Who Should Be Gone From the Coaching Staff?

The sweep at the hands of the Angels marks the fourth time since the beginning of August that the Twins have lost four straight games. Their overall record during that span is 13-23 -- a .361 winning percentage that is depressingly similar to their August/September marks from the past few seasons.

When you watch the games, you'd have a hard time saying that the team has simply given up or stopped trying. Three of the games in the Angels series were closely contested and could have gone either way. The offense has churned out runs in recent weeks.

Yet, the Twins have lost 12 of their last 15, and as they continue to slide it's looking more and more like they might reach 95 losses in a fourth straight season. Individual bright spots have certainly been evident, but the losing just continues at an outrageous rate.

This naturally brings us back to a question that was posed frequently in recent discussions over the outlook for the 2015 Twins: With so little on-field improvement, how can the same coaching staff remain intact going forward?

There have been -- and will be -- calls for Ron Gardenhire's dismissal, and that's understandable. He's the manager that has overseen this extended stretch of losing, and ultimately the accountability for all this poor overall play should fall on his shoulders. It has been extremely rare in MLB history for a manager to survive four consecutive 90-loss seasons.

However, it sounds like Terry Ryan and the Twins are (unsurprisingly) committed to bringing Gardenhire back, as they apparently consider him the best man to bring their rebuild full-circle. Many people might have a tough time stomaching that reality, but I can live with it. As frustrating as the losses have been, Gardy has done some good things with his lineups and I haven't had any major issues with his in-game management.

The impact of his impressive young offensive unit has been negated, however, by a familiar downfall: pitching. This team has been utterly horrible at preventing runs, allowing 5.6 per game on average since the All-Star break.

In part, that's because of poor defense, especially in the outfield. In part, it's young starters and relievers taking their lumps and learning to adjust. But the excuses run thin when you consider just how long the Twins have reigned as one of the most hittable teams in baseball. The faces change and the results stay the same.

The Twins currently rank second-to-last among AL teams in ERA. That's the same place they've finished in each of the last three years.

The man running this staff has had some success stories -- with Phil Hughes certainly standing out as the most notable recent example -- but those have been few and far between. More and more it seems that Rick Anderson's standing is buoyed by past accomplishments that are now disappearing in the rearview mirror. I don't have enough insight as to what happens behind the scenes to declare him a horrible pitching coach, but with the number of young hurlers that have come up and struggled, and the number of pitchers that have been drastically worse here than elsewhere, the evidence has mounted against him to the point of being overwhelming.

For me, it would be difficult to view Anderson's retention at this point as anything more than a move to continue appeasing Gardenhire, his longtime friend and co-captain at the helm. And while I'm OK with keeping Gardy around, making decisions based around his comfort is nearly impossible to justify with the way things have been going.

When the Twins extended Gardenhire last year, they gave him a two-year deal, meaning he's under contract for next year. But his assistants were only extended for one year. Moving on from Anderson wouldn't require firing him. But to actively re-sign him for another year, with the results we've seen in now four straight seasons, would send a really painful signal to fans.

Whether or not he's the problem, the Twins have got to try something new.