The Dodgers are bringing Rocco Baldelli into their front office, reports Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star Tribune. He will be a special assistant to president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, per Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic.
As noted by Nightengale, Friedman and Baldelli overlapped in the Rays organization many years ago. Baldelli spent almost his entire playing career with the Rays. He was drafted by that club in 2000 and retired with them in 2011, though he had a brief stint with the Red Sox in 2009. After retiring as a player, he transitioned into coaching with the Rays, having various titles over a number of years. Friedman worked with the Rays from 2004 to 2014 before joining the Dodgers.
Baldelli jumped from the Rays to the Twins to become the manager in Minnesota, beginning with the 2019 season. The initial returns were very good. The Twins went 101-61 in 2019 and won the American League Central. Baldelli was given American League Manager of the Year honors. They repeated as division champs in 2020. Then came a bit of a swoon, with the Twins dipping beneath .500 in 2021 and 2022. They bounced back by winning the Central again in 2023.
Things tailed off again more recently. In both 2024 and 2025, Minnesota was contending for a while but finished poorly. In 2024, they were holding onto a playoff spot for much of the year but mounting injuries knocked them down late in the schedule. They finished 82-80 and outside the playoff picture. In 2025, they hovered near contention for a few months but fell back in the summer, prompting the front office to engineer a big deadline sell-off. The club finished 70-92. The Twins fired Baldelli at the end of the season.
There will be differences of opinion when it comes to how much blame Baldelli deserves for those poor results. The manager surely has some impact but he can only work with the players he is given and Twins ownership also scaled back spending in recent years.
Baldelli has said he is interested in managing again. Shortly after being fired by the Twins, he was connected to the vacancies with the Angels and Nationals, though those jobs went to Kurt Suzuki and Blake Butera respectively. Perhaps Baldelli will consider similar opportunities in the future. For now, he will take a job with the reigning champs.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
They can’t keep getting away with this!
Here come the people that will think they are clever with their “Dodgers are ruining baseball” jokes.
NOW THEY’RE STEALING AWAY ALL THE MANAGERS LOL
Baldelli going for the ring.
Yes folks, we deferred his contract as well. ; p