BREAKING: Twins to Hire Derek Shelton as Manager for 2026

[Parfigliano]

9 hours ago, Julian Bernick said:

I guess we can at least be "glass half full" about Taj Bradley, Mick Abel, Roden, Kendry Rojas, Gonzalez, Outman and the rest... they traded for a lot of guys and if 3-4 of them are big leaguers, that could improve things. 

I mean, deep down, it was clear that they were going nowhere so changing it around was low-risk and has at least a little upside.

Outman is not MLB material

[Senior Softball Guy]

On 10/29/2025 at 6:33 PM, Dave Borton said:

Looking forward to it based on Strib article years ago about his work ethic and commitment to baseball fundamentals. 

Give it time and review Oct 2026. Glad to be second guessed.

This hire won't sell a lot of tickets, but if we start winning the fans will come back. The haters have come out of the woodwork (LOL), but let's give it time.

[shortround81]

11 hours ago, ashbury said:

Less disturbingly, I found this old publicity photo of Derek Shelton from a prior employer, which I'll show next to a more recent shot of the handsome fellow.  Hair's a little grayer now.

So if McDaniel went from pre-law to coke kingpin in Miami, what's going happen to Shelton? 

[jctwins]

1 hour ago, Senior Softball Guy said:

This hire won't sell a lot of tickets, but if we start winning the fans will come back. The haters have come out of the woodwork (LOL), but let's give it time.

The ebb and flow of fans based on success seems to be trending downward though. Yes, the lows are lower, but the highs are lower than they once were as well. 

[dxpavelka]

10 hours ago, jctwins said:

What do you base that on?

common sense

[h2oface]

Double down on Derek’s. 
 

Well, he knows the 90s. 

[old nurse]

11 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Not to mention the trade of Steer and CES. 

Hajair, CES and Steer for Mahle with Hajair getting traded for Benson. Cue up Gonna be a heartache tonight.  Benson showed promise and then couldn’t hit. Hajair and Mahle got derailed by injuries. CES showed some hitting ability his 2023 season and hasn’t made contact since.  Steer put up almost 3 war his first season and has been near replacement level since.  His arbitration projection is 4.5 million. Consider the stink made here about Larnach at the same arb number and Wallner after a down year, what pitchforks would be out for Steer here?

[old nurse]

4 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

common sense

2 things

the red box on the front page no longer shows ancient history

 

hubris is king in Twins Territory, of course that guy thinks he can do better, just like Falve was happy with the roster at the start of every season 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

Hajair, CES and Steer for Mahle with Hajair getting traded for Benson. Cue up Gonna be a heartache tonight.  Benson showed promise and then couldn’t hit. Hajair and Mahle got derailed by injuries. CES showed some hitting ability his 2023 season and hasn’t made contact since.  Steer put up almost 3 war his first season and has been near replacement level since.  His arbitration projection is 4.5 million. Consider the stink made here about Larnach at the same arb number and Wallner after a down year, what pitchforks would be out for Steer here?

If you limit the search to those who qualifty for a batting title 502 PA's.

There was exactly 100 players on all 30 teams with higher OPS last year than Spencer Steer. There were 97 players on all 30 teams with a higher OPS last year than Larnach. 

Based on those parameters... (how often they played and OPS as the sole comparison data set)... based on the actual data... any given team should have 3.33 players better than Steer and Larnach. 

3 players better on average can apparently cause a stink for the 4th guy with 13 players typical for a 26 man roster. 

If you remove any AB qualifying threshold meaning 1 AB qualifies you. There are 206 Players who had a higher OPS than Spencer Steer. 201 better than Larnach. Approximately 6.86 per team. That's every sample size under the sun and most rosters require 13 hitters on a 26 man roster. 

If you put the threshold to 182 AB's. I chose 182 because people are pretty sure Keaschall will never stumble and are at the moment pitchfork less toward Luke. We are talking an average of 5.5 per team with better OPS than Steer and Larnach. 13 hitters at a given time the typical requirement for a 26 man roster. 

