The Minnesota Twins have fired manager Rocco Baldelli, it was announced today. Baldelli turned 44 just four days ago, so at least they didn’t fire him on his birthday.

Baldelli took over for Paul Molitor after the Twins went 78-84 under Molitor in 2018. In his first year, the Twins went 101-61, and I have no recollection of the Twins winning 101 games in 2019. If you had asked me when the last time the Twins had ever won 100 games was, I’d have said never, and then guessed a bunch of years that weren’t 2019. It was only the second time in franchise history the team had won at least 100 games — the other time was in 1965, when they went 102-60. They never won 100 games while they were the Senators.

The Twins were swept in the ALDS in 2019 by the Yankees, then went 36-24 to tie Oakland for the best record in the American League in 2020 but were swept in the Wild Card round by the Astros, who made the playoffs despite finishing under .500. After a couple of sub-.500 seasons, the Twins won the A.L. Central in 2023, beat the Jays in the Wild Card round, but then were swept in the ALDS by the Astros.

Minnesota was 82-80 in 2024 before cratering in 2025, going 70-92 and engaging in a massive sell-off at the trade deadline that included shipping Carlos Correa back to Houston (and sending Danny Coulombe to Texas). After seven years, and with the organization seemingly retrenching and, if not starting over, at least shifting gears significantly, Baldelli’s time there has come to an end.

What’s interesting about the Twins is that they’ve had remarkably low turnover at the manager position for some time. Tom Kelly took over for Ray Miller late in the 1986 season, and since then, the Twins have had just four managers — Kelly, Ron Gardenhire, Molitor and Baldelli.