After being hired by the Minnesota Twins in November as their 15th manager in the club’s 65-year history, new manager Derek Shelton was glad to be leading a franchise again.
“In terms of getting back in, it was the right opportunity,” Shelton told The Epoch Times on Thursday of accepting the Twins job, while watching his club take batting practice at LECOM Park. “I wanted to be back on the field. [Twins center fielder Byron Buxton] is really the only guy I know here. He’s changed since I was here before. Then, he was establishing himself as a major league player. Now, he’s a superstar.”
Leaving the Twins’ Lee Health Complex for the seventh game of the club’s exhibition season on Feb. 26 wasn’t an ordinary bus trip. It was Shelton’s first return to LECOM Park, where he shepherded the Pittsburgh Pirates from the 2020 season through last May.
Directing his new team from a new dugout on the third base side of the field, as a visitor, wasn’t the only thing on Shelton’s mind. The multiple injuries of his pitching staff needed his attention too.
For two seasons, 2018 and 2019, prior to accepting the Pirates’ offer to manage, Shelton served as Minnesota’s bench coach on skipper Rocco Baldelli’s staff.
The exhibition season isn’t going quite as smoothly as Shelton had envisioned. After 15 years coaching on the MLB level and nearly six seasons managing at the game’s highest level, adjusting plans due to players’ injuries is anything but routine.
Shelton has his plate full just weeks into getting acclimated to his new role. Pablo Lopez, one of the starting pitchers Shelton was counting on this season, is now on the shelf until the 2027 season.
Lopez, who signed a contract extension with the Twins in April 2023 after coming over from the Miami Marlins in a trade, is expected to miss all of this season due to a right elbow injury that occurred during a workout last month. He underwent surgery on Wednesday in Texas. Lopez is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for next season.
After finishing 70–92, a full 18 games behind the American League Central Division champions, the Cleveland Guardians, and given the strong pitching staff of the Detroit Tigers, also a Central powerhouse, the Twins need career years from all of their starters.
Joe Ryan, an all-star starter with the Twins now in his sixth season with the club, is dealing with back issues.
Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll said Sunday that Ryan will rest for a few days. Ryan had an MRI after tightness in his lower back forced him to miss his scheduled start in Saturday’s spring game.
“He’s just dealing with some inflammation and as a result has some tightness,” Zoll told reporters on Sunday. “So he‘ll be down for a few days here just to let things calm down. We’ll progress him as tolerated and don’t envision this impacting his readiness for Opening Day.”
As if Shelton doesn’t have enough shuffling of his pitching rotation already, David Festa, after just two seasons with the club, is dealing with right shoulder concerns. Team officials state that Festa’s current impingement problem isn’t related to the thoracic outlet syndrome that ended his 2025 season.
Shelton was asked his thoughts on Pittsburgh’s prospects this season.
“I think at some point you wish that you would have seen the investment that they saw this off-season. But good for them. I’m very happy for [Pirates general manager Ben Cherington]. He had the ability to go out and acquire guys. They’re a better club than at any time during my tenure. You learn from your past experiences. I have no regrets.”
