Thread: Article: On Writing, Coaching and Paul Molitor

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?10...d-Paul-Molitor

There are probably three very distinct reasons why Molitor is "not a good fit." Either:

1. Molitor does not want to be a full-time coach. He doesn't want to travel.
2. Molitor has some unknown recently that reflects poorly on him and would on the organization if he were full-time.
or
3. Molitor is the replacement if the team lets go of Gardenhire, and they can claim they went outside the organization.

There's also the possibility he doesn't know how do simple things like access stats on the internet. :-)

I'm not a big Molitor for manager supporter, but a few things should be brought up:

1.) With the success of good baseball people, Robin Ventura and Mike Matheny, as big league managers with no managing experience at any level, it's not necessary that Molitor has to do the whole "pay your dues" thing.
2.) I'm not a fan of retreads at all. However, Joe Torre was a bad manager by many accounts until he took over the Yankees team as manager. Suddenly he is one of the best managers ever... Molitor was a terrible hitting coach with Seattle, but that may have been because Seattle had terrible hitters.

I think you guys are missing the point. When Terry Ryan said Molitor isn't a good fit, that may have simply been a nice way of saying that he doesn't want the job. If he wanted to
manage or coach full time, he would be already doing it.

Molitor is on record as "would probably be open to coaching."

As long as, you know, the job commitments don't get too imposing or whatever.

Has anyone heard anything about Redman being an option for the Twins staff?

Originally Posted by nick5253

Has anyone heard anything about Redman being an option for the Twins staff?

I assume you mean Mike Redmond, who is part of the Blue Jays organization.

Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

Originally Posted by nick5253

Has anyone heard anything about Redman being an option for the Twins staff?

I assume you mean Mike Redmond, who is part of the Blue Jays organization.

Yeah, he was highly regarded with the Twins, if I remember correctly. And now has a couple years of experience, would he be an option either on the big league club or back-filling any of the minor league openings, if the AAA guys get promoted?

Personally, I think that having Molitor on the coaching staff would make Gardy uneasy - like having a manager-in-waiting sitting next to you everyday. Tom Brunansky has been talked about as the replacement for hitting coach. My preference would be to make Bruno the new manager at Rochester. Make Glynn your 3B or bench coach and bring Rudy Hernandez up from New Britain as your new hitting coach. That would give the Twins the Hispanic presence which Ryan has said he is looking for. It would also prepare Bruno to be a manager-in-waiting (similar to what Calvin Griffith did in '68 with Billy Martin - giving him a year in Denver before making him manager in '69).

Actually I'd love to have Guillen come in as bench coach if (or when) he's fired in Miami, but that's not gonna happen for the same reason as Molitor not getting the job as bench coach.

Also - where is Tommy Watkins these days? Might he be a 1B coach option?

I would like to see them bring in Omar Visquel as the 1b coach and infield coach. He just retired and they were talking about him wanting to coach during the last series against the Jays. Might not have the credentials for the job like Vavra, however.

I agree with Seth on the "pay your dues" requirement as nonsense.

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

I would like to see them bring in Omar Visquel as the 1b coach and infield coach.

Problem is, Vizquel could probably start for this team at either 2B or SS...

I don't even understand why saying having Molitor on the coaching staff would be like having a "manager in waiting".

Why would he seem more like a "manager in waiting" than say, Gene Glynn?

I don't get the Molitor obsession. But then again, I'm not from Minnesota. I'll just think about it like the Mauer obsession.

P.S. If I were Molitor and WANTED to coach or manage, I think Minnesota might be the last place I'd want to do that. Even though most of his Hall-of-Fame career was in Milwaukee, maybe he just doesn't want to risk the "beloved, hometown boy" status he has in Minnesota. It would be really easy to fall off the pedestal.

Originally Posted by spycake

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

I would like to see them bring in Omar Visquel as the 1b coach and infield coach.

Problem is, Vizquel could probably start for this team at either 2B or SS...

This my friend.....is sadly true.

Yeah, I'm not sure Molitor would be any more or less a 'manager in waiting' presence than Glynn or even Brunansky would be. Any of the three could be a candidate to replace Gardy if the team tanks in April and May again. Then again, not all that long ago you could imagine that Ullger might have been considered close to a 'manager in waiting,' too.

I've always assumed Molitor's reasons for not wanting a full-time coaching gig had to do with not wanting to spend 6 months of the year away from family and even a coaching job with the Twins might keep him on the road more than he preferred. Maybe his family situation has changed? If he's turned the Twins down in the past when they wanted him to take on an assignment, I can certainly see where Ryan might not be inclined to let him jump to the head of the list ahead of guys who did accept those assignments. I'm sure many of them would have preferred not to spend half a year away from family, too. I have no idea what's gone on between Molitor and the Twins over the past 10 years, but I'm saying there are plenty of possible legitimate reasons why Ryan doesn't consider him a fit at this time.