There are people on Bulldog daily who want Kirby Smart fired. 

I tend to believe that the people with pitchforks are not doing the math. 

 

[dxpavelka]

2 hours ago, old nurse said:

2 things

the red box on the front page no longer shows ancient history

 

hubris is king in Twins Territory, of course that guy thinks he can do better, just like Falve was happy with the roster at the start of every season 

Interesting that finally, after months, a team that fired a manager, hired a manager, has made dozens of player transactions AFTER trading almost a dozen players, has witnessed the debut of two highly regarded starting pitching prospects, has seen both have both good and poor results, has seen the debut of multiple other newly acquired prospects at various minor league levels finally has some notes--YESTERDAY. 

Ancient history updated.  Guess maybe after all the articles about "The Twins Way" maybe someone just needed to point out similar issues in "The TD Way." Happy to help.  

Totally understand the hubris bit.  Try to do my part to contribute to it when I can.  

 

[Original_JB]

[nicksaviking]

15 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

They literally hired a guy that Rocco had on his staff.  I don't know what personality I'd assign Rocco or Shelton, because who they are on camera vs. the locker room vs. regular life is a really subjective exercise with little evidence.

Maybe in-game strategy will differ, but the lake they went fishing in was the same one as last time.  Even caught a guy they threw back previously.  That alone indicates that the team isn't changing much.

He was with NY, Cleveland, TB and Toronto first. And he was originally on Molitor's staff. He was with Baldelli for only one season. 

Outside of them being white, middle-aged, bearded, thirst traps, I don't think there's any indication that they are at all similar.

[Woof Bronzer]

44 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

Interesting that finally, after months, a team that fired a manager, hired a manager, has made dozens of player transactions AFTER trading almost a dozen players, has witnessed the debut of two highly regarded starting pitching prospects, has seen both have both good and poor results, has seen the debut of multiple other newly acquired prospects at various minor league levels finally has some notes--YESTERDAY. 

Ancient history updated.  Guess maybe after all the articles about "The Twins Way" maybe someone just needed to point out similar issues in "The TD Way." Happy to help.  

Totally understand the hubris bit.  Try to do my part to contribute to it when I can.  

 

Grievance and outrage is fuel for some people.  If I made multiple grievance posts over multiple days about a minor feature I personally don't like about a website I pay nothing to view and am not required to visit I'd probably check myself into a hospital.  

[Chembry]

15 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

He was with NY, Cleveland, TB and Toronto first. And he was originally on Molitor's staff. He was with Baldelli for only one season. 

Outside of them being white, middle-aged, bearded, thirst traps, I don't think there's any indication that they are at all similar.

I don't want to nitpick because I don't think Shelton and Rocco are all that similar and I do agree with your statement.  But, both Rocco and Shelton coached for TB under Maddon and Cash.  They overlapped between 2011-2016 where Shelton was TB's hitting coach and Rocco held a few different positions.  

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

12 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Outman is not MLB material

Yup. He's an AAA+ player.

[Mike Sixel]

No manager hire was going to sell tickets. 

[S Bart]

On 10/30/2025 at 8:08 AM, sweetmusicviola16 said:

This is important to note. We are relying heavily on the progression of young players on the roster and of prospects still in the minors. So who did we hire? A guy who under his watch as manager of the Pirates saw these type of players develop very poorly. This shouldn't have been ignored. I don't hold Shelton's record in Pittsburgh against him, many others have failed there as well. But prospects not developing upon being called up is a very concerning sign.

I guess that I could just bitch about Shelton, but he has more past experience at managing and coaching than any past Pohlad hire. I wish him God's speed and hope he does well. I just hope they do not dump their top 2 pitchers to save money. Fan enthusiasm and being a cheap owner just doesn't mix well. Also...love your tag...sweet music Viola...aahh memories..

[Schmoeman5]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

No manager hire was going to sell tickets. 

