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How about a steal, a bunt, or a hit and run to create some runs and excitement instead of waiting for the 5 run homer every night. I also do not think the team is sound fundamentally. These guys have been playing baseball for over 20 years. No excuse for such lack of base running skills and fielding mistakes. Watch the good teams.

What can be said that hasn't been said already, I guess? As Ted points out, Rocco was picked from Tampa for his knowledge of, and use of all of their analytics that made them successful and somewhat groundbreaking. He brought that here, and has stuck with it through thick and thin. Now it is easy to use any philosophy when your team hits 307 home runs, or plays a 60 game season and barely hangs on to the end of it. But 162 game seasons without the home runs is the challenge all managers will face at one time or another, and we have all seen how those years have gone as well. Ted points out, for example, that all teams have gone to shorter starts to one degree or another, but to do that you need a BP that is somewhat able to handle the load. We didn't have that, and yet we didn't adjust over time. Ryan the 3rd time through the order, or Duffy the first time through the order? Gray or Ober the 3rd time through, or Pagan the first time through? And so on, and so on. It was also confusing as to the "schedule" for scheduled days off for the front line players. Starters pitched less and the pen pitched more. Front line players played less and the utility guys played more. When your pen isn't strong enough to pull that load, and your bench isn't better than what we had for much of the season, due to injuries and other factors, maybe it is time to lean on your starters, both on the mound and on the field. Yet, we never did adjust to the players we had in the clubhouse as the injuries took their toll. We never did perform fundamentals well, and never used small ball to our advantage when it was called for. In other words, we never used the whole tool box that was at our disposal. It was more important to stick to the "plan". The results the first two years were from players who hit a lot of home runs. Take that away, and we are, what, about 20 or so games under .500 the last two years? You have to adjust or die in this game, and I just do not see Rocco adjusting. It is the rest of us who are told we have to adjust to the way the game is played today. This extremely humble observer is saying no thanks. Not if this is going to be the result. I don't want to wait for the 3 run homer every game. Use the whole tool box and lean on your studs. Play a little small ball while your computer spits out more stats. Give us something to watch.

Talk to Tom Kelly about fundamentals. Talk to Molitor about running. Talk to Gardy about fan relations. Stop telling us the team really did well, despite losing - we all have eyes. Stop sticking with RP when they prove they are not good - Colombe, Pagan, Lopez...Start sticking with SP when they are going well. If the give up a hit in their last inning it does not mean they are done.

Put your best players in the lineup every day until they tell you they need a break. Buxton can be an exception here since he's made of glass. Let's see some bunting, stealing, hit & run plays. If your starting pitcher is kicking-ass, leave him in until he tires. Forget the spreadsheets. If he's going longer than you're comfortable with, have someone warmed and ready to go so you CAN make a move quickly AFTER he demonstrates he's gassed. Stop trotting failures like Emilio Pagan onto the field in high leverage situations when they've proven time and time again they will burn you. Let's see more of the passion you displayed a couple of times this year when arguing with the umpires. For God's sake, don't ever put Royce Lewis in center field again.

Out of all the organizational failures over the last few years, it's maybe Rocco's performance the bothers me the most. He strikes me as entirely inept as a manager. His players never quite seem to have their heads in the game, and neither really does he. He screws up something as simple as mound visits and when he does decide to show emotion, as in the case of the blocked-plate review call vs. Toronto, he ends up screaming and cursing at the umpire who actually had made the call on the field in our favor. The Twins just do not rise up to meet late-inning, late-season or postseason challenges under his management. And rather than deal with issues head-on, he endlessly recycles excuses about "playing hard" and "things not going our way." He does not convey a sense of leadership. I've seen enough of him in this role. He's a decent human being, and seems like he'd be a great person to know. But he is a terrible MLB manager, in that if he doesn't have Nelson Cruz leading the clubhouse, even his regular-season teams look lost, shaken and beaten and the plate, on the mound and in the field. To answer your question, there's nothing he can do at this point - he is what he is. It is time to move on.