Not that his lack of managing experience would rule him out by itself. As pointed out, there are examples of managers who've had some success without putting in their time in the minors so it wouldn't be absolutely necessary to draw from the minor league pool to fill manager/coach openings at the Big League level. At the same time, if you've got good minor league coaches, I would think that would be your preference. You could even make me the manager or a base coach of the Twins and I guess there's a possibility the team would succeed. I'm just not sure that would prove I was actually the most competent option you had.

C'mon Geek! "Assistant coach"? I know it is football season, but a coach is a coach.

I do think that all of the clamoring for names to be coaches--Brunansky, Molitor, Visquel and to a lesser degree Redmond--is faulty logic. Just because a guy was a great player doesn't make him a great coach or manager.

I think it is more important for the coach to be available to hit extra fungoes and pitch extra BP than it is that they have a stellar major league resume as a player. It seems to me that this requirement might be why Molly isn't a great fit. Coaches also have to get along with the manager and the players and one hopes they earn the player's respect. Perhaps a former star would have an easier time getting respect from the players, but I don't think it means that the Glynns, Vavras, and Gardenhires of the world can't win the respect of the players.

Originally Posted by AllhopeisgoneMNTWINS

Originally Posted by spycake

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

I would like to see them bring in Omar Visquel as the 1b coach and infield coach.

Problem is, Vizquel could probably start for this team at either 2B or SS...

This my friend.....is sadly true.

I second this notion. Further, I think he should be signed to a 5 yr contract. So he can be eased into coaching in 4 yrs when the farm might have someone ripe to replace him.

Originally Posted by ScottyB

Personally, I think that having Molitor on the coaching staff would make Gardy uneasy - like having a manager-in-waiting sitting next to you everyday. Tom Brunansky has been talked about as the replacement for hitting coach. My preference would be to make Bruno the new manager at Rochester. Make Glynn your 3B or bench coach and bring Rudy Hernandez up from New Britain as your new hitting coach. That would give the Twins the Hispanic presence which Ryan has said he is looking for. It would also prepare Bruno to be a manager-in-waiting (similar to what Calvin Griffith did in '68 with Billy Martin - giving him a year in Denver before making him manager in '69).

Actually I'd love to have Guillen come in as bench coach if (or when) he's fired in Miami, but that's not gonna happen for the same reason as Molitor not getting the job as bench coach.

Also - where is Tommy Watkins these days? Might he be a 1B coach option?

If Guillen was the bench coach, who would take over when he and Gardy and Ozzie get thrown out?

Molitor, I believe,openly expressed in the past that he didn't want the on-the-road grind. As a Twins instructor, he gets to work now-and-then. But his situation may have changed and he would like to be a big-league manager, and get on that road. Bench coach would suit him well.

Originally Posted by stringer bell

I do think that all of the clamoring for names to be coaches--Brunansky, Molitor, Visquel and to a lesser degree Redmond--is faulty logic. Just because a guy was a great player doesn't make him a great coach or manager.

You know what Joe Torre was before he was a manager - a long-time player. Joe Girardi? player. Buck Showalter? Minor league player.

Basically, it's very rare that you see a manager that wasn't a player along the way, even if he didn't make the majors. That said, Joe Torre is a monstrous rarity - a successful manager who was a "star" player in his day (9 All-Star games, 1 MVP, 1 Gold Glove, etc.). Yet, because of that, he had clashes along the way, most infamously as the Braves manager when he tried to wield his "I was a star for this franchise" over the reigning MVP at the time and lost. Right now, some of the former players who I think are probably going to get a shot soon include Eddie Perez and Terry Pendleton of the Braves, Brad Ausmus of the Padres, Ryne Sandberg of the Phillies, Jerry Browne of the Nationals, Steve Decker of the Giants, Brian Harper of the Cubs (yes, THAT Brian Harper), and Joe McEwing of the White Sox. There's a huge list of former players, and guys like Pendleton and Sandberg that won MVPs or were legit Hall of Famers are the rare air here. Molitor would be rare as well, but if he has the gumption to do it, who are you and I to tell him no?

how could anyone, including you or me, do WORSE than this manager and his staff the last two years? i don't agree that you necessarily have to practice in the minors and on the bench before you do the job. managing isn't writing. not even close. Molitor could be one of those that can do it. And the new blood and different mind could very well be just the twins need, and send this stagnant twins way and it's perpetrators down the road to do it somewhere else if that is their fate then. and if he fails......... it would be no different than the last two years, and what many or most fear in the coming year(s) with gardenhire still here.