Search the Community

The Minnesota Twins face the Baltimore Orioles this weekend with desperation in the clubhouse and the fanbase. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires threatens the series, but the Twins' performance on the field threatens the season. The Orioles haven't been lighting the league on fire lately, either. Can the Twins ride into the Charm City and recapture the AL Central lead over the weekend? Image courtesy of Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports Like Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, I don't have words for the last stretch of Twins baseball. That makes it challenging to write an article, but I'll do it anyway so that everyone can vent or cheer as relevant. The Twins will enter Friday night's game in first place thanks to a Guardians team broiled in its own struggles and emotional drama. For the Twins, last week was as low as they've been all season, leading to a closed-door, players-only meeting. I will allow you to comment on what good a players-only meeting does. Here are Baldelli's thoughts on the week thus far: We love baseball because the season is only half over after Friday night, and the glass can still be half full! The Twins have had second-half turnarounds before, and there isn't a way to prove it can't happen again. Could this be the moment that wakes the team or seals their fate? The 48-31 Baltimore Orioles will have something to say about that answer as the Twins enter Camden Yards. Familiar faces abound on the Orioles roster (Thanks to Seth Stohs @sethtweets for his Twins Almanac skills): RP Yennier Cano, SP Kyle Gibson, SP Tyler Wells, RP Danny Coulombe, and CF Aaron Hicks. Hicks in particular has regained his dynamic form since being released from the beard-care rules of the Yankees organization. Gibson leads a rotation in the way that the Twins always hoped he would. Cano and Coulombe would look nice in our bullpen right now. And I didn't even remember Wells, but now I'm sad about it. Not to mention Minnesota area connections with Terrin Vavra (Currently on the IL, but son of coach Joe Vavra and a former Gopher has played 2B, 3B, LF and RF this year), RP Mike Baumann (From Mahtomedi), and backup catcher Anthony Bemboom (from Sauk Rapids). The Orioles are led offensively by their outfielders, Austin Hays, Hicks, Anthony Santander, and Cedric Mullins, who are all posting an OPS over .800 with the O's this year. Catcher Adley Rutschman is living up the hype of a first pick, and managing the pitching staff well. Weather Factor: Smoky! Hot, with temps in the high 80's to low 90's. Visibility and air quality could be huge issues for the teams and the fans. Rain enters the forecast for Sunday's game but would only delay at best. Pitching Probables Game 1 – Monday, June 26th, 2023 – 6:05 pm CDT – Twins RHP Pablo Lopez (3-5, 4.41 ERA) has experienced the brunt of the Twins offensive woes. The reality, unfortunately, is that Lopez is also doing exactly what he's done over the past few seasons. He's been a sub-.500 pitcher with an ERA of 4.01 over 110 games. Bad luck has been discussed, and advanced stats paint a prettier picture than the reality: Lopez isn't a game-changing arm. The Twins will need at least five runs to win this game, and they've only accomplished that three times in their last 15 games. Seriously. The Orioles send RHP Dean Kremer (8-3, 4.50 ERA) to the mound to face Lopez, and Kremer is trending in the opposite direction as the season progresses. Unlike Lopez, Kremer's ERA is sinking over his last seven starts, and he's winning games. Kremer's OPS allowed is higher, and he is giving up harder contact, but it's not leading to ballooned innings, and his offense scores runs. Statcast all you want, Kremer has been a superior pitcher this season for his team, and he's licking his chops to face the Twins lineup. Expect a heavy left-handed lineup for the Twins on Friday night. I don't see the drama of the past week changing the company line against right or left-handed starters and relievers any time soon. That strategy will go down with the ship. Game 2 – Saturday, July 1st, 2023 – 3:05 pm CDT - Twins RHP Bailey Ober (4-4, 2.97 ERA) takes the mid-afternoon stage against Orioles RHP Kyle Bradish (4-3, 3.75 ERA). The two pitchers look like clones with similar innings, strikeouts, and WHIP on paper. This looks like the rubber match that will determine the series on paper. The fallout from Friday night's game lingers into this game and will play a role in the potential for victory. Game 3 - Sunday, July 2nd, 2023 – 11:05 am CDT - This is the game in the series that the Twins need to win. Arguments can be made that taking one out of three in this series is just fine. But getting swept could be catastrophic. The Twins send RHP Sonny Gray (4-2, 2.67 ERA) out to bring home the victory. Win the series, and he's one of the main reasons the Twins still have hopes of claiming the division. Lose this game, and it might be one of Gray's last games to pitch with the squad as the trade deadline looms. Orioles LHP Cole Irvin (1-3, 7.18 ERA) attempts to play the role of spoiler on Sunday. As a left-handed pitcher, we can automatically toss his statistics against other teams. Prediction Time! The wheels are falling off the Twins bandwagon. Will any be left for the team to return to Target Field before the All-Star Break? Will MLB postpone the games, or will the players play in an empty stadium? Will the haze lift to find the Twins have emerged stronger and more together, having walked through the fire together, or has the window closed and the oxygen run out on the current roster and staff? Leave your thoughts in the comments. View full article

