Would the Twins be 16-13 if Gardy were still here?

[Monkeypaws]

Just wondering.

 

Molitor has some of Gardy's tendencies, pretty conservative on base, which surprises me, overusing the bullpen, not a lot of situational adjustments or small ball. (Correct me if I'm wrong - this is from what I've seen).

 

This season may end up going down the ****ter eventually, but right now i like the energy and enthusiasm I'm seeing, although I'm not sure how much credit the manager/coaching changes deserve.

 

Opinions?

[sorney]

No, they would have been worse.  Can't bring back a guy after 4 straight crappy seasons.  Need change just for change sake

[blairpaul715]

Well he has brought in Perkins in the 8th a couple times, he seems to let the pitchers pitch past 100 frequently, his 25th player doesnt play much, he uses the shift alot........I think he is much more progressive than Gardenhire, altho i wanted Mientkewicz, I think Molitor has done a commendable job, and Gardenhire had no fire in him at all, it was/is nice to hear a new voice, I am sure for the players too, IMO

[diehardtwinsfan]

I think that managers (like players) can contribute to wins over the course of the season... probably much along the same lines, with the best mgrs. out there doing something like 4-5 WAR with the worst being in the negatives (though quantifying this in a measurable way is impossible).... Not sure where Gardy fits into that equation.  I've never liked him as a game manager.  This early in the season though, I don't really know if the sample size is big enough.  Perhaps Molly has been better by a win or two, but not really sure.

[JB_Iowa]

I think management and coaching may make a difference this year.  Lots of puzzle pieces to play with and the need to keep some young players on track.

 

I think Gardenhire was burned out and no longer had the patience to make those moves and work with young players.

 

For that reason, I think the record is probably better under Molitor.

[twinscowboysbulls]

 

Just wondering.

 

Molitor has some of Gardy's tendencies, pretty conservative on base, which surprises me, overusing the bullpen, not a lot of situational adjustments or small ball. (Correct me if I'm wrong - this is from what I've seen).

 

This season may end up going down the ****ter eventually, but right now i like the energy and enthusiasm I'm seeing, although I'm not sure how much credit the manager/coaching changes deserve.

 

Opinions?

 

Disagree. Molitor seems to have figured out how to use a bullpen. The only thing I can disagree with is his use of Boyer in high leverage situations, but then again, there isn't exactly a glaring go-to option in front of him either.

 

Molitor has more or less used a platoon in CF which seems genious. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rosario stay(assuming he continues to be okay at the plate) and Schaefer go, after Arcia is recalled from DL.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Gardy's bullpen management wasn't that bad most of the time... Yeah, he made some inexplicable moves from time to time but most years, he didn't overexpose guys and generally went right/left when he could.

 

Of course, that's not very hard to do but in defense of Gardy, many managers seem incapable of grasping even those simplest of concepts.

 

With that said, Molitor is pretty conservative thus far but you can see him exploring different ideas with the roster. More platooning, Perkins pitching for more than three outs, less roster dead weight. I'm interested to see how he grows as a manager once he gets a little more comfortable with the process.

[stringer bell]

Molitor has been given a roster with more big league players than Gardy had. I'll echo Brock and say that Gardenhire did a good job with the bullpen in recent years. The one platoon that Molitor has embraced is Schafer/Robinson and the results have been OK, considering the players involved. I wonder how long the struggle would have gone with the lineup headed by Santana with Torii hitting fourth. Dozier has improved the leadoff spot, Hunter has been better at #2 and Plouffe has done pretty well hitting cleanup.

[tobi0040]

More shifting, platooning, bringing Perk in the 8th inning.  I also think it has gone un-noticed, but Arcia was sat a few games even prior to the injury (guessing Molitor is fed up with the defense).  I don't think Gardy would have done any of these things.

 

Completely agree with Die Hard, very hard to quantify these things. But I think they have helped.

[Thrylos]

Nope.  Because nobody would be on the DL yet.  Everyone would be day to day and have a single effective bench player to use.

 

Plus May would had been in Rochester and Milone in Minnesota.

 

Good riddance.

[Boom Boom]

Nope. Because nobody would be on the DL yet. Everyone would be day to day and have a single effective bench player to use.

 

Plus May would had been in Rochester and Milone in Minnesota.

 

Good riddance.

I don't think having Milone still in the rotation would be a bad thing, as long as the spot he takes is Nolasco's.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

They could be 20-9 with Gardy, or 7-22 with Gardy, or anything inbetween.

 

What we know for sure is that Molitor has lead the team to a 16-13 record, the highest winning percentage for the Twins in 5 years.

 

Molitor has done a nice job of putting his players in a position to be successful and protecting them while in a slump (benching Arcia, Santana, and Vargas each for a day or two early on). It seems like a manager has more power to do harm than good. Once the roster is set, much of the success depends on the players.  

 

We saw it last year when Molitor was a bench coach, but the team is more aggressive on the basepaths with Molitor than they were under Gardy. Some of that credit goes to Torii Hunter, who has been borderline reckless on the bases early on. That aggressiveness has paid off several times already.

 

I have nothing to do add that hasn't already been said regarding his bullpen usage- again, a little more aggressive than Gardy was in using Perkins, but overall a conservative approach.

 

I would say that Molitor has been successful in doing as little harm as possible to the team, and some of his moves have made the team better.

[gunnarthor]

Sure, they could have the same record.  Gardy had them at something like 23-21 last year.  He was a good manager.

