What if Rocco Baldelli is Actually a Good Manager?

If the Twins went 100-62 Baldelli would take the fall for the 62. All of the posters here on TD know more than Baldelli even though probably more than 99% of us have never been in an mlb dugout. It's Buxton's fault that he's injured. Pagan still sucks...etc, etc, etc...

With Correa leading the team in batting average at .230* it is unbelievable that this team is so good. Also, this terrible front office brought us some of the best pitching the mlb has seen, Carlos Correa, and a plethora of young talent that has real potential. This is a fun team to watch and often full of surprises. 

To take a small market team with virtually no superstars and make them competitive requires a great front office and manager. Despite the fact that Gallo had too many at bats and they put in a pitcher you didn't like once or twice.

I have no problem with Baldelli as our team manager.

Face it. Managers get too much credit when things go well, and too much blame when things go poorly.  There are so many variables (specifically injuries) that the manager has absolutely  no control over.

I feel too many Twins fans (for most teams probably) don't like it that analytics are playing such a huge role in managerial in-game decisions and that we aren't relying on our gut anymore.

Those fans have every right to feel that way, and maybe they're not wrong.  However - facts are that analytics simply are not going to go away.  You don't have to like them, and you don't have to subscribe that they are making the game better - But, I sincerely believe they are here to stay and will only become more and more involved in both in, and out of game decisions.

Baldelli is the perfect manager to be in place for an analytic driven type of decision making process.  He sees the benefits of analytics, and understands how to communicate the findings of said analytics to the players.  

This may not make him popular among fans, but then again - how many managers really are popular anyway and does fan popularity really matter anyway when more revenues are generated by tv contracts than the fans that actually show up in the stands?

Based on recent experience, I’d take Dusty Baker over Rocco Baldelli… but Rocco Baldelli over John Schneider.  😂

43 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

 

Great article. What they didn't mention is Baldelli also got the team to buy into the plan, which is the sign of a good manager. No pouting from Joe Ryan or Kenta Maeda, for example.

Experience is important in just about any area of life. Baldelli was raw and inexperienced almost by definition when he took the job as the Twins manager. He knows baseball through and through though and has been more comfortable every year in his job. He is a good manager. The job of manager is important but it has been a long time since we have seen the manager hit, pitch, or play in the field. 

Sometimes I'm taken aback at the comments attacking the managers. Of course, there is always going to be second guessing on many decisions no matter what the job entails. Still, we read condescending comments about high school coaches, Baldelli, and otherwise. I'm wondering if those who hold managers in low esteem also put engineers and surgeons on the same level. 

The title to the post is sort of odd/funny. Do people on Twins Daily really believe that they might know as much about baseball as a guy like Rocco? Or even many high school coaches?

We have opinions, for sure. When the Toronto manager pulls Berrios, there is a general move to second guess the decision, yet we cannot positively know that this call was not part of some conversation prior to the game. This is almost, but not, similar to lifting Ryan after two innings. Baseball has a far different communication and decision model today than it did 25 years ago. There are 30 manages in baseball and I believed that Francona was the best of the bunch. I also believe that all of them are good at their jobs. They exist along the spectrum in comparison to each other. Baldelli is a good manager, is what I would say. I like Rocco. Then again, I'm also someone who thinks that Paul Molitor and his experience would have been an even better choice all along. 

Rocco does a good job with what actually matters. Making the team believe they can win together. Baseball players are inherently self centered and self motivated. The hard work is getting them to give that up and think of the team as a team. To that end, Rocco is great. He is a person who believes in the whole platoon advantage and how to best put players in spots to succeed. The trouble is that requires players to be comfortable with their weaknesses. That's why he's a good manager. He's not the only good manager the twins could have, but he's a good one. 

1 hour ago, farmerguychris said:

Face it. Managers get too much credit when things go well, and too much blame when things go poorly.  There are so many variables (specifically injuries) that the manager has absolutely  no control over.

This. I generally think Rocco is fine as a manager. But I've also felt that baseball managers are frequently overrated for their actual impact on a team. (at least from an in-game, tactical sense) There's a handful that are superior, and a larger handful that aren't very good, but most of them fall into the middle where if their players are good, they look good.

I do think one of the areas a manager has the biggest impact is in the clubhouse, and that's the area that's easily the most difficult for fans to evaluate, at least until things go south and the leaks start a-flying (by then, the deal is usually done, I'd say). Right now, Rocco by all appearances has the support of both the front-office and his players, with good professional relationships. That's a good thing, and it stayed that way even during the prior two disappointing seasons, which is often when the cracks appear.

I'd say he's ranged from average to above-average in his time with the Twins. Moving on from him probably accomplishes little.

1 hour ago, Boswell said:

Based on recent experience, I’d take Dusty Baker over Rocco Baldelli… but Rocco Baldelli over John Schneider.  😂

Part of this is Dusty has been managing for 26 seasons. Rocco is learning. He'll get better too.

20 minutes ago, Nick Nelson said:

He'll likely (and deservingly) be a top 3 finalist for MOTY and has the highest winning % of any Twins manager in 5 decades, I don't even know why this would be considered a controversial premise. 