Reports surfaced earlier this week that the club has quietly extended Rocco Baldelli beyond the 2023 season, which isn't surprising but had never been made official. So, what does that mean for the organization's future? Image courtesy of Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports The Twins originally signed Rocco Baldelli to a four-year contract that covered the 2019-2022 season with club options tagged onto the deal's backend. Derek Falvey told reporters last September that the team was committed to Baldelli. "Rocco's our manager. He's my partner in this all the way through. That's never even crossed my mind, quite frankly... Rocco's a big part of our future. Not just next year, but beyond." At the time, it wasn't clear whether the Twins were exercising an option or committing to Baldelli for the long term. Earlier this week, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported the Twins quietly extended Baldelli before the 2022 season. He said the extension is for an "unknown period," but he is under contract through at least 2025. A manager entering a contract's final year is often considered a lame duck, so the club wanted to avoid that. Now, his future seems secure, with the front office committed to Baldelli's path for the team. Baldelli's Twins tenure has seen ups and downs in the team's performance. He won Manager of the Year in his first year at the helm when the team went 101-61 while setting the all-time home run record. During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Minnesota won the AL Central for the second consecutive season with a 36-24 record. In the last two seasons, the Twins have finished below .500 while dealing with injuries and other concerns. Entering play on Tuesday, Baldelli has a .527 winning percentage for his managerial career. As a franchise, the Twins have stayed the course with managers, especially since the Pohlad family has been in the ownership role. Since 1987, the Twins have employed four managers (Tom Kelly, Ron Gardenhire, Paul Molitor, and Baldelli). The team remained committed to these managers even when the team's performance suffered for multiple seasons. Consistency at the top of an organization can have its pros and cons. Players know what to expect if the same manager calls the shots, which can help deal with the multitude of personalities and egos on a roster. On the other hand, one voice year after year can lose some of its effectiveness. Some former Twins managers likely faced this situation at the end of their tenure. Every manager will face criticism throughout their tenure. When the team plays well, others besides the manager get the bulk of the credit. If a team struggles, the manager can get blamed for line-up construction, bullpen usage, and removing starters too early. Unfortunately, a manager can only work with the players on the roster, so many of the team's flaws are out of his control. Baldelli has been forced to be creative with the team's line-up construction during the 2023 season. The Twins don't have a traditional lead-off hitter, so the club has used players like Joey Gallo and Max Kepler. Injury concerns have pushed Byron Buxton into a full-time DH role, which has also drawn some scrutiny from fans. Even with this switch, Buxton is on pace for a career-high in games played while leading the Twins in multiple offensive categories. Baldelli is doing his best to compile his line-up pieces on any given night. In 2022, Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer comprised two-thirds of the Twins' starting rotation. Neither pitcher could pitch beyond five innings regularly, and Baldelli took the brunt of the blame for removing starters too early. However, the results might have been worse if the starters were allowed to face a line-up for a third time. Fast-forward to 2023, and Minnesota has a revamped rotation near the top of MLB's leaderboard in innings pitched and ERA. With the right rotational pieces, Baldelli can leave his starters longer into games, helping the team sit atop the division. Bullpen usage can be even more fickle when tied to managerial performance. Relievers are typically pitching in some of the highest-leverage situations. The manager's decisions will be questioned if the bullpen blows a lead. Jhoan Duran has been fantastic, but Baldelli has also been forced to use other relievers with worse track records. The Twins' front office has yet to invest in the bullpen for multiple off-seasons, forcing Baldelli into tough late-game decisions. For better or worse, Baldelli is tied to Derek Falvey and Thad Levine for the foreseeable future. The current front office moved on from Molitor to bring in someone that fit their mold. Results could have been better during Baldelli's managerial career, but he has helped bring the Twins into the analytical age, an improvement needed from previous managers. There is only so much a manager can control in a game, so he must help build a winning culture throughout an organization. What are your thoughts knowing Baldelli will be at the helm through at least 2025? