Fans in Minnesota have been chanting for the firing of Rocco Baldelli during the Twins’ late-season crash, but the players are standing by their embattled manager.
Baldelli, the 2019 AL Manager of the Year, admitted Saturday that he has heard the boos and the “Fire Rocco” chants, adding they “have a right to feel almost any way they choose.”
The Twins have lost 26 of 38 entering Sunday’s season finale, and they were eliminated Friday from wild-card contention after winning the AL Central in 2023.
“That’s part of managing a Major League Baseball team,” Baldelli said before Saturday’s loss to the Orioles. “I respect the fans. 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.”
The Twins were 70-53 and five games clear of the wild-card cutoff on Aug. 17, but they were surpassed by division rivals Detroit and Kansas City for the final two playoff spots.
“I don’t think it’s super fair to put everything on [Baldelli],” pitcher Bailey Ober told reporters. “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. If the players hear [the chants], I don’t think anyone’s agreeing with that.
“He’s not the one at fault for this mishap that happened…We’re the ones performing out there and didn’t get the job done.”
The Twins have dealt with injuries to position players Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis and starting pitcher Joe Ryan.
“If you have anybody to blame, blame me for going down for two months and not being a part of the team,” Correa said. “I think that’s one of the main reasons.”
At 38, Baldelli became the youngest ever to win the Manager of the Year award with a 101-win season in 2019, his first with the Twins.
Overall, Baldelli has posted a 457-412 record over six seasons in Minnesota, including three division titles.
“Ultimately, we didn’t find it. We did not find it,” Baldelli said. “That’s probably the most frustrating part of it was that it’s not like we just ran this out and continued to try the same methods all the way down the stretch. We tried several methods, and that’s the part where, yeah, that will irk me.
“That will continue to irk me and bother me because you always believe that there is an answer. 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. That’s frustrating.”