Until the FO and Rocco (they are a package deal) start using analytics as a guide instead of a one way street thru 9 innings of baseball. I don't see anyone changing their opinion of them. Just an example: 8 of the top 9 teams in innings pitched by starters are in the playoffs. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say those 8 teams use analytics as well.

All the hostility... The Coach/Manager's role is exactly the same regardless of the sport or city. Receive the accolades when your team wins, receive the heat when your team loses. Good managers can have bad years, bad managers can have good years. So many factors that we, the "loving public", are not privy to factor in to all the decisions. Player is hungover and not ready to pitch. Player is going through a divorce and not mentally ready. Player's kid is getting bullied in school, needs time to deal with it. Every decision is not black and white. We, as the fans, see none of this. The media will not report this. By all accounts, Rocco is generally liked by his players. He follows the agenda set by the upper brass. There were many hurdles the Twins had to fight this year: injuries, expectations that were probably too high, more heartbreaking losses than necessary. Is Rocco a good manager? I don't know. But he isn't going anywhere, so settle in.

The question - How Can Rocco Baldelli Regain Twins Fans Favor? Well the only way to regain favor with this fan is walk away. I haven't like his managing style since like day 14 of his first year and when you see the guy just doesn't have it you have to make a change. I was also calling for Zimmer's job for the last few years because it was obvious the team could no longer win with him and I think it is obvious the Twins can't/won't win with Rocco.

Resign.

At 65 yrs old I cannot remember a Twins season that has left me feel so empty. The game has changed so drastically, and the players play so infrequently that it's difficult for me to feel a connection or an allegiance to a group of young men that I can't identify with. I could bemoan the injuries or the complete lack of continuity in our manages everyday lineup, or the mystifying way pitching staffs are managed these days, but it would not help fill the void I feel in the sport I grew up living and loving. It's difficult for me to watch a 9-inning game these days. Never thought I'd say that. Maybe its time for me to just remember the game as it was and be done with it, before the oversized bases and the new pitch clock frustrate me further. Don't care to see another 7-inning double header game or an extra inning runner again either. Maybe I'll break out my old Strat-o-Matic cards and play my own season next year. There may be some comfort to be found, for me at least, in the simplicity of the past.

I can't see them DFAing Pagan, alas. I also see no reason to protect Urbina. What club will keep in the majors all year?

I gave up reading the comments after page 1. The title of the article was "How Can Rocco Baldelli regain fans favor." The comments through the bottom of page 1 we're nothing more than the same complaints I've read all year. It doesn't matter if I agree or disagree, but all I read were suppositions, demands, and contradictory statements. I think the proper end to this entry is to quote every TV cop who is at the scene of a major accident: "Just move along folks. Nothin' to see here."

Two of the worst examples of giving the pitcher too early hook from critical Sept. games: 1) Louis Varland's debut in NY. Was absolutely dominating the Yankees, but Rocco pulled him with a 3-1 lead with one out in the 5th with a runner on first. At the time he had 80 pitches and had allowed 3 hits, 1 BB, and 1 ER. I as listening to the Yankees radio broadcast at the time, and their broadcaster's were incredulous. One asked, "Is their manager even watching the game? Does he see what's going on out there?" The other said, "It's hard to watch the game when your head is buried in your laptop." Then Jax allowed a two run homer, the game went 12 innings, and they burned 6 pitchers, lost the game and had another doubleheader that night. 2) First game of critical 5 game series in Cleveland. Had a doubleheader the following day. Ober was absolutely cruising through 5. 1 hit, 1 BB, and no runs. Only 70 pitches. Ober's first game back, but before the game Baldelli said no restrictions on Ober's pitch count. Baldelli pulled him after 5. Lost the game. Burned their best 4 relievers and were unavailable for doubleheader the following day. Crazy. I think analytics can be good if used with enough sophistication, but I argue they are applying analytics too simplistically. I understand that on average it is better to bring in a reliever than let your starter go through the order a third time, but is that really true if your starter is dominating and has pitched a shutout through five? I doubt it. Also, what are the analytics for how to manage your pitchers for an entire series and not just a single game? Sometimes it makes sense to ride pitchers longer, and if they applied more complexity to their analytics, I bet they'd see the same.

