Article: Twins to Name Paul Molitor Manager

[DocBauer]

He's mostly been on the fringe of the organization because he had no interest in being Gardy's #2.  (I'd presume because of the friction we've heard about)

 

He's not an outsider ala Luvollo, I agree about that.  But I do believe he'll represent a change in approach, which is really all we want in an outside manager candidate anyway.  If you want the organization to change, you need to hire for front office jobs, not the manager's spot.

 

I generally like this. I'm uncertain as to friction with Gardenhire, or how much truly existed. There have been some rumors over time, but I don't know that we'll ever know if it is true, or to what degree. At this point, it is water under the bridge.

 

As to Seth's comment about Molitor being brought on last season as the eventual choice, I don't know. Perhaps. Again, we'll probably never know. But he did seem to have a positive impact on the club last year. And after the previous three seasons, I think that very well may have been the only real reason he was added. Again, at this point, water under the bridge.

 

I disagree with Molitor being an inside hire simply because he's been employed by the Twins the past several years. I disagree because he is a knowledgeable, HOFer, respected baseball guy who was not a part of the Gardenhire team until last season. Further, his playing career was only a few years with the Twins, after time with the Jays, and most if his career with the Brewers. Has he been part of the organization? Absolutely. But I just don't see Molitor as a corporate "yes man".

[DocBauer]

I wonder, if the entire Maddon surprising out situation had never transpired, would there be so much vitriol and angst among the Molitor and Ryan haters?

[Secondary User]

How was Meatsauce able to report from his sources over a week ago and prior to the second interview with Lovullo if the decision wasn't already made?

Perhaps because, from reports, it appears Pohlad was pushing for Molitor

 

Owner Jim Pohlad traveled to California last week to meet with Lovullo at the urging of members of the Twins baseball department but continued to back Molitor for the job after that meeting

[Kwak]

I don't think Molitor is an "insider" at all.  I perceive him as "the local outsider".  Molitor didn't start at an entry-level position and then "vet himself" through years of being an "organization man".  Molitor was more like  an independent sportswriter/talking head who had the "ear of the owner" and was able to provide dissenting opinions privately to the owner.  In short he was a rival to the insiders.  I dare say if the Twins hadn't faltered so badly that Molitor would not have been named manager ever.  This change is a result of the displeasure of the owner and not as a natural progression of the lineage. 

[DocBauer]

I think the makeup of the coaching staff is going to be both paramount and interesting in its makeup. Molitor had a very long and distinguished career. He's been in organized ball for about 40 year, and he's obviously played under and with a lot of quality baseball people, and had a lot of contacts both at the major league and minor league level as a player and coach/instructor.

 

Initially, he wasn't my first choice as I found myself swept up in the idea of Dougie M to have that young manager who would be with the club for the long term and this next wave of the "new Twins" arriving. And while it's doubtful Molitor will be as long term as his predecessors, the more I thought about his qualifications, and his work with the Twins minor league players, and their glowing comments about him, I began to feel better and better about him being the choice with Doug getting additional milb time to develop himself as a manager. (Still feel he or Mauer may be the guy in a few more years).

 

I have a hard time NOT seeing Bruno back. Likewise, I think Cuellar would be an excellent choice to return as either pitching or bullpen coach. His reputation has always been glowing, and he probably deserved a promotion to the ML club sooner than last year.

 

I had honestly never thought of Robin Young until recently, which I mentioned elsewhere, until I heard him mentioned by a respected local journalist. I find myself intrigued by his presence. I also wonder about the possibility of Dale Sveum as bench coach. Would he leave the Royals to join Molitor as his bench coach? He might, joining a former teammate, and might enjoy the idea of being a #2 with the idea of using it as a springboard to another shot as a ML manager.

 

I like the idea of a former ML catcher being on staff as well. I think Steinbach is certainly a possibility to be retained, assuming he doesn't move on to join LaRussa in some capacity. If not him, what about Henry Blanco? I believe he's with the Diamondbacks, but perhaps he's ready for a new challenge?

 

Molitor has ties as a player to former Latin players such as Roberto Alomar, Tony Fernandez and Alfredo Griffin. Could any of these be coaching possibilities?

 

The pitching coach is obviously going to be a major hire. And I confess I'm at a bit of a loss for possibilities for this spot.

