Inside the Twins Managerial Search

The Minnesota Twins haven’t had to perform many managerial searches over the last 30 years. Back in 1987 they went through one, but settled on the interim manager who had finished out the 1986 season, Tom Kelly. He has the most managerial wins in Twins history.

After 2001, they tried again, but they performed that search under the threat of imminent contraction, which limited the candidates. They settled on their third base coach, Ron Gardenhire, who is the fastest manager to 1000 wins in Twins history.

They’re hoping for similar success with this offseason’s choice, Paul Molitor, but that is to be determined. An area we can evaluate more immediately is how this hiring process played out. In the end, the Twins returned to the rumored manager-in-waiting. Did the process verify their instincts? Of does choosing the leading candidate condemn the process?

Twins GM Terry Ryan is comfortable with the process but is empathetic to that concern. “I understand that because we came back around to the front runner in the fans' minds,” replied Ryan. “Also I would’ve taken on a lot of criticism if I didn’t explore the [Joe] Maddon situation, I think. I explored some other people outside the organization that I thought were very worthy to talk to. I think it was fairly thorough.”

In fact, if anything, he felt pressure for being too thorough. “Now there were other people involved in this process that I certainly had to justify the time (to). But between the World Series and all the things that come with October – that’s the only reason it took so long.”

It was Ryan’s decision to make, but Twins president Dave St. Peter and owner Jim Pohlad joined in as the decision came nearer. St. Peter detailed the process:

“I would say there were two or three phases. I think the first phase was Terry and Rob [Antony] and some of the baseball operations crew, not only vetting candidates but doing an initial interview with a host of candidates.

“I got involved along with Jim in the second phase in which we had narrowed it down to a few finalists. So we spent time individually with all of those as well as with Terry and the baseball operations group. We had a chance to see and hear from the candidates directly and understand what their vision was. Maybe a chance to get to know them a little bit.

“I’d say the third phase was more Jim and Terry and myself having a level of dialogue based on input provided by a variety of people in the organization and ultimately we got a recommendation from Terry in the middle of last week, maybe Thursday, and ultimately Paul was notified on Friday that he was our guy.”

Did all that involvement from ownership and the business side impact the decision at all? Jim Pohlad doesn't think so. In fact, he’ll tell you that he purposely didn’t try to single out any of the final candidates.

“I didn’t say that I believed that Paul [Molitor] separated [himself from the other candidates], claims Pohlad. “I gave Terry input as to my thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of all three candidates. Everybody else did and Terry heard from a lot of people on the outside. I think he processed all that and went with Paul. I think that was a really great choice.”

Ryan agrees both that it was his decision to make and that Molitor was the right choice. “Ultimately we had a consensus of what to present to Jim [Pohlad] and Dave [st. Peter]. We did that. As it turns out, I think the fit is ideal. I think, with all the things that surround us right now, it’s the right time for him to take over this club. I think we have a chance here pretty quick to get this thing going in the right direction.”

The process, when looked at by an outsider, seems to have been thorough and attempted to be objective. From the inside, it may have been challenged by similar forces to those that effect any organization - alliances, history, personal bias - but that is going to be true of any profoundly important task within an organization. The people involved clearly felt this decision was a priority, took their time, explored areas externally, gathered input internally, brought in leadership at an appropriate time and carried multiple candidates all the way to the conclusion.

But ultimately, it likely will not be judged by any of those factors. It'll be judged by how quickly Molitor can "get this thing going in the right direction."