Baldelli will 'take the criticism' on disappointing 2024 finish

MINNEAPOLIS -- Yes, Rocco Baldelli hears the chants that have been directed at him from chunks of fans amid the late-innings crowds of the last several weeks -- the ones calling for his job.

He’s not shying away from that reality after the shell-shock of what’s now a 12-26 collapse since mid-August -- extended by the Twins’ 9-2 loss to the Orioles on Saturday -- that dropped them from a seemingly comfortable playoff spot to eliminated all together, as of Friday.

After such an unprecedented meltdown, it’s natural for fans to expect someone -- or perhaps multiple someones -- to take the fall as a reaction, as acknowledged by Baldelli and several of his players. With that said, the Twins’ skipper said Saturday that he is “never stressed out” about his job security, preferring to spend his energy thinking about how he can do his job better.

He also acknowledges the right of dissatisfied fans to express their emotions toward him.

“I respect the fans,” Baldelli said. “The Minnesota Twins fans showed me last year, when we were in the playoffs, amazing things -- things that can change the outcome of a game in favor of their team. You can’t have greater passion than what I saw. If I’m going to accept that and take that and enjoy that, then I’ll also take the criticism when things don’t go well.”

Baldelli emphasized that his “never stressed out” statement was more a reflection of how he ultimately has little say in matters of his own job security.

“I’m not sitting here concerned about anything in particular, but that’s not because I think the season went great,” Baldelli said. “It’s because I generally don’t think about myself. I’m thinking about our group and the team and how we can improve and get better.”

He spoke of trying everything he could think of down the stretch as his team floundered, from “very aggressive” things behind the scenes, he said, to moving the team towards a “more positive space and a more productive space,” he said.

That’s what was the biggest frustration for him down the stretch: The fact that he felt he and his coaching staff tried several different methods in search of the answer that Baldelli himself relentlessly believed should exist. He never acknowledged that there might simply not have been an answer; he always believed that there should have been one, and he didn’t find it.

“That will continue to irk me and bother me, because you always believe that there is an answer,” Baldelli said. “You always believe that there is a path that could work and in six weeks, the several paths that we went down, they all ended in the same place.”

The reality is that, after this collapse, the Twins can’t simply run it back with the same group -- and Carlos Correa acknowledged there will “be a lot of changes” during the offseason. But several players within Baldelli’s clubhouse asserted that the players themselves deserved the blame, noting it would be unfair for Baldelli to take the fall on their behalf.

“I don't think it's super fair to put everything on him,” Bailey Ober said. “But everyone's entitled to their own opinion. If the players hear that, I don't think anyone's agreeing with that. It's like, seriously, can't you see what's going on? He's not the one at fault for this mishap that happened.”

Many pointed to key injuries -- to Joe Ryan, Correa, Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton at points this season -- as things that steered their season off course. They fell a whisker shy of the playoffs regardless, and they noted that, had the Twins snuck in, none of these narratives would exist.

“Do I think there will be changes? Maybe,” Ryan Jeffers said. “I also think that we showed glimpses of being a really good baseball team. … Why we couldn't be consistent? I don't know if that's any staff member's responsibility or fault.”

With a winning percentage higher than each of his eight immediate predecessors, a playoff run less than a year ago and three postseason appearances in his six seasons, Baldelli noted he still has the same drive to manage this team -- and is already in the process of thinking about how the mistakes of 2024 might never be repeated.

“I’m fully motivated and enjoy what I do, and appreciate our organization and our fans,” Baldelli said. “That goes without saying, but I still feel as passionately today about doing the job as I did the day I took it.”