Baseball general managers have complicated jobs. They oversee the big-league product, an extensive scouting and executive staff, a large analytics department, spring training operations, overseas operations and about six minor-league teams.
They also conduct negotiations and serve at the pleasure of ownership, which will hold them accountable for results and ill-spent dollars.
On Saturday April 15 at Yankee Stadium, Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey (essentially, their GM) experienced a wild-yet-typical day for someone in his position, a day filled with surprises, wheeling, dealing, celebrity watching and reminders of the connections baseball people make throughout their lives in the game.
By the evening, he was on his way to signing Pablo López to the largest pitching contract in franchise history, he was communicating with the league offices about potential Yankee cheating, and he had gotten to spend extra quality time with manager Rocco Baldelli.
The next day, he chatted with songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda of "Hamilton" fame, cousin to Twins third baseman Jose Miranda, in the Twins clubhouse. On this Saturday, he might not have had time.
"What's hard is remembering what happened on what day,'' Falvey said.
On Saturday April 15, the Twins were playing the third in a four-game series, a day game, at Yankee Stadium. Falvey went through his morning routine, consisting of formal and informal meetings, then headed to the suite on the press-box level of Yankee Stadium, behind home plate, next to the broadcast booths, where visiting team executives sit during games.
Falvey was sitting next to Mike Herman, the team's traveling secretary, when he and Bobby Barad began texting each other.