Another offseason. Another run on Twins personnel.
Twins Senior Vice President and General Manager Thad Levine has emerged as a candidate to run the Philadelphia Phillies' baseball operations department, according to multiple sources.
Levine, who joined the Twins in November 2016 in his current role under President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey, has the opportunity to run his own shop. And that's an opportunity that few people get.
The Phillies are looking for a replacement for Matt Klentak, who agreed to step down after a 28-32 season in 2020. Philadelphia's best record during Klentak's five seasons was 81-81 in 2019.
Philadelphia approached the Twins about two weeks ago for permission to speak with Levine. Levine — who has stated in the past how he and his family have taken to the Twin Cities and how he wanted to remain with the club and build a winner — was persuaded to speak to Phillies owner John Middleton.
The person who initiated the contact between the Phillies and Levine? Phillies President Andy MacPhail, who was the Twins GM from 1986 to '94 and the architect of their two World Series championship teams.
Levine played college baseball at Haverford in suburban Philadelphia.
Other known candidates for the Phillies job include Josh Byrnes, the senior vice president of baseball operations for the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers; and Michael Hill, whose six-year run as president of baseball operations with the Miami Marlins ended in October. Coincidentally, Levine, Byrnes and Hill all worked together for the Colorado Rockies in the early 2000s.
Falvey and Levine joined the Twins in 2016, and it didn't take long for clubs to start to raid the organization for its staffers. Most notably, Jeremy Hefner left his role as assistant pitching coach to become the New York Mets pitching coach in 2020 and hitting coach James Rowson left the club after the same season to become the bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Marlins.
Also, former bench coach Derek Shelton is the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates; former minor league catching coordinator Tanner Swanson is major league quality control coach and catching coordinator for the New York Yankees; former minor league hitting coordinator Pete Fatse is the Boston Red Sox assistant hitting coach; and former Twins minor leaguer and assistant pitching coordinator J.P. Martinez was hired this week as the San Francisco Giants assistant pitching coach. All were with the Twins within the past three seasons.
Levine was a Texas Rangers assistant GM before he joined the Twins. On Friday, the Rangers named former big-league pitcher Chris Young their general manager. He will report to Jon Daniels, the team's president of baseball operations.