I am not sure if this will be considered going off topic or not, because it is more general, but I couldn't disagree with you more about one point. The manager of a baseball team has as much or more control over games than most football coaches. He makes decisions on virtually every pitch, much less who plays, who plays where, where they hit in the lineup, when changes are made, shifts.......I could go on for a while. Even if the decision is to let someone else make the decision (allowing a catcher to call pitches, giving the green light to runners and letting them decide, etc.) the decisions are his. He will tell a coach how aggressive to be or how careful. He sends the signs to the field through his coaches, and again, I could go on. How you can believe that the manager, of any team, doesn't have the most impact is beyond this extremely humble observer's mind set, but you are certainly entitled to believe it. And it is not just the one run games folks are concerned about. The team scored 3 runs or less in approx 47% of the games this year. That is where small ball comes in; manufacturing a run now and then or, in our case, not manufacturing one, has made a difference in way too many games. And I know I am older and think more old school, but fundamentals are knowing how to bunt, run the bases, throw to the right base under each circumstance, hit and run, steal..........some people refer to it as small ball. How would I know if a team has good fundamentals if they don't do so much of the above because the analytics say not to? I can only speak for this extremely humble observer, but I have not seen these fundamentals during this tenure.

He can regain my trust by resigning.

Completely uninspiring manager! I've been a fan since the start of the Twins. I love the Twins and will support, but this is the worst manager I have seen in the dugout. Either a complete incompetent mind or a complete puppet to the top guys..........either, he was a better player. Twins Geezer ..... out!

Since analytics don't believe that RBI's are important and the Twins use analytics extensively, the players follow along and don't collect those useless RBI's.

This post typifies, what I see in anti-Rocco posts. Attributing things to Rocco, that the fan doesn’t like about the front office. Rocco doesn’t get to choose the scouting or medical staffs. He doesn’t sign free agents, or set the roster. the only thing Rocco could do to make Twins fans happy, is not be Rocco Baldelli.

I don't think Carlos is going to have any problem finding his big deal. I think the reason he has Boras as an agent now is because the guy he had last year wildly misread the FA situation before the lockout and cost Correa a huge deal then. So out with the old, in with the new super-agent. I think he gets a Seager sized deal, and I think there's multiple teams willing to give it to him. He doesn't care how competitive the Cubs are. If they're at 10/325 and that's the highest he can get he's going to Chicago. I think he put the cheating stuff behind him this year by having his 2nd best OPS+ season of his career in a new location. And that's all blown out of proportion anyways. The teams looking at him know the vast majority of their fanbase will be on board with signing him because he's probably the best overall SS in baseball. Fans just want wins and don't care about garbage cans from 6 years ago. Even Dodgers fans will be happy if he gets them Ws. As for the teams in his market: Yankees: would be surprised if they changed course and went after him hard this offseason, but they're always going to be a player in these things even if it's just to raise the price for other teams Dodgers: I'd guess they bring back Turner before chasing Correa, but if Turner heads back east (I think I saw somewhere there's rumors he'd prefer to be back on the east coast) I'd expect the Dodgers to be on the phone with Boras immediately. Red Sox: Think they're a real player in this. Bogaerts is a terrible fielder and would be best moving to 3B, but they're going to extend Devers for 3B. Don't think they want to move Story back to SS so I think Correa is a big target for them. Along with a ton of pitching. Braves: Would be shocked if he ended up here. Think Swanson for much cheaper is the most likely outcome, but even if they lose him I'd be surprised if they went big enough to get Correa. White Sox: Would also be surprised by this. Think moving Anderson off short would be huge for them, but I don't see them having this kind of spending ability moving forward. Phillies: I think they'll certainly kick the tires. Stott is a big time prospect so they won't just ignore him, and they didn't trade for Sosa for no reason, but they want to win and Correa would go a long ways in helping that. I think he'd make a ton of sense there, but also think they may be more in need of OF help. Especially someone who can defend a bunch of the grass to cover up for Schwarber and Castellanos. Cardinals: I don't know why, but they feel like a dark horse to me in this. I don't know that they have the payroll room to do this, but he'd fit in perfect there. Giants: If they're willing to admit paying Crawford for his last gasp, late in career spike year was a mistake and move on I think I'd put them as the front runners for Correa. They have the finances for it and he'd fit that organization quite well. Angels: Would be surprised if they handed out another mega-deal, but he'd be the best one they did (outside of the Trout extension). They need to spend on pitching, but if the owner decides he wants another shiny offensive toy they won't find one much shinier than Correa. Then there's always that 1 "mystery team" you have to worry about. It just takes 1 owner saying "go get me Correa" and he's getting some crazy deal. I don't think anyone saw Seager and Semien to Texas coming last year. Just takes 1 team. So I'm quite sure he's going to get his mega-deal, and I think there's a number of teams that will be in on the bidding. I actually feel like St Louis and San Fran would be my first 2 guesses on where he goes, but I have no real reason to believe that.

