Would You Hire Ron Gardenhire?

While Gardenhire had plenty of on-field managerial shortcomings during his tenure with the Twins – including being late to embracing strategy such as defensive shifts, platooning and effective lineup construction -- being a relationship builder and running a clubhouse was never in question. Gardenhire has earned a reputation as being adverse to the analytics side of the game but during the TwinsDaily Offseason Handbook interview with Terry Ryan, Ryan adamantly defended his former manager suggesting that “Gardy is up to snuff on analytics” despite what some outside critics believe. The Twins analytics department incessantly fed Gardenhire reports and data to aid in his decision-making. Of course knowing them and using them are two totally different things.

“Believe me, I love to look at numbers,” Gardenhire said in his Hammond Stadium office in his final spring training with the Twins in 2014. “I’ve always been into numbers, I go with match-ups and all these things, I also believe in a starting lineup, trying to put a consistent lineup down. But I use match-ups all the time. I’ve been a little more old school as far as the lineup, one-two-three, that type of thing, the way I grew up playing ball and these things. I see a lot of different lineups nowadays and I’ve been reading into it a little bit more, talking to our people -- it can come up interesting sometimes.”

The fact that the Dodgers, with a front office which was remodeled completely with the intention of using an analytical slant, has not even contacted Gardenhire for an interview likely speaks volumes toward how that community views him as a manager. (Naturally, they are set to interview Kirk Gibson who comes from an anti-analytics organization himself.) That is not necessarily a knock – after all, the two managers in this past World Series, Ned Yost and Terry Collins, are not known for being forward-thinkers when it comes to using data – but more clubs are expecting their leadership to have this knowledge to better implement on the field what the front office creates off of it.

To be sure, Gardenhire did not lose the position in San Diego so much as Andy Green won it. “I had heard when he interviewed there that he really knocked it out of the park,” Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale told the Arizona Republic. “They were really excited about him. I’m really proud of him. That’s quite an accomplishment at 38.” At his introductory press conference, Preller raved about his attributes. “There have been big-league managers that have been successful from all different paths. We were open-minded to really any of those paths and finding the right person who had presence, energy, was intelligent on the baseball side, was very prepared. He checked all those boxes. He’s a guy who we feel can connect with our organization and players and take us to a different level.”

Reportedly, Gardenhire earned enough respect in the San Diego front office that they wanted his experience around the clubhouse, even if it was in a lesser role. According to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune, multiple sources told him that the Padres have offered Gardenhire a bench coach position. On Wednesday, Gardenhire joined MLB Network Radio and told the show that the position was not officially offered. “I don’t think anything has been formerly offered,” he said. “I’ve had a good conversation. The San Diego group was unbelievable.” He also commended Preller on his talents and called him a “brilliant young man”, saying that Preller’s baseball junkie attitude is something that he respects. While most insiders believe Gardenhire would reject the offer, a season tutoring Green while learning the finer points of the National League style of the game would probably be better than sitting out another year.

With just the Dodgers’ position open and no other job prospects remaining, unless he is willing to guide Green through his first year as an major league manager, Gardenhire will likely spend the summer waiting for the phone to ring.