Are Comments About the Twins' Culture More a Reflection of Correa, or Rocco's Clubhouse?

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of Erik Williams and Jesse Johnson--Imagn Images

In a recent article from John Shipley in the Pioneer Press, Twins starter Pablo López made some interesting comments, which could be described as uncharacteristic for the typically upbeat and ultra-positive pitcher.

“Culture,” López said, “is one thing we’ve been lacking the last couple of years.” He spoke of his intentions to work with fellow remaining vets like Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Ryan Jeffers in establishing a new culture, but was vague in laying out his vision for the improved state:

“We have an opportunity here to take this clubhouse and say, ‘Hey, let’s take this opportunity to create the culture that we’ve been lacking the last couple years,’ the culture that prevents good teams from losing a lot of games, a good culture where instead of losing five games, you lose two and the guys pick themselves up so fast that it’s like, ‘Hey, we lost two; let’s back in the winning column."

“That is something we’ve discussed as a group, like, ‘Hey, let’s reshape the philosophy and culture of who the Twins are: We hold each other accountable, we play hard, we compete and we don’t take anything for granted. We’re happy to be here. You’re fortunate and blessed enough to wear this (uniform), but you also have to play hard. Just being up here doesn’t fully cut it.”

Personally I have a hard time dissecting the "clubhouse culture" topic as an outsider, although I think it is worth discussing. From my view it's overblown and largely about associations between winning, losing, and the corresponding emotions or "vibes." Let's be clear: culture has been lacking for this team in the last couple of years due to a top-down apathy overtaking the organization, and a snowballing deluge of losing, letdowns and collapse on the field. No one's going to smile or act "happy to be here" while that's going on. If they did, it'd be pretty irritating.

What López is describing in the above quote is simply ... winning. Play hard, compete, don't take things for granted, hold each other accountable, lose two games in a row instead of five in a row: these are basic staples of winning baseball, not cultural touchstones. 

Naturally, it's interesting to look at López's comments through the lens of Carlos Correa's departure, because, how could you not? Whatever shortcomings the Twins experienced from a culture perspective would have to be tied very directly to the de facto team leader whose $200 million contract was greatly motivated by his rep in that capacity. "I want to build a championship culture in this organization," Correa said back when he first signed with Minnesota. 

In some ways (more ways than a lot of sour fans would like to admit), Correa did deliver on his promise. He struggled for most of 2023 but stepped up in October as the Twins won their first playoff series in two decades. He was an All-Star in 2024, the best player on a top contender in the American League, before going down with an injury and setting off a team-wide spiral that hasn't stopped spiraling since. 

One year ago, when the Twins were 15 games above .500, I don't recall seeing any quotes from players lamenting the toxic culture or hinting at Correa's negative influence. Again: it's all reactionary based on the performance of the team and its players. Good for narratives, maybe, but not necessarily for creating an actionable improvement plan.

If we try to read a little deeper into these quotes from López, as well as those from some other Twins players (such as Royce Lewis last September), we might surmise that Correa was viewed as being too demanding of others, or too discontent with losing in a way that negatively affects others. I dunno, honestly, I have a hard time buying into that as a bad thing. 

Accountability is what's missing in an organization that promotes, extends and reasserts its leadership amid shocking levels of ineptitude and underperformance. I can understand that the criticism and "let's get it together" urgings might ring hollow from a guy who was chief architect in the team's disappointment this year, but Correa has more track record to back himself up than anyone else in this entire organization. He was undoubtedly as hard on himself as others. Despite apparently favoring a move to third base for some time, he continued to go out there at shortstop everyday without saying a word, because he was the best they had. 

Now he's gone, along with the entire bullpen and any pretention of trying to compete in the near future. Rocco Baldelli and the Twins will have the relaxed, laid-back clubhouse they so desire. Meanwhile, Correa will slot back just fine into a perpetual winning culture that he helped build, as he prepares for another postseason run with the division-leading Houston Astros. For the Twins, there's talk of more talent-dumping trades in the offseason and a $100 million payroll in 2026. Somehow we're supposed to believe that Correa's desire to leave is a poor reflection of him and not this sad, rudderless organization.

