Rocco

Baldelli

Baldelli is out as Minnesota’s skipper following a calamitous 70-92 campaign that included an ugly 23-43 second-half record following a trade deadline fire sale. The 44-year-old skipper, who had his club option for next season picked up back in mid-June, went 527-505 (.511) during his seven seasons at the helm dating back to 2019. He guided the Twins to the postseason three times and took home three NL Central division titles during his tenure.

Hayes adds that its unclear when the club exercised the option, but if there were any questions regarding Baldelli’s immediate job security, it doesn’t appear that he’s going anywhere for now. The Twins have underachieved this season during Baldelli’s seventh season at the helm, and they’ve lost 13 of their last 17 games overall. However, they’re just a couple games out of a Wild Card spot leading up to the All-Star break.

“Our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins,” Pohlad said. “As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.” The Pohlad family has owned the Twins organization for the past 40 years, so it would be a major change for an organization that is in a bit of turmoil right now with Major League Baseball announcing that they will be broadcasting Twins’ games themselves next season. Carl Pohlad purchased the team from Calvin Griffith for $44 million back in 1984 and could be solid for over $1 billion this offseason. What that means for the team’s payroll and roster decisions is anybody’s guess.

Falvey added that the possibility of replacing Baldelli “never even crossed my mind.” The Twins have struggled in the late stages of the 2022 campaign, going 23-34 since the All-Star break, mainly due to an avalanche of injuries to key contributors, and appear all-but-certain to miss the upcoming postseason. Baldelli was hired prior to the 2019 campaign and wound up being voted American League Manager of the Year in his first season. He’s guided Minnesota to a 282-252 record over the last four years.

The move is now official. Johnson will remain with the Twins until the conclusion of their upcoming series against the Guardians, which wraps up on Thursday, before departing for LSU. According to reports, Minnesota is expected to promote assistant pitching coach Pete Maki to serve as his replacement.

Johnson will remain with the Twins through their series with the Guardians before departing. At LSU, he’s replacing pitching coach Jason Kelly who left to become the head coach at the University of Washington. The Twins are expected to promote assistant pitching coach Pete Maki to replace Johnson. As a team, the Twins hold a 3.78 ERA on the season, which ranks 11th in all of baseball.

Baldelli tested positive for the virus back on May 5. He’ll be back in the dugout Thursday afternoon when Wednesday’s suspended contest against the Astros resumes in the fourth inning.

The two sides will resume this game on Thursday at 1:10 PM EST, when their regularly scheduled game was supposed to start. That game, and the matchup between Luis Garcia and Josh Winder, will begin roughly 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

Hopefully there is no further spread to other Twins coaches or players. Jayce Tingler, hired in November to be the bench coach for Minnesota, will serve as interim manager while Baldelli recovers in quarantine.

Tommy Watkins will move across the diamond to coach third base. Conger had been the catching coach of the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization the last two years. He played parts of seven seasons in the majors, last appearing in 2016.