The Mets have hired Derek Falvey in the front office as a senior advisor to president of baseball operations David Stearns. (They also promoted Kris Gross to the role of assistant general manager.)

So who is he, what is was his style as president of baseball operations of the Twins, and what does a senior advisor do?

Derek Falvey. Photo Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

What Does a Senior Advisor Do?

A senior advisor is a high-level in-house consultant for an MLB team. Many teams have them, and it is common for a former POBO or GM to take this role. Former Athletics president of baseball operations Billy Beane currently serves as a special advisor for the Athletics. Former Mets general manager Omar Minaya is a special advisor for the Yankees. Former Rangers general manager Jon Daniels is a special advisor with the Rays.

What the role covers is largely up to the organization. Responsibilities can range from analytical assistance, player evaluation, scouting, player acquisition, operations management, alumni relations, and more. Typically, the goal is to play to the strengths of the senior advisor.

Per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, Minaya was hired to help balance the Yankees’ analytical evaluations by working to “lend voices to old-school scouting techniques.” Billy Beane is able to assist the Athletics with his institutional knowledge from his time within the organization. Per Adam Berry of MLB.com, Jon Daniels meanwhile works with the Rays’ “baseball ops senior leadership while utilizing his extensive experience in the industry to help further inform decision-making.” Michael Girsch with the Cardinals meanwhile has worked to improve the analytical side of baseball operations by improving innovation and best practices.

So what does Derek Falvey bring?

Who is Derek Falvey?

Falvey began his career in Cleveland in 2008, where he went on to become the co-director of baseball operations alongside none other than current Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns. From there, he went to the Twins in 2017 to work alongside then general manager Tad Levine as the executive vice president and chief baseball officer. In 2024, he became the sole leader of the Twins organization as the president of baseball operations. In January 2026, Falvey mutually parted ways with the Twins.

While Falvey was with the Twins, the team went to the postseason in 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2023. They never made it past the division series, but they did win 101 games in 2021.

His best moves included acquiring Joe Ryan in the trade that sent Nelson Cruz to Rays, acquiring Pablo López by sending Luis Arraez to the Marlins, and then extending López and extending Byron Buxton to a seven-year contract.

On the flip side, he traded Ryan Pressly to the Astros, who quickly became their closer, traded for Jorge Lopez in the deal that sent Yennier Cano to the Orioles and never seemed to do enough at the trade deadline, typically playing it safe. For the most part his trades seemed to not be huge wins or losses. While he did give up Luis Gil, he got multiple solid seasons of Jake Cave. Jake Odorizzi got an All-Star nod with them in between rough seasons, while Jermaine Palacios only played 30 games in the majors.

What Is Falvey’s Expertise?

Anthony Dicomo of MLB.com quoted David Stearns on Falvey, who said, “Throughout his career, Derek has distinguished himself as one of the most respected executives in our sport. His experience across the full scope of baseball operations functions and his familiarity with leading an organization will serve as a great addition to our front office group.” Not much there. In the Mets’ press release, they said Falvey will be serving “as a trusted voice across a wide range of baseball operations decisions.” Not much there either.

Falvey has always been known as being pro-analytics, but has preached finding a good balance between old school and analytics. In a 2019 interview with WEEI’s Rob Bradford on “Baseball Isn’t Boring,” Falvey said, “I equate it to this: when you are thinking about your retirement portfolio, and you’re talking to your financial advisor, you want them to be evidence-led and have some instincts mixed in, but they better be looking at the data and thinking about how it’s going to match your risk profile and what you want to do long term.” At that point the Twins focuses were around spin for pitchers and swing characteristics for hitters.

When he was in Cleveland, he oversaw the organization’s pitching development. Jeff Passan, at the time with Yahoo Sports, described Falvey as “in the eyes of many, a future general manager” due to his work in the organization. While he was there, Cleveland saw strong pitching performances from pitchers including Corey Kluber, Cody Allen, Carlos Carrasco, and Joe Smith.

His drafts were mixed, but he did have some successes, including:

One player of note he drafted is Billy Amick, whom he drafted in 2024 and who finished the year in Syracuse with the Mets after they traded for him at the most recent deadline.

So… What Will He Do?

We do not know what his focus will be, but his expertise in pitching development could be an asset to an organization with a strong foundation in pitching development. Similar to Stearns, Falvey likes a balance between analytics and “old school” philosophies. It makes sense that he and Stearns have significant crossover in their philosophies as they worked together in the past and had similar career paths. This should make it easy for him to quickly adapt to the Mets front office and work with the different voices throughout.

The Mets have many different voices and viewpoints as it is. Eduardo Brizuela has been with Stearns dating back to Milwaukee and has helped Stearns overhaul the processes inside the Mets organization as an assistant general manager. Assistant general manager Ben Zauzmer is also known for being heavily invested in analytics and played a big part in beginning to modernize the Mets during Billy Eppler’s tenure as general manager.

Special assistants Carlos Beltran and J.D. Martinez bring the player side to the front office. Both had long major league careers, including time with the Mets, and are able to help relate to the player side in ways individuals who did not play may not be able to. Director of amateur scouting Drew Toussaint has been known as being more of an old-school voice in the Mets organization.

Kris Gross, recently promoted to assistant general manager, has a good balance of experience in old-school scouting, modern scouting, and cross-checking. Even if not all of them have the title of “scout,” Gross’s scouting department with the Mets has had a mixture of “old school” and modern-age scouting.

Derek Falvey will work very closely with David Stearns. Sharing many philosophies that align with Stearns and the organization as a whole is a good thing. Falvey also has plenty of experience working with different backgrounds from his time in Cleveland and Minnesota, which will help him work with the different voices throughout the organization. Whatever role he is in, the Mets clearly saw something in him as they continue to expand their front office.