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

[chpettit19]

16 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Boston "came calling" for Thad Levine too, which apparently is all the evidence anyone needs that he's good at his job.  Where did that in-demand, "respected around the league" guy end up again? 

MLB Network. I've never spoken on Levine because I never had a good read on how his exit played out or what he wanted when he left. 

If you want to take other teams calling on the head guys at the Twins to mean something other than the Twins FO being respected, be my guest. I don't understand that take, but to each their own. The other poster didn't think the Twins were getting calls from other teams and they were wrong. The Twins are voted amongst the top 10-15 front offices in baseball in anonymous polls of front office execs annually. Falvey and Levine have both received either actual interviews or interview requests. The idea that they aren't respected around the league seems to be pretty easily refuted by actual information from actual baseball front offices.

[purplesoldier4u]

Tom Kelly is rolling over in his grave. No pitching, no defense, and horrible fundamentals!

[Craig Arko]

2 minutes ago, purplesoldier4u said:

Tom Kelly is rolling over in his grave. No pitching, no defense, and horrible fundamentals!

TK isn’t dead.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Schmoeman5 said:

I watch MLB every day. I've never heard "well respected" and Falvey ever uttered in the same sentence. They all get air time during spring training or the winter meetings. It's not like they're going to say, here's Derek Falvey. He's really bad. Rocco being a good manager hasn't been mentioned either. I could be mistaken.

The Athletic 2024 poll of front office executives had the Twins front office 8th. 2025 had the Twins 15th. So after a winning season where they broke a playoff losing streak, they were ranked pretty highly. After a season where they struggled down the stretch and missed the playoffs, they tumbled to middle of the pack. Seems about right, and suggests that other teams in MLB respect the Twins front office, generally.

Did not receive any votes (for the second year in a row for all of them, suggesting these are the teams whose front offices are not as well-respected): Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays. 

I'm not going to pretend that Falvey has done a great job this season, but I do think ownership hamstrung the front office and mucked up their long-term plans on the baseball side by cutting payroll after a successful 2023 season, leaving them little money to invest with and more of the payroll caught up in a few players. The last season and a half are the result. I suspect the rest of the league sees the same kinds of things.

But it's also why ownership is easily the biggest problem with this team. They did a poor job on the business side of the operation for years (decades?) outside of getting a new stadium built. They missed on the Bill Smith hire, then whiffed again bringing back Terry Ryan (isn't anyone really going to pretend Ryan Part II worked?). They've botched their media deals pretty consistently. They've had various PR screw-ups. Basically the only things ownership has done well for sure in the last 20 years has been:

1. getting Target Field built. It's a gem, a wonderful place to watch a game.
2. buying in on the Saints to have AAA baseball across the rover in Saint Paul

People want to move on from Falvey...fine, I guess? Time for Rocco to go? Whatever. I doubt it changes much this season. But I definitely don't want the Pohlads making the call, because anyone they "hire" will be a lame duck placeholder and that won't help either.

Also? It's weird how often bunting comes up related to the Twins current front office and manager. Just because the Twins don't do it much doesn't mean that suddenly bunting a lot more will actually improve things for this team. Team with the most sacrifice hits this season is SD at 0.23 per game. They're scoring 4.24 runs per game...0.01 more than the Twins (who have struggled mightily on offense over the past month).

[karcherd]

People like to mention payroll limitations, I would still like to know what is the correct payroll amount.  Every front office or most have a budget, the good POBO and GM's work within their resources to develop their team.  This front office signed three players that take up a sizable portion of the budget.  That means the field staff, meaning Rocco needs to develop the younger players to fill in around those three.  Who is the last position player that has come up and had sustained success.  I know not every prospect becomes a star or even contributor at the major league level.  But the record of this front office and the field staff they have hired is abysmal.  And now you even have Correa talking to the front office and the coaching staff about better preparation.  Isn't there someone among the numerous coaches they have that can't see this if Correa and quite frankly the fans can.

[1985Fan]

FWIW, firing the manager mid season can have a positive impact on a team. Look at Rob Thomson in 2022. Named interim manager after Girardi was fired with Phillies seven games below .500. Took them to the playoffs for first time in 10-11 years. He was the fourth interim manager to take team to playoffs when inheriting a team seven games or more under .500. Same players, different result. 

This is for those that say the manager doesn’t have an impact or can’t do anything to change the outcome. 

[karcherd]

And why are they always secretive about these extensions.  The last time Rocco was extended, it took a year and a half for it to become public.  Falvey talked to the media last night and only Dan Hayes reported this little nugget.  That leads me to believe it was leaked and Falvey when given the opportunity to announce it, never did.  Do they really have that little regard for the fan base, this is a rhetorical question.

[NotAboutWinning]

I'm buying the theory that Falvey was getting some guaranteed money for his faithful soldier. It has been reported the extension was made sometime during spring training... When it was still believed that Ishbia was buying the team.