Done with Baldelli! I agree with other posts that Rocco’s dogmatic inflexible analytics approach has to be discarded from time to time in favor of using his intuition. His refusal to let the SP go past five innings is only the most obvious example. That works if your bullpen is solid but no one will argue that was the case this year. When starters are removed after five solid innings and 75 pitches to bring in a guy like Pagan, the only conclusion is that Rocco has no instincts for managing. Also his inflexibility on giving players days off is puzzling. Apparently those are scheduled many days in advance. Players do needs days off but there are times when the hottest hitter is on the bench because it was scheduled a week ago. Let him keep taking for a few more games. There were also times when both Correa and Buxton were benched while the team was struggling. How does that make sense? I just see Rocco managing by computer algorithm instead of with the instincts you expect from a competent manager.

Rocco would be a great bench coach, using his analytics to help inform the manager, who makes the decisions taking that into account along with the human and tactical elements. He could be totally empathetic with the players. Just don't let him make the decisions.

I'm not sure what you are saying here. Are you implying Correa was dogging it until September? If you will recall, the Twins were still in contention in early September. Correa has been the most valuable Twin the whole season. His batting stats speak for themselves. His fielding, at arguably the most critical fielding position, has been a true joy to behold. He has been the best fielding SS I have every seen play for the Twins. His enthusiastic support for his teammates in the dugout and on the field has been an example for players to emulate. He hustles to the mound for every coach's conference with a pitcher, giving more support. He even speaks up during some of these conferences. He has been an encourager to the younger players, especially Miranda, whom he asked the FO NOT to trade and whom he has invited to workout with him this offseason. He has said very nice things about living in Minnesota and about the Twins FO and management. He tells how much he cares for his wife and child. He is not a whiner. He stays healthy. He does not complain about being booed at every ballpark. That would weigh on me, if I were booed every time I was introduced. But he has been a class act and never complained. These are "life qualities" which I value. Having said all of this, it is obvious that I highly value Carlos Correa's contributions to this Twins team. I hope he stays a Twin, but if he choses to play for another team, I wish him well, I will cheer for him when he comes to bat and is introduced and I say thanks for the examples you have set and thanks for the memories.

I agree with the above 2 comments. Baldelli doesn't know how to manage. If they took away his computer he'd be totally lost. Pitching changes are a joke. There's no in game management at all because it might disrupt his game plan. The team lacks fundamentals, plays with very little passion or sense of urgency. There hasn't been much fire in this team for nearly two years now. The team is rudderless with no direction. Although they can't be blamed for the 18 straight playoff losses it is incorrect to imply they had nothing to do with it. They have accounted for the past 6 of those I believe. In short, Baldelli is a hand picked puppet of the FO. Expect more of the same while they are joined at the hips.

