MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins continue to make additions to their front office and scouting staff, and they hired long-time Baseball America editor John Manuel to their pro scouting department. Manuel's last day at the publication will be Oct. 31, and he'll join the Twins on Nov. 1.
Manuel posted the news to his Facebook page on Tuesday, and the Twins confirmed the hiring. Manuel began working at Baseball America in 1996 and became a columnist in 2001 before becoming editor-in-chief in '05.
Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey has experience with former Baseball America staffers, as his former organization, the Cleveland Indians, has a front office that includes six former Baseball America writers.
"The best part about working for the Twins will be the same advice about writing the column -- it ain't about me," Manuel wrote on his Facebook page. "The game is about the players, plain and simple. My corollary to the old cliche that baseball is a humbling game always has been that it was true for everyone but the writers. I love to write, and I'll keep writing, but now it will be reports after a series."
Falvey has maintained that despite an emphasis on analytics and adding to that department that he doesn't anticipate a smaller scouting staff, and Manuel's hiring shows that.
"We've talked a lot about staff enhancement and continuing to build out," Falvey said. "We'll do that with different voices with advances in video scouting and live scouting. We have a good number of pro scouts, but we're looking to add to it. It's not our expectation to have fewer people in the field."
The Twins parted ways with six area scouts late in the season, but Falvey said scouting director Sean Johnson is currently in the process of hiring new amateur scouts.