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The Twins are about to hire a 33-year-old as their new president

When the Minnesota Twins fired general manager and executive vice president Terry Ryan in July, after more than 30 years with the club, there was little doubt that their front office was going to get younger.

As we’re learning now, it’s going to get much, much younger.

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Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan is reporting the Twins are about to hire 33-year-old Derek Falvey from the Cleveland Indians as their new president of baseball operations. Other industry sources are saying the same thing, but there’s been no official announcement from the Twins.

That means the Twins’ new front-office leader would be almost half the age of their old one. Ryan, who served twice as the Twins’ GM, is 62. It would also mean the Twins’ new president of baseball operations would be the same age as their most recognizable player, Joe Mauer.

Nonetheless, Falvey would be one of the youngest execs in baseball and perhaps the youngest with a president title. And he’d be tasked with turning around one of the worst clubs in MLB this season. The Twins, for their part, say their search isn’t finished. Though, as Mike Bernadino of the Pioneer Press notes, that could be out of the respect for the Indians’ not having clinched the AL Central yet.

The Twins are looking for new leadership for 2017. (AP)
The Twins are looking for new leadership for 2017. (AP)

There are plenty of young GMs in baseball these days — just look at David Stearns with the Milwaukee Brewers, who was hired last September at 30 — but the role of president doesn’t often go to such a young guy. Cubs president Theo Epstein got his job at age 37 in 2011. Rangers president Jon Daniels was 35 when he got his promotion in 2013. (He’s also the team’s GM).

All front offices around MLB are different, with different titles and org charts. Some teams have a president of baseball operations and a GM. But on other teams, like the Rangers, that’s one person. Some teams have a number of executive vice presidents rather than a president. And some teams have one president for baseball operations and another for business operations. That seems to be what the Twins are setting up, since they’ve had Dave St. Peter as president on the business side since 2002. According to reports, Falvey would also hire a general manager to work under him.

What makes Falvey different from the likes of Epstein and Daniels — who were named GMs in their 20s and had success — is that Falvey’s never been a general manager. He’s currently the Indians’ assistant GM, promoted last October. Before that, he was Cleveland’s director of baseball operations.

So, if the hiring happens as reported, Falvey will jump from director of baseball operations to assistant GM to president of baseball operations all within 12 months. Twins fans have to hoping they can jump up the standings just as quick.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!