I don't know about anyone else, but I sure hope we keep Urshela around next year. He has been a fixture on this team all year. He plays hard, is an above average hitter, a decent to good defender, seems to be a good clubhouse presence, and has some position flexibility. With Arraez, Polanco, Kirilloff, Larnach and Buxton all having injury histories, and Correa on the way out, a solid healthy player who comes to play every day is someone I would hang onto. And, even if everyone is healthy next year, there will be plenty of at bats for him.

I think the Twins will try to pull the plug on Garlick. I believe he will be arbitration eligible and they will non-tender him. Why cut him loose? He is a specialist in an era of short benches and he suffered three separate disabling injuries. He’ll be 31 before spring training starts and it doesn’t figure that he’ll be healthier or more productive than he was this year. That is not to say that the Twins might not offer him a minor league contract with an opportunity to win a spot this spring. He also still has an option IIRC.

Good Evening, aTwinsFanInMaryland here tonight with your game thread as the season comes to a disappointing close this week. One positive thing we can still cheer for this evening is Luis Arraez and his quest for the batting title. He is currently .006 points ahead of Aaron Judge (at least that’s what my public school math says). Dan Hayes, Twins writer from The Athletic, has it broken down even further. The Pitchers: RHP #74 Josh Winder (4-5, 4.31 ERA, 45K’s) vs RHP #27 Lucas Giolito (10-9, 5.00 ERA, 173K’s) The Lineup: Twins: 1. Luis Arraez DH 2. Carlo Correa SS 3. Gio Urshela 3B 4. Nick Gordon 2B 5. Jose Miranda 1B 6. Ryan Jeffers C 7. Jake Cave LF 8. Gilberto Celestino CF 9. Matt Wallner RF White Sox: 1. Elvis Andrus SS 2. Yoán Moncada 3B 3. José Abreu 1B 4. Eloy Jiménez DH 5. Gavin Sheets RF 6. AJ Pollock LF 7. Yasmani Grandal C 8. Romy Gonzalez 2B 9. Adam Engel Draft Kings Odds: Twins (+120) White Sox (-190) o/u 7.5 I hope you all have enjoy the threads I've put out to you this year. This was my first year participating and I've enjoyed bringing these to you. Have a good offseason.

I'm using some hyperbole to be sure. But considering how often the complaint of how "Rocco only manages by computer" and variations thereof keep popping up in threads (and not just threads like this that actually are here to discuss the manager), I don't think I'm out of line for it. Some people are definitely asking the Twins to play a different style of baseball, though. There are consistent demands for the starters to be left in games longer, period. Demands for the team to bunt more and "manufacture runs" (which clearly translates to a different approach). explicit requests for the game/lineup/decisions to be done more on "feel" and less by analytics. that's not a different style? Finally, I'm not really sure where you get the idea I said that 2021 was a rebuilding year. I said clearly that we were expected to contend from the jump in 2021 and then the team collapsed (through early bullpen implosions and then a deluge of injuries), causing major disappointment. I called 2022 a re-loading year, NOT a rebuilding one as well.

At the end of the day, the Twins have underachieved the last few years and they aren't fun to watch. Maybe it's not his fault but he certainly isn't part of the solution. Move on, try something new.

Resign. But if that's not possible....By not doing what he did to Ober last night. You're Twins fans....you know what he did. Tired of detailing why Rocco is terrible, gutless, unemotional, uninspiring, and a manager with clearly a lack-of-the-moment sense...

Hard to get RBI's from a hospital bed.

