Twins Spring Training: Jim Rich goes 1-on-1 with Derek Falvey

Twins Spring Training: Jim Rich 1-on-1 with Derek Falvey

Earlier this week at Minnesota Twins Spring Training in Fort Myers, Fla, Jim Rich went 1-on-1 with President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Twins are in their first full week of Spring Training in Fort Myers, Fla, and FOX 9 has complete coverage.

The Twins are coming off an 87-win season, including winning their third American League Central Division title in five seasons under Rocco Baldelli. They won their first playoff game in 19 tries, and won their first playoff series in 21 years.

Expectations are high that the Twins can go further in 2024 and springboard off last year’s playoff success. Earlier this week, FOX 9 Sports Director Jim Rich caught up with Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey.

"Until you’re in those moments and experience it, you don’t know what it’s like to succeed in them. Ultimately our guys got that chance last year, now they have the chance to go back and hopefully do it again," Falvey said.

He likes how the 2024 roster is coming together, despite the fact that the Twins have not signed a big-name free agent. His expectation is that the Twins can get more out of their core players in 2024. They want Pablo Lopez to continue as the staff ace, they’ve bolstered the bullpen, they need more offensively in the regular season from Carlos Correa.

Maybe most importantly, they need a fully-healthy Byron Buxton in center field on Opening Day. Watch the video for the full interview with Derek Falvey.

"When you look at our roster, when you think about Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis and others, you think you have guys that are game-changing type players already on this roster. It’s not common every cycle you’ll go back and get another one of those during every free agent period. Ultimately we feel the group is deep, it’s strong, it’s experienced now," Falvey said. "It’s had a chance to win and taste what it feels like to win in the postseason. That’s the group you want to build off of. This core is good, hopefully for a really long time and I think Twins fans are really going to be excited about the group we’ll be able to go north with."