I have had the good fortune of having what some would call a “playing career” in baseball. I have also had the privilege of playing for some of the best leaders at any level that the game has to offer. From 2015 to 2018, I played for the University of Minnesota. I had the honor of suiting up for John Anderson on some of the most talented clubs the Gophers have run out to date. After college, I had parts of four seasons in independent ball, with my longest tenure being with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. For the RedHawks, former big leaguer and World Series champion Chris Coste was at the helm.
What were the common threads between these two? They knew how to manage the thermostat of a clubhouse and when to turn the dial one way or the other. They also had a keen understanding of where they could actually impact on-field performance: through strong relationships with their players.
In college ball, there are many more opportunities to have formal practices and develop skills. While in professional baseball, you are relegated to spring training and early work before one of the 162 games. Not to mention, most major leaguers have already played hundreds of games in the minors and/or college by the time they’ve reached this level. At this level, most guys have a routine and have become extremely polished in their skills. What most guys need is someone who will coach their mentality and their confidence. The margin for being a good big leaguer to someone who might not be playable is so thin that a lot of times it comes down to who can handle going 0-4 with three punch outs.
For all intents and purposes, Derek Shelton is Rocco Baldelli 2.0; anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves. Anyone who thinks that, with the current organization’s structure, the on-field decisions will change is also fooling themselves. It is very clear in my observations of the Twins that the manager has very little power over what goes on. Everyone says the game is run off of a spreadsheet, and I don’t think that’s too far off here. To me, before each game, there’s a meeting and they decide who is available. After this, a flow chart of “what ifs”. Truthfully, if Rocco had full autonomy during his tenure, I think he would’ve been fired sooner.
I liked Baldelli, and I like Shelton. I think they both manage personalities well, and players speak highly of them both. The discourse around the managerial position in Minnesota makes me feel like Shelton is going to get considerable innings on the mound this year and maybe take on an Ohtani role while hitting for us, too. The outrage over the hire confuses me. Derek Shelton can’t control whether Royce Lewis, Pablo Lopez, and Byron Buxton are healthy. Derek Shelton will not make us play small ball more often; the front office decides as a whole what the play style will be. He will not convince 30-year-olds with 5,000 at-bats in The Show to choke up with two strikes. At that level, the players are in control of their careers, and if they want to make adjustments, it will be on them.
What Derek Shelton will do is the only thing he can. He will make a small impact on the day-to-day feel of the clubhouse and manage personalities. People will point to the Brewers and Pat Murphy (I love Murphy), but he proves my point. He had a great pitching staff, managed personalities, and knew when a guy needed to be pushed or needed an “atta boy”. That’s all a manager can do at that level because they will not be physically performing at any point. If the bullpen stinks and they can’t drive in runs, Joe Torre or Dusty Baker would not save them. The manager’s job is to put players in a position to succeed (I’d argue the Twins don’t leave much room for this), build a relationship with the players, and know when to throw a bucket of baseballs onto the field.
I know it’s easy to point the blame at a manager, but I would also argue that’s part of why they are there. A good leader will step in front of the arrows the media fires and deflect praise to his players. I know it’s not a sexy hire, but being a major league manager is not a sexy job.
Time will also help us understand the hire. If the Twins break this thing down to the studs, he is likely a scapegoat for a 90-100 loss season, and he’s gone in a year, maybe less. If they bring in more talent, it could go the way of Murphy and become a bit of a folk hero. Ultimately, the players’ on-field performance will decide his fate.
The villains in this story are the people who are pulling the strings, and the echoes from 2023 still vibrate through the fan base (rightfully so). Don’t forget who we beat that year. The ones who bore the cross for the organization’s poor decisions were Baldelli and our players traded at last year’s deadline. Realistically, it should’ve been the decision makers who had to pack their bags, but we can’t always get what we want.