Report: Rocco Baldelli Will Return for 2026, as Twins Exercise Contract Option

[Peter Labuza]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Questions surrounding the wobbly seat of Rocco Baldelli have been answered: The Twins have already exercised his option for 2026. As Dan Hayes reported in The Athletic, "Multiple sources confirmed the club picked up its team option for 2026 on Baldelli, who’s currently in his seventh season as manager."

It was not clear when the team made the call, but the report comes at an unfortunate time in the season. The Twins have gone 6-15 since June began, mostly thanks to their once-mighty starting rotation turning into the league's worst, with a collective 6.59 ERA. Hayes noted that Derek Falvey expressed his confidence in Baldelli on Monday and ruled out any mid-season manager switch. And with potential sale talks going cool again, any new management removing Baldelli feels equally distant. 

Whether Baldelli is responsible for the collapse is less clear. The injuries to Pablo López or Zebby Matthews are entirely out of his control, and have had a staggering effect. But other managerial decisions have been questioned. Matthew Taylor rightly took him to task more recently for an odd Christian Vázquez play in extra innings. Cody Christie suggested that his choice to use openers has been somewhat strained. But one might easily praise his decision in Seattle for pulling Bailey Ober after four innings with bases loaded, turning to Danny Columbe to eliminate the threat (it ended up a loss, but not on Ober). And the Twins have continued to have one of the strongest bullpens in the league, which often makes up Baldelli's most critical decisions. As many will of course note, many of his decisions are really those of the front office.

And yet, the Phish-loving manager is now set to return, even at a time in which the future of the season—and the franchise—remains uncertain. One thing is for sure: fans will certainly have opinions. 

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[Vanimal46]

 

Doesn’t matter if there’s a new ownership group before then. Par for the course for this website to post clickbait time and time again. 

[Patzky]

If Rocco isn't going a good number of players probably soon will be

 

[darwin22]

Does this REALLY surprise anyone?

Its the Twins way.

Absolutely pathetic.

[USAFChief]

It gets harder and harder to support this organization. 

Baldelli is awful, and that shouldn't be controversial. 

 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

loss for words 

[T.O.]

4 minutes ago, darwin22 said:

Does this REALLY surprise anyone?

Its the Twins way.

Absolutely pathetic.

I'm naive enough to be surprised. Shocked actually.

I don't think I can watch another season of Rocco ball.

 

[dberthia]

It's the Twins' way: zero accountability.

[Vanimal46]

5 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

loss for words 

Are you though? Falvey and Rocco have been tied at the hip the whole time. There’s no scenario where they keep one or the other. It forces the Pohlads’ hands to fire (and pay) both of them if they keep the team beyond this season. This is a friend helping out a friend 

[Vanimal46]

If I’m wrong then the Twins country club is alive and thriving under Joe Pohlad. 

[Western SD Fan]

4 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Are you though? Falvey and Rocco have been tied at the hip the whole time. There’s no scenario where they keep one or the other. It forces the Pohlads’ hands to fire both of them if they keep the team beyond this season. 

That is the saddest part of this announcement is it gives off the impression that the Pohlads may be pulling the team off the market.

[LastOnePicked]

It looks like the organizational dial is still stuck on the "maximum fan pain" setting. Hope they get that fixed.

[Vanimal46]

1 minute ago, Western SD Fan said:

That is the saddest part of this announcement is it gives off the impression that the Pohlads may be pulling the team off the market.

Then they’re the dumbest business people on the planet. The relationship between them and the fanbase is irreconcilable 

[TheLeviathan]

It's as simple as this - they're still in "Sell" mode as ownership.  They won't pay to fire the current FO and hire a new one.  The current FO is fully on board with Rocco.

This shouldn't be surprising.  For better or worse, this is what it is as long as the Pohalds are still circling the franchise sale.

[Woof Bronzer]

4 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Then they’re the dumbest business people on the planet. The relationship between them and the fanbase is irreconcilable 

Step 1: Alienate fanbase

Step 2: ????

Step 3:  Profit!

[jkcarew]

8 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

If I’m wrong then the Twins country club is alive and thriving under Joe Pohlad. 

