Are Twins jobs at stake for Rocco Baldelli and Derek Falvey?

Target Field was filled with tension last weekend.

Twins executive chair Joe Pohlad expressed disappointment in the team's performance, and used the word "urgency." The team, coming off a series sweep of Kansas City, was swept by Baltimore and embarrassed in the last two games before the All-Star break, losing by a combined 21-4.

Jeers rained down on the players on Sunday afternoon, as the Twins fell below .500 despite having one of the lowest team ERAs in baseball.

Private conversations with a number of members of the organization revealed a deep frustration over the direction of this season, given the large cash outlay for stars Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Pablo López, with Correa and Buxton spurring the greatest angst because of their poor at-bats and production.

The Twins begin the post-All-Star portion of the season on Friday night in Oakland with every opportunity to win the American League Central. If they don't, it is increasingly difficult to imagine a winter without change in the baseball operation.

In 2019-2020, in the first two years of Rocco Baldelli's managerial career, the Twins posted a winning percentage of .617 and won the division twice. Postseason failures aside, they were one of the best franchises in the game.

Since then, the team's winning percentage is .472, and they have not advanced to the postseason, even in baseball's expanded playoffs, since the shortened 2020 season.

Because President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey and Baldelli are analytical thinkers and generally amiable leaders, they haven't expressed panic or dismay, saying that they expect the Twins' hitting to improve. Falvey said he envisions a vastly different team after the break.

He may be right. The Twins are 35-11 when they score four runs or more, and 10-34 when they score three or fewer. If Buxton and Correa hit, this team should regularly score four or more runs.

But it hasn't happened yet, which is casting a harsher light on trades Falvey has made that cost the team's hitting.

The Twins traded batting champ Luis Arraez for López and two prospects, and traded two excellent young hitters, Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, to the Reds for pitcher Tyler Mahle.

Both deals made sense at the time. The Twins were deep in hitting prospects and wanted to build an outstanding rotation. López is trending toward becoming the team's long-term ace. Mahle would have been an ideal acquisition if he had been healthy.

What makes those deals look shaky at the moment is that the Twins' remaining hitters haven't produced, with the exception of Royce Lewis when he was healthy.

That's why the atmosphere around the ballpark, and in the clubhouse, seemed so tense last week.

Logic would dictate that the team's hitting will experience a market correction and the Twins will win the division going forward.

The rotation has been remarkable. Jhoan Duran is an All-Star caliber closer. When Brock Stewart and Caleb Thielbar return, the bullpen should be deep enough to get the ball to Duran. The Twins' fielding is good enough, especially at shortstop and the outfield.

The Twins are largely dependent on three veteran hitters — Correa, Buxton and Jorge Polanco. Correa has been horrid. Buxton has been underwhelming. Polanco has been injured. If those three can produce to expected levels, the lineup could become competent, if not dynamic.

So far, their failures and absences have placed too much pressure on the rest of the lineup. If Joey Gallo was batting eighth, his strikeouts would be less wrenching, and his home runs would feel like a bonus. Injuries and failures have led to him batting higher in the order than he should, and his strikeouts have become emblematic of the Twins' self-defeating approach at the plate.

A trade could help this team, theoretically, but the Twins are now in a position where they can't afford to trade top hitting prospects.

The only solution to this team's problems is the most obvious: Correa, Buxton and Polanco need to lead the Twins to a division title, or be prepared for a winter of change.