Twins’ general manager Thad Levine departs team after 8-year tenure | Sports

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins and general manager Thad Levine introduced a mutual parting of the way on Friday.

With his contract expiring, Levine, the Twins’ GM for the previous eight years, is trying to pursue the varieties of bigger major-league alternatives he’s beforehand declined. Levine’s departure was introduced a number of days after Twins proprietor Joe Pohlad confirmed Derek Falvey would stay in his function because the team’s high baseball decision-maker.

“Thad’s impact on the Minnesota Twins cannot be overstated,” Falvey stated in a information launch. “He has been a true partner and leader, always striving to elevate the organization and care for the people around him. Thad helped create a strong team culture, one focused on excellence and collaboration, that will continue well into the future. While we will miss his leadership, we are equally excited to see the next chapter of his journey unfold, and we wish him nothing but success in his future endeavors. I want to personally thank him for everything he has done to help us get better every day.”

Hired because the GM in November 2016, Levine and Falvey signed five-year extensions with the Twins on the heels of a 101-win season in 2019, the team’s second postseason look in three years beneath the route of the entrance workplace duo.

Several months after hiring Falvey in August 2016, the Twins introduced in Levine to handle the membership’s day-to-day operations, which allowed Falvey to higher consider all the group of their first 12 months operating it. The transfer let Falvey and Levine divide the workload when speaking with baseball’s 29 different groups. Levine additionally dealt with the team’s relationships with participant brokers.

Falvey and Levine have been launched to at least one one other on the 2014 GM Meetings when Cleveland’s entrance workplace met with the Texas Rangers’ group for a nightcap, Levine’s storytelling charming the group. The familiarity of the 2 entrance workplaces and Levine’s sterling fame within the business made him stand out throughout an interview course of Falvey largely dealt with alone.

The pair turned so inseparable within the early days that Twins staff and followers alike gave them the “Falvine” moniker. Though he took on a less-public going through function over the previous few seasons because the Twins added extra decision-makers to the participant acquisitions course of, Levine was entrance and middle within the early days.

Routinely named as a potential candidate for GM and president of baseball operations opening, Levine bypassed potential interview alternatives with myriad golf equipment. Levine made it clear he was completely satisfied working for the Twins and his household liked calling the Twins Cities residence.

But because the entrance workplace grew bigger and extra of the group’s processes have been fleshed out, Levine started pondering if the timing was proper for an even bigger function. Whereas 20 years in the past a team’s GM was its high decision-maker, that’s now not the case.

In the previous few years, Levine regarded tougher for different alternatives. He interviewed for the Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations job that went to Dave Dombrowski in December 2020. Last 12 months, Levine was one of many finalists for Boston’s chief baseball officer function that went to Craig Breslow.

“I am grateful to the Pohlad family, Derek Falvey and Dave St. Peter for providing me with such a comprehensive leadership opportunity spanning the last eight years of my career,” Levine stated. “The time is right for me to pursue my next enriching, professional challenge. I will forever cherish the friendships that I have made in the Minnesota Twins organization and throughout Twins Territory.”

(Photo of Thad Levine in 2021: David Berding / Getty Images)