 

I think the main differences between a Gardy-run team and Molitor-run team would have been how we used Santana.  I think Gardy would have kept him in CF and Escobar at short.  There would have been smaller differences as well but that would have been the big one.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

Sure, they could have the same record.  Gardy had them at something like 23-21 last year.  He was a good manager.

 

I think the main differences between a Gardy-run team and Molitor-run team would have been how we used Santana.  I think Gardy would have kept him in CF and Escobar at short.  There would have been smaller differences as well but that would have been the big one.

Bingo.

 

Ironically, under Molitor, Santana and particularly Escobar have been playing out of position, without any ill effect to the W-L record. 

 

Also, starting pitching. 

 

 

[sane]

If Gardy were here, the boys would be batting their tails off. Hicksy, Dozy, Ploofy, Maui, Zookey, would be having good at-bats, and the ball would be coming nicely out of the hands of Hughesy, Gibby, Noley, Perky, Pelly, May-day and Tonky.

[jctwins]

I'm not sure what the numbers say, but it sure as hell seems like the fear of hitting home runs has disappeared this year.

 

Whether it is because it is different guys hitting home runs or a different message is hard to tell.

 

 

[Dave T]

I still haven't forgiven Gardy for lobbying to bring back Bartlett, Kubel, and Guerrier last season.  He wasn't committed to winning.  He just wanted a few of his old friends in the clubhouse.

[tobi0040]

 

I still haven't forgiven Gardy for lobbying to bring back Bartlett, Kubel, and Guerrier last season.  He wasn't committed to winning.  He just wanted a few of his old friends in the clubhouse.

 

I agree he lobbied for those guys, but I truly believe Gardy was trying to get the band back together because he trusts anyone that has ever been good for him at some point (over young players).  He knew he needed to win last year.

[jimmer]

I really haven't seen instances where a decision Molitor made turned out to be the difference between a win and loss AND it also be something Gardy wouldn't have done. If one is to suggest Molitor has been the difference of say 2 wins already, that makes him like a 10 win manager or so.  That'd be something for a guy who has never managed before, or for a manager period.

 

The postgames have been better though.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

I have enjoyed the interviews with Molitor this season, that's for sure.

[sane]

"Would the Twins be 16-13 if Gardy were still here?"

 

Yes, I think so.

 

The bigger question is "would the Twins be 16-146 at the end of the season?"

[Nick Nelson]

What I've enjoyed seeing is this team's resilience. After a 1-6 start, including a blowout loss in the home opener, they bounced back to win 4 of the next 5. After that brutal loss against Detroit where Tim Stauffer and Co. blew a big lead and let a winnable series slip away, the Twins went on to sweep the Sox and take 3 of 4 from Oakland.

 

They say the true test of a team's character is how they react when they're down and beaten. If that's the case, this group seems to have some strong character. How much is Molitor influencing this? I don't know, but I have to think a little.

[nicksaviking]

I don't think so, but really to little fault of Gardy. 

 

Something intagible seems to happen with managerial changes.  Buck Schowalter, Terry Francona and Bob Melvin are recent examples of a new manager walking into a pretty similar situation to the previous manager and coming out with better results.  "Energy", "momentum" and "urgency" often are words that tend to get thrown around and quite often sound silly as they are basically empty euphamisms, but some kind of change certainly seems to happen that is not exactly conceptual or describle.

[Linus]

I like that they haven't screwed around with guys that are hurt.  Between 13 pitchers and somebody always dinged up, we never had a bench.  Already this year, there have been instances where the player was DL'd immediately which saves the roster and sends a message.

[gunnarthor]

 

I don't think so, but really to little fault of Gardy. 

 

Something intagible seems to happen with managerial changes.  Buck Schowalter, Terry Francona and Bob Melvin are recent examples of a new manager walking into a pretty similar situation to the previous manager and coming out with better results.  "Energy", "momentum" and "urgency" often are words that tend to get thrown around and quite often sound silly as they are basically empty euphamisms, but some kind of change certainly seems to happen that is not exactly conceptual or describle.

 

I like that they haven't screwed around with guys that are hurt.  Between 13 pitchers and somebody always dinged up, we never had a bench.  Already this year, there have been instances where the player was DL'd immediately which saves the roster and sends a message.

I think both of these are fair points.  I don't think Gardy was a bad manager but a new voice in the clubhouse might have made a difference.  

[ashbury]

I'm not sure what the numbers say, but it sure as hell seems like the fear of hitting home runs has disappeared this year.

The numbers say that one team in the AL has hit fewer home runs so far this season. They're hitting doubles and triples at about the league average, just not the round-trippers. What that says about fear I can not guess.

[Thegrin]

I think the results would be about the same with Gardy. The difference will show, later in the season, after tough stretches of baseball. The Gardy teams would be more resilient. I expect Molly's team to be too brittle and mike break under pressure.  I hope not, but to me, Molly manages "scared".

[Jerr]

New voice, yeah that's good; but too many other changes to decide if any difference with just the manager change.

Gardy is a good manager and Molitor is off to a good start, I will enjoy being above .500 and see how it goes

As to the question: I could easily see Gardy with just as good a record with those same changes. And maybe Gardy would have had a better start than Molitor did.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

I'm surprised I haven't seen more credit given to Neil Allen about Molitor "knowing his pitchers/figuring out how to use the bullpen". 

 

But to the original question: Nope. Especially not after the 1-6 start. 

[Hrbowski]

Hard to tell, but I think that Molitor has really been making the players be aware of the situation, it seems that this is the most they have played as a team since 2002-2006, but that may have nothing to do with Molitor, since those were Gardy's first years, and Molitor had just left the team. My guess is that it is either because of they needed change for change's sake, they have natural growth in confidence, or: