5 managers Twins could hire if Rocco Baldelli gets fired after epic collapse
Should Minnesota fall out of postseason contention, team may look for a new on-field leader.
The seat in Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli's clubhouse office gets hotter by the day as the team has wilted in the heat of the September stretch drive.
Heading into a crucial three-game series at the presumptive American League Central champion Cleveland Guardians on Monday, the Twins are just 6-8 in September, with the team going just 3-3 in a three-game homestand against the lowly Los Angeles Angels and Cincinnati Reds that concluded with a 9-2 victory on Sunday to save being swept by the Reds.
The red-hot Detroit Tigers and resurgent Seattle Mariners are breathing down Minnesota's neck, just 1.5 games behind the Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot as of the start of Monday's games. Baldelli's club looks to survive this week's road trip to Cleveland and Boston — with the Red Sox still just 4.5 games off the Twins' pace.
Three of Minnesota's final four opponents of the regular season are either basically assured of a playoff spot, or at least have fleeting postseason aspirations. Following this current road trip, the Twins close out the regular season at home against the National League-worst Miami Marlins before hosting the AL Wild Card-leading Baltimore Orioles.
5 managers Twins could hire if Rocco Baldelli gets fired after epic collapse
So, what happens if Minnesota — a team picked by most to win the American League Central this season — collapse entirely and miss the playoffs for the third time in Baldelli's six campaigns as manager? Could the Twins, a team that has had just four managers since winning the organization's first World Series in 1987, look to make a managerial switch?
The front office has so far been quite poker-faced in regards to Baldelli's future. But should it be decided at season's end that a change in manager is needed, here are some interesting possibilities for a future clubhouse leader.
Toby Gardenhire
Let's say the Twins decide that what is needed is another "Gardy." In that case, the team wouldn't have to look far. Toby Gardenhire, the son of former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, has managed the team's Triple-A team in St. Paul for the past four seasons.
Toby Gardenhire has had a relatively successful tenure as Saints manager since taking the helm of the Twins' top farm club in 2021. St. Paul went 61-59 in his first year, 74-75 in 2022, 84-64 in 2023, and 68-75 so far this season. Team records aren't exactly the best way to judge a minor league manager's success, as many of the team's best players are often called up to "The Show," which can throw a feeder club's roster into disarray.
However, the younger Gardenhire is considered a steady hand in the topsy-turvy world of minor-league baseball, and he has risen through the Twins coaching ranks after his playing career capped out in Triple-A in 2011. He has spent his entire career in the Minnesota organization, playing seven minor-league seasons and spending an equal amount of time as a coach or manager in the team's farm system.
Now 42 years old, Gardenhire is considered to get a shot at some point to manage in the major leagues. Should the Twins look in-house for a Baldelli replacement, he is almost certainly the name at the top of the list. However, would Gardenhire be the right choice for a team that is aligned to be in the playoff chase in 2025 no matter the outcome of this season? Or would he be better served taking over a rebuilding MLB club like the Miami Marlins or Chicago White Sox?
A.J. Pierzynski
The idea that Rocco Baldelli should be fired for the Twins collapsing is a bit ridiciulous, so let's take a moment to fully lean into that ridiculousness. No disrespect to the man, but nothing personifies how ridiculous letting Rocco go could be than A.J. Pierzynski being hired as the team's next manager.
Pierzynski was loved by Twins fans as a main cog of a team that made Minnesota's last AL Championship Series appearance to date in 2002. He was a first-time All-Star that season, batting .300 in just his second year as starting catcher.
Pierzynski was shipped off to San Francisco after the 2003 season as the Twins ushered in the Joe Mauer era behind the plate. After one year with the Giants, he joined the White Sox and immediately became loathed by the majority of the Minnesota fanbase.
Known as a consummate "love him if he's on your team, hate him if he's an opponent" player, Pierzynski became an accomplished media celebrity and noted student of the game as a Fox MLB analyst and host of the Foul Territory podcast.
