Gardy or Mollie?

[Thrylos]

 

My only issue with Mollie is the stolen base attempts.

 

70 stolen bases and 38 caught stealing?

 

Not every runner is him in his prime.

 

2014:  99 SB, 36 CS

2013:  52 SB, 33 CS

 

pretty much within standard deviation the past 3 seasons and Gardy's 2013 was worst.

 

If anything teams just do not run or hit and run that much any more...

 

 

 

 

[Jham]

 

But only one of them in this comparison has been fired.

 

That's my point.  Our most recent memory of Gardy is him being fired.  This after his no-talent squads that lost 90+ games for 4 seasons straight.  It's hard not for doubt to creep into the mind when that happens.  I'd argue that was more a function of talent than management.

Meanwhile, Mollie got the advantage of being the new guy, having a much better roster, and having not had any losing seasons.  Ultimately, a fair assessment of Gardy should take into account his entire resume, not just the year or years that got him fired, and certainly not the fact alone that he was fired. 

[Major League Ready]

 

Most of these things are false narratives.  Over Gardy's tenure, the Twins were about middle of the road in sacrifices in the AL (if you count the NL, they were bottom third) - and behind the White Sox, Tigers and Royals.  The reason we think they did that is because during the same span they were first in all baseball (including the NL) in bunt hits and success rate - by a pretty good margin, actually.  But this had a lot more to do with what the FO gave Gardy than Gardy himself.  When he had a good team in 2010, for instance, with no piranhas, he bunted very little.  The Yankees and Red Sox had more sacrifices than we did.  

Don't go confusing us with the facts. 

[Willihammer]

 

 

 

Gardy was all emo.

Where's Bark?

 

Bark!

[Boom Boom]

2014: 99 SB, 36 CS

2013: 52 SB, 33 CS

 

pretty much within standard deviation the past 3 seasons and Gardy's 2013 was worst.

 

If anything teams just do not run or hit and run that much any more...

Yes, the Twins have been bad at baserunning for a while now, and installing "baserunning guru" Paul Molitor did not help.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

I'm of the belief that managers in baseball don't play a significant factor in team success. There are a select few game changing coaches in each of the 4 major sports that simply know how to manage a roster and get the most out of every player. In baseball I would say those 2 game changers are Joe Maddon and Bruce Bochy. The rest, IMO will sink or swim with the roster they are given. 

I would say Mollie is the best choice going forward. I'm in agreement with Denny Hocking - that Gardy was burned out and took most of the heat for having a below average roster to work with. The Twins needed a new voice in the clubhouse, and though I wish it would have been a voice from the outside of the country club, Mollie has done a good job so far. 

 

I'm not I completely agree.  I think they contribute much in line to the way a typical player contributes.  If you could measure WAR for managers (and I don't really know if that will be possible), you'd find a good one might give you 3 wins over the course of the season and a bad one might lose a game or two.  The problem is quantifying it.  With Gardy, I don't think that was too hard. He made a lot of poor decisions b/c they were easy decisions.

 

I would take Mollie going forward without question at the moment. The real question is how he learns and adjusts.  I think the multiple inning thing for relievers was a good thing as was the increased use of shifting (which I'd add is more quantifiable than lineup decisions).