 

 

[Bark's Lounge]

I wonder, if the entire Maddon surprising out situation had never transpired, would there be so much vitriol and angst among the Molitor and Ryan haters?

This just my opinion - nothing more, nothing less.

 

Sure, I think Maddon being out there caused a bit of a stir, and it probably has had a negative effect on a small/medium amount of posters.

 

I believe where the disconnect lies is that there is a 33.333 percentage of posters who wanted the hire to come from outside of the organization and a 33.333 percentage who may have been in Molitor's corner. The other 1/3 of posters probably don't give a rat's ass about it.

 

I think for the most part, the Molitor supporters believe he will bring a different energy, strategies, style of play, etc., etc. and the outside manager seekers believe he is more of the same and a part of the incestual Twins way of doing things. "AKA the Good Ol' Boys Club". I am in the Molitor percentage of things, but I get where the outside of the org people are coming from.

 

It's gonna take some time to heal those wounds and hopefully Molitor can deliver and win the skeptics over. In reality, it will never be perfect. There will always be nay sayers and yeah sayers no matter if the Twins are great or awful. There will never be 100% harmony on this site. We humans are not perfect by no means and like to bitch about things whether they are meaningful or meaningless and good or bad.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Bark's Lounge

[twinsnorth49]

I Feel sorry for the other Candidates who wasted their time. In Music, you stay clear of fixed auditions

I doubt they're wasting time feeling sorry for themselves.

[howeda7]

Personally, Luvello was more intriguing, but I'm OK with this. Molitor has as good a chance to succeed as anyone and it makes sense on multiple fronts.

[Squirrel]

 

Anyway, I wish Molitor well but use of "Molly" should go the way of no more use of Gardy,  Outlaw Y's.

Molly was a nickname going back to his playing days with the Brewers. My aunt, a huge Brewers fan, referred to him as that all the time.

[jokin]

I'm good with this. Here's hoping that Gene Glynn moves up and joins Molitor's coaching staff. That leaves AAA open for Douglas "Eye Chart" Mientkiewicz.

 I think Dougie follows all of his guys to Chattanooga (and becomes manager-in-waiting) while Jeff Smith moves up to Roc.

[Dantes929]

I have always maintained that there are thousands of good baseball people that could handle a manager's job.   I believe the choice of batting and pitching coach is at least as important if not more so.

[Bark's Lounge]

I have always maintained that there are thousands of good baseball people that could handle a manager's job.   I believe the choice of batting and pitching coach is at least as important if not more so.

Just imagine if the Twins did indeed have a thousand manager candidates to sort through and interview a portion of them. Terry Steinbach would be our interim manager until 2020. Screw it, I would just hire him for the permanent job at that point.

[jokin]

I Seth you miss the point. I haven't seen too many sane people say Molitor will stink as a manager. The problem is the front office has no interest in having an outside voice. As you note the day they brought Molitor on the staff was the day the job was his. Ill bet his first interview they just asked him what kind of office furniture he wants. The process was a joke. And for a team with so many problems

 

I would rather they focus on improving ibstead of continuity.

 

As I detailed in the Parker H. thread,  the club did improve greatly in some of the areas where Molitor had significant responsibility, like base running and on-base productivity.  But I do generally concur in your overall conclusions, Pohlad has wanted Molitor for quite some time, and the writing was on the wall the day he was hired to work in the Twins dugout, or Molitor never would have taken the assignment. in the first place  Not enough change for many of us, it will be quite interesting to see how much free reign Molly will have in hiring coaches from outside the organization.

[jokin]

I don't think Molitor did much last year to earn wearing the good old boy badge. To overly focus on where he came from and not his acumen for the game is just petulant and unfair.

 

Perhaps the best guy got the job.........nah, that's no fun.

 

AJ Pettersen detailed Molitor's Tom Kelly-like passion for teaching the finer points of base running.  Here's what was accomplished, under either a lot or a little of Molitor's tutelage (as copied from the other thread)

 

Twins 2014 League Ranking per stat (VS. 2013 ranking stat in parentheses):

 

BB%  2nd  (7th)

OBP%  2nd  (20th)

UBR 2nd  (14th)

BsR 3rd   (21st)

Runs 7th  (25th)

wRAA 8th  (21st)

Spd 8th  (30th- LAST!)

wSB  14th  (29th)

:

[diehardtwinsfan]

Pitching coach decision is going to be huge, I think.  That will be a good indicator how much Molitor is really "manager material" and how much "outside thinking" he's bringing to the job.

