Reusse: Twins need a Latin American Coach

[Willihammer]

Twins need a coach from Latin America, pronto | StarTribune.com

 

I think Reusse makes a good case for why another whitebread manager like Paul Molitor or Gene Glynn, despite their pedigrees, might not be the best candidates to usher in the next wave of Latin American talents.

 

A couple of possibilities that might fit the bill:

 

Dave Martinez

Sandy Alomar

Bobby Cuellar

 

Anyone else?

[AROG]

Absolutely, I'ld be ok with Tony Pena

[AROG]

He seemed to do quite well with the Dominican team

[DaveW]

Baseball is baseball. The beauty is in every country there are 9 innings to a game, 3 outs to an inning and the bases are 90 ft.

 

You shouldn't just go out of your way to hire a Latin American manager just because there are a lot of Latin players.

 

You should hire the best manager/man for the job regardless of color/background etc. last I checked Miguel Cabrera was doing ok with Leyland as his manager etc etc

 

All I care about is getting the best man for the job...period. And at this point I honestly think it's hardy unless Leyland, Torre, TK or Madden decide they wanna manage the twins all of a sudden.

[DaveW]

Though I strongly agree the twins should get a large Latin presence some way in their system as a whole coaching wise all the way up.

 

I'd still

Prefer Gardy as manager and Ozzie as a bench coach though. Have been saying that for years!

[twinsfaninsaudi]

See: Acta, Manny.

 

Not neccessarily as the manager.

[AROG]

I can see that. I think we should have a strong presence in the minors, doesn't have to be managers but other coaches. I was thinking the Manager at the ML level, and only if as qualified as what is available, because it would help with free agent signings and international signings to have that presence. Pena coached a world baseball classic team, he is a minor hero. I do not agree that Gardy is a good manager. He is terrible at game decisions and I would love to see him out.

[jokin]

As stated in the other thread, where Nick posted the link. Long-time proponent for:

 

Ivan Rodriguez

Omar Vizquel

 

Not necessarily as manager right away, but both would be outstanding.

 

Tony Pena would probably be ready to manage immediately, add one of the above as bench coach.

[Willihammer]

Baseball is baseball. The beauty is in every country there are 9 innings to a game, 3 outs to an inning and the bases are 90 ft.

 

You shouldn't just go out of your way to hire a Latin American manager just because there are a lot of Latin players.

 

You should hire the best manager/man for the job regardless of color/background etc. last I checked Miguel Cabrera was doing ok with Leyland as his manager etc etc

 

All I care about is getting the best man for the job...period. And at this point I honestly think it's hardy unless Leyland, Torre, TK or Madden decide they wanna manage the twins all of a sudden.

 

I should have anticipated the semantics. I don't particularly care they get anyone who hails from Latin America per se. My main concern is that the next manager is fluent in both languages though, in order to be able to get through to players 100% of the time. I think that should be considered a key qualification, as it is in plenty of other jobs where you have staff dealing with people who don't speak English well. It just so happens that nearly 100% of these guys in the baseball world also happen to be of Latin American decent.

 

I'd add, in my personal experience the cutoff with immigrants who are able to assimilate easily to English happens to be right about age 16, or just before many of these Latin American kids we drafted would be getting here. You can look at a guy like Tony Oliva, who after what, 60 years in the country, still can't seem to speak English worth a darn because he didn't get here till he was about 20 or so.

 

The Twins might want these kids to assimilate, but there is only so much they are going to be able to do in 3-5 years of minor league ball. At some point it may be more pragmatic to just get a bilingual coach for the big league club at least, so that they can shortcut to the native language when necessarily, particularly when you're dealing with the sort of egos all our top Latin players appear to have.

[jokin]

I should have anticipated the semantics. I don't particularly care they get anyone who hails from Latin America per se. My main concern is that the next manager is fluent in both languages though, in order to be able to get through to players 100% of the time. I think that should be considered a key qualification, as it is in plenty of other jobs where you have staff dealing with people who don't speak English well.

 

I'd add, in my personal experience the cutoff with immigrants who are able to assimilate to English happens to be right about age 16, or just before many of these Latin American kids would be getting here. You can look at a guy like Tony Oliva, who after what, 60 years in the country, still can't seem to speak English worth a darn.

 

The Twins might want these kids to assimilate, but there is only so much they are going to be able to do in 3-5 years of minor league ball. At some point it may be more pragmatic to just get a bilingual coach for the big league club at least, so that they can shortcut to the native language when necessarily, particularly when you're dealing with the sort of egos all our top Latin players appear to have.

 

This becomes highly problematic when it appears to be SOP and Priority #1 in Twinsland to weed out the out-sized egos.

[jctwins]

This was very apparent when Gomez was struggling early. Casilla, too.

[jokin]

Heavy Irony Meter alert!!!

 

Video: Miguel Sano of New Britain Rock Cats disciplined after 29-second home run 'trot' | masslive.com

 

"If Sano were in the major leagues, his 29-second wandering of the basepaths would rank among the 10 slowest of the season, according to Wezen-Ball.com’s Tater Trot Tracker. Eight of the 10 slowest home run trots for 2013 have been recorded by David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox."