Correa's exit was not a solution. It's a manifestation of the core issues that will continue to plague this team until something actually changes for the better. That might start with a manager whose team can't start "playing loose" until the games no longer matter and the most proven winner is gone from the clubhouse. 

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[mikelink45]

This is one of the most difficult things to measure - no Analytics for culture.  I remember when the Charlie Finley A's were dominating baseball and fighting in the clubhouse - what culture?  I remember Billy Martin hitting his own star pitcher and still they won.  

Is it about friendship, leadership, winning or managing a diverse group of guys and ages?

I am less impressed with baseball managers strategy than with their ability to get the team to focus.  Does it take a vet?  Is that the real value of a Cruz or Thome?  Did Correa lead or was he an outlier who played his game but did not have followers?

How many coaches does it take to focus the team?  Look at the contrasts in successful managers - Cash and Murphy - opposite analytic extremes, Did Craig Counsell lose his way when he left WI and moved to Chicago?  Was Casey Stengal a genius with the Yankees and a buffoon with the Mets?  It takes players and leadership in the clubhouse, it also takes some managerial smarts.  

Old Casey was a good example.  He was not a genius with the Yankees, but he got them to play and play well together.  With the Mets he knew he could not win, but he let his players enjoy their moments in the sun.

Unfortunately I do not know what Baldelli is doing and I cannot judge him and his staff.  But Correa at least gives us something to talk about.

 

[NYCTK]

As it pertains to Correa, I think he probably did view himself as a clubhouse leader and cared about the culture and mood of the team...right up until the 2024 trade deadline. It was reported that he provided a list of players to Falvey that he wanted to see the Twins target, and after seeing them bring in a complete nobody, I can imagine him quitting on the organization.

Even though he actually performed well in the second half, I think it's feasible that the trade deadline broke the camaraderie and culture of the Twins clubhouse. I'm only a fan, and that's the point I quit on the organization, so I can only imagine how much worse it would be inside the locker room.  

 

[In My La Z boy]

"Meanwhile Correa will slot back just fine into a perpetual winning culture that he helped build"

This starts at the Pohlad position and flows downward. 

I believe Falvey understands his job, and that is to manage the pendulum swings. You go for it when your "window" opens, and you manage the strategic decline when the "window" closes. 

That is no way to instill a perpetual winning culture.

So then we get a field manager who knows from the get go there will be some years, or span of years where we'll be rebuilding and won't be competitive. So Rocco manages from this perpetual mindset, which feels like apathy all too often. Does Rocco care, of course...but if the everyday, always, overriding goal isn't to win now, this inning, this play, then you get what appears to be apathy. 

 

[The Great Hambino]

Culture, chemistry, vibes - whatever term you want to put to that intangible sense of positivity within a team - I would agree is essentially a proxy for winning.

Believe it or not, I've never played sports at a professional level, so perhaps there's an extra element or two at play when you're making your living with it and your teammates are also your coworkers.  But I did play a whole lot of team sports growing up and into young adulthood, and I experienced the whole spectrum of relative success on those teams.  In baseball, I was on a state championship team as well as one that didn't win a league game.  My high school football career record was 5-22; in college, it was 31-9.  I've been on great teams, horrible teams, and everything in between.

My biggest takeaway from all of those experiences was that winning breeds chemistry more than the other way around.  Maybe they breed each other to some degree.  Chicken or the egg?  I dunno. 

But the core of the team that apparently desperately needed a cultural reset when it got broken up at the deadline was essentially the same one that went on the playoff run that had team vibes flying the highest they'd been in a generation.  Seems like the culture turned sour once the winning stopped. 

