How the Twins narrowed the list of manager candidates from 80 to one before hiring Derek Shelton

In the first days of the Twins’ search for a new manager, the internal list of potential candidates swelled to about 80 names.

Members of the front office kept an open mind as they brainstormed. They listed all the former managers and candidates from other openings around the league. They noted others with varying backgrounds that could conceivably handle the job, including college coaches.

Over the three weeks following the firing of Rocco Baldelli, the Twins whittled their 80 names to Derek Shelton, who became the 15th manager in team history.

Shelton, in many respects, was a predictable hire. The Twins had history with him after he was their bench coach in 2018 and ’19. He was a finalist in their previous managerial search eight years ago, after all.

But through each round of interviews, Twins officials kept coming back to Shelton as the leader they wanted.

“Of all the interview processes I’ve been in, this was probably the most complex,” Shelton said. “It was the most detailed, It was the most to the point.”

There were eight MLB manager openings to begin the offseason, but it didn’t move as quickly as the Twins expected — when they hired Baldelli in October 2018, he had multiple job offers. This time, the Twins opted to spend their first week calling as many people as they could for background information on candidates.

“You even call other people who went through the process to hire a manager the last few years, and say, ‘Hey, who was the next person in your process?’ ” Falvey said. “Usually, people are open to sharing a lot of things with you. You glean a ton that way.”

The Twins settled on seven candidates for the first round of interviews, which were conducted over Zoom. The seven were Shelton, Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, former Mariners manager Scott Servais, Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty, Red Sox bench coach Ramón Vázquez, Royals third-base coach Vance Wilson and Padres coach Nick Punto.

The Zoom interviews, which Falvey said could last more than six hours, included several components. The Twins involved about 30 members of their front office staff to chat with candidates in various small groups, something they did in their previous managerial search.

“That’s important to us for how we operate as an organization, and a good opportunity for those people to get to connect with a new person and weigh in on that,” said Twins General Manager Jeremy Zoll, who was a part of a small group as a then-farm director during the last managerial search almost a decade ago.

The last time the Twins searched for a manager, their virtual meetings on Google Hangouts were awkward as people tried not to talk over each other.

Each candidate managed a simulated game, too.

“Give them a bullpen card, usage and here’s what [each reliever] did last week,” Falvey said. “It was less about did we win or lose the game. It was much more about how did you think about using the bullpen.”

Torii Hunter, a Twins Hall of Famer, expressed interest in the opening, but he never received a formal interview. He was a candidate for the Los Angeles Angels opening. (The Angels hired former Twins All-Star catcher Kurt Suzuki on a one-year contract.)

With the Twins in a stage of rebuilding, the front office prioritized candidates with big-league coaching experience.

“Having some experience coaching, managing, being in the dugout is really important,” Falvey said. “That says nothing of a number of players who have played, stepped off and ultimately want to manage. That’s not a question in my mind, some guys can do that. For us, in thinking about the challenges and growing young players, someone who has some experience with player development, being on a staff, being around it, I think it has a real benefit.”

“It’s less about me asking them after the process, ‘OK, do you think this guy is going to make the right decision in the seventh inning?’ Like, that’s silly,” Falvey said. “But I want to hear their perspective on the person, how they interacted with them and set whoever comes in for success going forward.”

The in-person interviews concluded after dinner with Zoll and Falvey. Two of the finalist dinners were at Mara restaurant, and one was at Porzana.

The Twins ended up choosing Shelton over Rowson, whom they hope to bring in as a bench coach if he doesn’t stay with the Yankees. Shelton’s experience managing the Pirates was important, and he has reflected on how he can improve in his second managerial job after he was fired in May.

Falvey always remembers how much Terry Francona, his mentor in Cleveland, talked about his first managerial job in Philadelphia. Francona’s Phillies teams never won more than 77 games in four seasons nor finished higher than third place in the National League East.

Shelton “took over a [Pirates] team, in my opinion, that had a lot less talent on the roster than what we have right now,” Falvey said. “I don’t think that’s controversial.”