LaBombo

That's not even halfway to arrogant. That's just the reality of the market and of his perceived value as the nerdy David who's been slaying AL East Goliaths for years with nothing but a laptop, a sling, and a pouch full of pebble-sized salaries.

The minute Maddon hit the open market life began to suck at least a little for somewhere between a half and a full dozen current managers.

I would actively seek to organize a boycott and protests if the Twins make ANY relevant decisions based on a tiny sum of organizational pocket change owed Ron Gardenhire, let alone made the mind-bogglingly stupid mistake of passing on Joe Maddon. I would be more likely to expend time and energy on following whatever team Maddon went to if that happened than a Twins organization with only a faint interest in winning.

Good comp, even if it's by accident. Leius really was a bench player, getting just 235 AB's in '91 primarily as a pinch hitter and the minority half of what essentially amounted to a straight platoon with Pagliarulo (man I miss Hartman trying to say his name). Like Plouffe he was a shortstop who shifted to third, and like Plouffe he had a serious platoon split that made him a poor option against righties who was miscast as a regular. If Sano isn't the answer at third, the Twins need to find an upgrade over Plouffe, or at least a strong leftie platoon mate.

Thanks for posting that. It's a good summary of what unspecial seasons some of the postseason 3b's had, and a surprising one to boot. Also an object lesson on not focusing too much on one position with regard to building a contender. Well done. But a couple of things about TP's value as a starter. Plouffesie's increased WAR was as much a product of his defense as his offense, and that's the less reliable component of the two. His defense looked better to me, but not night and day better. The bigger thing is his age. Some late bloomers do have the light bulb come on at 28 and become a good hitter after being an average (or even bad) one. But more often, they're guys having a fluke season at a very common age for an average player to have a career year, at least according to BProp's aging curve. Plouffe had a negative career WAR prior to this season. His career year at the plate resulted in a .258/.328/.423 slash. While his defense at third improved at third, it wasn't Koskian, let alone BrooksRobinsonian. And yet he was a plus player. His overall offense can take a small step back and still have some value. His defense at third seems to be a modest but genuine plus. He can play multiple defensive positions, including the critical middle infield spots, without getting a GM fired on the spot. His platoon splits suggest that he has value as an RH bat off the bench. That has the ring of an amazing utility player. Ok, not Zobresque, but really a plus to a young team, either as roster duct tape or juicy trade leach. PS In Minnesota, leaches are used as bait way more than medical treatment devices.

http://thesouloftheplot.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/abeautifulfriendship.jpg

Miguel Sano did not play baseball in 2014 after just half a season at AA in 2013. Byron Buxton had just over 100 AB's in A ball and hit .240/.313/.405. How those facts scream "Start the season in the majors" is beyond me. But you're right. There's no need to need to go down the service time path with any players any more now that we know that impending free agency is such a critical factor that some agents will not allow their on-the-clock players to sign an "extension" that goes beyond free agency eligibility, and at least one will not even allow an extension UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. In other words, service time doesn't just matter, it is a powerful economic force in determining future contract status. Period.

At this point my choice basically boils down to 'whichever qualified candidate is least likely to give Goin crap and/or ignore him'.

Major league baseball started one hundred and forty three years ago, just six years after the civil war. In all those years, not one team has brought back a manager with no championships to his name after four consecutive losing seasons. Not once. So the question isn't whether Gardenhire is a good manager (imo he is, with some frustrating flaws) or whether he should have been let off the hook due to rebuilding, or who they can get to replace him and whether they'd be better for the team, or whether a new manager can bring about improved results next year and beyond. The question is... why should the Twins have made baseball history by bringing him back? What's so different about Gardenhire and/or the state of the Twins that he should manage the Twins after four seasons that would have meant the end of the tenure of every non-championship manager in the history of the game?

Oops. It was meant as a compliment, not a wish for the opening of a door to a Scottie Ullger returning to complement the coaching staff.

You're way ahead of me on this. Your first point is a welcome update worthy of your TD company organizational structure chart moniker. Stepping off a Gulfstream after the opening round of a quarter-billion dollar tax fraud trial with a defense that appears to some as 'TurboTax failed to AutoUpdate' or 'an airedale ate my tax attorney's hard drive' is always bad PR, but especially on a day like today. And if you have time, can you follow up on the Joe Schmit take on the replacement? My limited google skills came up with obscure Eagles references and a Youtube video of T.B. Schmit's hit "So much in love", a song that dates back to my early to late-middle adult youth. That song used to show up fairly often in the musical selections of friends' and acquaintances' weddings. Paid for a nice stereo for the Honda by always betting the drunken reception 'under' for how many months such a marriage in question would last. Not cynical, just lucky with odds sometimes.

Since my guess on a replacement is already pretty worthless because the Gardy firing caught me totally by surprise, I'll skip it. Instead I'll mention that the KFAN guy who sounds like Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride, Meathead or something like that, says that the Twins source for his Saturday tweet about Gardy being out also told him that Molitor is already the new guy. Fwiw. Nm (not much).

A complement to all Twins figures involved....

