The Magnificent Falvine took the stage Tuesday. The pre-eminent illusionists of our time had just fired a Hall of Fame player from St. Paul less than a year after he won the American League Manager of the Year award, and now here they were, sitting behind microphones, not telling us why.
They did a little soft shoe, hid a few quarters behind their ears, praised Paul Molitor as if they were hiring rather than firing him, and spoke in generalities so vague that they could have been discussing the weather.
I asked team President Dave St. Peter to penetrate the fog.
"There's a partnership that Derek Falvey talked about the day he was hired with the Twins," St. Peter said. "I think he felt as if the relationship with Paul had evolved mightily and there were other aspects of the partnership where I think Derek felt that maybe a change of voice was going to be very important for us to continue to unlock the young talent across our organization.
"I think that's probably the No. 1 reason. It has nothing to do with Paul's baseball acumen, nothing to do with our won-loss record."
My interpretation of that cautious answer: Molitor was fired for several reasons, and none of them would have sounded great coming out of Falvine's mouths as they fired a local hero.
Reason No. 1: Molitor was never their guy. Like most aggressive young baseball bosses, Falvey and Levine have an idea what they want as a manager, and Molitor, while a good manager, did not fit their image.
Their plan was to allow Molitor to leave after last season … and then the team got hot, made the playoffs and made Molitor the manager of the year. The Twins had to bring him back, and he wouldn't agree to less than a three-year contract. He was in reality negotiating a lucrative severance package.