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  • The Widening Search For a New Twins Manager


    Nick Nelson

    While they initially appeared to have emerged as front-runners, and still may be, things have been quiet on the Paul Molitor and Doug Mientkiewicz fronts. That's because the Twins, true to their word, have expanded the scope of their manager search substantially, with numerous outside names entering the mix over the past couple weeks.

    Let's run through the latest developments as the search moves on and picks up:

    Image courtesy of John Sokolowski, USA Today Sports

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    * ESPN 1500's Darren Wolfson, who has been characteristically active in providing rumors and tidbits gleaned from his various sources, reports that the Twins have interviewed Blue Jays bench coach Demarlo Hale. Hale, 53, has managed at various spots in the minors, and was a member of Terry Francona's staff in Boston before a stint with Baltimore (as third base coach) and his present gig in Toronto. He was rumored to be one of four finalists in 2010 for the Jays managerial job, which ended up going to John Farrell.

    If it's wide-ranging experience that the Twins are looking for, Hale offers plenty of that.

    * A day earlier, Wolfson had tweeted that Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo "nailed his interview" with the team. Lovullo's name generated some Thursday-morning excitement when his profile page was discovered on the Twins' site, but that buzz was quickly squashed after team employee Andrew Ettel pointed out that any name in the system would show up on a search of the site (including Babe Ruth).

    Nevertheless, Lovullo appears to have some steam behind him. He was apparently one of the top names considered for the Rangers job, which went to Jeff Banister on Thursday. During just the last two seasons in Boston, Lovullo has experienced the highest of highs (a World Series in 2013) and the lowest of lows (last-place finish in 2014). He also appears to be open to analytics and modernized strategy:

    “It’s a new part of the game,” said Lovullo. “It’s there. It’s real and happening before our eyes. The Boston Red Sox organization has jumped on and we have utilized it to the best of our abilities to this point. It’s so new to everybody so we’re not sure exactly how to use it and how to interpret it.

    “On a daily basis we get the analytic information, about four or five sheets of information that we can utilize, and I can pass it along to John. Probabilities and projections is what it is. There’s so much stuff and John has to deal with so many things that I try to simplify it for him and give him what I feel is the most important information and why. Things like this hitter has a 70 percent chance of hitting a ground ball here, things of that nature.

    “If it helps 10 percent in making a decision, it’s better than zero. If you can fill in the gaps and you have 90 percent to fill in the gaps and the analytics give you that 10 percent, why not take advantage of it?

    “There have been times I’m looking at something and I’m saying ‘Wow, my eyes just aren’t seeing that.’ I’ll talk to our analytics department on, how did we come up with this? Usually I’ll say, ‘OK, I can see your side of it, but this isn’t what we’re thinking about.’ The great thing about our guys is they’re there to help us. They don’t push it on us, but it is a resource for us. Most of the time it plays out positively for us.”

    It bears noting that Lovullo has interviewed for several managerial openings in the past, including Los Angeles, Cleveland and Boston, and always come up short. But maybe, like Mike Zimmer with the Vikings, this is finally his time.

    * The Twins also interviewed Sandy Alomar Jr., who has been serving as the bench coach in Cleveland for the past two years. The 48-year-old lacks the depth of experience of the two names mentioned above, and his managerial background amounts to a few days at the end of the 2012 season when he was named as Manny Acta's interim replacement, but it's only a matter of time before Alomar gets a chance somewhere, and he would satisfy calls for a Latin infusion on the Twins' coaching staff.

    * The Twins became the last team with a managerial vacancy after Texas hired Banister this week. Earlier, the Diamondbacks had hired Chip Hale, who was scheduled for an interview in Minnesota before being swooped away.

    That means Ron Gardenhire, who expressed interest in managing again, is out of potential destinations for the time being. It seems likely he'll accept a job in the Twins organization.

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    If he had named a new manager quickly after dismissing Gardenhire, this place would have been filled with, "he didn't even take the time to conduct a thorough search," comments. Now, given a lengthy, broad search, the criticism is that he's dragging out the process and wasn't prepared before letting the last guy go.

