I was very happy to see rocco leave.
Happier still when Shelton was hired.
And then, even a tick or 6 hapier when Shelty announced he would begin spring training Tom Kelly style. Emphasizing the fundaments of defense in the field. And the fundamentals of making contact when the Twins batted.

You win a ton if games emphasizing the 3 basics. 1-On defense. Always make the easy plays. Throw to the correct base. Be in position as cut off or backup.
2- on offense. Be disciplined and make contact. Nobody ever scores when they strike-out. High obp & risp should be more important than anything else at the plate. Do well in those categories. The runs will come. And its sustainable in all weather. All ball parks. Vs all pitchers.
3- pitching. 0-1 va all batters should be every pitchers goal. And- theres worse things than walking a guy. Altho never ideal. Its better than tossing up a meatball on 3-1 or 3-2.

All of these basic fundamental 100 yr old "ideas". All of 'em were list on Rocco. Molitor b4 him.

When Shelton was Pirate manager. I watched a lot of pirate baseball. Those were some bad young teams. And when the youth began to blossom. Pirate ownership sold high. Kept restocking. Theyre a talented team now. Much of that is due to shelton emphasizing fundamentals.

At a minimum, imo. Shelty is the best tc skipper since Gardy. Perhaps since TK... That said. The twins are now, what the pirates were 4-5 years ago. Young, green, untrained. I suspect, like those young pirate teams. They will be streaky as possible. Theres going to be some 10 game win streaks. And some 3 week spans where they win only 5 or 6.... Across 162? Its likely .425/.450 ball in the best scenario.

The big tell will be how the pitching holds up when the team starts playing in warm weather.
Theres more than a few gas cans on this staff, hiding their game in the current "cool" schedule.

In the meantime?
Enjoy those square wheels & blue ears!