Even for an organization almost allergic to the word change, a fourth consecutive 90-loss season meant some was in the offing for the Minnesota Twins.
For 13 seasons, Ron Gardenhire was the team’s skipper. He led the Twins to six American League Central Division championships, won his 1,000th game early last season and was a popular figure in the Twin Cities.
However, the business of baseball had grown stale at Target Field. The team wasn’t winning (and hasn’t for several years), some of the same mistakes became consistent errors, and with the All-Star Game no longer available for use by the team as a way to sell some tickets, the organization did something for just the second time since 1986.
It changed managers.
Gardenhire and the team parted ways shortly after the end of the 2014 season, and the Twins embarked on a rather lengthy search for the next man in charge. More than a half-dozen candidates interviewed to replace Gardenhire, but the team settled on a familiar face, Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, a former Twins player and a coach on last year’s staff.
Molitor, 59, was hired as the 13th manager in Twins history in early November. A fierce competitor on the field with the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays and finally with the Twins, Molitor has no plans to make slow progress.
“I’m coming here to win,” Molitor said at his introductory press conference. “I think that it’s very important to lay that out there right from the start. Things can change very dramatically at this level very quickly.”
Since retiring as a player in 1998, Molitor held a number of coaching posts, mostly with the Twins, including a stint as bench coach under previous manager Tom Kelly in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He was believed to be a leading candidate for Kelly’s job in 2002, but the Twins chose Gardenhire instead.
After one year as the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners in 2004, Molitor became a staple at spring training and through the Twins organization as a roving instructor. Last season, he was brought onto Gardenhire’s staff to oversee baserunning, bunting, infield instruction and positioning. He even pinch-hit as first base coach after a hip injury to third base coach Joe Vavra forced some reshuffling of the coaching staff.
The one thing Molitor never did previously was manage, but he said he doesn’t see it as a detriment.
“I know what I know, and I think a lot of it is really good things,” Molitor said. “But you have to know where you need help. I think assembling a staff is going to be important … to fill some of those gaps for me, at least in the interim as we go forward.”
Molitor compiled a staff of baseball veterans, including new third base coach Gene Glynn, who was the manager of the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate the past three seasons. Vavra, now the Twins’ bench coach, has years of managing experience in the minors.
Not only did the Twins make a change in the manager’s office, but they also made an effort to get some added experience in a clubhouse that was one of the youngest in all of baseball last season.
In that regard, the Twins succeeded, bringing one of the most popular players in team history back into the fold when they signed outfielder Torii Hunter to a one-year, $10.5 million contract.
The club hopes he can be the veteran leader Molitor was for him when Hunter broke into the big leagues as a rookie center fielder in 1997.
“To have his presence, I think our guys are learning about what it takes every day, both to prepare and to play and the passion that you bring,” Molitor said. “But a guy who’s been through it and has done it so professionally will be a big plus for us, there’s no doubt about that.”