Derek Shelton’s Minnesota Twins Look Familiar…
The Minnesota Twins gave many fans what they wanted this offseason when Joe Pohlad stepped down from the top of the franchise food chain, manager Rocco Baldelli got canned and team president Derek Falvey “mutually parted ways” with the organization.
Now, the power structure is completely different… but still kind of the same. The new Pohlad in-charge is older brother Tom and the Twins’ “new” baseball personnel guy in-charge is GM Jeremy Zoll — who held the same title under Falvey.
Then, there’s new manager Derek Shelton, who was hired by Falvey, before he walked away. Shelton is very good friends with Rocco and even served as MN Twins bench coach under Baldelli, during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
From all accounts, Shelton has made a really good first impression on Minnesota Twins players. That’s not surprising, considering he and the guys in that clubhose have yet to hit regular season adversity or lose any games that count for their 2026 record.
New Minnesota Twins era……….. or not?
He’s also said a lot of the right things, starting with a Tom Kelly style focus on details (baserunning, defense, etc) that hasn’t been seen down in Fort Myers since Paul Molitor was fired nearly a decade ago.
Unfortunately, there’s still a major problem with that goal, among many others the Twins supposedly have in 2026. When it comes to improved defense… it turns out talking about it is easier than doing it, especially when you have a dearth of defensive talent on the big league roster.
Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic) was in Florida last month, where he saw Minnesota’s spring promises on defense quickly morph into an iceberg of a problem for the 2026 Twins ship right before his eyes.
I was pessimistic about the Twins’ defense coming into camp and watching them for two weeks confirmed my suspicions. Like every new manager, Shelton has talked a lot about cleaning up fundamentals and playing better defense, but the roster simply lacks the fielding chops to make that a reality.
Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic)
When it comes to the former criticisms hurled at Baldelli for his quick trigger on the mound and strict platooning of hitters vs opposite handed pitchers, we’ll have to take a wait-and-see approach.
2026 Twins ~ 2025 Twins…?
Unfortunately, when you study the Minnesota Twins’ roster, the lack of talent in both the rotation and bullpen stands out as another serious problem, as we enter March, especially following Pablo Lopez’ season-ending UCL tear.
Without Lopez, the Twins’ rotation has gone from one of the best and deepest in baseball, to one of the worst. Pair that with a bullpen that was blown to smithereens at the 2025 trade deadline… and you have a recipe for early starter hooks and lots of bullpen blowups on tap.
…after watching the collection of cheap veterans, minor-league signings and rehab projects in the reliever mix, I’m even more convinced they’ll need help.
With the caveat that bullpen performance can be the trickiest part of any team to predict, and quality relievers often materialize and vanish without warning, I can’t recall the last time I’ve had less faith in the Twins’ bullpen a month out. Hopefully the veterans just need more time to round into form.
Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic)
So all that context forces some obvious questions surrounding how different the 2026 Minnesota Twins really look from the team that lost 90 games and sold off half the big league roster before the 2025 trade deadline.
All the Baldelli detractors who were constantly levying complaints thought they were getting something new with Shelton. Unfortunately, the “new” leaders above Minnesota’s “new” skipper haven’t equipped him with enough talent to appease, not just Rocco critics, but Twins fans in general.
Psst… Shelton was never going to be that much different than Baldelli
Even if he did have a better roster, there’s little guarantee Shelton wants to do things differently than his predecessor. When he managed for Pittsburgh, Shelton was hearing A LOT of the same criticisms Baldelli was simultaneously getting in Minnesota.
“I’ll also say this, [lack of energy] was cited as a weakness of his in Pittsburgh. When he was fired in May, and you read Pittsburgh Post Gazette about him, it was very striking to read it because it was almost point-for-point the criticisms of Baldelli. He’s platooning too much, he’s pulling starters too early. He’s overworking the relievers, and he’s struggling to sort of, connect to some of the young core players.”
Aaron Gleeman – Gleeman and the Geek
So if you are hoping to turn on Twins.TV later this month, when the Minnesota Twins’ regular season begins and see a much different product than what we did in 2025… you might want to temper those expectations.
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