Here's an interesting nugget from MLB.com writer Mark Feinsand, who says via Twitter that a source told him the Mets were interested in interviewing Twins GM Thad Levine for their vacant general manager job but that Levine declined and said he wanted to stay with the Twins.
On the surface, the decision makes plenty of sense. Levine is already a GM, with he and chief baseball officer Derek Falvey about to enter Year 3 of what is looking like a longer-range rebuild of the Twins. He has job security right now, and if you think the Twins had problems this year … the Mets are a bigger mess.
They finished 77-85 this year and have a bottom-10 farm system right now while the Twins have top-10 talent on the horizon. The Mets also are said to not have a very robust analytics staff, which could be a red flag for Levine.
That said, the Mets' organizational structure is such that the general manager appears to be the top of the food chain on the baseball side. There is no chief baseball officer — Falvey's title in Minnesota — only a president and chief operating officer. So theoretically Levine might wield more power under that structure than he does with the Twins.
At the end of the day, though, it's a lateral move in title for an organization that seems to have a bigger hole from which to climb.
It's good news for the Twins. Though some fans would be more than happy to help Levine pack and leave after some of the failed free agent signings and firing of manager Paul Molitor, it would be less than ideal to be searching for both a manager and GM right now.