And, I would not be surprised if the Pohlads actually believed the announcement would be a positive to the fan base. They are that tone deaf 🙄

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, karcherd said:

And why are they always secretive about these extensions.  The last time Rocco was extended, it took a year and a half for it to become public.  

It says something that you're so excited to extend the manager's contract that you don't want anyone to know about it. "SHH, don't tell anyone we want Rocco to manage the team".

[Fezig]

21 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

No. It's pretty clear that Molitor was let go because he wasn't on the same page with the front office. Information that they wanted passed on to players was stopping at the coaching staff, strategic input was being ignored, etc. You want to tell your boss to @*%#$  off, you better win a LOT, and Molly didn't. 

 

I haven't heard that information before. Not a dig but I don't know how it's pretty clear unless there's inside info. In which case, good on you for having connections. 

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Fezig said:

I haven't heard that information before. Not a dig but I don't know how it's pretty clear unless there's inside info. In which case, good on you for having connections. 

Gleeman has reported it before. Hells bells it came up on the Gleeman & the Geek podcast in the last couple of weeks. 

[mluebker]

We all know what they call it when you keep doing the same thing, over and over, and expect different results. Anyone remember “The Peter Principle”?

[Woof Bronzer]

16 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

MLB Network. I've never spoken on Levine because I never had a good read on how his exit played out or what he wanted when he left. 

If you want to take other teams calling on the head guys at the Twins to mean something other than the Twins FO being respected, be my guest. I don't understand that take, but to each their own. The other poster didn't think the Twins were getting calls from other teams and they were wrong. The Twins are voted amongst the top 10-15 front offices in baseball in anonymous polls of front office execs annually. Falvey and Levine have both received either actual interviews or interview requests. The idea that they aren't respected around the league seems to be pretty easily refuted by actual information from actual baseball front offices.

Personally, it's going to take more than one media report about one team possibly reaching out to Falvey - not to mention a report that came from the Falvey camp, and coincidentally led to him getting a raise, which is a trick about 20 college football coaches use every year - to convince me that Falvey is actually good at his job.  Especially when the same rumors and descriptors - "highly respected around the league", "will get hired by another team 5 minutes after he leaves" - applied to Levine, who turned out to be so highly respected that literally no MLB team hired him.

Falvey's record speaks for itself.  It's year 9.  He's won a grand total of 1 ALDS game.  He's often had the highest payroll in what has frequently been the worst division in baseball.  The team has gotten consistently worse as old regime players shuffle out and Falvey's guys shuffle in.  The entire Twins organization cannot play defense, execute a bunt, run the bases, pitch deep into games - it will take years to rebuild this.  With this year the team will have missed the playoffs 4 of 5 years, including multiple epic meltdowns.  The organization is shedding fans by the day.  The organization is a disaster, full stop, and Derek's in charge. Obviously the Pohlads are to blame for a lot of it.  But I don't really care what anyone who wants to defend Falvey has to say - his record speaks for itself.  Results matter.  

[DJL44]

9 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

The organization is shedding fans by the day. 

That's the main reason I don't understand the move to extend Baldelli. He has no support whatsoever among the fans and it is affecting attendance. Do they understand that selling more tickets increases the value of the team?

[Doctor Gast]

18 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

😆 He's going like you were last year when they traded Polanco and Noah Miller who I'm watching right now on the MLB network.  

I became a Twins' fan with my Dad when they came in '61 along with the Vikings. I was more of a Viking fanatic but life had more opportunities in baseball than football so my interest tilted towards the Twins. Life happened & found myself in Brazil where there is no American baseball or football. I followed the Twins but after I retired, I came to be devoted to the Twins. Too many fans base their opinion on what they get from social media which is dominated by FOs, player agents, nerds & old farts, who want to live in the past. My objective is to get people to use their brain to observe, think, & make a rational conclusion on their own. 

The point that Nashville was making was that it isn't easy to give up something that has been a big part of your life for a long time. What do you substitute to fill that void? (I don't have the patience or drive to learn Chinese.) It's a process; I quit scouting other teams for acquisitions. I quit getting excited about draft picks. I quit my subscriptions like The Athletic & BBTVs. I no longer want to get access to watch Twins games or TD caretakers or go to the games alone. Twins have become boring under Falvey.

I still find myself craving for the Twins to become the team that I hope they could be. I was a big Falvine fan, but as I observed, I could see the warts. As I shone light on those warts, I only experienced opposition from their fans. More they pushed back, the more I dug. IMO, for the Twin to achieve their full potential, it needs to be without Falvey & Co. After years of shining that light, that's what drives me but maybe one day, I'll give up totally & let the Twins become another CO ROX.

[Woof Bronzer]

2 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Do they understand that selling more tickets increases the value of the team?