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. View full article

When the Minnesota Twins transitioned from Terry Ryan to Derek Falvey in the front office, it was an ushering in of change. Falvey came from the Cleveland Guardians and a more new-school way of doing things. We have now seen enough with the Twins to understand a repetitive process, and it again may be time to challenge that. Image courtesy of Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports Derek Falvey’s hiring was largely celebrated through the lens of Cleveland’s pitching pipeline that he helped to develop. The hope was that the Twins could see a similar level of success. Thad Levine was brought along as the general manager. Thus far, we’ve seen a few instances of that but more needs to be done. On the free agent front, we’ve watched the tandem spend to franchise-record payrolls over each of the past two seasons. It’s beyond nice to see Minnesota raising that water level, and for a team that should unquestionably remain near league average, the top has to continue going up. After being around $140 million for 2022, a push to $160 million seems like a reasonable request in 2023. A 17% increase makes sense for a team whose attendance was low in 2022 despite being in first place through most of August. The problem lies in how they get there. Over the past few offseasons, the Twins have preached patience. Falvey and Levine have said all of the right things and then waited out the market. They did so when pivoting to Josh Donaldson after whiffing on Zack Wheeler. They did so in grabbing Lance Lynn and Logan Morrison as spring training kicked off. They even did so last year when shortstop options were gone, and yet Carlos Correa landed in their lap. It now may be time they use the talent to dictate the budget. In waiting for players to agree to their offers, it seems as though the front office is working backwards from an agreed upon amount (as all MLB teams do). This is understandable when ownership likely throws out a number they initially feel comfortable with budgeting. Although Jim Pohlad is no longer the ownership face of the Twins, there will likely not be a substantial financial change with Joe Pohlad in charge. That said, Falvey has always reiterated they have the full support of the front office, and are unafraid to have conversations about spending dollars where it makes sense. That continues to fall on deaf ears when the Twins are left with no opportunities to push the pockets. While Correa and Carlos Rodon are the only premier talents left on the market, Minnesota has a substantial amount of dollars yet to allocate simply to reach last season’s thresholds. By waiting to see if he accepts whatever they have presented, the Twins also are leaving the door open for another team to surpass what may not be their best effort. Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, and Jacob deGrom have all already signed. The likelihood a free agent is waiting to bleed out every last drop isn’t high (although that is what Scott Boras is known for any typically secures for his clients), but rather they are looking to have their match met. If the Twins operated from a place of talent or targets first, getting Correa done with a $35-40 million average annual value over whatever amount of years would then give them the baseline as to what they have left. Instead of waiting for the acceptance of what’s out there, talent worthy of dollars eventually becomes non-existent. Minnesota wouldn’t be well positioned to go sign Correa and Rodon for a combined average annual value of $70 million, but if they did the roster could be filled out from that point. Maybe there’s conversations that follow and requests for additional funds to round out the roster, or a pitch is made that spending could help to increase interest that resulted in an attendance lower than anything we’ve seen since the Metrodome. This is a strategy we have not seen this front office employ. Instead it has been wait and see, and while that worked once in landing a big fish like Correa, it has often left hefty pockets with only leftovers to spend it on. Pushing the budget up from the bottom, rather than subtracting from the top, could help to provide a more clear direction on what way the 26-man is constructed for Rocco Baldelli. View full article