The Minnesota Twins finished the 2016 season with a record of 59-103, worst in major league baseball. What should be the team’s priorities for the 2016-2017 offseason?
1. Front Office
The Twins fired Terry Ryan on July 18th, ending his long tenure with the team. Ryan had taken over from Andy MacPhail, who also had a lengthy tenure. Needless to say, the methodology employed by Ryan was taught to him through his predecessor and has been a presence in the organization’s philosophies for over 30 years at this point. Yes, that brought the organization 7 division titles and 2 World Series championships through that philosophy, but times have changed, and the organization’s 500-633 record since the opening of Target Field in 2010 speaks to the way the game has passed the organization by. That’s the equivalent of going 71-91 every year. No fan base would be comfortable with an organizational philosophy that is churning out 90+ loss teams ON AVERAGE!!
The hiring of Derek Falvey as president of baseball operations shows a big step in a new direction. Falvey comes from the Cleveland Indians organization, one of the most progressive organizations in the game as far as utilization of modern statistical and informational data. He has an excellent pedigree already at 33 years old.
Falvey’s first priority as P.B.O. will be to find his next General Manager, and then to decide how to proceed with the rest of the front office staff currently employed once that person is hired. Most often, a new GM will want to bring in his/her people that he/she is familiar with in order to facilitate a smooth transition, but the Twins do have some excellent young minds, especially in their scouting department, so it could be interesting to see who is kept on board and who is let go.
Regardless of the turnover, getting someone in place in the GM’s chair is the top priority to the organization going into this offseason, bar none. From there, improving the team’s make up can begin…
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