Twins President Derek Falvey had plenty to say at a news conference Tuesday to elaborate on the organization’s decision to fire manager Rocco Baldelli.
But all you really needed to know was what he said when given the chance to choose all of his words carefully in the statement on Monday first announcing the move:
“This game is ultimately measured by results, and over the past two seasons, we did not reach the goals we set. I take personal responsibility for that. After discussions with ownership, we determined that this is the right moment for a change in voice and direction. This decision is not a reflection of Rocco’s effort or leadership. It reflects where we are as an organization and the belief that a different voice is needed to help us move forward.”
Translation: Rocco was a good guy who tried hard, but he is going to take the fall for a team that has underachieved.
That’s a self-serving conclusion for Falvey to reach since it helps him preserve his own job. But if we take stock of the evidence and numbers that the organization values, it’s hard to argue with the decision. I talked about that on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast:
Let’s take a closer look at the start of today’s 10 things to know:
- Relative to projected win totals from Baseball Prospectus at the starts of each of the last five seasons, the Twins have been massive underachievers. Even if we give them credit for the 77-win pace they were on at the 2025 trade deadline sell-off instead of the 70 wins they ended up with after the roster was gutted, they were 42.5 wins below expectations between 2021 and 2025 (an average of 8.5 per season).
- If we’re just talking about simple counting numbers and the last two seasons, the Twins went 82-119 in Baldelli’s final 201 games as manager. That includes last year’s 12-27 collapse and all of this season. For the Twins to reach the postseason just once in the last five seasons while playing in the winnable AL Central is just not acceptable.
- Many of the Twins’ top prospects have stalled once reaching the majors. Jose Miranda and Edouard Julien had massive regressions. Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner and Ryan Jeffers haven’t developed into consistent middle-of-the-order hitters. If this is a player development issue and not a talent evaluation issue, the major league field staff needed an overhaul to help those players get to another level and to prepare for hitters arriving soon from the No. 2-ranked minor league system in baseball.
- If a new, potentially more hands-on manager can’t get more out of players, the heat will squarely be on Falvey and his squadron of number-crunching talent evaluators. For now, though, Baldelli was the right place to start.
- After all the hand-wringing and theories about what Kirill Kaprizov really wanted in order to stay with the Wild, it turns out it was simple: just a little more money. His camp reportedly turned down an eight-year, $128 million offer a couple of weeks ago but agreed Tuesday to the richest deal in NHL history: eight years, $136 million. That’s an extra million per year, and now the Wild can settle into making long-term plans. There might be sticker shock with the size of the contract, but with the NHL’s salary cap continuing to go up, it will be manageable.
- Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill will miss Sunday’s game against the Browns, but that’s ... good news? Yes, since he might be back after the bye week — a shorter absence than the Vikings had feared when he was hurt against the Steelers.
- It’s a week of convergence, with pretty much every Minnesota team of note making news. That includes the Wolves, who hosted their media day on Monday.
- Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was fined $15,000 for her actions during and after Minnesota’s Game 3 loss to Phoenix.
- I’ll have more on the Lynx and their season-ending news conference on Wednesday’s podcast with the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Cassidy Hettesheimer.
- Also Wednesday: Star Tribune Gophers football writer Randy Johnson joins the show.
