Baldelli mum on future with Twins: 'I have a job to do right now'

PHILADELPHIA -- Twins manager Rocco Baldelli declined comment on his future Friday while praising his team’s continued effort as a second straight disappointing season for the club approaches its end.

Minnesota stands 69-90 with three games remaining, following significant second-half struggles after a huge selloff at the Trade Deadline. However, the club has continued playing hard even as the results have suffered. And Twins players have embraced Baldelli’s push for a more aggressive running style, with an MLB-leading 34 stolen bases in September.

“We've continued to prepare and continued to go all out as a team, as a group, with good energy and good pregame work and good prep,” Baldelli said. “Both on the position player side and on the pitching side, none of that waned at all. You have guys pulling for each other.”

Still, with a second straight idle October looming, questions naturally surface about a manager’s future. The Athletic reported in June that the club had picked up Baldelli’s contract option for 2026. However, neither the club nor Baldelli has confirmed or even commented on the report.

“I haven’t heard anything, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have much to say about it right now because I have a job to do right now,” Baldelli said. “And it has nothing to do with me talking about myself. Because me talking about that would be just a distraction and I don’t like distractions.”

Baldelli has a 526-503 record as manager of the Twins, the only team he has managed in the Major Leagues. He is third on the club’s managerial wins list behind Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire.