The Twins won’t be losing one of their top baseball executives.
Thad Levine, the team’s general manager and senior vice president, has taken himself out of the mix to become the head of the Philadelphia Phillies’ baseball operations department, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Levine was reported to be a candidate for the Phillies job on Friday.
Thad Levine, who looked like a strong candidate for the Phillies top baseball job, is no longer in the mix. Word is he loves his situation in Minnesota and apparently preferred to stay working on the successful Twins turnaround. Byrnes, Hill, maybe others still believed in.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 5, 2020
The Phillies are looking for a replacement for Matt Klentak and, according to the Star Tribune, were looking at Levine; Josh Byrnes, the senior vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers; and Michael Hill, who served as president of baseball operations for the Marlins for six years. Hill left the Marlins organization in October after 18 years.
Levine joined the Twins in November 2016 and has worked under Derek Falvey, the Twins’ president of baseball operations. Falvey hired Levine a month after he joined the Twins. The duo has played a major role in the Twins winning back-to-back AL Central titles.
Levine declined a chance to interview for the New York Mets GM job in 2018. Levine attended and played college baseball at Haveford, which is located just outside of Philadelphia.