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According to a recent poll conducted by Public Policy Polling (h/t Fox9's Seth Kaplan), only 9% of Minnesotans would like to see manager Ron Gardenhire fired. In spite of his 122-182 record over the past two season a vast majority of those interviewed (57%) believed he should keep his job while another 34% had no opinion on the matter.
Had you been polled, how would you have responded?
Well, this Iowan would say fire him (or get him to retire). But a large problem with polls is always in the exact wording of the question -- for example, I think you'd get a different answer to "Do you want Ron Gardenhire to retire?" than you would to "Do you want Ron Gardenhire to be fired?" But I'm too lazy to go look up exactly how the question was worded.
And I don't particularly care what Minnesotans in general think on this question.
SOMETHING needs to change in this organization. The leadership is stagnant, stagnant, stagnant.
I've wanted him gone for years...good a time as any to take him out back and Old Yeller the SOB.
I went back and dug through the links to find the actual poll question and responses:
Q17 (Twins fans: Would you support or oppose
firing Ron Gardenhire?
Support .................................................. ......... 9%
Oppose .................................................. ......... 57%
Not sure .................................................. ........ 34%
Given the question, I'm not surprised by the responses. A lot of people are going to have trouble with firing a long-time employee with an overall record of success -- even some of us here who want to see Gardenhire gone. We'd like to see a change in manager "finessed" with a resignation/retirement.
I think the response would have been significantly different if they had asked: Would you like to see Ron Gardenhire retire and the Twins hire a new manager for 2013?
People need to be very careful how they characterize the results of this poll.
"Opposing the firing of Ron Gardenhire" isn't exactly the same thing as "wanting Ron Gardenhire to keep his job".
Its a much larger question than firing him/not firing him.
IF not, what do you do with Gardy goin into his last yr of his contract?? Do you extend him after the last 2 yrs (which is what will happen) or let him play out his last yr. What do you do with his coaches, whom many believe the blame lies with.
This isnt an organization that does things differently regardless of whats happenning thru baseball. They believe their philosiphy is correct & will rely on 6 of last 11 yrs as division champs instead of being one of worst teams in MLB the past 2 yrs.
I like Gardy, but it's the coaches and the whole front office to take the blame. It has to start at the very top with Pohlad and on down the
line, but the manager is usaually the one that gets the axe.
Gardy is fine going forward. He is very well respected around the league. Axing him would be using an accomplished manager as a scapegoat for the team's internal problems. It would be very unjust.
Keep him.
Do the twins do the little things well? Do young players get consistently better? How do you feel about the tactics and strategies he uses day to day?
Are those rhetorical questions? If not, then I think the Twins have done the little things right during many years of Gardy's tenure, a number of players have got consistently better and his strategy was fine when they were winning. The big difference in all these instances is the players, you come up with a strategy with Nick f***ing Blackburn on the mound.Quote:
Originally Posted by mike wants wins
Not at all, I think those ate some of the questions we should think about before answering. I do not think most people would agree on the little things. I am not sure about the other answers for sure or not.
I know the Twins don't fit the mold of a lot of baseball teams and the "what have you done for me lately" philosophy. The fact of the matter is that they aren't producing on the field. Guys are making mistakes and they are getting away from the fundamentally sound team we are used to. Maybe we need the same old message preached but in a different voice.
Maybe they just aren't all that fundamentally sound, the manager is only as good as his players, at the Major League level if your fundamentals are not already sound then I don't care who your manager is. This club needs more depth, there is nobody pushing the players in front of them at a number of positions and it shows. Nothing like a trip back down to AAA to remember to focus on your fundamentals, Brian Dozier anyone? And he got pushed by Pedro Florimon, sheesh, now what?Quote:
Originally Posted by zenser
There is indeed something wrong with this whole organization. It goes deeper than Gardy. I commented on this last year on the STRIB.. the Twins have not done the little things right since Jones, Hunter, Koskie, Mientkiewicz, and the rest of that group came up together. They were about as fundamentally sound as it gets. Most of them were above average defensively, excellent baserunners, and great situational hitters (hitting behind runners), and all of them could bunt. I remember David Ortiz saying in a SI article that if you came up with the Twins, you knew how to bunt. Where has that gone?? Anyone watched Revere, Dozier, and even Span try to lay down a sacrifice.. its painful. Last two years we have seen numerous blunders in the field and many many mental mistakes, basically just not knowing the game Something has happened along the way that this is not getting taught in the minor leagues. Would like to see this change, is this the managers job that this becomes a priority in the minor leagues... very fair question!Quote:
Originally Posted by mike wants wins
Gardy isn't a great manager, but he is a good one.
What he's lacked are the alphas that Kelly benefited from: Puckett, Morris, Viola, Gaetti, Hrbek; those guys wanted to kick your ass. Gardy has had Santana and Hunter; the MM boys are good players, but they lack the fire Kelly's boys had - add Gladden, Bruno, etc. to that list.
Hopefully Ryan can build that kind of team again.
I like Gardy, and I think he's a good manager, but it's time for a change. Things have gone stale, we need a fresh voices.
There's no sense firing him now. The ideal situation, which will never happen, is that Gardy and the Twins mutually decide to part ways.
Of course I would oppose the firing of Ron Gardenhire. If you watch the games, how often do you question his decisions ? Rarely, I'd bet. (Now that Grey is gone.) Vavre and Anderson are excellent coaches. What makes you think that a new voice would improve anything. Change for change sake is rarely a good idea.
---Well, blind loyalty in the face of poor results usually doesn't work out too well either. How many 90+ loss seasons are you willing to endure before you'd support a change? Gardy is a very good manager, but he's not entitled to a lifetime appointment here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thegrin
I'm not a knee-jerk "fire the manager/coach" guy. There's too much of that in pro sports today. Often times teams want to shake this up, but contracts make trades more complicated and difficult to pull off. So they fire the coaching staff. Not because it's the best move, but because it's the easiest.
That's said, when the same voice has been speaking for too long, people just stop listening. Change for change's sake can be change for the better. Look at the Whities this year. The Orioles have been a different team since Showalter took over.
You have to wonder sometimes if a different "look" might be part of the answer.
Easy to say that 'we' could go out and get Francona, but why in the world would he want to come here? Until some arms get into the rotation, and some solid defense is stabilized up the middle, oh, and a 3rd baseman would help, and.... on and on it goes.
Be careful what you wish for. Your solution might be even worse.