Article: Paul Molitor Wins American League Manager Of The Year

[Seth Stohs]

On Tuesday night, Minnesota Twins Manager Paul Molitor was named the 2017 American League Manager of the Year.

 

Cleveland's Terry Francona and Houston's AJ Hinch, who each led their teams to 100-win seasons, were the other finalists. However, it was Molitor leading the Twins from 103 losses in 2016 to the playoffs in 2017, the first team in MLB history to accomplish that feat.Paul Molitor received 18 of the 30 first-place votes for the Manager of the Year award including that of Twin Cities media member Pat Borzi. Star Tribune's Phil Miller voted for Terry Francona, who received 11 first-place votes.

 

Molitor becomes the Twins third AL Manager of the Year, joining Ron Gardenhire in 2010 and Tom Kelly in 1991.

 

Molitor also becomes just the second Hall of Fame player to win Manager of the Year.

 

 

 

Molitor was re-signed to a three-year contract extension that could keep him at the helm of the Twins through the 2020 season.

 

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[Dman]

Personally I am not surprised.  I don't think any manger has taken a team from worst in baseball to the playoffs in one year.  He had a lot of challenges this year and he held the team together.  The award is well deserved IMO.  Congrats to Paul!

[ashbury]

It is always difficult to rate managers, but I like this choice. His disciplined management of the bullpen in the early weeks possibly made the difference in several wins.

[MileHighTwinsFan]

Congrats Molly!

 

Phil Miller has some 'splaining to do.

[Mr. Brooks]

Congrats Molly!

 

 

 

Phil Miller has some 'splaining to do.

What happened with Phil Miller?

 

Oh, you mean for not voting for him? Shouldn't Miller vote for who he objectively thinks should win, not the hometown guy?

Edited November 15, 2017 by Mr. Brooks

[AlwaysinModeration]

The Twin Cities have two of the 30 votes for this award?

 

Congratulations, Paul. Can you please lead the team to another 26 game improvement? Or better yet, another 44% improvement?

[Thrylos]

Congrats, but he was not worth it.  Unless someone wants to give him a pass for the 103 Loss team that he also led.   Net change from 2015 = 2 games.  That a MoY should does not make.  If anything, he deserved it more in 2015.

 

And if someone thinks that the 103 losses in 2016 was because of the front office only, that someone should be asking for Antony's (the GM for half the season) head.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by Thrylos

[Mr. Brooks]

Congrats, but he was not worth it. Unless someone wants to give him a pass for the 103 Loss team that he also led. Net change from 2015 = 2 games. That a MoY should does not make. If anything, he deserved it more in 2015.

 

And if someone thinks that the 103 losses in 2016 was because of the front office only, that someone should be asking for Antony's (the GM for half the season) head.

It's manager of the year, not manager of two years. So last year shouldn't even be considered, IMO.

And that goes both ways, he shouldn't get bumped for the improvement, or dinged for the drop off. It should be results vs. talent viewing only this years roster and results.

 

I have no idea who should win under those parameters.

[jimmer]

Been saying it for awhile: Molitor will win AL MOY. BAM!!!!!

 

Well deserved!!!!

[Thrylos]

 

It's manager of the year, not manager of two years. So last year shouldn't even be considered, IMO.
And that goes both ways, he shouldn't get bumped for the improvement, or dinged for the drop off. It should be results vs. talent viewing only this years roster and results.

I have no idea who should win under those parameters.

 

 

The one who took an 84 win team to 101 wins.

[spinowner]

I disagree with the choice but offer sincere congratulations!

[tarheeltwinsfan]

2 Gold Gloves, a consensus Defensive Player of the Year, Manager of the Year. The thrill of the playoffs (albeit a quick thrill). Awesome. I really enjoyed the 2017 season. Thank you to the Twins organization from the biggest Twins fan in North Carolina. See you in Fort Myers in March.

[gunnarthor]

Well, nice for him but I still wish we had let him go. Oh well. Hopefully he manages a world series winning team next year!

[Seth Stohs]

 

What happened with Phil Miller?

Oh, you mean for not voting for him? Shouldn't Miller vote for who he objectively thinks should win, not the hometown guy?

 

Yes, he should... I have no problem with his vote. 

[Platoon]

If nothing else the last two years have confirmed what we all knew about Molitor. He is either a very very poor manager, or a very very good manager.

[sploorp]

 

What happened with Phil Miller?

Oh, you mean for not voting for him? Shouldn't Miller vote for who he objectively thinks should win, not the hometown guy?

Miller probably though voting for your own guy violated some kind of unwritten Minnesota nice etiquette rule.  He voted that way for fear other reporters would think him rude.

[jimmer]

 

If nothing else the last two years have confirmed what we all knew about Molitor. He is either a very very poor manager, or a very very good manager.

Or maybe we learned that he needed to get the experience under his belt 2015, 2016 (you know, it being his first two year managing at ANY level), which helped prepare him for 2017.

 

Imagine if we didn't give a player MVP or CY Young because of how they performed the year before.

Edited November 15, 2017 by jimmer

[Deduno Abides]

Congrats, but he was not worth it.  Unless someone wants to give him a pass for the 103 Loss team that he also led.   Net change from 2015 = 2 games.  That a MoY should does not make.  If anything, he deserved it more in 2015.

 

And if someone thinks that the 103 losses in 2016 was because of the front office only, that someone should be asking for Antony's (the GM for half the season) head.

This sounds like an argument that he should have won MoY in 2015, because the Twins in 2011-2014 were pretty awful and he led them to a much better result in 2015.

[Darius]

I think it's pretty clear that the Twins "overachieved" the most. Won the most games per unit of talent, in other words.

