Phillies reportedly granted permission to interview Twins’ GM Thad Levine

Ask and you shall receive permission to interview a leading executive if you are offering them a potential promotion.

In November, Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark of The Athletic reported that the Minnesota Twins believed that the Philadelphia Phillies would ask them for permission to interview general manager Thad Levine.

Now, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News in St. Paul says that the Phillies have indeed made the request to interview Levine for their president of baseball operations role, and the Twins will allow Levine to interview for said position. This comes just hours after Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported that Levine is “a significant player in the search for the Phillies’ head of baseball operations job.”

While it’s a fairly customary practice to allow your employees to interview for promotions within other organizations, there’s no rule saying you have to do so. Levine is signed through the 2024 season in Minnesota, so the Twins didn’t have to give the Phillies permission.

It’s not hard to see why the Phillies are interested in Levine. The 49-year-old has helped to construct a roster in Minnesota that has made the playoffs in three of the last four seasons, winning the American League Central in each of the past two seasons. The Twins have done a strong job of mixing homegrown talents – Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jose Berrios – with external additions like Kenta Maeda, Nelson Cruz and Josh Donaldson. The Phillies, of course, would like to emulate that formula.

Both Phillies’ president Andy MacPhail and special assignment scout Terry Ryan have been in high-ranking positions in the Twins’ front office previously, so it stands to reason that they wouldn’t have to try too hard to get intel on Levine. Evidently the Phillies have liked what they’ve heard about Levine, who actually played baseball and completed his undergrad studies at local Haverford college.

It’s not clear if the Phillies have already interviewed Levine, or if they just recently received permission to interview him and will do so in the near future.

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported Friday that the Phillies are bringing former Miami Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill and current Los Angeles Dodgers’ senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes back for a second round of interviews for the same position that Levine is seemingly also a candidate for.

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