[Thegrin]

This is one of the rare times Reusse chooses to say something constructive and backs it up with examples. Perhaps the Twins should have a relatively young, successful Spanish speaker as a roving coach to help deal with the difficulties of playing baseball in America.

[jokin]

Adam Pettersen playing 3B and batting 9th for the Rock Cats tonight.

[YourHouseIsMyHouse]

I like the Vizquel and Alomar suggestions. I'm not very fond of Pudge because of the allegations involving him. To make this post worthwhile, I'd also like to add Bobby Abreu as a candidate.

[Thrylos]

This is old news. The days the Twins had an interpreter for a single Japanese player and nobody to communicate to the young promising Latinos (other than Jerry with broken Spanish) they was an outcry by some, but the Twins were "winning"... Now the bandwagon is getting fuller...

[The Wise One]

Have Gardenhire become bilingual over winter. Maybe his many unloyal followers can buy him a learning tape.

https://www.pimsleurapproach.com/search261/learn-a-language.asp?sid=10077exSpan_L10WQ_261_Vid_bing&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=learn%20spanish%20in%20a%20month&utm_campaign=bing_spanishsearch&utm_content=learnspanishexact

[StormJH1]

I've never been of the mind that the manager needs to be able to speak Spanish, but the grumblings you hear from fans and Reusse-types about the Twins not being very Latin-friendly or accepting of players of other backgrounds likely pales in comparisons to what actual Latin players think and say about the team with other Latin teams. I don't think the Twins organization is purposefully discriminatory or insensitive, I just feel like there's enough anecdotal evidence regarding the way black and Hispanic players are "discarded" (Ortiz, Castillo, Casilla, Hudson, Liriano, etc.) when you get the sense that a Caucasian player of the same demeanor and resume might have been treated differently. (Not including Delmon in there because he just isn't a good dude). Again, I think a lot of it is not purposeful discrimination, but comes from a like-mindedness and insularity of background from the whole organization. Managerial staffs have like, what, 10 people on them, and not a single black or Latin coach? And it's been that way for how long?

 

This isn't about "affirmative action" or any broader moral/social topics. Baseball isn't like society - a law firm wouldn't hire a poor 16-year old from the Dominican Republic who doesn't speak any English to argue in Court. A 95 mph fastball works the same regardless if the arm that threw it is attached a dude that speaks English, Spanish, or Japanese. But there's also a human being with feelings attached to that arm. I worry a little bit about how this organization handles a Latin mega-star like Sano because I remember a lot of the issues they had with Liriano during his TJ rehab, and in general. At the same time, it's likely that we know 15% of what Sano said or did, and I have to think they wouldn't take a disciplinary action like this unless they really had to, so who knows.

[jctwins]

That post is alright. And all right.

[Jim H]

There are several things on this thread that kind of bother me. I want to be careful how I say this because I think all of you are largely right in what you are saying.

 

First, I would tend to be very careful about tying the need for more Latin American coaches to the Sano dust up. They are, or at least should be, very separate issues. If I understand Sano's actions properly(And I may not) Sano understood completely what he was doing, the reasons the Twins don't care for this sort of showboating, and the likely consequences. He had even been involved in a similar situations in the past. Sano is apparently, a very nice young man. He also may also have some maturity issues. In any case when you decide to do something against your organization's rules(whether written or unwritten) you are asking to be disciplined. If the Twins would have decided not to discipline him in that instance, they could very well lose complete control of a whole number of young men in the organization.

 

There was also a statement about Latin American egos on this thread. It was not meant badly, but I think you would find that nearly all professional athletes have very healthy egos. Most professional athletes were largely the best players on the field most days, until they became professionals. One of the problems for pro organizationals is how to bring all those egos together, get them to work together and respect the differences that have to be there from coming from such different backrounds.

 

Now as to the general thoughts on this thread. I believe that the Twins organization takes very seriously the need to help Latin American baseball players acclimate themselves to professional baseball and American society. I know they have classes for young players and a number of Latin American coaches stationed at Fort Myers. Should they/ could they do more? The answer is most likely,yes. But I would like to find out a bit more of what they are doing, now, before I beat them up too much.

[NC-Twins]

Have Gardenhire become bilingual over winter. Maybe his many unloyal followers can buy him a learning tape.

 

Gardy doesn't have much command over the English language. Might not be too difficult to transfer over to Spanish.

[Bark's Lounge]

If I had my druthers, I would hire the "Dos Equis Most interesting man in the World".

 

Not only could he serve as an interpreter and great influence to the Latin American Ball Players, but I believe his bravado, swagger and too cool for school attitude might rub off on the team as a whole.

 

This might be the missing link the Twins are looking for - inspiring the players to play with more flair, passion and a take no prisoners attitude, thus making them a more worthwhile product to watch on the field and when the talent is in place a legitimate contender for the grand prize come October.

[Thegrin]

I think have Gardy and his coaches take Spanish immersion courses and continue their Spanish lessons as long as they are with the Twins. Even if they do not become proficient in Spanish, they will be showing that they care and that they are willing to make the effort to communicate with the Latin players.

 

Is Eddie Guardado fluent in Spanish ?