Firing Rocco Baldelli is Moving Deck Chairs on Twins Titanic, and the Pohlads Sank the Lifeboats

[stringer bell]

12 minutes ago, old nurse said:

Nobody mentions they let go of most of the pro level scouts when they mention Outman. Probably the same could be said for Roden 

Didn't they let the scouts go after the trade deadline? Or actually, they might have been employed until the end of the season. 

[old nurse]

8 hours ago, Eric Blonigen said:

I’m curious about that as well. Seems like about the only way they could run a significant operating debt, aside from 2020.

Cot’s contracts will give you the actual money and benefits paid out to all who were on the 40 man. Statistica and Forbes give you the revenue after sharing is subtracted and added. Then there is remembering what upgrades were done to Target Field. 

Indeed will tell you. That average board of directors pay is 80K although another site said up to 300K. Figure out CEO pay for a comparable family company is a little more challenging. The billion dollar family business paid the CEO over 8 million. Joe probably makes a couple bucks more than Falvey 

[old nurse]

15 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Didn't they let the scouts go after the trade deadline? Or actually, they might have been employed until the end of the season. 

Last week is when I heard about it. It was 7 scouts then. Today on the radio I heard the number was 9. I can see the number of pro scouts declining as all the data collection devices may give the teams the understanding of what the player does.  The computer geek can figure out how to sort all of the data into something meaningful. College and high school will probably still need scouts so as to determine personality traits and ethics. As long as that information stays on file, they can assess if the player is someone who will fit the culture 

[DocBauer]

We all understand and agree ownership is the #1 problem yes?

We should never forget Falvey has done a tremendous job of bringing the Twins in to the 21st Century in so many ways. Some of his moves have been questionable to very bad. But he's also made some very good moves as well. No FO HITS on all of their moves. You hope you're right more than you're wrong. And we don't have to rehash all of this again, good or bad.

But I can't help but wonder still what Falvey might have done for 2024, and the roster, IF ownership DIDN'T follow natural, inflationary costs, but simply KEPT the payroll the same instead of a $30M cut. They might have added a stronger bat at 1B or DH. Maybe another solid pen arm. Maybe added in a better RH bat for the OF. Those 3 moves might have deepened the club just enough to prevent the utter, confounding collapse of 2024.

It's hard to say for sure, but we might not be talking about replacing Rocco today. We might not even have replaced our hitting coaches, who have found great success with Toronto this season.

I don't think Rocco was a great manager. I don't think he was a poor manager. I don't think he's necessarily been the problem with the 2024 collapse, or the disappointment of 2025. But he, and his staff, certainly weren't part of a solution either.

Sometimes you just need a change in voice and approach after 7 seasons. So I'm OK with replacing him going forward, especially with a collection of young arms and position players on hand, or ready to debut.

But a change only makes a difference if the man in charge has at least some autonomy in selecting his staff. And a change only happens if the new manager isn't micro managed by some pre-conceived ideals from Falvey. I'd like to believe Falvey...who has a pretty solid history of hiring good people...would hire a new manager, let him pick his staff, and then kind of get out of the way. 

Falvey is one of the most powerful men in all of MLB in his current role running almost the entire organization. I'm not even sure how much power/control Zole even has as the GM right now.

Shuffling deck chairs only? Maybe. But I'm hoping Falvey is smart enough to get out of his own way, recognize what's been happening the last couple of years hasn't worked, and will hire a quality manager and give him control of his staff and how he runs the team.

If he does that, the chairs can stay where they're at, the band can take a break, and the ship just might start to right itself with talent on hand, talent set to debut, and a few solid additions to help out. We might even see fan interest return. 

[David HK]

18 hours ago, SteveLV said:

I would be curious to know how much salary (and bonuses and other compensation) Joe Pohlad and other family members take out of the Twins budget every year.  I suspect it is a pretty healthy number.

I would also be quite curious as to where the half billion in debt came from (or money went).

It wasn't me. I bought a couple of those GD $19 Summits when I was there last summer. That shoulda made a dent.

[David HK]

18 hours ago, Eric Blonigen said:

 

Exactly. Both Martin and SWR were perceived as close to ready at the time, despite SWR being pushed aggressively through the minors.

I remember reading on Blue Jay message boards how pissed a lot of folks were to lose the 2 of them. 

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I don't have a source other than that most managers in the business world hire their own people because they are ultimately responsible for results.  One would think that if Rocco is ultimately responsible, he would want that responsibility... I know I would.

So you hold other people to a standard that you don’t keep for yourself.  Since they hired Baldelli you can find on these pages that they use the term collaboration a lot. You can say what your preference is. That is fine, but it has not been how the team has operated the last 7 years 

[dex8425]

On 9/30/2025 at 11:52 AM, mikelink45 said:

What I look at is the prospects coming up through other teams and their progression.  Some don't make it, but so many more do than the percent or Twins prospects.

More don't make it than do. But we notice the ones who succeed and forget about the once top prospects who don't succeed. Look at the orioles this year-they had a bunch of guys who looked like up and coming superstars and top prospects, coming off two great seasons and then Jackson Holliday hit .240 with OPS+ of 95 and Adley Rutchmann, 1st overall pick, was even worse. Baseball is hard.