Taking the Temperature: How Twins Fans Feel About Rocco Baldelli, the Front Office, and Ownership

[rv78]

My view of Rocco, the FO, and Ownership hasn't changed since the the 3 of them joined forces. Worthless from Day 1 and it has only gotten worse. 

Sorry, you just can't take the old school way of playing baseball out of me. Hustle and Fundamentals will never be replaced by Analytics. We've had 9 years now to show it doesn't work. I've grown tired of this "new" way of playing baseball. While it may have a place in the game, it shouldn't be the driving force in making every game decision on and off the field the way this organization has embraced it. How long do you have to fail at something before you recognize the mistake? It shouldn't take 9 years. Everyone making decisions at the top, from the Owners all the way down to Rocco and his coaches won't admit failure, but are willing to live with it or it wouldn't have continued for this long. Heads would have rolled. They seem to be proud of what they have accomplished and just give the fans the middle finger. Time for the fans to close their wallets and show them who's really in charge. Time for Buxton, Ryan and Lopez to move to a green pasture. The one at Target Field is a crappy brown.

[Parfigliano]

12 hours ago, USAFChief said:

The falloffs in votes cast later on in the season most likely reflect fewer and fewer fans visiting Twins Daily. 

Fewer and fewer people care about the Twins enough to invest time or emotional energy. 

 

This.  Apathy.

[Parfigliano]

12 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

Gleeman and Bonnes were reviewing the fan survey from The Athletic the other day, and nearly half of the respondents gave Baldelli a "C." And "B" was the runner-up grade. 

This is a year after an historic late-season collapse, followed by a season of abject misery from this club, on the field and in their interview comments.

This team was predicted by multiple sources to win the AL Central. They have underperformed in nearly every single facet of the game. They look like the most listless, rudderless and punchless bunch you will ever see play Major League Baseball. 

A "C." I just cannot understand it. At least the TD poll seems to offer a slightly more realistic picture.

Baldelli could be a top manager again.  All he needs is a team that sets a MLB record for total HR.

[Parfigliano]

10 hours ago, CRF said:

You have to ask how we feel about Rocco, the FO, and the Pohlads? 🤣

They suck.

[Parfigliano]

9 hours ago, ashbury said:

You'll get rid of Falvey but keep Zoll?  Would your opinion change if I told you that Zoll is a 2012 graduate from Haverford College, Thad Levine's alma mater?  The networking goes pretty deep with this FO, and if you fire one, you probably need to fire all. 

Cool aid?  2 executives 1 cup.  😀

Fire them all.

[D.C Twins]

   Image of this article presented to TD readers...

[D.C Twins]

56 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Fire them all.

I was on the fire Rocco train for years but now I want him to suffer through this with a front row seat like he deserves.... 

[David Maro]

This organization is now worse than the White Sox and as long as Falvey and Rocco are there it will remain. The game we all love is unwatchable with the Polhad's and Co running it. 

At the start of this season I posted the end of season standing and it was Twins in 4th. It was because Rocco was not shown the door. Using the hitting coach as the fall guy was laughable. 

[Otaknam]

IMO the knock against Baldelli is his slavish devotion to analytics. I believe this is dictated by the FO, but I think Rocco is completely onboard with it. This is especially relevant to how he handles the starters, preferring they not pitch to a lineup for a third time. This is understandable with the young starters, who are tying to figure out how to get big league hitters out. But Rocco needs to show some confidence in his players. I think that’s why Sonny Gray wanted out, as there were too many games where Rocco pulled him after five innings. Ryan, Lopez and Ober have earned the right to pitcher deeper into games, IMO. 

Another valid criticism is Rocco’s Earl Weaver approach to base running: just wait for a three run homer. The team has struggled ALL YEAR to score and hit with RISP. A two out rally to score several runs is a rare commodity with this team. Since the trade Rocco has had an epiphany: stealing bases, an occasional hit and run, and utilizing speed is the way to score. The team has become very aggressive ALL OF A SUDDEN, when they needed to do this all season with their sputtering strikeout prone offense. The fact that it took him four months to figure this out is a fair criticism. 

