Hammond Stadium at the Lee Health Sports Complex is the spring home of the Minnesota Twins. CJ HADDAD
The Minnesota Twins kicked off Spring Training camp Thursday behind a new manager.
After trading almost one-third of their team at the deadline last summer, the Minnesota Twins are in a clear rebuilding mode, although with almost all of their starting pitching rotation back they are in a better situation than other rebuilding teams.
The Minnesota Twins finished 70-92 last season, fourth in the American League Central, a disappointment for a team used to battling for the top spot in the division.
The Twins dealt All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa, closer Jhoan Duran, outfielder Harrison Bader, infielder Ty France, infielder Willi Castro and pitchers Chris Paddack, Randy Dobnak, Danny Coulombe, Brock Stewart, Louis Varland and Griffin Jax.
To top it off, the Twins let go of longtime Manager Rocco Baldelli at the end of the season.
Baldelli went 527-505 over his seven seasons as Twins skipper. His teams captured the American League Central Division three times and went 3-8 in the playoffs. He was named the 2019 American League Manager of the Year after the club went 101-61.
Baldelli is being replaced by Derek Shelton, the former manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Shelton went 306-440 over six seasons with the Pirates. He was fired early in the season last year. He previously served as a bench coach with the Twins.
While the Twins may be younger on experience now after parting with several key veterans, they won’t lose games due to a lack of experience on the part of their new manager.
Before Shelton’s stint with the Pirates and Twins, he held coaching jobs with the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians. A former catcher who played in the New York Yankees minor league system, he also spent time coaching with the Yankees’ minor league teams.
Shelton said one of the things he has learned most as a manager is patience.
“I think you learn to be more patient. You learn to listen more as you get older,” he said.
Shelton said the game has changed since he was playing with the Yankees more than 30 years ago.
“We have had more rule changes in baseball than in any other major sport especially in the last five years and we are adding a new one with ABS (automated-ball-strike challenge system) coming in this year,” Shelton said.
“I am excited, I don’t know how it’s going to go,” he said about the challenge system.
Shelton said the club has players and coaches that have dealt with it in the minors.
“We are fortunate that we have a young club so we have lot of players who have been in it that we can lean on.”
Shelton said the pitching clock has improved the sport in his view.
“I think it’s changed the game for the better,” he said. “I used to be one of those traditionalist guys who said ‘we are the only sport with no clock’ but after you play with the clock, we needed the clock. It had taken too long between at-bats, I think the flow of the game has really improved.”
Shelton said his belief in managing is “the little things can determine games.”
Shelton said he wants the team’s culture to resonate with “the intentionality” and “how we go about our work.”
He credited time with the team’s longtime Manager Tom Kelly that has helped him as he transitions to the team’s manager. He was bench coach under Hall of Fame player Paul Molitor. He said that after he was fired by the Pirates, Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch reached out to him.
Shelton said he learned the most from Hinch of anybody in he last two years.
“We developed a very strong friendship,” Shelton said. “Just the engagement with him helped my mind work because I think he is one of the best managers in the game.” Shelton said “the way he communicates with his players” was one of the key topics they discussed.
“He does not sugarcoat things but he also builds really strong relationships,” he said.
The club also parted ways with longtime President of Baseball and Business Operations Derek Falvey last month. His baseball operations duties are expected to be assumed by General Manager Jeremy Zoll, while it has been widely reported that ownership will take over business operations.
On the positive side, the Twins have good pitching depth. Their rotation is headed by Pablo Lopez, who is coming off a career-best 2.74 ERA though he was limited to 14 games due to injury. Right-hander Joe Ryan posted a career-low ERA of 3.42 while striking out 194 batters over 172 innings. The team gets back right-handers Bailey Ober and Simeon Woods Richardson, and Taj Bradley. They picked up southpaw Mick Abel in their trade of Bader. They also have young right-hander David Festa, who showed promise in 10 starts with the club where he struck out 53 batters in 53 innings.
Like Festa, young right-hander Zebby Matthews will also be competing for a spot on the team after splitting his time between Triple-A and the majors.
Like the Red Sox, the Twins will be counting on a group of young players to improve and pick up the slack. That includes infielder Luke Keaschall, who batted .302 in his rookie season last year. Brooks Lee and Austin Martin are two of their other young hitters who could make an impact with some improvement this year. The club signed Josh Bell from the Nationals to play first base.
The Twins are led at the plate and in the field by stalwart centerfielder Byron Buxton, who hit a career-high 35 homers last year. He batted .264, and stole 24 bases (the most he has stolen since 2017).
The Twins lineup will also get back catcher Ryan Jeffers, and outfielders Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemens.
The team’s bullpen will be its biggest question, after all of last year’s trades.
The club hopes infielder Royce Lewis will be able to stay healthy after several seasons of fighting injuries though when healthy, the former No. 1 overall pick has shown flashes of brilliance.
Despite all of his experience, Shelton does not pretend to have the answers to the most perplexing question in all of baseball: the rash of pitching injuries that have been dogging the sport for years, and which increased to record levels last year.
“I don’t think anybody has figured that out,” Shelton said. “If I had that answer I would not have this job. I would have a way higher job.”
Shelton said pitchers train better than they ever have.
“They come into spring training, they are ready, they have thrown. They are throwing live (batting practices). Twenty years ago, we didn’t throw live (batting practices) until day 5 or day 6,” he said.
Shelton said he was excited to get back to managing after being fired early in the season by the Pirates last year.
“I was really excited putting on the uniform on today. You don’t realize the privilege of putting on a Major League uniform on, until you don’t put on a Major League uniform on,” Shelton said.
The Twins will lose three of their starting pitchers to the World Baseball Classic in March. Taj Bradley, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan. Buxton will also be playing in the World Baseball Classic. The World Baseball Classic runs for two weeks from March 3 through March 17.
The Twins announced Thursday they acquired southpaw reliever Anthony Banda from the Dodgers. Banda went 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA for the Dodgers last season, striking out 61 batters in 65 innings.
Shelton managed Banda on the Pirates. “He is a high-leverage reliever who pitched for the best team in baseball,” Shelton said. “He’s got really good stuff. Shelton called Banda “a bulldog. He is not scared.”
Attending spring training workouts is free for fans. Tickets for games can be purchased at mlb.com.
Workouts generally start in the morning on the back fields and end in the early afternoon, Twins Manager of Communications Nina Zimmerman said. “Lee Health Sports Complex is open to the public on non-game days, so we encourage fans to stop by and see what’s going on each day,” Zimmerman said.
The Twins will play their first spring training game at Hammond Stadium on Feb. 20 against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers at 6:05 p.m. They will host the Red Sox on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 1:05 p.m. at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.
To reach NATHAN MAYBERG, please email nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com