Jeremy Zoll takes reins from Derek Falvey to lead Twins front office

After Derek Falvey’s nine-year tenure with the Twins ended on Friday, Jan. 30, general manager Jeremy Zoll will step in as the architect of the Twins roster.

Though Zoll worked closely with Falvey throughout the past year on all trades and signings, and Zoll led the managerial search process that led to the hiring of Derek Shelton, it’s a big pivot with fewer than two weeks before the start of spring training.

Zoll, 35, is now the youngest head of baseball operations for a Major League Baseball team.

“I have the utmost belief in Jeremy Zoll,” Falvey said. “His passion for it, his work habits, his work ethic, his relationship-building are exceptional, and I think he’s going to continue to take the reins and keep going just as he has over the last year.”

Falvey’s front offices always emphasized collaboration, so Zoll’s new role isn’t expected to lead to a major change in philosophies. For example, trade talks are typically split among several people in the front office. But now Zoll will have the final say on roster moves.

Zoll, the seventh general manager in Twins history, joined the organization in 2018. He was a farm director overseeing the minor leagues for two seasons, was promoted to assistant GM in 2020 and was promoted to GM in November 2024.

His background is primarily in player development. After starting his front-office career with the Los Angeles Angels in 2013, working in advance scouting, he spent two seasons (2016-17) as the assistant farm director for the L.A. Dodgers.

Zoll had conversations with Falvey and Pohlad a couple of days before the Jan. 30 announcement about Falvey’s departure. Pohlad said it was obvious how much Zoll respects Falvey, who brought him into the organization and helped him develop into a GM, and there was excitement from Zoll about the opportunity to lead the baseball operations department.

“We lucked out with Jeremy Zoll being in this position right now to be able to kind of have the continuity and stability in our baseball department,” Pohlad said. “He strikes me as aggressive, decisive and very competitive.

“If Jeremy can take what his personality is and all the things that he learned from Derek, I think he’s going to be really talented and do really well in this job. I’m excited to see what he does this year.”

Pohlad, who took over as the franchise’s principal owner in December, believes the Twins will be a competitive team this year. The Twins currently have an estimated Opening Day payroll around $103 million, which would be the club’s lowest figure since 2017 before even accounting for inflation.

Before the MLB winter meetings in early December, Falvey urged ownership, which included conversations with the limited partners, to keep the core of the roster together for the upcoming season when there were constant trade rumors around Joe Ryan, Byron Buxton and Pablo López.

“Yes, our payroll is down from last year,” Pohlad acknowledged. “I think there is still some investments to be made between now and Opening Day. I’d love to get off this payroll thing for a second. Let’s get halfway through the year to the end of the year, and let’s judge the success of this year on wins and losses and whether we’re playing meaningful baseball in September.”

Zoll was already tasked with patching a bullpen that was depleted at last year’s trade deadline and fixing an offense that scored the eighth-fewest runs in the majors. Now his job comes with more media responsibilities and a brighter spotlight.

“I’m 100 percent committed to him as being the right leader in this moment in time to assume all the responsibilities that Derek had with respect to baseball,” Pohlad said.

The timing of Falvey’s departure was odd because it was so close to spring training. The news surprised people inside the organization and led to stunned reactions throughout the baseball industry.