Twins and Giants fire their managers

Bob Melvin (YouTube)

The Major League Baseball regular season completed on Sunday. It did not take long for two MLB franchises to fire their managers. On Monday, the Minnesota Twins fired manager Rocco Baldelli of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and the San Francisco Giants fired manager Bob Melvin of Palo Alto, California (pictured above).

Baldelli had been the Twins manager for the last seven seasons. He had a record of 527 wins and 502 losses for a winning percentage of .511. This past season was Baldelli’s worst as the Twins manager. Minnesota had a record of 70 wins and 92 losses for a winning percentage of .432. They were fourth in the American League Central, and 18 games back of the division champion Cleveland Guardians.

When Baldelli first managed the Twins, they had immediate success. The Twins won the American League Central in 2019 with a record of 101 wins and 61 losses. Despite reaching the century mark in wins, the Twins only had the number three seed in the American League postseason, and were swept by the New York Yankees in the American League Divisional Series. In 2023, the Twins were the third seed again. This time they swept the offensively inept Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Wildcard Series, before losing in four games in the ALCS to the Houston Astros.

Melvin had been the manager of the Giants for the last two seasons. It is safe to say the Giants were just average as the Giants manager. In 324 games, Melvin had a record of 161 wins and 163 losses for a winning percentage of .497. Like Baldelli, Melvin was a former MLB Manager of the Year. He was honoured by the National League with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007, and by the American League with the Oakland Athletics in 2012 and 2018.