The Minnesota Twins have all but completed one of the most epic collapses in Major League Baseball history. Despite being a lock for the postseason less than a month ago , they now will end their season over the weekend. Former backstop A.J. Pierzynski took them to task for it.
A.J. Pierzynski has an interesting history with the Minnesota Twins. Prior to the 2003 season he was traded in arguably Terry Ryan’s greatest heist of all time . The Twins nabbed Francisco Liriano and Joe Nathan (sorry Boof Bonser). Pierzynski returned to the division quickly and was a thorn in Minnesota’s side for the White Sox. Now he’s breaking down the game on Foul Territory , and his rant was spot on.
“It’s incredible. This is one of the biggest choke-jobs of all-time. You can put it on the players. You can put it on the owners. You can put it on Rocco. It’s an organizational failure for the Twins. I’m sorry, there’s no other way to say it. They didn’t sign anybody in the offseason. They didn’t go trade for anybody at the trade deadline. They thought they could do what they did last year and cruise in. The Guardians didn’t go away. The Royals didn’t go away. And the Tigers came out of nowhere.”
A.J. Pierzynski on the Twins collpase (Foul Territory)
The harsh criticism is beyond fair, and the Minnesota Twins earned it. On September 1st Rocco Baldelli’s club had postseason odds of more than 95%. By September 27th they sat at just 3%, needing an effective miracle to propel them forward. The culmination of bad baseball and poor decisions all imploded at once and it has the Twins looking in the mirror for answers.
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It is this sort of feedback and criticism that the Twins should feel the heat of not only in the coming days, but over the offseason as well. All of the momentum built from 2023 has been entirely thrown out the window.
Who’s to blame for the Minnesota Twins collapse?
The good news is that there is plenty of blame to go around . Ownership has been siphoning money from the franchise for years, and the front office did little this season with limited resources. The manager has made poor decisions down the stretch. Even veteran Carlos Correa tried to call out teammate s during the final week.
Nothing worked when it mattered most though. Correa’s lackadaisical jog to end Thursday night’s game was a perfect representation of the misses since the All-Star break. Both he and Byron Buxton couldn’t get back from the injured list. The in-game decisions by B aldelli continued to come up wrong . The players themselves simply failed to produce .
It’s sad that this is where Minnesota finds themselves headed into the offseason. Accountability must change going forward. Dave St. Peter lied about the television situation, Falvey has been non-existent, and the Pohlad’s never show their face . Attendance tumbled following a strong 2023 season , and it should be expected to dip again in the year ahead.
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The organization is truly in a bad place right now. Almost all of it is entirely self-inflicted, which only makes matters worse. There were choices over the last 12 months, and none of those that were made were good ones.
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