[JD-TWINS]

19 hours ago, JBK said:

Former Twins stars Torii Hunter, Eddie Guardado enjoying their stints as L.A. Angels coaches

How are two of the most popular Twins of the last 25 years employed by LAA?  I can't honestly name a Twins coach other than Rocco.

Bet you didn’t know Guardado & Hunter were coaches in LA until today if you don’t know any Twin’s coaches - right? My assumption is they prefer living in LA vs Chanhassen or like.

[tony&rodney]

22 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

The child is grown, the dream is gone.

Line from Pink Floyd's song, "Comfortably Numb". 

[Blyleven2011]

This organization is a total train wreck AND IT HAS SPILLED ALOT OF TOXIC WASTE ALL OVER IT ....

I LOVE MY TEAM BUT NOT THE ONES OWNING AND RUNNING IT  ...

The tanker has cracked and toxins are seeping out on to target field  ...

[jmlease1]

19 minutes ago, Otaknam said:

IMO the knock against Baldelli is his slavish devotion to analytics. I believe this is dictated by the FO, but I think Rocco is completely onboard with it. This is especially relevant to how he handles the starters, preferring they not pitch to a lineup for a third time. This is understandable with the young starters, who are tying to figure out how to get big league hitters out. But Rocco needs to show some confidence in his players. I think that’s why Sonny Gray wanted out, as there were too many games where Rocco pulled him after five innings. Ryan, Lopez and Ober have earned the right to pitcher deeper into games, IMO. 

Another valid criticism is Rocco’s Earl Weaver approach to base running: just wait for a three run homer. The team has struggled ALL YEAR to score and hit with RISP. A two out rally to score several runs is a rare commodity with this team. Since the trade Rocco has had an epiphany: stealing bases, an occasional hit and run, and utilizing speed is the way to score. The team has become very aggressive ALL OF A SUDDEN, when they needed to do this all season with their sputtering strikeout prone offense. The fact that it took him four months to figure this out is a fair criticism. 

Back to the ridiculous Sonny Gray garbage again? Sure, keep beating that dead horse. If you repeat nonsense enough times, people will always fall for it.

The Earl Weaver comp isn't the insult you seem to think it is: Earl was one of the best managers of all-time, and an early adopter of analytics: it just wasn't called that back then. (also? Earl, much like Rocco was happy to steal bases with players that were capable of it. the ones who were slow and sucked at it were told to stay at their base...) They've become more aggressive in part because they have more players who are capable of running on the roster, or did you think Ty France & Carlos Correa were being held back solely by their manager? They struggle to hit with RISP because they struggle to hit.

The vote on Rocco doesn't surprise me and it's not about fan apathy: people just blame Rocco the least for the mess that's on the field. Ownership sucks the most, then the front office for not figuring out a better to way to use the limited resources we had and making too many bad bets along with wiping out the entire bullpen, then the manager. Because at the end of the day, he can only work with what he has, and putting significant blame on Rocco for the bullpen taking a dump on a regular basis with waiver claims is a little silly.

[JD-TWINS]

Didn’t look hard at comments because my assumption is it’s hate or a whole bunch of hate?

F.O. ……… plenty of decent trades and solid FA signings under this regime ……. certainly approaching double digit failures as well, to me, that’s baseball. Cannot go from $154M in ‘23 to $135M in ‘24 to $125M in ‘25 (now under $100M for last 2 months of ‘25) …….and expect better Win/Loss …….not realistic! Can site failures all day but this reduction in salary spend year over year cannot be overcome……particularly when ownership bought into the $35M/yr to Correa. Cannot sign him to those $$ levels and then slash overall spending. Cripples F.O.’s capabilities to better the Club.

Lopez hurt - Ober hurt - Festa hurt - Matthews hurt ……….. Paddack was OK but had maybe a 50/50 effectiveness over his starts.

