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Twins President Lost on Future and More Cuts Coming
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- Twins President Lost on Future and More Cuts Coming
Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
On Monday, following a final loss to send the regular season tally to a putrid 70-92 record , the Minnesota Twins fired manager Rocco Baldelli . The same manager that recently won Manager of the Year , and ended a decades-long playoff drought, was done just years later.
It's now on team president Derek Falvey, a position he was promoted to as among the most powerful in the sport, to dictate the future of the club. Installed as the head of the front office in 2017 after a 59-103 season under Terry Ryan , Falvey didn't see the same fate for his 90-loss debacle.
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Now the sitting president will need to pick a new manager and embark on a direction that makes this season a footnote, and not the norm. Unfortunately the confidence he can accomplish that has waned significantly.
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Manager decision reeks of desperation for the MN Twins
It was possible that Rocco Baldelli was going to be on the hot seat this season. He witnessed his team suffer a ridiculous collapse to end last year , and the expectations were another playoff run even after the payroll was dialed back . He survived early-season struggles though, coached a 13-game winning streak , and the front office responded by picking up his 2026 option .
The Twins had initially picked up Rocco Baldelli's club option for 2026 "at some
point going into the year," team president Derek Falvey confirmed today.
So the Twins will be on the hook for paying that and their new manager's salary next season.— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) September 30, 2025
President Derek Falvey suggested to the Star Tribune's Bobby Nightengale that their decision to fire the manager was reflective of the past two seasons, not the last two months. That seems wildly inconsistent with a decision to exercise an option, and put a stingy ownership group on the hook for payroll that isn't actively working for them.
"This was a decision that was organizationally made, obviously with ownership, around what's the right direction and new direction for this club. Yes, we knew some of those trades and where those were going were going to put a strained position on that. I made it clear to ownership in different discussions that we had that we should evaluate the second half of the season very differently than just the outcomes on the field."
With the understanding that results will be subjective after the front office, mandated by ownership , stripped the team of nearly 40% of the roster, the ultimate decision seems odd. Prior to the trade deadline Falvey felt comfortable enough with his manager to extend him.
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Fast forward to poor results with the team gutted , and Baldelli becomes the fall guy for a front office and ownership group he has been the only one to accept responsibility for .
Accountability isn't in Falvey's wheelhouse
The best news the Minnesota Twins have provided in the past 12 months was that the team was for sale . The worst was that they were taken off the market after the Pohlads found a pair of limited investors to swallow their debt . The Athletic asked fans to place blame on involved parties earlier this month, and they came correct.
One of Aaron Gleeman's questions was, "Where do you assign the most blame for the Twins' struggles?" Among 5,021 responses, 78.7% chose ownership, with 11.1% choosing the front office, and just 2.5% pointing at the manager.
"We've collectively arrived at this being the right time for a new voice in a new direction. It's not about Rocco. This is a collective underperformance from our group and it starts with me."
The line that things start with Falvey rings hollow. He said that to Lavelle E. Neal with a straight face, despite being the steward of ownership and responsible for the roster he provided to the manager. Of course he's not going to fire himself, but it's clear self-awareness isn't a strong suit either.
"I felt like this roster had a lot of talent on it that could go perform. And we didn't collectively perform to that talent level."
"We didn't perform. And I feel like I've let down the staff, the coaches, the fans and everybody in here when that happens. And if I don't take that personal responsibility, then I feel like I'm not doing my job. And that's what's going to keep motivating our group to continue to work, to try and put the team in a better position to be successful."
Going back to that two year assessment, Falvey comes up hollow here too. He watched a team he constructed fall apart down the stretch last season. The only changes he made to the roster were signing Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe, and Ty France.
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Why would a team that finished 9-18 during the final month of 2024 , had one of the slowest and least athletic rosters, and went virtually unchanged into the next year, be believed to perform at a higher level? That's either hubris or complete malpractice from Falvey when it comes to assessing what's in front of him.
The again, as Gleeman points out, why would Falvey remove the shield from himself.
Changes were needed after back-to-back ugly seasons and Falvey made the biggest, easiest change he could while protecting himself and top lieutenant Jeremy Zoll…Self-preservation is expected in these types of situations…But it's also increasingly clear Falvey is insulated from blame.
Minnesota Twins will have less resources going forward
You don't tear down a roster in a monumental way only to go out and spend over the offseason. It's more likely that Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez are both traded due to their contracts than it is they are extended. Falvey has no indication of where payroll discussions will fall for 2026. That's problematic with new investors involved, and the expectation is that the number will be further diminished .
"[To] shoot you super straight. I don't have that direction yet. That's a conversation that we'll continue to have, certainly with the Pohlads and whatever conversation they would like me to have with the limited partners."
"There will be some limited partners that are coming in and involved in some of the discussions around how we operate going forward. Those have not yet happened. Those are likely to happen in, hopefully, the weeks to come."
Minnesota already laid off nearly their entire advanced scouting department earlier this summer. The have cut the payroll commitments going forward. The front office business staff should be uncertain about their futures as well.
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As Neal succinctly put it, "Rocco looks like he's getting out at a good time." Unfortunately for fans, we're still tied to the existence of the Pohlads and Falvey steering their ship.
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