This... I cannot like it enough. Molitor was one of my top candidates (though I think I wanted Maddon the most). He's got an incredible baseball IQ, which should make in game managerial decisions a bit less frustrating to watch. He's also open to the sabre crowd too, which is also good. In the end, I don't think this is a bad choice, whether inside or outside the org... The real question comes down to his coaching. Who to keep:

 

Cuellar, Bruno, Steinbach (assuming he's not gone). The rest not so much. And I'd like to see them go outside the org for a lot of these (though that said, I wouldn't mind Doug M up working on things like fundamentals of defense)...

[goulik]

I like the Molitor hire because he seems to be different from Gardy in all the right ways. He's not afraid of the over shift, and he uses saber metrics while still believing in good fundamental baseball. Most of all, he comes in with an open mind about who the coaches around him could be.

[Platoon]

I'm not sure we know enough about how that whole thing went down to say that Maddon himself acted unethically.  I guess all is fair in love and war, and the Cubs felt that they had the chance to replace a good general with a great general, but it doesn't feel right to me somehow.

 

I'll tell you this, Epstein better be right about this, because if he isn't, and the Cubbies flounder under Maddon, it could come back to bite him.

 

Am I the only one, or does the word "collusion" rear its vague head?

[big dog]

I don't think it's collusion, which we usually think of as among owners/people with similar positions.  This is more like tampering.  I'll be surprised if the Rays don't file a complaint with the Ghost of Bud Selig.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I'm in such a state of shock, you could knock me over with a feather! It will be interesting to see how the coaching staff is made up. I would assume the bench coach will be a strong former MLB or MiLB manager.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Am I the only one, or does the word "collusion" rear its vague head?

Guys like Maddon don't just quit without the next step planned out. It shouldn't come as a surprise that it ended up being a team closer to contention and in a larger market and TV deal than the Twins.

[Riverbrian]

Ok... Molitor is the Manager.

 

Now let's put a team together for Molly to work with.

[Mike Sixel]

So it is ok to hire FA players to take jobs, but not FA managers? That's not how business works.

 

I'm ok with Molitor. I would have been ok with the other guy whose name I can't spell. I would have liked Maddon the most. But at this point, I'm glad they have a manager before FA starts, so the manager and GM can be on the same page.

[joyzeetwinkee]

Very savvy analysis, Kwak. So, he's an outside insider.

[Jerr]

Not my pick for manager, but all the best to him! 

Does not increase my Twins fever, if I even have one after the last few years

Looking for some excitement on the coaching staff.

[dgwills]

If Molitor wasn't the front runner the whole time we would all be very happy with this hire. I agree that Kwak nailed it. The thing I like about Molitor is he just seems smarter than Gardy. Managers usually can't win games with their decisions, but they can definitely lose them. If you haven't seen that, then you haven't been watching Twins baseball. 

I also can not see how having a strong relationship with ownership is a bad thing. Anytime you want someone to spend millions of dollars it's good if they like you. Which he probably will do. He has to care more about winning than anything else. He wouldn't be in the HOF otherwise. That may cause some tension with Terry Ryan though.

[Seth Stohs]

I wonder, if the entire Maddon surprising out situation had never transpired, would there be so much vitriol and angst among the Molitor and Ryan haters?

 

My opinion is that there would be vitriol no matter who they hired. If they would have hired Lovullo, there would have been a huge group that would have been upset that the team lost a great baseball mind in Molitor.. 

[Willihammer]

Like this post if you would have been upset with a Joe Maddon or Dave Martinez hiring

[big dog]

The tampering issue isn't that Maddon opted out, then signed a contract with the Cubs.  The Rays' issue is that Maddon might have opted out only after being asked by the Cubs about replacing Renteria.  MLB doesn't allow teams to contact people under contract about new positions, unless the contract club gives permission.  If the Cubs didn't talk with Maddon before he opted out, it's not tampering.  Even if they did, it's only a problem for them if it can be proven.

[Kwak]

Very savvy analysis, Kwak. So, he's an outside insider.

No.  Molitor is an inside outsider.  Gardenhire would be an example of an outside insider.

[Circus Boy]

Tarzan, Tonto, Frankenstein opinion: Mollie good! Fire bad!