Twins continue 'unprecedented' changes and part ways with three more coaches
It's turnover unlike Minnesota has ever seen before.
Flaming out over the last month of the season cost the Minnesota Twins a spot in the playoffs, and it's not starting to cost jobs in the clubhouse.
The Twins parted ways with hitting coach David Popkins on Tuesday, a move that was the first of a few the team wold make. According to multiple Twins beat writers, the team has parted ways with assistant hitting coaches Derek Shomon and Rudy Hernandez, and assistant bench coach Tony Diaz.
Dan Hayes reported that Shomon had a year left on his deal but could get re-assigned to player development.
We knew changes are likely coming afterthe way the team played down the stretch, but this is truly unprecedented stuff. Do-Hyoung Park pointed out as much, noting that the Twins dismissing four coaches from their MLB staff is the most the team has ever let go without making a managerial change.
Best I can tell, this is a fairly unprecedented staff turnover without a regime change in #MNTwins history.
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) October 2, 2024
The only other seasons after which 4 or more coaches turned over were 1969, 2014 and 2018 -- all of which coincided with managerial changes, which won't happen this year.
While that's an intense amount of change for the Twins' coaching staff, it appears to be the extent of the fallout.
There will be alterations to the roster over the next few months, starting with what the team does as far as tendering players who are arbitration-eligible, but the offseason task list got even bigger with the need to hire coaches now something that needs to get factored into the payroll conversation.
Twins overhauling coaching staff is the first of many moves that need to be made
The big question now is who fills the vacancies on the staff? Hitting coach will be the most important role the Twins fill, and there's nto shortage of solid options the team could look at. The Pirates let go of hitting coach Andy Haines, who helped Oneil Cruz improve against left-handed pitching, and revived Joey Bart who posted a 121 wRC+.
Minnesota could also look at Donnie Ecker, who is the offensive coordinator and bench coach for the Rangers, or Hensley Meulens who was with the Rockies last year. An outside-the-box option could be Justin Morneau, who has given great feedback on Twins hitting during TV boradcasts and has remained close to the team since retiring from the game.
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