I love how people pretend that Earl Weaver & Gene Mauch never existed. (Mauch once handed the ump a lineup card with changes in it that had a player on it that had already been subbed out and another at a different position. When challenged, his response was "oh, sorry! that's the lineup I had for if we were DOWN by this point in the game." But no, no manager ever used analytics until Rocco ruined the game with it.) There is a chunk of the fanbase (a noisy one, but it's unclear how large they are?) for whom Rocco can do no right. If he wins, it will be only through the talent of the players, possibly in spite of the manager. If he loses, he will bear the responsibility for the woes of the team (mostly) whom would all perform better if only they played a different style of baseball, usually vaguely defined as a period of baseball history hazily remembered as "better" by the fan in question. (generally some period between 1961 and 1992 for Twins fans) It's doubtful that there is anything Rocco can do to win over most of those fans. there's another chunk who is dissatisfied with Rocco because the team has lost the last two years, in seasons where there were expectations that they would be better. In 2021, we were expected to be a team that could contend and they collapsed early under poor bullpen performances followed by a litany of injuries until some players were sold off. This season was supposed to be a re-load year rather than a rebuild, but disappointment struck again when after a promising start, the team collapsed under another massive stream of injuries. (part and parcel of that disappointment is their record in 1-run games, where they sit for the year at 20-28. YMMV on whether that makes this team and the manager flawed in some internal way that makes them not "clutch" or just unlucky, but there's no question the poor results in 1-run games and their results against their division rival in Cleveland raises that disappointment and frustration level) A lot of those people would probably be won back if the team won. If the team was relatively healthy and was battling for the division all year, a lot of the complaints about the manager would vanish in the wind. I'm generally of the opinion that most managers in baseball are overrated in their actual impact on the game at this point. There are very few that are really terrible, but also very few that are superior and consistently make better in-game decisions, lineup choices, etc in ways that increase the team's ability to win more than the average manager. Rocco seems about middle of the pack to me, and the kinds of things he does that bother me are probably the same things that bother other fans about their manager and are more noticeable to us because we watch the team every day. (how impactful they actually are is another question; having Tommy Watkins as 3B coach has driven me batty this year, but did he actually lose us 6-8 games or is that more in my head because I'm remembering a particularly egregious mistake and convincing myself that it cost us the game and there were at least 5 more like it?) I think the asks for the Twins to play better "fundamental" baseball as a means of Rocco winning them back are a bit disingenuous, because I think "fundamental" gets conflated with "small ball". Would cleaning up the baserunning mistakes and errors be enough if the team didn't also start bunting more (very unlikely to happen) and stealing more bases (possible depending on the roster, but still unlikely to turn us into a running team) and things like that? I suspect not, but you can have great fundamentals without playing small ball.

How about an above average stable line-up. We as fans need to know our team good or bad. Right now it is horrible and barely a recognizable name. Seems we get a good player or pitcher they are gone as quickly as we get them. Really the only players to get excited for this year were Arraz, Buxton and Correa. Arraz is so stable an likeable, Buxton is very likeable and so exciting when on the field and at bat. He was barely in the field (DH'd more games than I like) and we as fans didn't get a chance to know Correa and probably didn't get as excited because his time is most likely short lived. Baldelli changes the line-up based on stats. He will "rest" a hot player just based on the opposing teams pitcher. There is no accountability either. He runs sub-par players out all the time. I hate to pick on Kepler but he probably should have been a bench player and they should have found a right fielder that can hit as well as field. Plus he is just a little boring doesn't seem to have the fire he should. We are searching but unwilling to pay pitchers. We let Berrios go without a blink of an eye without replacing with a better or even an equal replacement. Yes he struggled but he has the fire most fans like to see. They are not very transparent or even in the fight for the top players. My gut feeling is no players in the prime of their career want to come here. Why would you want to go to a team that hasn't won a playoff game in 18 tries. Also it doesn't take a baseball genius to see a team that seems to look for re-treads instead of real MLB quality players. He also needs to look at his coaching and medical staff. Hard to get players from AAA to the MLB. As for injuries hard to blame him but they obviously don't have a good medical staff or trainers. Too many muscle strains and pains for what should be highly athletic players. The rehab process does not seem very good either.

It doesn’t matter. Rocco is doing exactly what Falvine wants him to do. They are a package deal so get ready for more of the same until we have a different front office.

