Pete Maki Not Returning As Twins' Pitching Coach

[HarmonK03]

15 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

You didn't answer:  Do you think he Pohlad had anything to do with Falvey leaving?  If so, would you consider that a personnel decision?  

The conversation this year would be more like, "Well Mr. Zoll, we didn't meet expectations this year.  I expect accountability and changes."  And Zoll isn't going to throw himself under the bus, so he goes ahead with some mid level firings. 

This kind of thing happens every day in large organizations. Blaming lower lever employees for a failed project or a sloppy report or a bad sales year is a time honored tradition for upper management when they are feeling pressure from the big boss.  

Thank you for making my point, he gave a vision and direction to Zoll and it wasn't met, regardless of the reality of the vision.  So he may have told him to do better and make changes accordingly.  But he did not fire Maki, Zoll did based on the direction he was given to improve the team.  It could have easily been Hawkins or Sizemore whoever Zoll felt won't help the team meet the expectations given to him by his boss.

And the only personnel decisions he should be directly involved in are the people reporting to him, like Falvey and now Zoll.  Falvey had the business operations taken away from him by TP and didn't agree and thought he could do both baseball and business operations so he left.  These responsibilities have always been split by the Twins under the Pohlads so why Falvey thought it would be a permanent decision when he was given the business operations when St. Peter left is beyond me.

[bean5302]

I see this as a red flag. Firing coaches before the GM? It's been standard operating procedure for complete lack of accountability and dysfunction in my opinion.

Same 'ol, same 'ol.

[killercarewoliva]

20 hours ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

LaTroy getting a promotion?

Yes, I hope so. let Hawkins be the pitching coach. I remember seeing him pitch when he was still a starter in Baltimore and you see the speed 98 and 99. Tom Kelly helped him be successful better by being a reliever and he is very thankful to Mr. Kelly. she's such a respectful, knowledgeable, young man.

[DJL44]

4 minutes ago, killercarewoliva said:

Yes, I hope so. let Hawkins be the pitching coach. I remember seeing him pitch when he was still a starter in Baltimore and you see the speed 98 and 99. Tom Kelly helped him be successful better by being a reliever and he is very thankful to Mr. Kelly. she's such a respectful, knowledgeable, young man.

Who is the “young man”? Tom Kelly is 76 and LaTroy Hawkins is 53.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

1 hour ago, HarmonK03 said:

There's a difference between specific moves and a direction set.  Yes Pohlad made the decision to try and win at the deadline so Zoll made trades.  But if you think that TP told him to target Tommy Nance or Jeff Hoffman, I don't know what to say.  Or that he told Zoll to keep Jackson on the roster for two months because there were no better options.  Zoll may not be a strong leader but show TP is making specific personnel decisions.

And again I didn't agree with the decision to go for it at the trade deadline but it's done and over with, how do we move forward.  The start is getting rid of Zoll to get a real leader in place.

I personally think Tom is not only setting the direction but rubber stamping or approving every single trade.   Yes Zoll does the legwork,  but Tom is signing off on everything.   Zoll may give his opinions but right now this ship is being run by Tom.   

Now daily minor decisions such as Jackson is likely between Shelton and Zoll.  But any trade or signing of a player is ultimately being approved by Tom.  This is likely something we won't agree on, but Tom has stated he is a micromanager and wants to be actively involved.   

Tom won't get rid of Zoll because he is doing Toms bidding.   If he was going to be let go it would have happened this weekend with Maki and the other individuals let go.   

[HarmonK03]

32 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

I personally think Tom is not only setting the direction but rubber stamping or approving every single trade.   Yes Zoll does the legwork,  but Tom is signing off on everything.   Zoll may give his opinions but right now this ship is being run by Tom.   

Now daily minor decisions such as Jackson is likely between Shelton and Zoll.  But any trade or signing of a player is ultimately being approved by Tom.  This is likely something we won't agree on, but Tom has stated he is a micromanager and wants to be actively involved.   

Tom won't get rid of Zoll because he is doing Toms bidding.   If he was going to be let go it would have happened this weekend with Maki and the other individuals let go.   

I believe you may have taken Tom's words out of context.  He didn't hire anyone for the business operations because he said he wanted to learn about the business and felt this was the best way.  I get we won't agree, but the Pohlad family is an easy target because they are the owners but it doesn't mean they do everything wrong.

I am not necessarily happy with how the ownership situation changed and wanted them gone as well, but I don't think they are as naive or dumb as people think.

[Mike Sixel]

55 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

I personally think Tom is not only setting the direction but rubber stamping or approving every single trade.   Yes Zoll does the legwork,  but Tom is signing off on everything.   Zoll may give his opinions but right now this ship is being run by Tom.   

Now daily minor decisions such as Jackson is likely between Shelton and Zoll.  But any trade or signing of a player is ultimately being approved by Tom.  This is likely something we won't agree on, but Tom has stated he is a micromanager and wants to be actively involved.   

Tom won't get rid of Zoll because he is doing Toms bidding.   If he was going to be let go it would have happened this weekend with Maki and the other individuals let go.   

I agree with this 100%. And, yikes. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

57 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

I believe you may have taken Tom's words out of context.  He didn't hire anyone for the business operations because he said he wanted to learn about the business and felt this was the best way.  I get we won't agree, but the Pohlad family is an easy target because they are the owners but it doesn't mean they do everything wrong.

I am not necessarily happy with how the ownership situation changed and wanted them gone as well, but I don't think they are as naive or dumb as people think.

No they don't do everything wrong.  I have stated I think he has done 1 thing right and that is to try to rebuild relations with the players.  That was smart.  There also may be some calculus in the trades to be able to resign more players.  There is a value to that.   The execution of the plan for this year was not good. Losing Falvey right before the season with no option to hire someone else with the necessary skills was not good.  Having a subpar team and continuing to buy mediocre players was not smart then buying at the deadline was extremely short sighted.  He came in guns ablazing which is why Falvey left.  In July Tom is on record stating he was pretty naive coming in and said he had very little understanding of the operations. He stated the Twins would be buyers at the deadline and the Twins followed through with that.     https://www.aarongleeman.com/my-breakfast-with-tom-pohlad-we-have-to-****ing-win/

[Woof Bronzer]

3 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

But he did not fire Maki, Zoll did based on the direction he was given to improve the team. 

You have no idea if this is true.  You are simply stating your opinion as fact.  

 

[Parfigliano]

Baseball....meh.  Hopefully the LAD win every playoff game on their way to another Championship.

NEW YORK RANGER hockey starts in 6 hour 27 minutes.

[Coach JT]

Time to overall the whole upper management and coaching staff. Fire Zoll and Shelton and whole staff. I would hire Brewers assistant GM. Then let him build a young team built on Pitching and fielding and hitters who hit for avg and speed and more speed. We want a plan Pohlads please and thank you. 

[Coach JT]

As of the 2026 Brewers front-office directory, Milwaukee has three Assistant General Managers:

• Karl Mueller
• Matt Kleine
• Will Hudgins

[farmerguychris]

Joining this thread late, so excuse me if already written - but I fully expect Maki to be signed as the pitching coach for a contender next year.  Of all the problems this team has, I don't think he's one of the biggest ones.

[Mike Sixel]

41 minutes ago, farmerguychris said:

Joining this thread late, so excuse me if already written - but I fully expect Maki to be signed as the pitching coach for a contender next year.  Of all the problems this team has, I don't think he's one of the biggest ones.

Concur. Maybe even the Mets.....

[Parfigliano]

35 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Concur. Maybe even the Mets.....

Y...E...S.  YES.  YES.  YES.