Or maybe Donovan Solano was the thing holding everything together.

[jmlease1]

I'm not sure where to take those comments from Pablo. Maybe he didn't feel like he had much of an opportunity to lead outside of the pitching staff while Correa was here?

At the end of the day, a lot of the culture comments are a way to avoid criticism for lack of on-field production to me. Losing games and too many guys under-performing? Blame clubhouse culture, especially on a team where there's no identifiable/known knucklehead and no individual is going to be held responsible.

I also tend to agree with Nick: culture is the sort of thing that people talk about when they're losing. Don't want to publicly criticize one of your teammates for being under the Mendoza Line or giving up too many dingers? Talk about a need for a culture reset.

All of that said, it's the first real indicator of some dissatisfaction from the players towards the manager to me. A lot of what modern managers do is behind the scenes and out of the public eye these days, which makes it harder to evaluate how they do their jobs. When a manager starts to lose the team, it's usually time to try a new manager, because the most likely scenario is the team is losing and players are starting to grumble.

While I don't share the utter contempt that so many around here hold Rocco Baldelli...it's probably time to move on. We're not getting a new owner, and I suspect we're not getting a new front office (I wouldn't mind going in that direction either, but I don't exactly have faith in Joe Effing Pohlad to pick the next GM, so the devil we know might be better than the devil we don't) so this might be one of the only ways we get a more significant shakeup.

[The Great Hambino]

3 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

All of that said, it's the first real indicator of some dissatisfaction from the players towards the manager to me. A lot of what modern managers do is behind the scenes and out of the public eye these days, which makes it harder to evaluate how they do their jobs. When a manager starts to lose the team, it's usually time to try a new manager, because the most likely scenario is the team is losing and players are starting to grumble.

While I don't share the utter contempt that so many around here hold Rocco Baldelli...it's probably time to move on. We're not getting a new owner, and I suspect we're not getting a new front office (I wouldn't mind going in that direction either, but I don't exactly have faith in Joe Effing Pohlad to pick the next GM, so the devil we know might be better than the devil we don't) so this might be one of the only ways we get a more significant shakeup.

Re: Rocco, I was later than many/most here to hop on the FIRE ROCCO train (for the record, it was when they came out completely flat out of the gates this year).  It was my belief that he was good at those things that, like you said, happen behind the scenes and out of the public eye.

But this story kinda puts the final nail in the coffin of that theory (if it hadn't been fully sealed already).  If you're not able to control the clubhouse culture, and you're not a master tactician, and you're not known for player development ... what exactly is it you do here?  

Rocco is overdue for his meeting with the Bobs

[DJL44]

Correa was often one of the players giving less than 100% effort. It's hard to call people out when you don't lead by example. Then everyone just thinks you're a hypocrite.

[Rufus]

26 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

As it pertains to Correa, I think he probably did view himself as a clubhouse leader and cared about the culture and mood of the team...right up until the 2024 trade deadline. It was reported that he provided a list of players to Falvey that he wanted to see the Twins target, and after seeing them bring in a complete nobody, I can imagine him quitting on the organization.

Even though he actually performed well in the second half, I think it's feasible that the trade deadline broke the camaraderie and culture of the Twins clubhouse. I'm only a fan, and that's the point I quit on the organization, so I can only imagine how much worse it would be inside the locker room.  

 

As recall Correa provided names at the 23 deadline too.  One was Lopez from the Orioles... How did that work out?  Whatever Correa wants...Correa gets?  No player is that important to the team.  Correa should have concentrated on playing and let management handle the business end.

[dberthia]

This team could use a real fire lit under them instead of the flatlining "leadership" coming from Baldelli.

[thelanges5]

Maybe the answer is yes. Neither one of these guys is a great leader. Saying you want to be a leader (C4) and having a title of a leader (Rocco) doesn’t mean you’re actually gonna be able to effectively lead a team.