     

    Honestly, sometimes I really don't care that the Twins act as though they don't give a damn what the fans think, since everything they do is going to be criticized anyway. Not saying I feel sorry for the Twins, though. They dug this hole by allowing the losing to continue for 4 years and that will breed excessive criticism of everything they do and don't do.

     

    I have no idea who they'll hire, at this point. I'm far more certain, however, that the loudest reaction will be that it was the wrong choice, regardless of who gets the gig.

     

    After reading this comment, I'm not sure which "side" in the current managerial-successor debate is the more cynical of the two at this key turning-point in Twins history.  By contrast, I think there's a large contingent of Twins devotees who, like me, are pleased that our last-offseason prediction of Molitor as- the "inevitable-manager-in-waiting" and faithful-and-oh-so-safe-pick keeper of the "Twins Way" Flame- was not quickly whisked into fruition on the heels of Gardy's dismissal.  

     

    While there's always going to be a fair share of grousing and second-guessing, I think I speak for many when I write that I appreciate Ryan's apparent recognition that a more public and thorough talent-hunt is exactly what this team needs-  both as a palate-cleanser for the last 4 futile years, and for the apparent new-found self-awareness that some serious corporate soul-searching is in order.  Even if the choice ends up being Molitor, the more candidates that are interviewed and more thought put into the process, the higher the yield on more fact-finding and self-due-diligence on making positive and necessary change from the current stale culture.

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    I like that they are being methodical about this, taking there time to research and discuss the job with a lot of candidates and get both inside and outside perspectives on the Twins major league roster. Seems to me they are doing a good job of listening to people and not just conducting interviews with people that are telling them what they want to hear, but a little bit of what they need to hear and some reflection and perspective at least on what can be done to win more games. The longer scope and breadth of this interview process gives me hope that TR and his staff are doing a thorough and extensive background of finalist candidates and that they are trying to make sure that this important hire is not just an emotional one but one that will have some substance behind it, and ultimately be the right choice to lead the Minnesota Twins back to the playoffs.

     

    As we know Terry Ryan likes to keep things close to the vest we will not likely get a lot of detail on the interview process, I like a lot of other Twins fas just hope he finds the right guy to motivate the players to put a stop to all of this losing. Just because there has been four years of losing should not paint the 2015 Twins in to a corner of automatically being a bad team, or that the franchise will continue to struggle. Hopefully the new manager and coaching staff can breath some new enthusiasm in to the 2015 Twins team and that they will turn the corner sooner rather than later. That and that management will take the most talented team North, if the guys can help us win and even if they are young and there are service time concerns if the players can help the Twins win than they need to be in Minnesota.

     

    I give the Twins credit they realize they have not done enough winning and put a good product on the field the last couple of years, at least they know enough that change finally had to be done. Like another poster said the Twins will likely get criticized at the announcement of the new managers press conference, that seems to be a popular thing to do these days. I look forward to the day when we can all complain less and get excited about the team winning and playing good baseball again.

     

    I was writing as you posted, I echo some of your thoughts.

    Edited by jokin
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    Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino  · 3h3 hours ago 
    Major announcements may be made on World Series off days (Thursday, next Monday), but MLB must grant special permission. #MNTwins

     

     

    Darren Wolfson ‏@DarrenWolfson  · 9m9 minutes ago 
    Source: Twins GM Terry Ryan will meet with Paul Molitor again tomorrow. Word is owner Jim Pohlad will not be there. #mntwins

     

     

     

    Feel free to interpret.

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    Meh, MLB managers are overrated.  All they really need to do is get the players all going in the same direction.  The defensive shifts, bullpen management, and lineup setting are all kinda overblown.  You obviously have to have a high baseball accumen, but in terms of affecting the game, baseball managers do very little.  It is an execution based sport which does not allow for many unique systems or schemes which result in a competitive advantage.

     

    Make sure you interview all the candidates, and pick the one who you believe can best motivate your team thru the grind that is the baseball season.

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