Yes. Enlow and Balazovic have some similarities. Both were on the 40 man all year without playing for the Twins. I think they were the only 2 to do this. Enlow seems to have done what the Twins expected this year coming off of surgery. Balazovic was supposed to be with the Twins by year-end. DFA either one and someone scoops them up. Since the Twins went to the trouble of keeping these two on the 40 man all year, I don't see us giving up on them over the winter. Canterino will do the same next year so Enlow and Balazovic have to make progress next spring.

Caleb Hamilton should be on your DFA list. Megill is cheap, throws hard and has options. They probably keep him.

RBI isn’t the hip, now, with it, and wow stat anymore. However, the 2022 Twins are approaching dangerous territory without a single player matching or beating that number of 70 RBI. In the last 30+ years of Twins baseball, which includes several absolutely horrible teams, there was always at least one person driving in runs. The 1999 Twins was the worst example I could find, with Marty Cordova leading the team with 70 RBI. As we stand the night of 10/3, Jose Miranda is the closest to reach this elusive feat of 70 RBI with 66. Will we have a single Twins player finish the season with 70+ RBI?

Manage the Yankees to a world championship.

1) that’s not the point. 2) Baldelli doesn’t manage the roster. The GM manages the roster. Baldelli manages the lineup and the bullpen/rotation. I get that you don’t care about who does what. That’s the point. The vast majority of Twins fans don’t care about the difference, they know that they don’t like how the Twins are holistically managed and want it to change. There’s nothing Baldelli can do about that.

I will give it a shot... How can Rocco Baldelli regain fans favor? Win. Nothing else will sway the haters. Even then, I don't know. Haters gotta hate.

If you finish with the record most predicted, you pretty much met expectations. That's the definition of meeting expectations. No place did I say or imply anything else. Not even a little. I have no idea if he should be retained, I was merely pointing out that they met expectations.

I think you're wrong about the impact of a baseball manager vs. a head football coach, if for no other reason than substitutions. Football coaches can sub players in and out of a game, and in baseball once a guy comes out, they're done. When you can do something more often, it becomes a tool of greater influence. But beyond that, do you really think baseball managers are making decisions on every pitch? I still maintain that people overrate the impact of the manager on wins & losses based on the in-game decisions we think we see. but the other part of my point is we also think that there are still wild swings in differences in quality between managers for in-game decision-making as well. We get hung up on the things that make us personally crazy and assume that a different guy (maybe someone already working for another team) will do better. And I just think that the difference between the worst managers and the best is smaller now than it's ever been, and most of them fall into a mucky middle, where they rise and fall with the health & ability of their players. The last 4 managers of the MN Twins have all been named Manager of the Year. Two were subsequently fired. Rocco could be #3, but I'm not all that sure he's appreciably worse now than he was in 2019, unless you think he's personally causing the twins' run of injuries...

Bunts don't create runs. They create outs.

Just adding my two cents, which is very similar to a lot of the other comments. Make better in game decisions in terms of situational baseball. Actually have a plan with a running game. Have expectations in terms of defense. I don't even care about post-season wins at this point. Do those things listed above well, and the rest will take care of itself if the front office gives you the horses and the horses maintain average health compared to the league.

Would it surprise you to know that the Twins have gotten 88 RBIs from the players at second base during the season? And they've gotten 91 from those manning the hot corner? Looked at another way, they've gotten 84 and 82 RBIs from the second and third slots in the batting order, and 93 and 96 from #5 and #6. (Cleanup has been a relative black hole all season, with 61.) The problem, for purposes of this discussion, is that Luis Arraez leads the team in plate appearances with 596. That is good for #57 ranking in all of the majors. We all know about the injury problem this season, and that's as good an emblem for the injuries as any. RBI is an opportunity based stat. Injuries have spread around the opportunities more than usual, for the Twins in 2022.

