Allen, Arteaga among minor league coaches let go

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins didn't renew the contracts of the following minor league coaches:

 

AAA hitting coach Chad Allen
AA pitching coach Ivan Arteaga
A pitching coach Henry Bonilla
Dom. Lg. hitting coach Asdrubal Estrada 

[ashbury]

Any insights to share, beyond the normal "the team decided to go in a different direction"?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Didn't speak directly to the minor league appointments, but Reusse just said on 1500 that these guys have been anxious to blow the whole thing up for quite a while. Planned to fire Molitor after 2017 but MOY award threw sand in the gears to that.

[mikelink45]

What criteria do our geniuses in the FO use in their evaluations? I have some real questions about Pickler, and many of our other coaches.

[Han Joelo]

I feel like I've always heard good things about these guys, at least the top three...and yet...its not like the Twins prospects have arrived at the majors ready to deliver.  Well, good luck to them anyway.  Seem like good fellas.

[Thrylos]

Never understood the hiring of a guy in the Mitchell report as a minor league coach.

 

I suspect that the new minor league pitching coordinator had a bit to do with the pitching coaches...

[Halsey Hall]

I don't understand it, those guys have been around a long time and were well liked. 

[DocBauer]

Didn't speak directly to the minor league appointments, but Reusse just said on 1500 that these guys have been anxious to blow the whole thing up for quite a while. Planned to fire Molitor after 2017 but MOY award threw sand in the gears to that.

Here is my problem/question/conundrum:

 

I get that the FO was perhaps forced to keep Molitor their first year. I can even get keeping him on board for 2018 after the 2017 season and winning MOY. And I even get coming in their first year and not just razing the entire structure of the FO and the entire milb organization. Hey, it takes time to properly oversee and evaluate. But I'm a little confused why some of these moves weren't done last off season. And to be honest, I thought a couple of these guys were rather well regarded.

 

My opinion, were I actually in charge and owned a ML franchise, is that I'd own as many of the milb teams as I could. Even the one's i didn't own, forget team colors, the uniforms and logos would be as close to the parent club as I could get them. EVERYTHING from stretching to workouts to the general philosophy of coaches would be on a similar path, (allowing that different coaches and instructors would see and introduce their own perspectives).

 

I hope this is the direction moving forward. It seems the FO is ready to put their own stamp on things. I'm just wondering why now? Do they have mkre license now? Or is this simply part 2 of evaluation 2 years in?

[Thrylos]

 

It seems the FO is ready to put their own stamp on things. I'm just wondering why now? Do they have mkre license now? Or is this simply part 2 of evaluation 2 years in?

 

It takes time.  Cannot fire 100% of the people and replace them with new on Day1.  It is a 2-3 years process.  Don't be surprised if you see several of the remaining Ryan front office types go away now as well...

[FormerMinnasotan]

Interesting that Stu Clipburn continues to have a job as the pitching coach for Rochester. You’d think with the early struggles of Berrios, Romero, Littell, and Gonsalves that would red flag Clipburn’s effectivness in readying our pitching prospects from the transition of AAA ball to MLB ball.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Never understood the hiring of a guy in the Mitchell report as a minor league coach.

 

I suspect that the new minor league pitching coordinator had a bit to do with the pitching coaches...

 

Mitchell Report means nothing at this point. He could coach, and he had a few early successes and was credited with helping Buxton in 2017 (or maybe it was 2016). He's Mientkiewicz like, so it isn't too surprising though.

 

I would say that for the coaches, the criteria for letting them go was that their contracts were up. They can just let them go and pick their own people. 

 

Maybe a guy like Michael McCarthy, who the front office brought in last year as the Red Wings fourth outfielder could be a pitching coach somewhere. 

 

I won't pretend to know what they're doing. I do like that not everyone got let go right away, and they at least had a chance to get evaluated in their real world, season situation. 

[Platoon]

I don't know anything about any of these coaches, personally or professionally. But I do know that the orginization was not putting out very many quality players. The high level talented ones, Buxton, Sano, weren't producing. players at both the MLB and MiLB levels seemed to have no focus on fundamentals. By that I am not implying that they weren't taught them, I am sure they were. But there is a difference between showing them how to, for instance, hit a cutoff man, and impressing on them that playing time is relative to your hitting that cutoff man consistently. The bottom line, the Twins franchise has not been anywhere near a model of efficiency or productivity when it comes to evaluating talent and then nurturing it. I don't know if the new people the FO brings in will be an improvement, but the previous ones weren't getting it done. And if I am Falvine, if I am going to succeed or fail, I would want to do it my way.