Mariners must tread carefully with interest in former Twins manager Rocco Baldelli

We're learning more about the Seattle Mariners' intentions for their manager opening every day. And true to Jerry Dipoto's purported goals, the common element that ties various candidates together is previous managerial experience.

The Mariners are poking around now-former Houston Astros skipper Joe Espada, and now Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that they're interested in Rocco Baldelli as well. He managed the Minnesota Twins for seven years between 2019 and 2025.

As was the case when the Espada news broke, the Baldelli rumor has our Spidey-sense for skepticism buzzing. Though he had a .511 winning percentage with the Twins, a lot of his success was frontloaded in a 101-win season in 2019 and in the shortened 2020 season. The Twins had a .481 winning percentage between 2021 and 2025, ultimately resulting in Baldelli's ouster.

The Twins under Baldelli had an identity as a club that hit a ton of home runs and, contrary to Brad Radke-coded clubs of yore, didn't shy away from strikeouts. Yet that formula got to be inconsistent toward the end of Baldelli's run, and it now comes across as dated. Home runs and strikeouts aren't out, per se, but the league will be better off if the Milwaukee Brewers' all-of-the-above style becomes the next copycat trend.

Further, Baldelli's later clubs had trouble sticking the landing. The 2022 Twins and 2024 Twins both fell off dramatically after the first half of the season. The 2025 club was hot through May before all hell broke loose, resulting in a deadline fire sale that pretty much destroyed Baldelli's job security. This should matter to the Mariners, who badly need a manager to bring a sense consistency after Dan Wilson's deer-in-the-headlights act of 2026.

It's likewise a knock against Baldelli that the Twins didn't have much luck establishing good young hitters under him, even though a pipeline was built for that exact purpose. Someone like, say, Brandon Hyde has a more promising track record that should appeal to the Mariners, who have a next generation of young bats coming up.

The Mariners should absolutely hear Rocco Baldelli out in their search for a new manager

All that being said, there are strong defenses to make of Baldelli's time with the Twins.

He ultimately won more than he lost, and his three division titles are two more than the Mariners have in the last 25 seasons. And the collapses toward the end of his run went far beyond him, specifically in the sense that ownership cut spending after the 2023 season.

The Mariners typically run higher payrolls than the Twins these days, so Baldelli would have a stronger backbone in Seattle in that sense. He'd also inherit a roster that could at least offer what he was used to in Minnesota: home runs and strikeouts. Perhaps that's all he would need.

Even better would be if Baldelli could work some magic to get the Mariners to play a more holistic style of ball. To this end, perhaps his failures with the Twins taught him a lot. He also has experience in the front offices of the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers. The former is famously innovative. The latter is better known for being rich, but let's not forget that they were also known for playing a smart brand of baseball before age and wear and tear took their toll this year.

If Espada is worth interviewing if for no other reason than intel-gathering from a former enemy, then Baldelli is worth interviewing because he might actually be good for the job. And no, it doesn't hurt that managing thrills him and that he genuinely wants to do it again.

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