I'm all for analytics but I'd rather have a manager that has a good feel for the game, a good game plan & able to adjust quickly to the shifting of the game. Although Baldelli has some good qualities, I'd rather have kept Sheldon as manager & Rowson as bench coach. FO has always said that they have a plan but never really told us that plan. A game plan of swinging for the fences that was great for '19 has only produced SOs, FOs & void of fundamentals like SBs, sacrifice bunting & etc & resulting in loses in the post juiceball era. Many fans jumped on the positive hype band wagon of Happ, Shoemaker & Colume' from the start and they were wrong. In the same way they have jumped on the negative hype band wagon of Chris Archer & Dylan Bundy, they are again wrong. FO hinted during the off season the possibility of "piggy-backing". Their assessment was spot on, because we had only rookies & Bundy written in the rotation, providing a very weak rotation, plus we had only a short spring training to look forward to. The traditionalists were appalled yet the forward looking fans reaction were open to applauding this strategy. Even with the addition of Gray (shorter yet ST & apparent not in condition) & Archer (previously injured & practically no ST) entering the season, still proved to be a weak rotation. Any form of piggy-backing (for some reason {maybe Baldelli?}) was abandoned. So the strategy to fill the gap between SP & closer. was doubling down on RPs that were obviously not capable, overrelying on poor short relief and over extend our weak rotation until their wheels fell off. So I agree with you Ted this approach was totally illogical. Our strongest & more feasible pitching resource was long relief. We had strong candidates in Ober, Winder, Smeltzer & Sands later A Sanchez, Cotton, Varland & SWR. If long relief was implemented & used, the unnecessary burden on the SP & short relief would've been relieved, converting many loses into wins. Our problem wasn't that Archer & Bundy weren't pitching enough innings, they provided us with plenty of quality innings inside their profile. The problem was they weren't adequately supplemented with long relief. Wins is what matters, if FO & Baldelli change their mindsets that results in wins, Baldelli (FO) will regain their favor with the fans.

"Stop looking at those Cyber Metric Cards in the dugout and watch the game!!" Agreed!! Some time back I put in a post that said remember the days when the manager would be on the top step of the dugout watching intently each pitch and each play? Me too. Remember the days when the manager would sit behind the protective screen with his coaches and study the stat sheets? Yea, me neither. And I am the one who has to adjust.

On a personal level I like Rocco. That said, he doesn't belong in the dugout managing a MLB team. He seems to lack leadership qualities, He can't/won't think outside the Stat lines, He makes a lot of week excuses instead of holding people accountable, and there seems to be inclination to stress fundamentals. I'm sure much of this is the fault of the FO, but Rocco still has to take responsibilty.

I am not a Baldelli fan, and as others have commented, he is so wedded to certain theories--like having starting pitchers only go through the order twice, and sticking with certain relief pitchers--that he has become inflexible in his management style. To paraphrase Emerson "consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." I am not against analytics. They should play a big role, but sometimes you have to rely upon your feel for the game as well. I don't think he does that enough. He has the attributes this FO has--glib, young, PR skills, knowledge of analytics--so he fits with them well. He will be here as long as our FO is unless ownership tells the FO that he has to go or they do. In that case, we know who will go. But even then, the FO will simply hire another person just like him. So, let's just assume he is here, build a rock solid bullpen, add an excellent left handed (preferably) pitcher, an excellent defensive catcher, and a good shortstop, and pray that the injury problem is not with us next year. Time to plan for next year as none of us can control anything that happens in the organization and the hot stove season is about to begin.

Let's see if I got this right, we get beat by Josh Harrison (how many teams have released him) and somebody named Carlos Perez (first major league RBI) beats us in the eighth inning. Then we load the bases in the ninth, only to have Mark Contreras strike out to end the game. Not Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Trevor Larnac, or Alex Kiriloff, but Mark Contreras. This season cannot end soon enough.

Don't see Urbina as a need to add to 40 man. He only hit .250 at low A, and a short season. Can't see someone taking a shot at him or if they did, Urbina having success next year at the MLB level.