Well…That’s what it looks like. Makes me even more desperate for a sale to happen.

[Vanimal46]

1 minute ago, jkcarew said:

Well…That’s what it looks like. Makes me even more desperate for a sale to happen.

Same my friend. If we have to endure another offseason with the Pohlads that will be time to put my fandom on pause. 

[Doc Lenz]

Because they exercised the extension doesn’t mean they won’t fire him. Happens often (see NC State BB) you have to eat the salary and move on. I know you’re going to say the owners are too cheap to do it so don’t @ me. We will see, if you’ve lost your team which outside looking in he has the risk of continuing this path is dangerous.

[DJL44]

This is very much a country club move. There is no other team that wants Rocco Baldelli as their manager. They could easily let the contract expire and negotiate a return with a pay cut if they really wanted to bring him back.

[notoriousgod71]

As always the timing makes it all the more hilarious.

[Aggies7]

[Whitey333]

Very curious about the timing.  In the middle of a horrendous display of baseball.  I've followed this team for 50 years and they are at about the lowest point I've seen in quite some time.  They continue to play uninspiring boring baseball.  Falvey and Rocco are a joke and both should be gone.  But I understand that they ARE tied at the hip as someone said.  It's becoming increasingly obvious that ownership doesn't care one way or the other on how the team is run.  Fans?  We don't matter.  It pains me to say this but us fans need to stay away from Target field until they show us that they actually care about putting an entertaining product on the field.

[NYCTK]

Makes sense. Things are going great from a business standpoint. They drew nearly 18 thousand tonight on a beautiful summer evening. 

.

.

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...I'm being told that's bad actually.  

[howeda7]

2 hours ago, T.O. said:

I'm naive enough to be surprised. Shocked actually.

I don't think I can watch another season of Rocco ball.

 

Me too. I actually thought there was a chance he'd be fired by Thursday evening before the road trip. Unbelievable. I mean Falvey deserves to be fired more than Rocco, but we knew that wasn't happening. 

[Twins GFP]

I'm only here for the comments...

[Nashvilletwin]

The only reason that comes to mind is that maybe this is some inane strategy, like in Major League, to lose so badly that the owners make their best return by moving the team to Nashville. Ricky Vaughn, straight out of the California Penal League, here we come!

Please note the italics as a substitute for sarcasm font.

In all seriousness, I switched my MLB Network TV preference to the Brewers - way more fun to watch - and reducing my commitment to being a casual MLB watcher as opposed to an every dayer.  Please don’t think of me as a traitor - I’ve watched over 140 Twins games every year for the past decade.  I’ll come back when there is regime change. In the meantime. I’ll find other more rewarding things to keep me occupied until football preseason begins - I hear knitting and basket weaving are fun hobbies. Or maybe I’ll just watch paint dry - even that is better than watching this futile team and franchise led by the Pohlads, Falvey and Rocco. Just need something more positive now that the only true reason for hope - Rocco, bless his little heart, being fired - is gone.  Watching that ineptitude and then coming to the TD for all the carping (albeit well deserved) just isn’t a good use of always and increasingly valuable time.

Best to all of you TDers - it’s been real! 

 

[TwinsChupacabra]

Terrible, rotten, good-for-nothing news.

[Fezig]

Falvey got rid of Molitor for much less.

[Doctor Gast]

8 hours ago, Patzky said:

If Rocco isn't going a good number of players probably soon will be

 

I'm afraid you're maybe right. Falvey is running out of excuses. 1st it's injuries, it's always the hitting coaches, then the trainer, the weather, the cheap Pohlads (every team has these problems, it's how you deal with them that makes you a good FO); it can't be how he's running the team, so the next thing is to blame the players. Get rid of all of them & start all over. The Pohlads are buying everything Falvey is shoveling. I hope the fans aren't.

[CRF]

Sure...it's not a real surprise...but I'm still going to puke my guts out anyway. I hope I live to see the day, when a new ownership group takes over, and sh*t cans everyone in the FO and coaching staff. Just go scorched earth on everything. It's the only way things will ever have any chance of improving.