[Narrator voice]:  They do not. 

[Mike Sixel]

18 hours ago, purplesoldier4u said:

Tom Kelly is rolling over in his grave. No pitching, no defense, and horrible fundamentals!

Twins won less than 48 percent of their games with him as manager. 

They've won 52 percent of their games under baldelli. 

Fans are interesting. 

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Personally, it's going to take more than one media report about one team possibly reaching out to Falvey - not to mention a report that came from the Falvey camp, and coincidentally led to him getting a raise, which is a trick about 20 college football coaches use every year - to convince me that Falvey is actually good at his job.  Especially when the same rumors and descriptors - "highly respected around the league", "will get hired by another team 5 minutes after he leaves" - applied to Levine, who turned out to be so highly respected that literally no MLB team hired him.

Falvey's record speaks for itself.  It's year 9.  He's won a grand total of 1 ALDS game.  He's often had the highest payroll in what has frequently been the worst division in baseball.  The team has gotten consistently worse as old regime players shuffle out and Falvey's guys shuffle in.  The entire Twins organization cannot play defense, execute a bunt, run the bases, pitch deep into games - it will take years to rebuild this.  With this year the team will have missed the playoffs 4 of 5 years, including multiple epic meltdowns.  The organization is shedding fans by the day.  The organization is a disaster, full stop, and Derek's in charge. Obviously the Pohlads are to blame for a lot of it.  But I don't really care what anyone who wants to defend Falvey has to say - his record speaks for itself.  Results matter.  

I'm not telling you to think he's good at his job. I'd fire the guy. Again, I never said any of those things about Levine so when you use him as a reference point you're not talking about me. I can't speak for other people's comments about him. You'll have to go talk to those people about him.

The way the industry views Falvey and the Twins can be different than how the fans view him and the Twins. The industry doesn't view bunting the way many fans do so there's an obvious thing they're going to view differently. There are some very good defenders in the Twins system and some very good base runners. You're either not paying attention to the Twins system or you're just throwing out extreme statements to try to make a point. I honestly don't know which so I don't know how to respond. I agree that the Twins need to do a better job of building up starting pitcher prospects to go deeper into games. But let's not act like the average team is turning out a bunch of guys going 9 innings. Chase Burns debuted yesterday. Pretty big time prospect. Averaging 5 innings a start in the minors this year. Went 5 in his debut. Everyone is blown away by Jacob Misiorowski's start to his career. Has gone 5 innings and 6 innings in his 2 MLB starts after averaging just over 5 innings a start in the minors this year with only 4 of his 12 starts going more than 5 innings. Pulled with just 86 pitches thrown in each of his MLB starts. That's not to say the Twins don't need to do better, as I said, I agree they need to do a better job of building up starting pitcher prospects to go deeper into games, but they aren't doing something that's wildly off of the industry norm. Zebby and Festa are just under 5 innings per start. You're talking about 1 to 2 outs a start difference between the Twins and those other teams. Fans hate this stuff (including me), but the industry doesn't. You use it as an example of him being bad at his job when the industry doesn't see it the same way. The industry and fans don't see things the same way. Again, I dislike it, I want starters to go deeper, but the industry disagrees whether we like it or not.

I'd fire Falvey. I don't disagree with everything he does, but I don't believe he's got what it takes to win a world series in Minnesota. And that's what I care about. I annoy some people because I have the audacity to not bitch about 100% of the things the Twins do. I annoy other people because I have the audacity to bitch about some of the things the Twins do too much. All I can speak to is the information I have available to me. And based on that information I believe Falvey is well respected around the league and will get another job in baseball when his time here is done if that's what he wants. You can feel different. That's fine. Doesn't bother me. We won't know until the time comes. If I were in charge his time here would be done already. But I'm not.

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Twins won less than 48 percent of their games with him as manager. 

They've won 52 percent of their games under baldelli. 

Fans are interesting. 

I love the thumbs down for posting a fact?

[farmerguychris]

20 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I love the thumbs down for posting a fact?

Just one of several areas where facts no longer seem to matter nowadays

 

[1985Fan]

4 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Twins won less than 48 percent of their games with him as manager. 

They've won 52 percent of their games under baldelli. 

Fans are interesting. 

Using this stat to say Baldelli is a better manager than TK was? The only stat that matters is TK won TWO WS championship’s, Baldelli has won ONE ALDS playoff. 
It’s not even close who was the better manager. Andy MacPhail was also a better GM than wonder boy Falvey. Until Falvey and Baldelli actually accomplish something, I’m not impressed with stats. 

[Mike Sixel]

46 minutes ago, 1985Fan said:

Using this stat to say Baldelli is a better manager than TK was? The only stat that matters is TK won TWO WS championship’s, Baldelli has won ONE ALDS playoff. 
It’s not even close who was the better manager. Andy MacPhail was also a better GM than wonder boy Falvey. Until Falvey and Baldelli actually accomplish something, I’m not impressed with stats. 