Rocco did fine when he had Cruz and the bomba squad. Cruz was a leader and he didn’t have to strategize. 

Correa was fine when he was with a strong group in Houston and will be fine there again. Maybe he wasn’t ready/able to be the main guy in MN. 

Ultimately this is a top down problem from the Pohlads to Falvey. For the last 163 games it has shown up on the field. 

[NYCTK]

7 minutes ago, Rufus said:

As recall Correa provided names at the 23 deadline too.  One was Lopez from the Orioles... How did that work out?  Whatever Correa wants...Correa gets?  No player is that important to the team.  Correa should have concentrated on playing and let management handle the business end.

I'm not saying he should have that level of control.

I'm saying the Twins failed to add anything at the 2024 deadline (and the 2023 deadline) and I can imagine that having a deflating effect on the moral of the team. I can imagine Correa buying into the Twins...and then throwing up his hands after the Twins front office decided not to support the players. 

I've been a "trade Correa" guy for a year, so I'm not even trying to defend him. 

[Patzky]

56 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

This is one of the most difficult things to measure - no Analytics for culture.  I remember when the Charlie Finley A's were dominating baseball and fighting in the clubhouse - what culture?  I remember Billy Martin hitting his own star pitcher and still they won.  

Is it about friendship, leadership, winning or managing a diverse group of guys and ages?

I am less impressed with baseball managers strategy than with their ability to get the team to focus.  Does it take a vet?  Is that the real value of a Cruz or Thome?  Did Correa lead or was he an outlier who played his game but did not have followers?

How many coaches does it take to focus the team?  Look at the contrasts in successful managers - Cash and Murphy - opposite analytic extremes, Did Craig Counsell lose his way when he left WI and moved to Chicago?  Was Casey Stengal a genius with the Yankees and a buffoon with the Mets?  It takes players and leadership in the clubhouse, it also takes some managerial smarts.  

Old Casey was a good example.  He was not a genius with the Yankees, but he got them to play and play well together.  With the Mets he knew he could not win, but he let his players enjoy their moments in the sun.

Unfortunately I do not know what Baldelli is doing and I cannot judge him and his staff.  But Correa at least gives us something to talk about.

 

Just how much was Correa stewing after last night's 10-0 lose to the Tigers, a team he knows very well ..

[Craig Arko]

The culture that was developing in 2023 was basically flushed with the “right-sizing” deflation announcement after the good season. Everyone was caught in the malaise. This flows top down from ownership.

[Squirrel]

37 minutes ago, dberthia said:

This team could use a real fire lit under them instead of the flatlining "leadership" coming from Baldelli.

This is the crux. We need to stop scapegoating Correa and start looking beyond one person. Where is Rocco in all this? Falvey? Pohlads? Personally, my enthusiasm for this team went out the window when Pohlad, after winning in a playoff, cut payroll. I mean, that’s the ultimate pulling the rug out from under. Whatever culture might have been growing with the winning season was stomped out. I don’t blame any player wanting to leave. It’s not that Falvey didn’t get the exact players Correa named, it was about not making serious efforts toward winning. It comes from the top … Pohlad, Falvey, Baldelli.

[Eris]

One of the biggest factors that needs to be evaluated is that over the ~4 years Correa wore a Twins uniform the Twins had a better record when Correa was not playing. It is hard to dissect that information without pointing a finger at Carlos Correa. Why Carlos Correa made the team worse (or perhaps not better is a more neutral term) is hard to comprehend given his all-star and close to HoF talents. During this period Willi Castro and Brooks Lee, followed by Kyle Farmer had the most substitute games at SS. 

[Vanimal46]

It feels like Lopez is hinting towards a bigger story behind the scenes. Let’s hope one of our excellent beat reporters stays on top of it. It’s reminding me of the Vikings during the end of the Spielman/Zimmer era. The Wilfs were/are very hands off as an ownership group and allowed 2 long time football professionals run the day to day. Little did they know Spielman and Zimmer hated each other and didn’t talk for over a year. 

