Rocco Baldelli has been fired. Considering the team was butchered halfway through the season, we can only assume he was a dead man walking for the final excruciating months. These Pohlads are a ruthless bunch. At least he was compensated for his suffering.
I have to admit, I’m something of a Baldelli sympathist. I think he got too much crap. His hands-off and laid-back approach to managing won him a lot of games: he finished his Twins career with a .511 winning percentage, better than Ron Gardenhire, Tom Kelly, or any Twins manager who manned the job for more than three seasons not named Sam Mele. Irks or quibbles with his demeanor—the “lack of fire” that some interpreted as lethargy or aloofness—to me, stems from an imperfect understanding of leadership. No, he didn’t yell. But he didn’t need to yell. And there are more ways to inspire people outside of yelling.
At the end of the day, Baldelli’s teams won. Before this season—which should really only half-count against him—the worst Twins season under Baldelli was a 73-89 performance in 2021, a year sunk by the disastrous signings of Matt Shoemaker, J.A. Happ, and Alex Colomé. It’s not his fault they all turned into pumpkins, unless you think he didn’t inspire them hard enough.
Other than 2021, the Twins were competent at worst, and playoff contenders at best. Shoot, his rookie season was literally one of the best in team history: the famous 2019 Bomba Squad that bludgeoned opponents and set home run records. Then, he led the team that beat the streak in 2023, which was a squad that, frankly, overperformed. Bad managers don’t turn a position player group of Kyle Farmer, Donovan Solano, Michael A. Taylor, three rookies, a struggling Carlos Correa, and 85 games of the forever DH Byron Buxton experience into an ALDS appearance. Baldelli did. And he managed his playoff games well.
Yet, the hammer must strike for someone. It’s impossible for nobody to be at fault for such a disastrous season. I believe the onus was on him to buck the malaise that had been circling the team since the end of 2024. He didn’t. Mediocrity continued. One could argue it thrived. That has to be on someone. Still, it feels like the team fired him because it was an easy thing to do, not necessarily because it was the needed thing to do.
The next person will be asked to conjure magic. They are inheriting little. Knowing how the off-season will likely play out, they will then be aided with little. Until something changes higher up, the system is set up for failure. It appears that the Twins would like to follow in the footsteps of the great Central outperformers, yet they lack the philosophical cleverness or aggressive talent churn that drives such franchises. You can’t expect to be the Brewers when you have the player development and conservatism of the Cardinals.
Rocco Baldelli never swung the bat for the Twins. Nor did he take the mound. He didn’t hand Christian Vázquez $30 million just to point towards contracts like his as the reason why Jhoan Duran can no longer pitch for Minnesota. He didn’t whisper sweet nothings into the player’s ears, causing them to collapse tremendously in 2022 and 2024. He didn’t oversee a hitting philosophy that has utterly, disastrously failed the team for the past five seasons. He also didn’t choose to target largely sedentary athletes, lacking in defensive or base running acumen, while slugging at merely an acceptable rate.
It’s true that something stinks in the organization, but firing one person low in the total decision-making apparatus isn’t the solution. Real, structural change needs to occur, and this is not it.
Your turn. Let’s hear your voice in the comments below.