Totally disagree. If the Twins made a Butera or Vitello type hire, that would have raised eyebrows.  A Suzuki or Hunter type hire from former players with Twins ties as well. I'm not saying what long term effects they'd have since no one really knows the direction Twins FO goes. But they'd have folks interested initially.  

[dxpavelka]

4 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Grievance and outrage is fuel for some people.  If I made multiple grievance posts over multiple days about a minor feature I personally don't like about a website I pay nothing to view and am not required to visit I'd probably check myself into a hospital.  

Good for you.  But then nobody would point out the hypocrisy,

[Squirrel]

3 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Good for you.  But then nobody would point out the hypocrisy,

Stop this now. If you have issues with the website PM an administrator or make your comments in the Questions About the Site forum, but keep your comments in baseball threads about baseball

[TheLeviathan]

8 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

He was with NY, Cleveland, TB and Toronto first. And he was originally on Molitor's staff. He was with Baldelli for only one season. 

Outside of them being white, middle-aged, bearded, thirst traps, I don't think there's any indication that they are at all similar.

As pointed out...they do come from the Madden tree.  And we fished in the same pond we already fished in.  

Will he be different as a manager from Rocco?  Sure.  Maybe.  I personally think managers are mostly irrelevant in today's game (and probably were most of baseball history), but I don't see any reason on the face of this to believe this hire ushers in a new culture.  A new style.  A new plan of attack.

I'm not expecting this decision to move mountains or sell tickets.  But I was hoping to see an indicator that the wind direction was changing.  Someone like Hunter at least brings a totally different type of person to the job.  Punto's rep as a player would've had me thinking that way.  Even someone from the Counsell tree, a college coach big swing (SF style), or a grizzled minor league coach with development chops: they all might have given me some reason to hope.  This guy just doesn't.  I hope I'm wrong.

[FilthyMogwai]

Meh

[FilthyMogwai]

On 10/29/2025 at 6:38 PM, howeda7 said:

Would you feel that much better if it was Rowson or Flaherty? I wouldn't. 

Yes

[FilthyMogwai]

On 10/29/2025 at 7:00 PM, Cory Engelhardt said:

Glad we have a decision. And man, whoever they hired was going to get the same majority of comments under the article. I guess never read the comments. 
Have to think based on Dan Hayes other article today, Latroy Hawkins seems like a good fit on the staff.

Really curious now how the rest of the coaching staff shakes out

100%. I would have preferred the guy from the Yankees simply because he comes from a winning organization and the team could stand an infusion of winning culture. It couldn't hurt. But, you're right. No matter who they hired people would've complained. 

[Mike Sixel]

8 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

No manager hire was going to sell tickets. 

I'm highly amused I have two downvotes for this post. Do those two think that there is a manager that would have sold tickets? 

[Schmoeman5]

57 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm highly amused I have two downvotes for this post. Do those two think that there is a manager that would have sold tickets? 

Well you noticed the thumbs down but overlooked the rebuttal. If you would have read it you could answer your own question. Just my opinion but I read your rock solid opinions every day. 

[Chembry]

Darren Wolfson reported Buxton likes Shelton and gave a “ringing endorsement”.  He is a big fan of Shelton from their time together between 2018-2019.

https://kstp.com/minnesota-sports/the-scoop-october-30/

[LakesPibble]

15 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm highly amused I have two downvotes for this post. Do those two think that there is a manager that would have sold tickets? 

I think either a popular former player or a well known manager could have made a difference to the casual fan.  And that's who fills the stands, not us few nerds on TD.

[Parfigliano]

17 minutes ago, LakesPibble said:

I think either a popular former player or a well known manager could have made a difference to the casual fan.  And that's who fills the stands, not us few nerds on TD.

Hey I bought 6 tickets last year.

[ashbury]

It would be cool if the site administrators would take the word "BREAKING" off of the subject line after a day, so that I don't keep thinking something interesting just happened each morning.   😄