I have felt that there’s something rotten to the core in this organization for several years now. The leadership is getting stale, and we missed an opportunity to see if a new manager can get more out of this past core than Baldelli. Let’s not keep making the same mistake. 

[USAFChief]

How the heck is "playing hard" not a cultural issue, Nick? Ditto "competing?" "Holding each other accountable?"

These are 100 percent culture. They are choices made. Behaviors allowed, or not allowed. Corrected or ignored. Compounded or eliminated. Rewarded or punished.

Winning doesn't cause you to run out ground balls. But running out every ground ball certainly contributes to winning. 

Now multiply "running out ground balls" by 100 behaviors. 1000. 

This nonsense that everything that matters can be measured on a spreadsheet is part of the problem with this organization.

 

 

[rdehring]

Difficult topic for us to discuss as we really don't know what was going on in that clubhouse.

I haven't been a fan of Correa for some time.  May have begun with his 'Dior' comments.  Others were comments he made that to me sounded like it was all about him.  Not the team.

Even your comment above, Nick, "I want to build a championship culture in this organization," Correa said back when he first signed with Minnesota, I read as being all about him as he could have said WE need to build a championship culture.  

Since he arrived we were told he was the team's leader.  To me, the team leader has and will continue to be Byron Buxton.  Some time I really have wondered what Buxton thought of Correa?

As I said, I don't have a clue what was going on in that clubhouse, just that Correa rubbed me wrong from the time he arrived. 

 

 

[Woof Bronzer]

Several things can be true here.   Correa was clearly checked out for more than a year and you simply cannot be a leader if you don't lead by example.  We don't know what happened in the clubhouse but we saw with our own eyes a guy who didn't give a full effort - that can't be denied.   If your on the field leader can't be bothered to run out grounders that's going to trickle down to the rest of the team.  I really don't want to hear Correa and leader/winner in the same sentence anymore.  It's easy to be a leader when your team goes to 7 straight ALCS; a real leader helps the team navigate tougher times, and Correa just had no visible interest in this.  Doesn't make him evil, just not a leader.  

But this goes beyond just one player.  It is also on Rocco.  If you can't instill a winning attitude in your players and hold them accountable to that standard...what do you do as a manager?

And it's also on Falvey, for discounting every single thing in the game of pro baseball that can't be reduced to a sabermetric, and for emphasizing process over results.

And, like everything, the buck stops with the Pohlads.  Corporations don't accidentally have a culture of customer service, for example; they have to set that as a goal and build an organization accordingly.  If top brass doesn't value customer service the day to day managers won't either.  Same thing for winning - it doesn't happen by accident, and the Pohlads have never ever prioritized it, and this indifference has trickled down onto the field.  

The rot in this organization runs deep...

[mnfireman]

As Sheldon Cooper would say - fun fact, the Twins and Astros have the same record since the trade deadline passed, 7-9...

[D.C Twins]

Leadership 101.... how is Rocco not responsible for team culture?.... good lord, if he is not good at in game manager, nor establishing good culture.... would someone remind me what exactly he brings to the table?

(disclaimer... I was one earliest on the bandwagon for 'fire Rocco' starting years ago because I didn't see leadership nor great in game management so I am wildly biased when processing all new information at this point)

[mnfireman]

5 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

And it's also on Falvey, for discounting every single thing in the game of pro baseball that can't be reduced to a sabermetric, and for emphasizing process over results.

 

The process is what gets the results. It's the teaching of the process (coaching) that yields good or poor results.

Recognizing player strengths and weaknesses and maximizing strengths gets good results.

The eye test and the sabermetrics should both be weighed, as neither tells the full story. This team has too many AAAA players on it because their bat speed, spin rate, exit velocity, etc... show that they should be good major league players.

