Twins Manager Paul Molitor Fired

I wonder if Falvey was a little disappointed Molitor won the manager of the year award last year. He probably felt he had no choice but to retain him as manager for 2018, while really wanting to bring in his own guy. 

Well, same front office also inexplicably awarded Thorpe minor league pitcher of the year when Tyler Wells was significantly better. Molitor was definitely a scapegoat for some front office and player mistakes. Sh-t rolls downhill though.

This is what drove me nuts about Molitor. He'd show flashes of innovation with the lineup and wasn't afraid to mix things up to find results.

 

Then he'd call on Addison Reed for the fifth time in six days later that game.

 

Just a wildly inconsistent manager in very baffling ways.

Spot on. Never understood when Mauer was out, and Grossman was in the lineup daily, why wasn't his best skill, is OB%, used in the lead off spot? But at the end of the season, when injuries took out so many bats, he suddenly decided riding Grossman's hot bat in the 4 hole. Just maddeningly inconsistent.

Silly question: does a player/manager count against the 25 man roster? Perhaps #7 comes back for another season this way?

Otherwise Falvine's man is waiting "on deck."

 

3.  Able to work with young players, maybe even speak Spanish.

 

IMHO, anyone who is serious about a career in ANY phase of baseball should have strong Spanish skills.

Two things about this: It really should not come as any surprise since Falvey wanted this to be his team. The writing was on the wall and there is no way they promote within the organization. We have seen this fail a number of times. Bring in some new blood make some trades and compete for once for a ring.

Mauer does not have the fire, that this team needs in a manager. No way coach of some kind or pr guy, NOT manager in any way.

Molitor has had an amazing baseball career. All-Star, WS ring, WS MVP, silver slugger, and Manager of the year.  I guess the only award he hasn't won is league MVP.  I nejoyed watching him manage.  He never had a ton of talent to work with so hard to say just how good a manager he could have been, but if I were him taking a lessor role might be better than being on the road all the time.

I think the criticism of his bullpen management is overblown. With that bullpen you are going to always be on the edge of overuse because there were only a couple of guys that were any good. More accurate blame would be to the front office for not bringing in better pitchers

I consider this a promising start to the off-season for the organization.

As much as his in-game tactical decisions could be baffling, the whole energy and vibe problem concerned me much more. The constant mental mistakes. The lack of palpable joy, the body language of the players some times that made you wonder if their hearts were in it, the stoicism and careful language of Molitor, rarely openly disenchanted. The inklings of clubhouse tension. All of those incalculable things. A team is supposed to sort of take on the character of its leader, but this team couldn't steal bases, couldn't even run the bases smartly, or take smart at bats, or play smart defense, or play hard every play. It may have been partially bad luck for Pauly, but I think he kinda lost the clubhouse until all the fresh faces arrived with their own reasons to play hard.

I am happy to see this news. Molitor's a good dude but he's not a manager who can keep up with today's Whiz Kids.

Some "new school" managers I really like: Joe Maddon, Alex Cora, Dave Roberts, Kevin Cash.

Granted, 3 of them are managing perennial dynasties, but any one of them would have come to the Twins if they'd come calling a couple years ago. The Twins need to make sure they get the right guy to manage in today's climate.

I think Falvey and Levine have plenty of skill gaps, but I have faith that they are really going to knock this one out of the park. They were built for this.

I don't look at this as a scapegoat move. I look at this as Falvey recognizing that Molitor is not the type of person he thinks would be the best fit for the organization he is working on establishing. I think he wants a manager who truly gets the analytical and strategic aspects of the game, not one like Molitor who is only willing to go along with it for the sake of filling the position.

Scioscia and Showalter are exactly what I don't want. I'm not looking for a manager that hasn't modernized. Might as well keep Molitor if those are the guys who replace him. They are the same manager in my opinion. 

 

Hyde, Geren, Pat Murphy are guys that I hope they took a long look at. Never discussed philosophy with any of them so I won't offer strong opinions on any of them but I do know that they currently exist in the philosophy I'm hoping for. 

Agreed 1000% on Scioscia and Showalter.    

Why the indecision? This should've happened yesterday!

It was time for a change.  I think his biggest drawback besides not handling the pitching staff very well was his leadership style.  With the exception of late last year, the teams he's managed never seemed to have that spark or gel together.  Loosing 95-100 games can do that but I never really felt the team was a close knit group.  

Molitor is probably a perfect manager for Joe Mauer type players though. Always seemed a little too low-key for my liking.   

I don't believe injuries or bad performances sealed Molitor's fate. It was the pen usage, odd lineups, playing certain veterans too much, and poor overall team fundamentals at times.

People talk about the "Twins Way" as if it was a bad thing. But one thing you didn't see from TK lead teams, and most of Gardy's, was a team that just beat themselves so much.

Agreed. Too much sloppy play both on the field and the base paths. The manager who did neither of those things while a player, didn't seem to be able to translate that information to his players. It's not the only reason, but it's definitely a big one, in my opinion.

Maybe he'd have been a good manager for the Twins in 2008-2010, but not with who the Twins are today.

Twins press conference at 3 pm on WCCO, any chance they name the new guy???

Hyde, Geren, Pat Murphy are guys that I hope they took a long look at. Never discussed philosophy with any of them so I won't offer strong opinions on any of them but I do know that they currently exist in the philosophy I'm hoping for.

 

Too early to speculate on names but, I suspect the main qualities they are looking for will be:

 

1.  Relationship guy a la Dave Roberts and Joey Cora.

2.  Analytically up to speed, if not adept.

3.  Able to work with young players, maybe even speak Spanish.

4.  Someone who focuses on the process, but holds everyone accountable within the established parameters.

 

This will be very interesting for sure.

 

And, very much needed, IMHO.

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Thanks Paul. You were a class act. Your statement after being fired was admirable.