Rocco Baldelli Q&A: ‘I honestly love the spot we’re in,' the Twins manager says of 2025

FORT MYERS, Fla. - As the Twins gather here to train for the team’s 65th season in Minnesota, Rocco Baldelli returns for his seventh season as their manager. By season’s end, the 43-year-old New Englander will have managed and, almost certainly, won more Twins games than anyone except Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire.

Here are Baldelli’s thoughts on his tenure, last season’s August/September collapse and the 2025 Twins (edited for length):

Q: It was a very quiet offseason for the Twins, with very few roster additions. Should fans expect improvement over last year’s [82-80] result?

A: Absolutely. You look around the field, and we have very capable players everywhere you look. It’s not like we needed to make a lot of changes. We have the guys we need to win. Last year was a learning experience for us all, it was a difficult finish, but it would have been a mistake to say we need to start over. Royce [Lewis], Carlos [Correa], Buck [Byron Buxton], a tremendously deep pitching staff — I honestly love the spot we’re in.

Royce is going to play third base. He’s going to get the vast majority of his work at third, next to Carlos at short. Second base, honestly, Willi Castro is going to play a good amount there. And Eddie Julien is going to have a chance to show us what he can do again.

Q: There don’t seem to be as many roster decisions as in most springs. Agree?

A: I would think so, yeah. I would think so. We always stay open-minded and never commit to anything too early. There’s certainly room for these guys to make a strong impression and win a job. But you look around the field, you see an outfield pretty full with good players, you see a pretty full infield of good players. We have two very good catchers, so it’s not like there are spots where we are craving different players. It’s an excellent roster. It’s a group that can win in more than one way, and that’s important. I know you have to score in order to win, but I want this to be a team that shuts down the opposition on a regular basis, and this team has the pitching staff to do it. It’s an exceptionally deep group, with workhorses at the top, both in the rotation and the bullpen. That’s an absolutely great spot to start from.

Q: You mentioned Julien — he had a rough second season, batted only .199 and wound up back in St. Paul for a couple of stretches. You expect a bounce-back season from him?

A: I do. Eddie has been a very talented and productive hitter his entire life. So last year was not something he’s experienced before. He’s considered what adjustments he needs to make, so it will be a very good test for a very competent hitter. That’s what his 2025 will be about.

Q: Why did you drop the Lewis-at-second-base idea?

A: I don’t think it’s an obvious call, that he’d probably be better at one spot than the other, I really don’t. I really believe he has the skill to stand out, to be excellent, at both spots. But he’s a young guy who is still developing, and right now he is very comfortable at third base. So we’re comfortable having him there.

Q: You added Ty France [on Tuesday] on a nonguaranteed contract. Do you expect him to make the team?

A: That’s up to him, but adding a Ty France to the group is a fantastic thing. First base is an area where we could say we weren’t totally committed to any one player. Jose Miranda is going to get a lot of work over there, and to add Ty, this is a very good thing for us. He made his reputation in Seattle, which is not an easy place to hit. He’s a hitter at heart, and we want him to just go out there and hit. Go hit line drives.

Q: How did the 12-26 finish to the season affect your approach to this year?

A: A lot of it is just setting a tone that’s appropriate to the players you have. We’re doing some things differently, but you’ll have to wait and see. I don’t want to reveal anything until I’ve laid it out for the players, but we’ve examined what happened, we’ve given a lot of consideration to how it could have been different, and we’re making some changes that we think will contribute to winning games.

For the players, it’s real motivation. There are a lot of players coming in with a tremendous amount of energy and expectations for themselves. They’re showing up with a chip on their shoulder, a little ticked off about how last year went, and their part in it. And that’s a good energy to have.

Q: Since taking this job, you’ve become a father [to 3-year-old Louisa and 1-year-old twins Enzo and Nino]. Has it changed how you manage?

A: More than anything, it teaches you some life lessons that you apply to your work. You do things in a different state of consciousness — I’d put it that way.

Q: You’re on the verge of becoming the third-longest-tenured Twins manager ever [after Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire]. What does that mean to you?

A: Any manager who does the job for awhile understands that it’s about the players, not the manager. But hearing my name in that company, I feel a little out of place. I’m proud to hear it, but TK is Twins baseball, and so is Gardy. They are legends, and I’ve got a long way to go to be worthy of being mentioned in a sentence with those names.