Neal: Twins’ Derek Falvey and Rocco Baldelli have earned the right to one more year

Rocco Baldelli is returning as manager.

Derek Falvey is returning as president of baseball operations.

Executive chair Joe Pohlad isn’t returning the payroll to 2023 levels.

Twins fans were hit with a bunch of news Sunday that many didn’t want to hear after the team rolled over during the final weeks of the regular season, skidding to a 12-27 finish and failing to qualify for the postseason.

They are standing pat, for the most part.

Expect some changes to the coaching staff. There’s a feeling that new voices in that area are needed. But the men in the key positions are returning. While that is not fair to those who want more accountability following perhaps the biggest collapse in franchise history, they deserve a shot to make things right.

The Twins’ two best options, to me, were to clean house or give everyone another chance. Keep in mind, Falvey has equipped teams that have reached the postseason in four of his eight seasons, and Baldelli has been to the playoffs three times in six seasons as skipper. They have been successful in the recent past and have earned another season together.

And it’s hard to pin all of this on one person. This was a collaborative calamity.

You can’t send Baldelli packing without looking at the guy who provided him — or failed to provide him — with players. Falvey on Sunday needed 39 seconds to compose himself as he spoke to the media, a reflection of how the final six weeks of the season wore on him.

“I feel like I let them down,” Falvey said of the Pohlad family.

Falvey said the team should have succeeded with the payroll Pohlad provided. I have enraged fans who harp about payroll. Good baseball decisions can overcome payroll limitations, but Falvey slumped this year. Jay Jackson and Josh Staumont didn’t stabilize the bullpen like he hoped they would. Brock Stewart broke down, again. Anthony DeSclafani and Justin Topa became the latest Falvey acquisitions to pitch very little for their new team — or none at all, in DeSclafani’s case — before having extended stays on the injured list. Trevor Richards shouldn’t have been dealt for. Steven Okert failed as a lefty reliever.

However, Falvey’s buildup of the farm system — they finally have starting pitching prospects in the pipeline — works in his favor. About half of the players on the current roster have their best baseball ahead of them. Their first draft pick, Royce Lewis, will be a star.

And you can’t fire Falvey without considering what he had to work with from ownership.

For Pohlad, his decision to “right-size” the payroll following its first postseason series victory since 2002 was a punch in the gut to a fanbase that was energized like never before. The team didn’t react to Comcast/Bally Sports North battle and the loss of television revenue.

But I’m going to tweak ownership here. Joe, scared money don’t make money. A little more investment in the team would have paid off with more vicotries and a return to the postseason. Instead, the Twins drew less than 2 million fans for the fourth consecutive season.

This is what it looks like when you don’t build upon a good year.

“We were headed in a great direction [in 2023] and we had to make, I had to make, a very difficult business decision,” Pohlad said Sunday. “That’s just the reality of my world. I have a business to run, and it comes with tough decisions.”

The Pohlads are entrenched in this community. They aren’t selling the team anytime soon.

Pohlad believes in Falvey, so he wasn’t getting fired.

Falvey is such a big fan of Baldelli we might as well call them Falvelli. So Rocco stays.

Hopefully one thing in particular will change. That the statistical alchemists at 1 Twins Way stop telling Rocco that it’s OK to pinch hit in the fourth inning when a lefthander enters the game. Poor Manuel Margot might never live down that he was 0-for-30 as a pinch hitter. And the lefthanded hitters on the roster aren’t learning how to hit lefties.

On Sunday, an announced crowd of 26,041 was on hand to pay their final respects to the 2024 Twins, a team that seemed doomed from the moment ownership decided to slash payroll.

Injuries took their toll.

Some players didn’t perform to their capabilities.

Lewis and others were worn down, physically and mentally, by the end of the season and need to learn how to push through that.

And Baldelli failed to get the team back on course over the final six weeks of the regular season.

It was a complete and comprehensive collapse.

The Twins could have opted to clean house, which would have been understandable. Instead, everyone is vowing to stick their faces in the middle of this mess and figure out how to avoid it next season.

“I don’t take that vote of confidence lightly,” Baldelli said. “It means an immense amount to me. And I want to make our organization and our owners and our fans proud.”

That’s fine. Give them one more year. But the 2025 season will begin with Baldelli on the hot seat and Falvey’s should at least be warm. And they must rebuild their credibility with the fanbase.

The process must yield results next season or a change in leadership will be the best option.