[jmlease1]

9 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Several things can be true here.   Correa was clearly checked out for more than a year and you simply cannot be a leader if you don't lead by example.  We don't know what happened in the clubhouse but we saw with our own eyes a guy who didn't give a full effort - that can't be denied.   If your on the field leader can't be bothered to run out grounders that's going to trickle down to the rest of the team.  I really don't want to hear Correa and leader/winner in the same sentence anymore.  It's easy to be a leader when your team goes to 7 straight ALCS; a real leader helps the team navigate tougher times, and Correa just had no visible interest in this.  Doesn't make him evil, just not a leader.  

How do you know Correa was checked out? You're reading a lot into the guy with Plantar Fasciitis not running max effort on every grounder. Fans get way too obsessed with the peformative stuff (like how dirty a player's jersey is after a game, etc) in deciding whether a player works hard or not. This is the sort of thing people bend in shape to rip a guy they had already decided they didn't want/thought was overpaid. Got a quote from an actual Twins player or coach on Correa's work habits or other evidence that Correa has "checked out"?

I mean, FFS someone on this board declared that Buxton had checked out on the season (apparently because they didn't like the box score or something) and the next day Buck rapped out 3 hits. There's no real evidence that I've seen to this point that suggests that Correa ever checked out or dogged it. Multiple players did talk about how they learned things from Correa, both in terms of things they did on the field and how to prepare as well.

[Aggies7]

If only posters had been saying the clubhouse stinks for a couple years. But we were shouted down as negative Nancies. Two late season collapses and whatever this disaster of a season can be described as. Tell me more about how baseball managers are essentially meaningless and anyone can do it.

[GNess]

All teams have a culture that reflects their values, history,, communication, interactions and behaviors. Not all players thrive in the same. cultural standards, but typically the cultural norms for the group are most influenced by the coaches, core players and vets. (Who the team needs most to produce.)

My experience is most championship teams reflect confidence and mental toughness as values. The softer players often will simply have to adjust or be replaced. They behave like champions before they become championship contenders.

Are the Twins given their up and down, lack of fundamentals and lack of attention to detail mode have not developed the traits of a championship culture.

[Aggies7]

Has there been a single player who has left the organization in the last several years and had anything good to say about it?

[jmlease1]

5 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

If only posters had been saying the clubhouse stinks for a couple years. But we were shouted down as negative Nancies. Two late season collapses and whatever this disaster of a season can be described as. Tell me more about how baseball managers are essentially meaningless and anyone can do it.

Really? Lots of people wanting Rocco strung up by his ankles around here, but that was mostly for not bunting enough/treating starters like it was 1972/platooning too much. Plenty of second-guessing every pitching switch, lineup choices (lot of complaining about not having a "set lineup"), etc. Very little on clubhouse culture, unless it was demanding that the Twins run and bunt more.

I still believe that people overrate a manager's impact on winning: player performance and good health are much much more important. But my point on managers isn't to say that anyone can do it, but that there's much less of a difference between managers when you talk about the guys in the middle of the pro pack. There's fewer than ever total incompetents, but also fewer truly elite/impactful guys. Most are in that middle who look very smart when their players play well and stay healthy, and very dumb when they don't.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

12 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

If only posters had been saying the clubhouse stinks for a couple years. But we were shouted down as negative Nancies. 

The discourse can sometimes be summed up as, "I don't know what I'm talking about, therefore none of the rest of you know what you are talking about, either."

[Brandon]

The only battle is the battle between your ears.  Ego plays a lot in club culture and the battles that play out in between the ears.  When Correa went down, we had too many team players start losing their battles between their ears in baseball games and the losing began.  So the injury to Correa isn’t what torpedoed the team it’s how the team battled with that news after the fact.  Too many battles lost between their ears.  Baseball is a slow moving game with lots of time to overthink.  Change how those battles go and change the outcomes of the games.

 

Lewis began to overthink after saying he never slumps and overthought his way into a slump immediately.  ….