Lewis hurt & ineffective - Wallner hurt & ineffective  - Keaschall hurt - Correa inneffective …………. to me, these are not F.O. driven problems.

Baldelli manages the guys he’s had - PEN was lights out early and better than average up to the deadline………really the only positives with the Roster other than Buxton & a very limited Keaschall.

He sends Kiersey, a fringe - speed guy, up to bunt 3 different times over a 3/4 week period and he Butchers it every time. Fans sympathize with Kiersey routinely for not getting consistent AB’s & not enough “bunting practice, due to coaching” and bitch about Baldelli. To me, it’s ridiculous. ………… It’s cited in the article here that his popularity dropped in August (after organization shipped out 10 guys from Roster in 4/5 days) and it leveled in September when the roster was taken into consideration. Same roster in both months, essentially.

OWNERSHIP sets the tone with commitment & the hires they make………..this ownership isn’t committed and distances themselves from any accountability!!!!! The ownership is squarely behind the poor results in a broad sense.

The Guardians are 75-71 and on the edge of a playoff spot………. this year’s Twins team, with historically average performances by the players, would be right there and assumed to be ahead of this win pace. The team construction, to me, wasn’t the problem (key injuries and lack of performance by PLAYERS) with the lack of success in ‘25.

[JD-TWINS]

12 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Back to the ridiculous Sonny Gray garbage again? Sure, keep beating that dead horse. If you repeat nonsense enough times, people will always fall for it.

The Earl Weaver comp isn't the insult you seem to think it is: Earl was one of the best managers of all-time, and an early adopter of analytics: it just wasn't called that back then. (also? Earl, much like Rocco was happy to steal bases with players that were capable of it. the ones who were slow and sucked at it were told to stay at their base...) They've become more aggressive in part because they have more players who are capable of running on the roster, or did you think Ty France & Carlos Correa were being held back solely by their manager? They struggle to hit with RISP because they struggle to hit.

The vote on Rocco doesn't surprise me and it's not about fan apathy: people just blame Rocco the least for the mess that's on the field. Ownership sucks the most, then the front office for not figuring out a better to way to use the limited resources we had and making too many bad bets along with wiping out the entire bullpen, then the manager. Because at the end of the day, he can only work with what he has, and putting significant blame on Rocco for the bullpen taking a dump on a regular basis with waiver claims is a little silly.

DITTO on all points.

Sonny Gray left for locale to his home & guaranteed $$$$. The B.S. about Baldelli and how he handles the Rotation is nuts. In’23 the Rotation had most innings pitched through August because they had a competent rotation - unlike the Chris Archer days prior and David Festa/SWR rotation since then. Ober/Ryan/Looez ALL pitch into the 6th & 7th routinely if “they are healthy” and if they are not in the midst of an “unusually high pitch count”. 

Players play and that’s how games are won……Earl Weaver - Sparky Anderson - Joe Torre among numerous others, all state to a man, “good players make good managers!”

[jmlease1]

Let me be clear: I'm perfectly fine with moving on from Rocco. A change is probably necessary. But I don't have the reflexive hate for him that some people do. More importantly, I want to be accurate about where we assign blame, and what we rip people for.

[AKTwinsFan]

If the moves Falvey made don't work out then he'll be fired. I'm not sure if fans want Rocco back next season. He might be acting like hes changing up things with more aggressive base running, which is fine with me but his need to change lineups and batting orders every game is wacko. The players need a new manager to play under and the fans deserve a change to look forward to.

[USAFChief]

15 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

More importantly, I want to be accurate about where we assign blame, and what we rip people for.

Let me be the 1st to thank you for educating the rest of us on where to assign blame and what that blame might be.

 

[Nshore]

Terry Ryan was fired for what Pohlad called "total system failure".  I really don't see how this current operation is any different.  I'm not buying the "highly rated farm system" hype.  They've come full circle.  Except as an added "bonus", this time they've managed to almost completely alienate the fan base in the process.  Hard to see why any of them would register a heartbeat on a fan poll.  