 

They had a patchwork bullpen and rotation (Belisle was the closer and Colon was starting games at one point late in the season). There were some significant injuries (Sano, Buxton, Hughes, May, even Burdi, Chagrois, etc). And, honestly, the roster didn't look very good before the injuries.

 

Molitor took that team to nearly 90 wins and a Wild Card spot. Whether that is directly attributable to him in any way is debatable. But, the fact is, managers get credit for their team's performance in relation to expectations. Molitor's team did more with less than any other team in the American League.

Edited November 15, 2017 by Darius

[Old Twins Cap]

Well deserved for sure, but anyone looking at this would have to acknowledge that he won this award principally because the team collapsed totally in 2016.

 

Without that abysmal record, 103 losses and completely unexpected in 2016, the Twins winning 85 games would be a yawner.

 

So he's a great manager because his team was most recently very poor performing.

 

Not sure how you get to be the best of baseball managers with that precise combination, but we'll take it because no one wants to go back to 2016.  Ever.

 

Ever.

[Pardon My Dinger]

I’ve actually had the conversation with several Twins fans here in LA: “what do you think of Molitor as a manager?”

 

We tend to agree that the Twins win despite him. Not much of a consensus, but it’s at least a verdict, locally anyway...

 

Good for him. I’m not overly excited about the news.

[USAFChief]

If nothing else the last two years have confirmed what we all knew about Molitor. He is either a very very poor manager, or a very very good manager.

Well played, sir.

 

Fitting the Post Of The Year appears in the MOY thread.

[NCtwinsfan]

 

2 Gold Gloves, a consensus Defensive Player of the Year, Manager of the Year. The thrill of the playoffs (albeit a quick thrill). Awesome. I really enjoyed the 2017 season. Thank you to the Twins organization from the biggest Twins fan in North Carolina. See you in Fort Myers in March.

Sorry, I beg to differ

 

Anyway, Congrats to Molitor!

[dbminn]

Here's the help Hinch got from his FO in 2017:

• Full seasons of Bregman and Gurriel (1190 v. 350 PA in 2016) in place of Valbuena, Tyler White and AJ Reed
• Reddick and McCann in place of Castro, Gomez, Preston Tucker and Rasmus
• Charlie Morton to replace Doug Fister
• Verlander for the stretch run

Hinch did a great job but he had a lot of FO help. Here's what the FO brought for Molitor:

• Castro and Gimenez for Suzuki
• Belisle and Breslow for the bullpen
• Ehire Adrianza
• One start from Garcia
• Kinzler and Garcia removed for the stretch run

I wouldn't have been upset if Hinch had won. The writers made the right choice. Congratulations Paul Molitor!

[old nurse]

 

Congrats, but he was not worth it.  Unless someone wants to give him a pass for the 103 Loss team that he also led.   Net change from 2015 = 2 games.  That a MoY should does not make.  If anything, he deserved it more in 2015.

 

And if someone thinks that the 103 losses in 2016 was because of the front office only, that someone should be asking for Antony's (the GM for half the season) head.

The award is for the year that it is given, not cumulative.  Since the manager is responsible for the 103 loss season, he gets credit for the turnaround, too. What happened? Unlike some many people in this world he got smarter learning from his mistakes.  He managed the  mediocre pitching staff down the stretch better than the more talented teams and finished ahead of them. For that learning, that marshalling of the old, unskilled, under experienced team

Antony should be GM of the year. Nolasco's season versus Santiago//Busenitz's season is likely  key to this year's season.   Nunez for Aldaberto the strikeout machine  will look even greater when those nasty umpires quit calling all those balls on Mejia's pitches.

 

[twinssporto]

Good for Paul!  Good for Falvey and company too.  Can you imagine the blow back from the average Twins fan out there if we would have let Paul go and he wins MOY???

 

Mr. Pohlad looks sage now too....

 

I'm going out to my deer stand this morning to ponder these things some more.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

If nothing else the last two years have confirmed what we all knew about Molitor. He is either a very very poor manager, or a very very good manager.

I believe Molitor is a quick learner.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Sorry, I beg to differ

 

Anyway, Congrats to Molitor!

Well, I may not be the biggest Twins' fan in NC (I still think I am), but I probably have been pulling for this franchise longer...since 1954, when I went to Griffith Stadium in DC with my brother and our grandfather. Saw Roy Seivers, Eddie Yost, Clint Courtney, Chuck Stobbs and Dean Stone. Of course the Senators lost to the Tigers that day, but it was the start of my love for the Senators/Twins. Top that, NCtwinsfan.

[Tom Froemming]

Congrats to Molitor. I don't think he's the best game manager, but I was very impressed with how his club finished out the year despite facing quite a bit of adversity, some of which was self inflicted by the front office.

 

It would've been really easy for the team to just have quit in the second half. That was certainly a huge issue in Gardy's last four years. His clubs had a .444 winning percentage in the 1st half and just .365 in the 2nd half over that run.

 

Anyway, here's hoping Molly can continue to set that tone of professionalism and consistent effort while also picking up some tricks from the new faces in the org.

[Don Walcott]

Congrats to Mollie! I think this is a well earned award.

 

I understand the comments about the 103 season being under his leadership. However, a lot of things snowballed out of control in 2016, and at some point really early in the season there was no chance to make the playoffs. I give Molitor credit for sticking it out in 2016. I'll bet he earned some loyalty from the players for going through 2016 with them and coming out the other side with hope for 2017.

 

In 2017, he definitely kept this team together, even after the FO threw in the towel (I'm not criticizing the FO for that). Oh, and he's one of us!