Hiring Derek Shelton (a candidate with meaningful ties to and prior experience with the Minnesota Twins) to succeed Rocco Baldelli as manager indicates that team decision-makers don’t believe a significant overhaul of philosophy or messaging is needed for the club to return to postseason contention. On the surface, remaining static after enduring what were two of the most emotionally draining seasons in team history (for off- and on-field reasons) feels misguided.

Yet, given the club’s recent success (after all, 2023 and the first half of 2024 weren’t that long ago) and its sound approach to roster building, the Twins could still contend for the AL Central title in 2026, if they overhaul their bullpen and add one or more above-average bats over the offseason. Given that the front office could face significant spending restrictions this winter, roster improvement attempts won’t manifest through spending in free agency. Yet, given the club’s knack for creative roster building, various high-impact, budget-conscious trades could occur in the next handful of months.

As mentioned earlier, Minnesota’s offensive approach needs a significant overhaul. Hiring a new hitting coach and bringing in new personnel to revive what has become one of baseball’s most stagnant lineups will be a daunting task. By contrast, the Twins’ pitching staff performed like one of the AL’s best units, a standard they have set for themselves since Pete Maki took over as full-time pitching coach on Jul. 1, 2022.

Since that date, Minnesota’s pitching staff boasts the following rankings among the 15 AL teams:

2nd in fWAR

3rd in FIP

4th in xERA

3rd in SIERA

2nd in strikeout rate and K-BB%

Minnesota has fielded a top-three pitching staff on the junior circuit for the last three and a half years, from both a results and an underlying statistical perspective, since Maki took over for Wes Johnson. Minnesota’s front office and Maki reached this standard by implementing modern research and development practices, plus acquiring and maximizing pitching talent. Maki has been able to take talented arms like Pablo López, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran and others, and draw out star-caliber contributions while keeping them fairly healthy.

Even in one of the worst seasons in contemporary Twins history, wherein they parted ways with high-leverage relievers Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart, and Danny Coulombe at the trade deadline, Maki guided Minnesota to fielding the AL’s sixth-best pitching staff, according to fWAR. Yes, the unit experienced a significant drop-off post-deadline, ranking 14th out of 15 in fWAR. We have to make some allowances, though: the bullpen was gutted and the team had given up on the season.

Given the unit’s results and the organization’s sound pitching development and research systems, Maki deserves to be retained as the club’s pitching coach under Shelton. He and his colleagues have done more good than harm with a bunch of talented hurlers, even if it became a motley crew at the end of 2025.