Twins President Derek Falvey on team’s start to the season: ‘Incredibly disappointing’

BOSTON – After a six-week disaster cost the Twins a spot in the postseason last year, finishing with a 12-27 record in their last 39 games, team President Derek Falvey opted against a major shakeup.

The Twins dismissed all their hitting coaches, and former General Manager Thad Levine departed the organization when his contract expired, but manager Rocco Baldelli returned with largely the same roster.

Now, the Twins are five weeks into their new season with a 14-20 record and an offense that has scored three or fewer runs in half their games.

“Where we are right now is incredibly disappointing,” Falvey said Saturday. “Everyone in that [clubhouse] is disappointed. The staff’s disappointed. Rocco’s disappointed. I am, too. Ultimately, it’s my responsibility for us to be where we need to be and so we’re all disappointed and trying to figure it out.”

The Twins are at an organizational crossroads. The Pohlad family is exploring a sale of the club. Through 15 games at Target Field, attendance is down 14.3% from the same point last year. The core players on the roster are almost all in their supposed prime years.

The starting rotation has posted the sixth-lowest ERA in the majors (3.44), which includes a league-best 2.20 ERA over their past 24 games. Yet, the Twins have their worst record through 34 games since their 89-loss 2021 season.

How does Falvey evaluate Baldelli?

“What I’m most looking at through the course of a season, Roc knows this and the staff knows this, is how you show up every day after those tough losses, how you respond to it,” Falvey said. “Rocco and the staff keep showing up trying to figure out ways to fix it, to win and ultimately try to put the players in the best position to be successful. That’s what I’m focused on.”

The Twins implemented some changes following last year’s late-season collapse. They wanted to adjust their offensive philosophy with less of an all-or-nothing approach. They instituted mandatory on-field batting practice since the start of spring training. Veteran players received a lot more at-bats in camp to prepare for the season.

The results on the field haven’t changed.

“If I could explain it, I’d go back and try to figure out a perfect answer to that,” Falvey said. “I don’t have it. It’s been unfortunate.”

Notable injuries have affected the Twins offense. Royce Lewis, who strained his hamstring in spring training, could make his season debut as early as Tuesday. Willi Castro may return from his oblique injury Tuesday, too.

In the same way Joe Ryan’s shoulder injury devastated the Twins’ starting rotation last year, Matt Wallner’s hamstring strain removed their top-performing hitter against righthanded pitching. Plus, promising rookie Luke Keaschall broke his forearm after seven games, forcing the Twins to add Jonah Bride and Kody Clemens before they hit waivers.

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Carlos Correa, the Twins’ highest-paid player, was batting .207 with one homer and nine RBI through his first 33 games.

“Despite our struggles right now, I still have a ton of belief in the group that’s in that room,” Falvey said. “I know they have belief in themselves. It’s been frustrating not to get things going the way we want, but we weren’t focused on shaking up for the sake of shaking up.”

The Twins have been one of the most disappointing teams in the majors this year, and they have a little more than two months to prove themselves before the trade deadline.

“There is some urgency because it’s May now,” Falvey said. “You get through the first month, OK, try to evaluate some things. Hopefully, getting some players back this week will be a huge lift for us because we could really benefit from having a few guys that have had real impact here at the big-league level coming back to this team.”