Fall guy: Rocco Baldelli is the logical candidate to pay for the Twins' awful start
The manager has overseen a team that doesn't hit, pitch or field particularly well and has won only four of its first 15 games. So how long will he remain employed?
Jose Miranda’s baserunning blunder in the eighth inning of the Twins’ latest loss in their disastrous start to the season served as the perfect synopsis of what ails this hapless collection.
Miranda, pinch hitting for Edouard Julien with the Tigers having brought in lefthander Tyler Holton, had singled to left to lead off the inning with the Twins trailing 4-0. It was only the team’s third hit of the afternoon and provided a glimmer of hope in a month where little has existed.
Christian Vazquez, the ninth hitter in the order, followed after Harrison Bader flied out. Vazquez grounded to first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who threw to second baseman Colt Keith. Keith failed to touch the base and did not make a return throw to first. Malachi Moore, the second base umpire, signaled Miranda was safe.
The problem was Miranda had slid short of the bag, got up and began to walk away, assuming the force out. As he did, Keith tagged him and Moore signaled the confused runner was out.
“The umpire was clearly signaling safe,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We have to pay attention, to say the least. We have to pay attention there and never allow something like that to happen.”
The problem wasn’t Miranda’s miscue as much as it was the fact it surprised no one. The 2025 Twins are beginning to resemble the ’62 Mets more each day, and the ’62 Mets held the single-season record for losses (120) until being surpassed by the 121 setbacks suffered by the White Sox last year.
The Twins were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals to open the season; won two of three against the White Sox in Chicago after losing the opener 9-0; lost two of three to Houston in their first home series; lost three of four to the Royals in Kansas City; and now have lost the first two of a three-game series against the Tigers.
The Twins’ 4-11 record is tied for the worst start in franchise history and there is no reason to believe it’s going to get any better. This club does nothing particularly well.
“You’ve got to shock yourself sometimes and wake yourselves up sometimes,” Baldelli said after his club was shut out for the second time this season. “We might be pretty close to that because we’ve got to play better baseball and it’s not just one or two guys. We have to play better team baseball.”