Will the Twins' staff get raided this offseason?
It can’t be argued that Minnesota is having one of their best seasons in the Target Field era. Rocco Baldelli and his coaching staff have helped to get the most out of their core group of players and have this team on pace for close to 100 wins. For the front office, there could be some blame thrown around for not doing enough at the deadline, but they certainly added enough pieces last off-season to put this club on the winning track.
Minnesota looks like a team on the rise and this could mean other teams come looking for coaches and front office personnel.
Boston shocked a lot of the baseball world on Sunday as they fired General Manager Dave Dombrowski less than a calendar year after he delivered the team a title. The Red Sox are entering a tumultuous time in their organization and the ownership didn’t feel Dombrowski was the right man for the job. He was hired to do what he did, win the World Series, but it could be time for the franchise to rebuild and he might not fit that mold.
Besides the Red Sox, there will be plenty of other organizations searching for upgrades in the front office and to their coaching staffs. Every team is looking to gain a step up on other organizations. Here are three names that could be with different organizations this offseason.
Daniel Adler
Current Role: Director, Baseball Operations
Adler took a unique route to his current position with the Twins organization. His professional experience started as an intern in the MLB’s Labor Relations Department where he worked on the CBA including baseball’s compensation system. He spent a couple of years in the private sector before joining the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. With Jacksonville, he headed up a brand-new Football Research and Development Department.
Baseball organizations are finding some of the best minds in unique ways. Plenty of the game’s operating leadership have degrees from Ivy League universities. Adler holds a Harvard law and business degree. He has spent time in multiple fields and has a way of changing an organization’s system.
“Finding things yet to be identified is important,” said Adler, “but being able to utilize the things you already know is more important.”
Jeremy Zoll
Current Role: Director, Minor League Operations
Zoll has been on the fast track throughout his professional career as he is the youngest person in his role among all 30 MLB teams. He is in his second year in the Twins organization after he came to the club from the Dodgers organization. With Los Angeles, he served as their Assistant Director of Player Development for multiple seasons. He worked to develop player plans and assisted the Research and Development department.
"His reputation, even at a less experienced, younger age, of galvanizing staffs and creatively (instituting) development programs for players, really got our attention," said Thad Levine. "He's got the ability to communicate very clearly to the 16-year-old Venezuelan kid or the college senior.”
"There's a presence about him that probably belies age. But I think the backbone of it really was he had such rave reviews from the senior staffers that he worked with in the past."
James Rowson
Current Role: Hitting Coach
It’s hard to argue with what Rowson has done during his tenure in Minnesota. During his first year on the job, the Twins scored 815 runs and cracked 206 home runs. Both totals were in the franchise’s top four best season before the 2019 campaign and the introduction of the Bomba Squad. It would be hard to list out everything this offense has done this year and Rowson is a key cog in the Twins hitting machine.
“I think the environment that we’ve created here as an organization allows everybody to feel comfortable in their own skin,” Rowson said. “Each guy is just worried about having the best at-bat they can and there’s nothing holding them down mentally. They’re clear-minded, and that creates good at-bats, and that gets contagious.
This story originally appeared at Twins Daily and has been shared with Bring Me The News as a member of an affiliate network.
