The New York Mets hired Derek Falvey as senior adviser to president of baseball operations David Stearns, adding a second former GM-tier executive to a front office Steve Cohen has spent $1.2 billion reconstructing since 2021. Falvey left the Minnesota Twins in October after nine seasons running their baseball operations department.
Stearns announced the hire internally Tuesday morning. Falvey reports directly to Stearns and will work across player evaluation, analytics integration, and major-league roster construction. He does not replace any existing role. The Mets declined to disclose his salary, though comparable advisory positions at large-market clubs typically range between $800,000 and $1.5 million annually. Falvey's Twins contract paid him roughly $2 million per year at departure.
The move addresses a structural gap Cohen identified last winter: the Mets lacked a senior baseball voice between Stearns and the next tier of front-office leadership. Ian Levin runs pro scouting. Colin Skolnick handles amateur evaluation. Marc Tramuta leads research and development. None held a prior GM role. Falvey spent nine years as Minnesota's top decision-maker and five before that as Cleveland's vice president of baseball operations under Chris Antonetti. He has hired three managers, overseen four playoff teams, and executed $347 million in free-agent spending during his Twins tenure. He also drafted Royce Lewis, Spencer Stott, and Matt Wallner, though Minnesota's player-development track record under his watch was inconsistent.
Stearns values process credibility more than roster outcomes. Falvey built Minnesota's analytics infrastructure from scratch in 2016, integrating Statcast data into advance scouting and shifting the organization toward bullpen specialization and defensive positioning years before the league median caught up. His hiring suggests Stearns wants a second opinion on high-stakes decisions—contract extensions, waiver claims, July trade parameters—without diluting his own authority. The Mets have $174 million committed to six players for 2026. They need to extend Pete Alonso or replace him, decide whether to move Brett Baty for pitching, and determine if their current player-development pipeline can supply controllable talent at a rate that justifies Cohen's payroll tolerance. Falvey has made those calls before.
Meanwhile, the advisory title keeps Falvey out of the formal decision chain, which matters for league optics. MLB's competition committee includes one front-office representative per division. Stearns holds the NL East seat. Adding another former president to the org chart without a clear reporting boundary risks perception issues around undue influence, particularly given Cohen's $19.8 billion net worth and his willingness to spend past luxury-tax thresholds other owners avoid. Falvey's role as *adviser* signals collaboration, not consolidation.
Watch whether Falvey participates in Winter Meetings trade discussions and how visible he is during spring training. The Mets still need a left-handed reliever and may explore outfield depth if Starling Marte's medicals show decline. Falvey knows the Twins' controllable pitching surplus and has relationships with Cleveland's front office, which has four relief arms it could move before Opening Day.
Cohen hasn't hired anyone this senior without a specific decision pending. That decision is likely Alonso, whose agent Scott Boras is already posturing for $200 million-plus.