Josh Donaldson hasn't been shy about how he feels about his time with the Minnesota Twins. Roughly two months ago, Donaldson said on his “Get It Done League” podcast that when he was with Minnesota, "it just didn’t seem like they had a culture to win or care to win."
Donaldson just took another shot at the Twins by criticizing Minnesota's bullpen management under manager Rocco Baldelli.
"One of the worst years I had in professional baseball when I was with the Twins one year when we didn't make the playoffs, my second year, I remember we were struggling winning games, and then we would finally get a lead going into the eighth inning and then we'd bring some guy out of the bullpen, like he just got there today," Donaldson said. "I don't even know the guy's name yet, and here he is trying to win us a game because analytics say that he's a lefty and it's left-on-left, and I watched him throw two pitches and I go 'this game is over.'"
The analytics debate continues… Which side are you on? 👀@BringerOfRain20 | @russellmartin55 | @ArashMadani pic.twitter.com/4IM7lWZlUV
— Get It Done League (@GetItDoneShow) October 11, 2026
During Baldelli's tenure as Twins manager, Minnesota's relievers ranked 13th in ERA (4.14), eighth in FIP, 11th in strikeout rate (24.4%) and third in walk rate (8.6%).
During Donaldson's two seasons with Minnesota (2020-21), the bullpen ranked 15th in ERA (4.18), 14th in FIP (4.24), 13th in strikeout rate (24.7%) and fourth in walk rate.
In the 2021 season, which Donaldson called his worst year in professional baseball, the Twins' bullpen ranked 20th in ERA (4.39), 21st in FIP (4.38), 16th in strikeout rate (23.8%) and 10th in walk rate (9.3%).
Josh Donaldson posted strong numbers with Twins
While Donaldson clearly didn't have a fun time in his second and final year with the Twins, he had a strong personal season, slashing .247/.352/.475 with 3.4 fWAR, 26 home runs and 72 RBI over 135 games.
Minnesota signed Donaldson to a four-year, $92 million contract ahead of the 2020 season. He hit .222/.373/.469 with six home runs and 11 RBI over 28 games in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.
After the 2021 season, the Twins traded Donaldson, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and catcher Ben Rortvedt to the New York Yankees for catcher Gary Sanchez and infielder Gio Urshela. The Yankees released Donaldson during the 2023 season, and he finished the year with the Milwaukee Brewers. He announced his retirement in March 2024 after 13 big-league seasons. He is a former AL MVP, three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger.
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