Pierzynski has no managerial experience, but rates high for baseball IQ. A number of former MLB catchers have gone on to managerial careers of varying success. One needs to look no further than Cleveland to see a catcher with no managerial experience succeeding wildly in his first season at the helm with the Guardians.
The 47-year-old Pierzynski has made it known thathe is interested in the prospect of becoming a manager someday. While most figure that he could end up coaching the woebegone White Sox perhaps as soon as next season, he has made critical comments about the team currently pursuing modern-day mark for MLB's worst record, which may have poisoned the waters on the South Side of Chicago.
Could Pierzynski's shot at managing come with the team he began his playing career with, where he was lauded as a scrappy hero before being decried as a treacherous villain? Would Minnesota fans forgive and forget the eight years that he spearheaded the enemy? It's ridiculous, wild, and as unlikley as the team firing Rocco should be.
Skip Schumaker
What to make of Skip Schumaker? One year ago, the current manager of the Marlins was on his way to National League Manager of the Year honors after leading the team to the playoffs with an 84-78 record. The future appeared bright for the rookie manager, in spite of a Wild Card loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
What a difference a year makes. As quickly as the Marlins rose to prominence, the team sunk back down to the depths of the senior circuit. Miami was just 55-95 on the season at the start of the week, 35.5 games out of first place.
A rash of injuries to the once-vaunted Marlins pitching staff, combined with the organization's notoriously penny-pinching ways has made for a disastrous sophomore season for Schumaker. He already requested to be released from the club option to have him manage Miami next season following the dismissal of former general manager Kim Ng, and the club obliged.
Schumaker is still highly regarded in many MLB circles for his work in 2023, and the soon-to-be free agent manager figures to see his share of interviews this coming offseason, with the St. Louis Cardinals and White Sox among the teams rumored to be interested.
Terry Francona
If the Twins decide to buck the MLB trend of hiring younger candidates as manager and decide that an old war horse that has been through the battles is the best choice to guide a playoff-ready roster to postseason success, then it might be worth a call to Terry Francona's cell phone.
The former three-time AL Manager of the Year who guided Cleveland for 11 seasons and has a 1,950-1,672 win-loss record over 23 years as an MLB manager before a health-related retirement after 2023, has reportedly been kicking the tires in regards to a return to the dugout.
In April, ESPN MLB Analyst Tim Kurkjian dropped a nugget that Francona was "going to get healthy" and wanted to return to managing. However, his replacement, the aforementioned Vogt, is succeeding wildly in his rookie season with the Guardians. This means that if the 65-year-old Francona is going to get back in the dugout, it will most assuredly be with a different MLB team.
Francona has a winning pedigree, having guided the Boston Red Sox to two World Series titles — the first, in 2004, ending an 86-year championship drought — as well as an AL pennant with Cleveland in 2016. If he is healthy enough to give it another go, he will add instant credibility to any team he manages.
Clayton McCullough
One non-household name to keep in mind should the Twins move on from Baldelli after this season is Clayton McCullough. It's a name that might have a lot of Minnesotans asking "WHO?!?!?" but McCullough, currently the first base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a rising prospect among managerial candidates.
Depending on how the Dodgers fare this postseason — current manager Dave Roberts is perpetually on the hot seat as the on-field leader of the heavy-spending MLB glamour club — McCullough could end up ascending to the rank of manager for the Los Angeles. However, if Roberts survives, 2025 could see 44-year-old McCullough get his managerial shot elsewhere in MLB.
McCullough has interviewed for managerial openings in the past. In 2021, he lost out to Buck Showalter to be the New York Mets manager. Last December, he interviewed for the Guardians' managerial opening, but was beaten out by Vogt in the race to succeed Francona.
Despite not being named the Guardians manager, McCullough reportedly left a "strong impression" on the Cleveland front office.
A career minor-leaguer for seven seasons in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, McCullough was hired by the Dodgers as a minor league field coordinator after his playing career ended in 2014. He has been Los Angeles' first base coach since 2021.
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