Not at all! I'm merely pointing out that our memories are funny. That it might not be as simple as Kelly was great because he won two WS. YMMV,, of course. 

Some fans want feast and famine (McPhail), other want consistently competitive. I just want entertaining. The journey is LONG, and I'm more into the season being worth paying attention to than the end of the year (last year and this are NOT entertaining). I'm not defending anyone, btw. I've called for them to be let go.....

[Danchat]

42 minutes ago, 1985Fan said:

Using this stat to say Baldelli is a better manager than TK was? The only stat that matters is TK won TWO WS championship’s, Baldelli has won ONE ALDS playoff. 
It’s not even close who was the better manager. Andy MacPhail was also a better GM than wonder boy Falvey. Until Falvey and Baldelli actually accomplish something, I’m not impressed with stats. 

I think it's a reminder that the talent on the roster greatly trumps how competent a manager is. Kelly had some garbage rosters and there is only so much he could do with so little talent.

[Woof Bronzer]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I love the thumbs down for posting a fact?

If you don't understand the difference between how fans view a manager who won every playoff series he managed and led the team to the only 2 championships in franchise history, and a manager who has won a single ALDS game in his tenure, then yeah, thumbs down buddy.  You're smarter than that.    

[Woof Bronzer]

2 hours ago, farmerguychris said:

Just one of several areas where facts no longer seem to matter nowadays

 

Okay let's post another fact.  TK won 67% of his playoff games.  Rocco has won 27% of his playoff games.  

Does that fact matter?  

[1985Fan]

28 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Not at all! I'm merely pointing out that our memories are funny. That it might not be as simple as Kelly was great because he won two WS. YMMV,, of course. 

Some fans want feast and famine (McPhail), other want consistently competitive. I just want entertaining. The journey is LONG, and I'm more into the season being worth paying attention to than the end of the year (last year and this are NOT entertaining). I'm not defending anyone, btw. I've called for them to be let go.....

Ok, agreed. I followed the Twins during both WS seasons, and I have to say that was entertaining and exciting baseball! Watching the ‘87 Twins evolve from laughing stock “Twinkies” to champions was priceless. And it happened in both ‘87 and ‘91. Only way to describe that feeling was Jim Klobuchar’s column written after ‘87 game 7. What a great writer…. The “Polka to the Pennant” video was great. Wish I had a copy. 
 

[Mike Sixel]

12 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

If you don't understand the difference between how fans view a manager who won every playoff series he managed and led the team to the only 2 championships in franchise history, and a manager who has won a single ALDS game in his tenure, then yeah, thumbs down buddy.  You're smarter than that.    

But he was supposedly terrible the other years, given they didn't win 48% of their games? I'm suggesting that it isn't as simple as him being great at his job 2 years, and bad the others. They were literally the worst team in baseball one year, this board would have begged for him to be fired that year. Begged.

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, farmerguychris said:

Just one of several areas where facts no longer seem to matter nowadays

 

Twins teams under TK were often undermanned.

But they were rarely outplayed. He tried damn hard make sure of that. They threw to the proper base. Knew how to execute cutoff throws. Drop a bunt, and field one. Slow down opponent running games. When and how to gain a base on offense.

Those things, and a million other baseball things mattered. He took steps to ensure them, and didn't easily tolerate it when they didn't happen. 

Those things seem to me a  punchline now. At the least an afterthought. 

Baseball is a game. A team game. There's an art to playing it well, in addition to science. 

I'd like to see a manager who understands and appreciates that.

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, Danchat said:

I think it's a reminder that the talent on the roster greatly trumps how competent a manager is. Kelly had some garbage rosters and there is only so much he could do with so little talent.

Exactly this.  In baseball especially the roster impacts far more than the manager.  I think there is an organizational failure (to which Baldelli shares blame) that doesn't emphasize athleticism, fundamentals, and putting pressure on opponents.

But the truth is....Kelly was given some garbage teams and they played like garbage too.  Nothing Baldelli can do to make Trevor Larnach a 1st to 3rd threat.  Or Royce "Runnin' in Molasses" Lewis.  A baseball manager is the middlest of middle management.  By all means ask to fire him, but it's not the heart of the problem.

Also....World Series are nothing more than sample size victories.  Those are dictated by luck as much as talent.  I know that will cause some people to throw their canes in the air and hobble towards the sky to yell, but it's the truth.

[laloesch]

On 6/24/2025 at 11:26 AM, nicksaviking said:

I don't think it was an announcement so much as a leak.

Which probably means there's at least SOMEBODY in the organization that isn't happy about it and wanted to burn everyone by slipping this to Dan Hayes.

I agree and it makes sense