Paul Molitor was given to Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, who took over as Minnesota’s front office managers in place of Terry Ryan. It took them two years to bring in a new hiring of their own, Rocco Baldelli, who has mainly been successful in terms of communication and output. Despite the addition of David Popkins and Derek Shomon to support the hitters, the front office still needs to keep a close eye on Rudy Hernandez, a remnant from the Molitor days.
The Twins’ awful track record of batting with runners in scoring position from the previous season was widely known. The club was around.500 at the halfway point due to a lack of runs scored, and the division didn’t shift in Minnesota’s favour until the Cleveland Guardians totally collapsed.
Finally, the Twins started hot-hitting rookie Matt Wallner and Royce Lewis in the lineup. As the output increased, Minnesota was able to host postseason games and emerge victorious in a series against the Toronto Blue Jays. In the end, though, the lineup might still be erratic, and the same issues have surfaced ahead of the 2024 campaign.
It hasn’t been the pitching that has struggled right away, even if the starting rotation no longer includes Sonny Grey or Kenta Maeda and notable players like Caleb Thielbar, Jhoan Durán, Justin Topa, and Josh Staumont have left the team. It’s time to fire the specialist coaches due to a lineup that is incapable of scoring runs, an inability to execute when runners are in scoring position once more, and an overall lack of execution.
The Baltimore Orioles started Albert Suárez in the series finale on Wednesday, with Tyler Wells sidelined due to an elbow issue. Even though he hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2017, he still shoved Minnesota. Even though he only gave up four hits in 5 1/3 innings, he had 14 whiffs on 75 pitches, and the Twins hitters could not hit his fastball.
place coaches are in charge of preparation and process; Popkins, Hernandez, and Shomon’s main duty is to place Minnesota so that the lineup can perform well. The players may not be understanding or applying instructions well enough, which could indicate a communication issue, but it doesn’t help the situation. We have seen enough outcomes thus far to determine that, should there be an underlying problem with the process, additional changes are required.
Lewis or another promising youngster won’t be able to sustain this lineup indefinitely. The Twins’ more experienced, well-paid veterans must perform. Before his injury, Carlos Correa was one of the best things going, but Byron Buxton has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 21/1, which would make Miguel Sanó blush. Although Edouard Julien has been sluggish to start, Ryan Jeffers has recently emerged, and Kyle Farmer has appeared completely useless in his new role.
It’s unclear where the Twins go from here or whether they bring in someone with more expertise. The slow start is not exclusively the result of the hitting coach triad, but carrying on in this manner and hope the struggle works itself out would be an inadequate approach to the start. To prevent this season from completely going awry, it’s time to make a shift. The front office will determine the form that change takes, but one must exist.
