In a move that surprised everyone around the sport, the Minnesota Twins announced Friday morning that they had agreed to “mutually part ways” with the team’s president of baseball operations, Derek Falvey.

General manager Jeremy Zoll will continue in his role, while Tom Pohlad (who assumed the role as the team’s principal owner from his brother in December) will “assume interim oversight of the business side”. As MLB.com’s Matthew Leach puts it, the move streamlines the club’s operations with Zoll reporting directly to ownership rather than to Falvey.

The Twins hired Falvey after the 2016 season, with him bringing Thad Levine aboard as his GM. The duo had run the club’s baseball operations since, but things changed last offseason. With ownership exploring a potential sale of the club (and reports that the franchise was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt), some longtime members of the organization began to leave. Levine resigned, with Zoll being hired to replace him. President of business operations Dave St. Peter also resigned, with Falvey assuming his responsibilities.

Months later, Falvey oversaw a total teardown at the trade deadline that saw more than a third of the active roster traded out of town. The Pohlads also announced plans to hold onto the franchise, with new investors ultimately joining the mix in December. Falvey was the right person to lead the team through most of the offseason in preparation for 2026 (and was a key speaker at the team’s media luncheon just last week), but it seems he’s no longer the right person to lead the franchise moving forward.

The timing of Friday’s announcement is curious, given that spring training is just two weeks away. The news caught most of the baseball world by surprise, as there had been no indication that Falvey’s job in Minnesota was not safe, and it’s exceptionally rare to make a change of this magnitude on the verge of the season starting.

NBC is taking a big swing with its return to broadcasting MLB games, just months after securing a three-year, $600 million deal to take over Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card playoff round. The network has already announced Bob Costas’s return from retirement to host the Sunday pregame show.

Recently retired players Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo, and Clayton Kershaw will reportedly be joining the network’s studio show, according to a report from Michael McCarthy at Front Office Sports.

Votto and Rizzo are strong additions who should play well off each other. Both players have exceptionally outgoing personalities, and it’s no surprise that either would pursue a career in media after their lengthy playing careers. McCarthy notes that ESPN once considered a show built around Votto, while Rizzo has “been the most aggressive about seeking a post-baseball media career”.

Kershaw will “work a limited schedule” (i.e., he won’t be a regular behind the desk like Votto and Rizzo will), but he’s an uninspiring choice. The left-hander has the accolades on the mound, of course, but he’s shown on multiple occasions that his personal views do not match up with most.

Veteran right-hander David Robertson announced his retirement on Friday via social media.

Robertson was a 17th-round pick by the Yankees in the 2006 Draft. He moved quickly through New York’s system, reaching Double-A before the end of his first professional season and then debuting in the majors in June 2008. It didn’t take long before he’d establish himself as one of the best middle relievers in baseball.

Much of Robertson’s Yankees career, which spanned nine seasons, was spent as one of the team’s top setup arms in front of legendary closer Mariano Rivera. Following Rivera’s retirement after the 2013 season, it was Robertson who got the first chance to step up and replace his long-time bullpen mate. D-Rob responded by collecting 39 saves in 2014 (8th in the majors).

Despite interest from the Yankees in retaining him, Robertson left the organization that offseason for a four-year, $46 million free agent contract with the White Sox. Just two and a half seasons later, the Yankees would bring him back to New York (along with infielder Todd Frazier and right-hander Tommy Kahnle) in a mid-July trade that sent right-hander Tyler Clippard and three minor leaguers (outfielders Blake Rutherford and Tito Polo, and left-hander Ian Clarkin) to Chicago.

A free agent again after the 2018 season, he’d sign a two-year deal with the Phillies. Tommy John surgery that August would interrupt those plans, putting him on the shelf for the remainder of the 2019 season and all of 2020.

He’d return and spend time with the Rays, Cubs, Phillies, Mets, Marlins, Rangers, and Phillies (again) before making the decision to call it a career. All told, Robertson appeared in 881 games across a 17-year career, posting a 2.93 ERA (143 ERA+) over 894.1 IP with 1176 SO (11.8 K/9, 31.9 K%) while collecting 179 saves.

Roberston also had a 3.40 ERA over 47.2 IP in the postseason, winning a World Series with the 2009 Yankees and reaching the series with the 2022 Phillies.

With Robertson and Rich Hill retiring, MLB is running out of players in their 40s. Right-handers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer remain on the free agent market. Rangers reliever Chris Martin will turn 40 in June. Free agent first baseman/DH Carlos Santana (who will play in the WBC) and DH/outfielder Andrew McCutchen will also turn 40 this year, but neither is guaranteed to even be on a roster at this point. That’s roughly the full list.

One-time Reds infielder Neftali Soto has been named team captain by the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan, a rarity for a foreign-born player.

The KBO minimum annual salary is being raised from 30 million won (where it has been since 2021) to 33 million won (roughly $23,073 in USD) for the 2027 season after a push from the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association (KBBPA). Additionally, the league has decided to increase the roster limit from 65 to 68 (including the active roster, injured players, and those on farm team assignments) to allow teams to “broaden club options for injuries, conditioning management, and roster operations during the season”.

As I mentioned on Thursday, there are big changes coming to the Nationals’ media coverage. Another shoe dropped on Friday, as MASN’s Mark Zuckerman published his “farewell” post at the outlet. I still believe another outlet will hire him before long.

Former Stanford University baseball coach Mark Marquess died on Friday at the age of 78, per an announcement from the school. The Cardinals were 1,627-878-7 under Marquess over his 41 years in the dugout, with 30 trips to the postseason and 14 appearances at the College World Series in Omaha (the final eight teams). Stanford won the National Championship in 1987 and 1988. He retired after the 2017 season.