Rocco Baldelli: The Best Manager in Minnesota Twins History?

[Fire Dan Gladden]

On 8/27/2024 at 7:51 AM, wabene said:

Is winning percentage a good metric for judging the manager?

Unfortunately no, wins are not the best metric.  Ownership, both today and yesteryear, cares more about nickels than wins.

[insagt1]

This thread was designed to bring out and consolidate everyone's feelings about Rocco...instead of the scattershot 'he sucks' ' hs the worst' comments we get everyday. 

To that end I think it has been useful. Everybody gets to legitimately vent. For me i dislike any manager who overuses analytics and computer pages instead of watching and trusting instincts. Why for example pull a pitcher who has thrown say 9 or 10 pitches and getting guys out because the 'book' says he only gets 1 inning? Why so much lefty- righty switching if it isn't totally warranted for a particular situation? I have the same disdain for Hyde of the Orioles. His in-game decisions are so maddening so often. 

So is Rocco the best ever? Hardly. Is he the worst? Maybe not. In recent years the absolute worst job of managing hands down was Tom Nieto..who guided the Twins-based Red Wings to 2 of the worst seasons in franchise history. He couldn't manage; he couldn't communicate; he never engaged in the community..he was a total failure on every level. 

[jkcarew]

I’ve done exhaustive research.

He’s indisputably in the Top 14. Probably near the bottom of the top 14. But, top 14. Anyone who says he’s not is just a biased hater.

[Greglw3]

Not even close. I can make a much stronger argument that he’s the worst. Gene Mauch was the best, Sam Mele, Billy Martin, Frank Quilici, Tom Kelly, Billy Gardner. Paul Molitor all better. Huge mistake firing Molitor!

[Greglw3]

On 8/27/2024 at 6:39 AM, Karbo said:

I'm not ready to call him the best. Take into account the talent level of the players the different managers have had to work with, and TK got the most out of those players IMO. As an older person, I've seen all the managers the Twins have had. Mele was good, Martin is still probably my favorite. Let's not forget about Mauch. Maybe Rocco will be as good as those, but IMHO he has a ways to go before I anoint him the best. 

I agree, I think Mauch, Martin and Mele all massively better than Rocco with Mauch the best manager the Twins have ever had. A brilliant tactician, Molitor deserves credit, too. I think it was really dumb to fire him, one of the elite Hall of Famers with great instincts for the game in many areas.

SO let’s go with alliteration in Mauch, Martin, Mele, Molitor!

And Kelly, even though he had players that most any manager could win with deserves credit and definitely better than Rocco.

I fail to understand the logic behind even suggesting Rocco might be the best ever. It would be like suggesting Max Kepler is the best Twins hitter of all time.