39 thoughts on “September 30, 2024: Rocky Year”

  1. I said this to a friend last night:

    Rocco Baldelli has a higher winning percentage than any Twins manager since Bill Rigney piloted the 1970–72 Twins. The only guys higher on the list could fill our lineup cards with Killebrew, Carew, & Oliva (three Hall of Famers!) plus a supporting cast of guys like Bob Allison and Earl Battey, plus rotations with at least one Hall of Famer and possibly two, plus guys like Dean Chance, Camilo Pascual, and Jim Perry. He’s is fifth in franchise history since they arrived in Minnesota, and moves up a spot if you set the threshold at more than one season managing the club.

    1. Also, while we can all point to questionable decisions made by Rocco this year, as we all know, there is blame to go around from ownership, to front office, to manager, to players, to bad luck. One thing about the manager, is I don't think he really gets to make all the decisions so the fault doesn't lie with him for following the dictates of his job. I hope in the off-season the front office takes a good look at how some of their data is used. For instance, is it a good idea to go with a pitch hitter when the opposing team switches pitchers in the 4th inning? Or if Bailey Ober is cruising, why not let him go out there one more inning, and just have a quick hook if things go sideways?

      However, I'm a little worried that Rocco lost the clubhouse at the end of the season. That's something that is hard to recover from.

      1. I agree that Rocco's biggest headscratchers seem to be pinch hitters and going to the bullpen. I wouldn't mind his over-dependency on the platoon if he had someone truly useful besides a Manny Margot or (early season) Kyle Farmer. And I have to think that Maki has to have some of the bullpen blame (and again if he had better players to bring into the game).

        1. I was the contrarian who voted Yes.

          Was Rocco the problem this year? No, going cheap especially on pitching was. But the fundamentals in September were so unbelievably bad, and that has to fall on the manager. He has allowed the "players manager" culture to get so entrenched that there is basically no consequences now for repeated, inexplicable brainfarts. When he lit the team up, I'm guessing everyone just rolled their eyes.

          Sometimes a head needs to roll to make sure everyone else knows they can are also replaceable. If Rocco needs to be the Jeremy Giambi to fix the culture, so be it.

              1. To me, this has a lot less to do with Rocco specifically and a lot more to do with what I perceive as the organization's belief that it can create improvement through the numbers. At some level, I think that belief takes away from an effort to create improvement through skills coaching.

                "We can cover up Julien's fielding deficiencies by placing him better in the field" vs. "let's teach Julien to throw better."

                1. I get what you're saying and this isn't to absolve the org, but there were articles last season about the team coaching Julien to improve his fielding. I guess the coaching lessons last only one year and wore off for the second half. They forgot to do any booster coaching.

                  1. That's good to hear - I don't have any specific recollection about that.

                    Of course, the two things aren't actually mutually exclusive, but I could see the focus on one tending to diminish the focus on the other.

                  2. I'm not sure why Martin breaks the wrong way on every single ball hit to him, but at some point you either need to coach him how to read the ball off the bat or stop playing him (especially in center).

      2. However, I'm a little worried that Rocco lost the clubhouse at the end of the season. That's something that is hard to recover from.

        I think if he still has the veterans on his side, such as Correa, Buxton, and López, he should be fine for next season.

        1. The manager’s relationship with the clubhouse is frequently something stewarded by the bench coach. Jayce Tingler presided over a meltdown in San Diego that resembled this one: in control of a wild card spot a couple weeks into September, they were eliminated with a week of games left. It was widely reported that Tingler had lost the clubhouse.

          Tingler was brought in with Thad Levine’s string endorsement from the time they worked together in Texas. It’s not particularly clear to me what Thad Levine does these days, but what was initially framed as a Falvey-Levine partnership sure seems to have changed to Thad working out of the spotlight.

          I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tingler cut loose, and I kind of wonder what might be in store for Levine. The Twins have had some talent poached from them, and letting him go would let them promote and retain some guys who have been working in player development roles.

    2. As far as I can tell, Rocco is managing the team the way his bosses want it to be managed. So, if they did fire him, they'd probably be looking for someone just like him, which would seem to make the firing pointless.

      2. I'm entirely with Jeff A here. I wonder when (or if) the pendulum will swing the other way and Managers and demand more control over in-game decisions. I'm sure front office types will always say "the manager decides" (Toronto with Berrios decision) but managers know it's their butts on the line if they don't do what "the book says" and it doesn't work out.

    1. Will Gleeman be banned from Target Field? This seems much wise than having a sign at the ballpark.

      At times, it seemed almost as though Twins upper management was purposely trying to tank fan morale, on and off the field, and they were exceptionally good at it, although perhaps that’s giving them too much credit. As the old adage goes, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” Combining both is a dangerous, damaging mix.

          1. Again, I'm sure the BBWAA would step up here. That said, Gleeman is one of two beat writers for The Athletic and it's not like access was a thing Gleeman had for much of his career. Billionaires may have the thinnest skin of humanity but I still assume Pohlad will ignore and forget it ever happened.

      2. Hanlon’s razor. One of my favorites.
        In the work environment I like to soften it a little to something like “never attribute to malice(/misbehavior/neglect, etc) that which can be adequately explained by misunderstanding (/confusion/faulty information).”
        Or something like that.

  6. This has been bugging me since Sunday. Why didn't the Vikings kick a field goal before the two minute warning instead of turning the ball over on downs? That seemed a bit foolish considering what happened next.

    2. Considering the special teams debacle just before halftime, I'm assuming they didn't want to run the risk of blocked FG returned for TD rather than just pinning GB deep if they didn't convert.

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