Winning 87 games in the worst division in league history is award worthy?  Man, Twins fans need to set the bar just a shade higher.  I get that this year was better than the last 2 but my goodness, we were the 7th best team in the AL!  We don't need to crown Rocco for this "accomplishment".  

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Part of this is Dusty has been managing for 26 seasons. Rocco is learning. He'll get better too.

Was reading about the 20th Anniversary of the “Bartman game” (NLCS, Game 6 - Oct. 14, 2023) on the Athletic.  
 

Reprehensible that Baker, Alou, Prior et. al. threw a fan under the bus.  Became the whole story rather than taking responsibility for the many mistakes and faults of the Cubs.  
 

Baker could have made a trip to the mound to calm down his pitcher and catcher, or he could have gone to the bullpen rather than ride Prior.  He didn’t. 
 

He could have taken responsibility.. or at least been philosophical. 
 

Instead, shame, blame and destroy the guy with the turtleneck, sweatshirt, glasses and headphones. 
 

Yeah, maybe give me Rocco anyway.  6 hits and 28 strikeouts in 2 games at home is on the players.  

If Twins mgmt thinks Baldelli is a good manager. They should extend his contract and give him a raise. Wait! Didn't they all ready do that? The FO thinks he's good. That's good enough for me.

1 hour ago, davidborton said:

Excellent article, well researched, clearly written, though I don't come to the same conclusion.

From where does the criticism of Baldelli come? Many of us grew up on a different brand of baseball. "Baldelli" becomes a symbol of what we resent in the changed game. He is bound to catch flack (not Fleck). I am part of that herd.

Baldelli is following the script set by the FO. Neither of us truly knows how much latitude he has in going in a different direction anymore than we know his true impact within the clubhouse. He is penned in to a style of baseball which dictates his decisions. His personality lends to that role.

Is he a good manager? I think we need to remember that 52 of his games (32%) are played within a division where not one team (save Twins) had a .500 record. Talk about stacking the deck for statistical composition.

I think he is a good person for this FO. How responsible he is for the stats you listed is another issue.

I don't know if he is a good manager. I know he and his (their) brand of baseball doesn't appeal to me. After all, this is entertainment, not the chess game it has become.

What I do know? The Twins finished 87-75 in the worst division of baseball, with a disproportionate amount of those games against losing teams.

Thanks for taking the time to present such a thoroughly researched article. db

Absolutely perfect answer to the article, and I agree 100%. You stated it better than I ever could. 

What if he isn't?

Most of managing baseball in MLB is about how you handle relationships -- with everyone, the players of course, but your staff, the FO, myriad professionals covering/involved with the team.

Baldelli is a very good communicator.  He is calm, measured, fair and insightful,.  This all comes across in his interviews and interactions with the media, and secondarily, through listening to the players and others associated with the team.

Is he a good manager?  Well, if the job is mainly about handling relationships, the answer is "yes". 

The in-game strategies, the line-ups, the decisions about pitchers coming in -- hate to say it, but that stuff is really secondary to how he shows up for all the other "stuff" he is responsible for.

This is not a Billy Martin job anymore, coaching baseball.  You can't just cuss and throw things around and bitch and expect that your team will respond. 

I have been impressed by how Baldelli handles all questions, gets to the guts of the issue and doesn't duck or obfuscate or blame others.

I'll never respect Rocco as he is either a) utterly ignorant, or b) a flat-out liar.

EVERY time a player leaves a game, the post-game press conference includes a "not as bad as it looks", or a "probably a day-to-day thing" report on the injured player before the next day's "official" report of said player needing major surgery and a 60 day DL stint.

I realize he isn't a doctor or even a trainer,  but adding this to his history of baffling moves (esp. pitching, and weekly days off for position players beyond travel days) and strict analytical adherence, I see nothing to recommend him at all as a manager.

He'd likely make a good babysitter.  Assuming your child is bulletproof...

No, he is not.

2 hours ago, Bodie said:

I'll never respect Rocco as he is either a) utterly ignorant, or b) a flat-out liar.

EVERY time a player leaves a game, the post-game press conference includes a "not as bad as it looks", or a "probably a day-to-day thing" report on the injured player before the next day's "official" report of said player needing major surgery and a 60 day DL stint.

I realize he isn't a doctor or even a trainer,  but adding this to his history of baffling moves (esp. pitching, and weekly days off for position players beyond travel days) and strict analytical adherence, I see nothing to recommend him at all as a manager.

He'd likely make a good babysitter.  Assuming your child is bulletproof...

Literally every manager and front office leader does this. It isn't just a Rocco thing. 

Edit: I want to give a more nuanced answer. You're exaggerating how bad it is. Of course he's going to be optimistic or guarded with revealing too much at the beginning, because they don't have all the facts right away.

Anyway, this was the exact same complaint we had about Terry Ryan and Bill Smith. I still remember Joe Crede staying on the active roster as "day-to-day" while resting his back soreness for roughly a week before he was put on the IL. Acting like this is a Baldelli problem is misguided.