[old nurse]

21 hours ago, Otaknam said:

IMO the knock against Baldelli is his slavish devotion to analytics. I believe this is dictated by the FO, but I think Rocco is completely onboard with it. This is especially relevant to how he handles the starters, preferring they not pitch to a lineup for a third time. This is understandable with the young starters, who are tying to figure out how to get big league hitters out. But Rocco needs to show some confidence in his players. I think that’s why Sonny Gray wanted out, as there were too many games where Rocco pulled him after five innings. Ryan, Lopez and Ober have earned the right to pitcher deeper into games, IMO. 

Another valid criticism is Rocco’s Earl Weaver approach to base running: just wait for a three run homer. The team has struggled ALL YEAR to score and hit with RISP. A two out rally to score several runs is a rare commodity with this team. Since the trade Rocco has had an epiphany: stealing bases, an occasional hit and run, and utilizing speed is the way to score. The team has become very aggressive ALL OF A SUDDEN, when they needed to do this all season with their sputtering strikeout prone offense. The fact that it took him four months to figure this out is a fair criticism. 

Interesting that the misconception gets repeated so many times that people believe it to be true. You can look at any pitcher other than SWR and see that the notion of twice through the order is false. It is ot even true for SWR when he was pitching well.  Early on that may have seemed to be true but there is o way to have enough bullpen arms for just twice through the order. If you pay attention the established pitchers went through 100 pitches, the younger were 90. If it appeared they would go over that limit if they pitched a compete inning, they did not get to start the inning. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

On 9/11/2025 at 11:03 AM, Doctor Gast said:

Although I don't agree with a few things that Baldelli does, he lacks the experience & too dependent on weird analytics; firing only Baldelli will not solve the problem. Falvey will hire someone worse. I don't like the stupid decisions that the Pohlads have made due to money over fans. They are totally lost about baseball. But they don't have to know how to operate a baseball team; that's what Falvey is supposed to do. Falvey has no idea or ability to do so. Any good owner should be able to evaluate Falvey's performance & make an intelligent decision to fire him. Pohlad's failure to do so while promoting him shows how lost & delusional the Pohlads are. Payroll isn't a factor for me. A good FO can work around any financial limitations. 

My sentiments are not personal. If an outside investor comes in & wakes up sleepy Joe & fires Falvey & Co., I'm fine with that. If Falvey accepts some pitching office  (not FO), I'm fine with that. If Baldelli accepts a bench coach position, I'm fine with that. The one who deserves the most blame is Falvey because he's the one who's supposed to know what he's doing & be accountable, instead of blaming everything else.

The Woonsocket Rocket has 6 years of experience as a major league manager. How long should a person do their job before they should be considered “experienced”?

[Doctor Gast]

28 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

The Woonsocket Rocket has 6 years of experience as a major league manager. How long should a person do their job before they should be considered “experienced”?

IMO, there is a difference between X number of years of experience & truly mentored. Baldelli got a lot of his analytics from Cash. But he has no idea of how to go beyond analytics & go with your gut. These 6 yrs., he's been just winging it.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

10 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

IMO, there is a difference between X number of years of experience & truly mentored. Baldelli got a lot of his analytics from Cash. But he has no idea of how to go beyond analytics & go with your gut. These 6 yrs., he's been just winging it.

To your other point and this one, agreed wholeheartedly that Baldelli is a problem but not THE problem.

i don’t really understand to what level Baldelli is responsible for organizational player development. Certainly the major league hitters are not developing under his management of the major league staff. Pitchers seem to be, evidenced by Ryan, SWR, and a whole bunch of relievers taking steps forward as major leaguers. 
 

he is clearly not a strong tactician, but also hasn’t hired strong tactical bench/pitching coaches. A good business manager knows his strengths and hires lieutenants that have complimentary skills. I hope a new manager might do this, but am fairly certain we’ll get another Baldelli for as long as Falvey is the GM