational hierarchy are only part of the story in a transitional time for the Twins organization. In addition to front office shuffles and the looming potential of a sale, Minnesota dismissed four members of manager Rocco Baldelli’s coaching staff and severed ties with Diamond Sports Group/Bally Sports, turning broadcast rights directly over to Major League Baseball. The Twins (re)hired Matt Borgschulte away from the Orioles to serve as their hitting coach but still have multiple vacancies to fill. Given the fact that Falvey’s role is growing and Levine’s title has been filled internally, it’s also possible there’ll be some additional hirings in the baseball operations department to help shoulder some of the workload there.