Rocco Baldelli knows he's on hot seat amid Twins' poor start: 'You can just never quit'

MINNEAPOLIS Rocco Baldelli recognizes the severity of the situation.

With his team owning the third-worst record in baseball on the heels of last seasons collapse, the Minnesota Twins manager is on the hot seat and he knows it.

The seventh-year manager is disappointed with the Twins 8-15 record, especially after the club overhauled its spring training operation to avoid this kind of start.

Advertisement Hours before the Twins opened what could be the most important homestand of his career, Baldelli acknowledged his precarious position.

But he also realizes wasting energy worrying about his future is counterintuitive and instead remains focused on solving his teams woes before the season is sunk.

When you sign up to manage and coach or play, you sign up for anything, Baldelli said Tuesday afternoon before the Twins held on for a 4-2 win over the White Sox.

Theres nothing easy about it, theres nothing pleasant about playing baseball below the level of your own expectation.

You can just never quit going forward.

You just have to continue productively in the direction of playing winning baseball.

...

Its all part of it.

Never think things cant get more challenging.

Things can, and the league doesnt slow down.

You have to speed up and get it going.

The Twins have faced significant early challenges, including a serious test of organizational depth with the losses of key players.

The team is without Pablo Lopez, Matt Wallner and Royce Lewis, all of whom are on the injured list.

Reigning Twins MVP Willi Castro hasnt played in five days because of a tight oblique muscle.

Flame-throwing reliever Brock Stewart only returned from injury over the weekend, Michael Tonkin is on the mend and Austin Martin and Jose Miranda are on the IL at Triple A.

Despite overhauling their hitting coaches after last season, the Twins have struggled to hit.

Theyre striking out less but are not hitting the ball with much authority.

Through Monday, the Twins averaged 3.4 runs per game and were 0-12 when scoring three runs or fewer.

Though the Twins have tallied the lowest average in team history on batted balls in play, theyre third-lowest in the majors in expected batting average and sixth-lowest in expected slugging percentage.

Advertisement The starting rotation has recovered nicely after the loss of Lopez in mid-April, but its first 10 starts were an abject disaster, paving the way for a 3-7 start.

And a bullpen projected to be the best in the majors has struggled to protect leads.

The Twins bullpen entered Tuesday with the lowest Win Probability Added (minus- 1.7) in the league and is 8-2 when leading after seven innings this season.

The Twins are 1-4 in one-run games.

Combined with last seasons 12-27 collapse, the Twins are 20-42 since Aug.

17, the second-worst record in MLB over that span.

All of the teams struggles come against the backdrop of sagging attendance and an ownership group thats in the midst of trying to sell the club .

Essentially, the Twins are desperate for good vibes and looking for answers.

Every time you are going good in this game, you feel like you can do no wrong, Baldelli said.

And every time things are not going well, you think you can do no right.

In reality, none of that is true and this is why we hold to the truths and the work and the very productive things we know about our game and paths to move forward to play great baseball.

The sense is the Twins level of play needs to improve soon or Baldelli could be ousted despite a resume that features three American League Central League titles in six seasons.

Baldelli, who in 2023 led the team to its first playoff series victory in 21 years, owns the second-most managerial wins in franchise history behind Sam Mele.

Ever the calming presence, Baldelli isnt showing outward signs of panic.

Our guys just need to go out and just play confidently, play well, Baldelli said.

You never get to a point in the season, really unless youre in the last week or two of a particular season, where you start calling games must-wins.

Thats not what is going on.

But coming together, playing good overall, competitive, winning-type of games in baseball, thats where we are at right now.

(Top photo: Jesse Johnson / Imagn Images).

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