On the heels of a dramatic late-season collapse last year, Derek Falvey sat in a room full of reporters and reaffirmed his faith in manager Rocco Baldelli.
“Rocco is my manager,” Falvey, now the team’s president of baseball and business operations, said on Sept. 29, 2024. “I believe in his process. I believe in him. I believe in the partnership I have with him.”
One year to the day, Falvey delivered the news to Baldelli that that partnership was no more.
Following conversations with ownership Monday morning, Falvey had a nearly two-hour conversation with Baldelli in which he told the manager that the Twins were headed in a different direction after seven seasons.
“It’s incumbent upon me as the head of this to talk with ownership about what the right direction is going forward,” Falvey said. “We had those discussions privately about what that means and where we are and what we’ve learned … over the course of a longer period of time and, ultimately, we collectively arrived at this being the right time for a new voice and a new direction.”
After picking up Baldelli’s 2026 contract option this year, something which Falvey publicly confirmed for the first time Monday, the underperforming Twins put together a second consecutive fourth-place finish and suffered their first 90-loss season since 2016.
Baldelli’s teams were 527-505 (.511) in his seven years in charge, and while he is the one taking the fall rather than the front office, Falvey called it a “collective underperformance” from the group and said the decision was not “about a failure of Rocco.”
Instead, Falvey said, he takes “personal responsibility” for the results over the past two years.
“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,” Falvey said. “And if I don’t take that personal responsibility, then I feel like I’m not doing my job. And at the end of the day, that’s what’s going to keep motivating our group to continue to work, to try to put the team in a better position to be successful.”
Ultimately, the front office decided new leadership in the clubhouse would help put them in that position.
The Twins dismissed four coaches — the entire hitting crew and their assistant bench coach — after last season’s failure. Now, the fate of the whole coaching staff beyond Baldelli is up in the air.
When Baldelli was hired, he retained some of Paul Molitor’s coaching staff, including bench coach Derek Shelton and hitting coach James Rowson, so it’s possible some of the staff will remain. Those decisions will be made in consultation with the new manager.
While there’s no timeline for getting a new manager in place, that hire could come within the next month or so. Baldelli, the first manager Falvey hired, got the job in late October and now the search for his replacement is underway.
“You have to zoom back out, collectively assess where things are and, obviously, have discussions, feedback and thoughts from ownership around where they feel things are, as well, and you have to arrive at a decision that organizationally is in alignment with ownership and you feel good about moving forward,” Falvey said. “That’s ultimately how we got to the decision we made.”
Briefly
Second baseman Luke Keaschall saw hand specialist Dr. Donald Sheridan on Monday in Arizona, and Sheridan confirmed a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb. Keaschall will undergo surgery Wednesday, general manager Jeremy Zoll said. The Twins expect him to be fully ready for spring training. … Emmanuel Rodríguez, one of the organization’s top prospects, will play winter ball this offseason, Zoll said. Between injuries, Rodríguez played in only 65 minor league games this season.
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