The Mets are bringing in Derek Falvey, and on paper it looks like the kind of move that could stabilize a front office after a rough year. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported Wednesday that Falvey will join New York’s front office under lead executive David Sterns, giving the Mets another experienced voice after a season that left them with a 73-85 record and last place in the National League East.
That alone makes the hire easy to understand. New York spent $359.2 million on payroll this season, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, so money is not the issue.
Steve Cohen can play in a different financial lane than the Twins ever could. But that’s also why Falvey’s fit deserves a closer look.
His biggest issue in Minnesota was not simply lack of resources. In fact, some of his worst work came when he had money to spend.
Falvey was hired by the Twins in 2017 to help reset a franchise that had gone stale. Former Twins chairman Jim Pohlad called the previous state of the organization a “total system failure.”
Minnesota had traditionally promoted from within, so bringing in Falvey from the Cleveland Guardians felt like a major shift. The Guardians had built a reputation for doing more with less, and Falvey’s work there, especially around pitching development, helped sell the Twins on him as their executive vice president and chief baseball officer.
He did have real wins in Minnesota. He hired Rocco Baldelli, brought in Nelson Cruz, and helped power the “Bomba Squad” that won 101 games and hit an MLB-record 307 home runs in 2019. He also extended Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco on team-friendly deals and made two trades that looked sharp at the time, landing Joe Ryan for Cruz in 2021 and Pablo López for Luis Arraez in 2023.
But the deeper pattern was harder to ignore. When Falvey spent big, the results often turned ugly.
The 2018 offseason brought Lance Lynn, Logan Morrison and Addison Reed for a combined $35.25 million. Josh Donaldson got a four-year, $92 million deal in 2020.
Alex Colomé was signed for one year and $6.25 million in 2021, only to post a 4.15 ERA. And after wisely landing Carlos Correa in 2022, Falvey handed him a six-year, $200 million contract the next offseason after the Mets and the San Francisco Giants backed away from larger commitments because of long-term health concerns.
That spending record wasn’t the only part of the résumé that raised eyebrows. The 2017 MLB Draft is part of the story too, with Hunter Greene’s production in the 2024 and 2025 seasons - 16-9, 2.76 ERA - making him look like a better choice than Royce Lewis at No. 1 overall.
The 2022 trade deadline also brought trouble, with Tyler Mahle and Jorge López both flaming out within a year. And the deal for Chris Paddack before the 2022 season cost the Twins Brent Rooker, who later became a future All-Star.
Over nine seasons, Minnesota won only one playoff series.
The Twins’ present-day problems offer another caution sign for the Mets. Falvey’s draft picks filled a lot of the roster, but too many never became what the team needed.
Lewis is the biggest name, but Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner have also fallen short, with Wallner still in the minor leagues. Falvey’s final free-agent moves didn’t provide much relief either.
Josh Bell did produce a solid season, hitting .255/.317/.416 with 20 homers and 92 RBI, but Victor Caratini has the look of another mistake similar to Christian Vazquez’s three-year, $30 million deal in 2023.
Pitching, which was supposed to be one of Falvey’s strengths, never fully held up. The Twins were forced to scramble for arms with Zebby Matthews and Connor Prielipp. Even a trade that looked like a big swing at the time came back around, as Austin Martin posted an OPS+ of 88 and Simeon Woods Richardson didn’t make it to June after arriving in the 2022 Jose Berríos deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.
So while the Mets are clearly betting that Falvey can bring order to a sprawling operation, the Twins’ experience says the fix may not be as simple as handing him another big budget. New York may give him less power than he had in Minnesota, but the larger question remains the same: more money alone has never been the magic answer for Derek Falvey.
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