Minnesota Twins Have Identified Next Manager Type

Derek Falvey remains in charge of the Minnesota Twins organization after making Rocco Baldelli his fall guy following the putrid 70-92 finish in 2025. The Pohlads have the same steward to lead the franchise forward, and the team president is now tasked with finding a new manager.

It would be easy to categorize Baldelli as a player’s manager, and traditionally after a firing, clubs go in the opposite direction with their next leader. It isn’t going to be that cut and dry for the Twins though, as they reportedly have identified the goal for their next skipper.

Player development is a must for MN Twins new manager

A few years ago, moving from a manager like Rocco Baldelli to someone like Doug Mientkiewicz might make sense. The former Twins first basemen has a reputation as a “red ass”, but the current regime chose not to keep him as a manager in the minors. Even though he won games, his style didn’t align with their philosophy. That same approach isn’t what they’re aiming for at the major league level, either.

One of the intended goals of bringing on a new manager is to hire someone well-versed in player development, Falvey said.

“I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all to this,” Falvey said. “We have to be very open-minded. … If you look around baseball, and you look at the postseason right now, there are all kinds of different managers. There are lots of very successful managers that have come from different backgrounds, different playing experiences, different coaching experiences, even just non-coaching experiences in and outside of the game.”

The Athletic

A strong background in player development, though, could hold importance. The Twins didn’t see many of their young hitters take a step forward this year. Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner didn’t hit as well as they did in past seasons. Brooks Lee has yet to establish himself. Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda seemingly fell out of the team’s plans.

“If you’re in a market like ours and you’re going to bring up players, you’re going to bring up guys that aren’t quite there yet,” Falvey said. “They need to be given runway, need to be given development and need to grow at this level.”

Star Tribune

Both Dan Hayes of The Athletic and Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune suggest that the Twins are looking for someone adept in player development. This is interesting because that doesn’t typically fall on the shoulders of a manager.

Managers are typically a reflection of the coaches around them from a performance standpoint. They are tasked with pulling levers, but they aren’t traditionally going to be directly credited for results.

It seems as the Twins want someone who has accomplished those feats previously before installing them as the leader of their clubhouse. If that is the case, someone like Torii Hunter could certainly be cast aside due to a lack of previous coaching experience.

If this is the channel for the Twins, then previous managers or high-level coaches all fit the bill. That goes back to the group of previously connected names like Derek Shelton, James Rowson, and Brandon Hyde.

New Twins manager will need to overhaul staff

While Rocco Baldelli was the name publicly announced as having been let go on Monday, the coaching staff is likely to take the fall as well. That could mean Tommy Watkins, Hank Conger, Jayce Tingler, and plenty of others are on the outs.

Whether any of them are ultimately retained remains to be seen. The reality for a newly identified manager is that they have to get the support staff right too.

Minnesota has looked to both the professional and college ranks when filling out the leaders of their clubhouse. That should be expected to remain the case going forward. The collective must be aligned on the direction and decisions for the future though.

No matter who is leading the charge, 2026 doesn’t look entirely promising. The more impact the next group of leaders can have on that, the better.