The Original Baseball Old Timers Hot Stove Banquet in West St. Paul kicked off several days of Twins-related local events in late January. Now a Twins Winter Caravan stop, it attracted a lively crowd, dressed in everything from sportcoats to jerseys and ballcaps. 

This year’s banquet, this past Wednesday night at Southview Country Club, offered a test for the friendliness and patience of local Twins fans. Last season’s stunning collapse, and an off-season with no significant free agent or trade action, left everyone in a foul mood. At my table, former amateur players griped about today’s MLB, all the usual stuff — too many strikeouts, too much emphasis on home runs and not enough on fundamentals and situational hitting.  

Then Twins manager Rocco Baldelli — on the dais with Twins execs Derek Falvey, Dave St. Peter and other baseball notables — rose to speak. Though our table was in the back of the room, it seemed like Baldelli heard every word. 

Responding to a question from master of ceremonies Sean Aronson, the talented and savvy St. Paul Saints broadcaster, Baldelli vowed to change the “all-or-nothing” hitting approach he believes failed the Twins down the stretch. That’s in part why the club replaced its three hitting instructors — an unpleasant task for Baldelli, who liked them all — while retaining all the pitching coaches. 

“The pitching staff did a decent job, but we didn’t hit,” Baldelli told the audience of about 300. “It kept me up a lot of nights. I was not eating, and I still haven’t gained all the weight back.”

Baldelli expanded on this two days later, after the annual Twins media luncheon at Target Field. The gist: He wants more level swings and hard-hit balls to right-center and right, instead of batters uppercutting and trying to pull everything. The latter approach, favored by former hitting coach David Popkins, required batters to make contact in front of the plate, leaving them susceptible to breaking pitches. Even with two strikes, most still tried to jack the ball.

“Not every player, but almost everyone was guilty of that last year,” Baldelli said. “I would say it’s a mental adjustment. It’s something we’re going to talk about from the very beginning of spring training. 

“To win games, it has to be more of a hit-first mentality than a power-first mentality. The power will come, because we have some very dynamic, big strong guys. The extra-base hits will come. We need to make the best swing decisions we can make, and we need to aim and tone our swings to hit line drives instead of getting really big and lifting the ball. We don’t have to lift the ball. We’re plenty strong enough to hit the ball out of the ballpark.”

This is a remarkable bit of honesty from an organization not exactly known for being straight with its fans. But it should ring true to anyone who watched the Twins last season and knows a little about hitting. 

Almost all batters strike out more than they used to. That’s a given. But the clubs that play deep into October, when runs and homers are harder to come by, generally put the ball in play more often than the ones that don’t. That’s what the Twins — only one season removed from ending that record 18-game playoff losing streak — need to get back to. 

“Consistency is a word I use a lot, and something I want to bring more of to our offensive game,” Baldelli said. “I don’t want to score 10 runs, and then score one run. I’d like to score five runs each game and give ourselves a chance to win. 

“I think our pitching is good enough where if we give them five runs to work with on a regular basis, we’re going to win, be successful, and everyone’s going to be pleased. I think this is the type of adjustment that can take our team where everyone wants to go.”

Throughout the various events last week — the Hot Stove banquet, Thursday’s Diamond Awards dinner at the Minneapolis Armory, the media luncheon and TwinsFest — Falvey repeated the same message about the club’s lack of off-season acquisitions: Things tend to happen later in the winter than they used to. He’s right. In 2023 the Twins signed Carlos Correa and traded for Pablo Lopez and Michael A. Taylor in January. Last season it signed Santana and traded for Manuel Margot in February. 

But this winter, besides the club’s budget constraints, Falvey said fewer teams are sellers. Almost all see themselves as contenders, so there’s more competition for players the Twins want. Spring training starts in about two weeks.

“We’ll continue to find ways to augment and add to the roster,” Falvey said. “I do believe in the core that we have, but we’ll continue to work on that over the next few weeks, and months.”

While the Los Angeles Dodgers spent freely and signed seemingly every big name free agent out there, the budget-conscious Twins let veteran right fielder Max Kepler and Gold Glove first baseman Carlos Santana walk in free agency and haven’t replaced them. Falvey’s priorities: A veteran first baseman, and a right-handed hitting outfielder who can back up Byron Buxton in center field.

Questions remain at first base and second base. Sure, there are in-house candidates. But does anyone really want to see Edouard Julien, who struggled defensively at second base, try to play first? Julien, Brooks Lee and Austin Martin are all in the mix at second, with Jose Miranda the likely first baseman if the Twins don’t acquire anyone. Correa and Royce Lewis are set at shortstop and third, respectively.

“We need someone to step up and claim some of these sports on the field,” Baldelli said. “I’m talking about first base. I’m talking about second base. I’m even talking about potentially an outfielder. 

“Right now, we have some good young players who are reaching that point in their career where they’re gaining that consistent time out there and define who they are. These are the guys I’m talking about. They have the ability. Now, when they get the at-bats, they need to go out there and do it.”

Then, of course, you’ve got the two things casting a long shadow on the season: Last year’s 12-27 collapse that cost a playoff berth, and the impending sale of the club. At the media luncheon, St. Peter announced 90% of season ticket holders renewed for 2025, which sounds like a big number unless you remember 97% renewed after the success of 2023. The Twins haven’t drawn more than two million spectators since 2019, and it will take a big move or three for many fans to forgive and forget.  

“I wasn’t happy with the finish last year, either,” Falvey said. “We all say that, and none of us are running from it. It was a disappointing last stretch of the season. We had good baseball for good chunks of the year, and a lot of the players that were part of good runs in ’23 and the good run in ’24 were part of some of those struggles in ’24.”

So, how do the Twins avoid a replay of the last 40 games of the previous campaign? 

“There are two ways to approach it: You either run from it, or you lean into it and learn from it.  Our staff, Rocco, his coaches, the front office group and the players themselves are all looking at it saying, ‘How can we be better?’ And each person needs to take it personally and find a way to be better. I can tell you that talking with the players this off-season, talking with our staff and others, they’re all using it as fuel to try to get better.” 

That’s a start, at least.

Pat Borzi

Pat Borzi is a contributing writer to MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter @BorzMN.

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