From what it looks like so far, the Gardy/coaches PC was the exact opposite of the Vikings AP public relations train wreck. Everybody got something good out of it. 1.The Pohlads got a ton of free 'We know it's messed up and we're fixing it' PR with the dramatic firing of a relatively popular manager of a team that hasn't fired a manager since Reagan was president. 2. Ryan got to advance the company theme of hope and change, but got to avoid being the villain with the thinly veiled admission it wasn't his call with the 'It was a mistake to say he'd be back; I have bosses' remark. 3. The coaching staff got an entire offseason to land new gigs, with no bridges being burned with the organization for possible re-hiring. 4. Gardenhire got to demonstrate to potential employers in MLB and the sports media that in addition to other fine qualities, he is either a} A class act for how he handled the public loss of a job he still liked or loved, or b} A smart team player who was ready to move on anyway but realized that ownership needed to publicly sack him rather than let him resign because of the need to send a message, just a little less shocking than a ritual sacrifice, to the season ticket base that losing is not ok.

Those are exactly the three names that came to mind when the news broke. They are the three newest, Bruno and Steinbach both seem well-regarded and are familiar names, and Cuellar seems like a fine choice to succeed Anderson and continue to be a bridge to Spanish-speaking players.

Your surprise is probably at least partly due to Gardy Fatigue Syndrome. Some people who were ready to see the Twins and Gardenhire part ways last year (including me) just got too worn down to add the disclaimers anymore. Over time, posts like 'Gardy is a good manager but he drives me crazy sometimes, and the organization should move on' in the 2012 or 2013 seasons became just 'Get rid of Gardenhire already' this season. The former gives the impression that he's well regarded but that change is needed, while the latter looks more like 'Fire Gardy because he stinks'. In other words, for many people who wanted to see him replaced there's nothing to gloat over. He's a good guy and a good manager. Why celebrate a guy like that losing his job? It's a shame, but that's how this business works. And as for me, I'm hoping and looking forward to the Twins making a good choice with his replacement, but there's a part of me that will miss the Roaming Gnome at the dugout railing, and picturing him in a Twins uniform as he charges red-faced onto the field to break the AL career record for manager ejections.

Yes. Gardenhire was a good manager (with some frustrating quirks) and I wish him well whether it be with another team or early retirement.

Yup. Anyone griping about Pinto behind the plate is pretty much blowing smoke. Fryer has batted a Drew Butesque .214/.276/.314, and since his questionable contract extension Suzuki has batted .256/.291/.383. Defense is a big part of the equation for catchers, but if Pinto can at least get the ball back to to mound he has a chance to add up to at least close match to the alternatives.

Agreed, to an extent. But in my book that's just another reason why the franchise is in disarray. This was a rain delay. It wasn't a shocking decision by Gardy to bring in a struggling closer substitute to sit an ace pitcher who gave up a leadoff single with a double digit pitch count three outs away from a CG1ER and one out from a massive payday for said ace. This was a franchise well aware (one would hope) that Hughes needed 8.1 outs to get his bonus, rooting for him to reach it in such spectacular fashion (one would hope), that said threshold was in danger due to weather despite his brilliant game. The fact that Gardenhire already shot down the notion of a relief appearance for Hughes tells me one of three things about the Twins. 1) Front office weighed all the variables, decided there was no advantage to doing something with the bonus situation to recognize or, better yet, capitalize on Hughesie's incredibly tough break, and quashed the notion of Phil reaching his bonus or receiving it anyway, communicating that decision to Gardy. 2) In a brief conversation with the FO before the post-game, Gardenhire autonomously rejected the notion of using a starting pitcher as a relief pitcher with three or four days of advance notice despite using position players (as most managers end up doing) to finish up blowouts. And he gets the last say because he has recorded one of the worst four-year won/loss records in MLB managerial history. 3) Nobody knows what the flunk they're doing. There are other variations, but basically if the Twins can't either benefit from or at least diffuse today, they've got bigger problems than the seasons of Mauer, Nolasco, Sano, Buxton, May, and the Twins in general combined.

Your point is valid. But if the slope is made slippery by rain that deprives the Twins' record-setting best player from a big payday because he was lights-out again but got 629 outs instead of 630, then my reaction is to go reverse Bull Durham on the situation. Turn off the sprinklers, run hard, and slide head first. In other words, What Would Punto Do?

Gardenhire has said he will not do so, and while I don't want to see Hughes lose a half million dollars because of rain, it's hard for me to disagree. Or at least if Hughes doesn't get the bonus, I will blame the front office and ownership much more than Gardy. As some have suggested, a donation to the Phil Hughes Foundation might be a compromise between the franchise shrugging its collective shoulders by doing nothing, or paying him the bonus one out short of the innings threshold and incurring the supposed wrath of other owners and the league FO by doing what a ton of apathetic fans would see as either doing the right thing, or at least doing something nice. How many teams in MLB are more in need of good PR at the moment?

If MLB Unfortunately for the Twins, Scherzer and Lester are hitting free agency at 30 this fall, the same age Hughes will be when his current deal expires. They're both more established as top starters, but for perspective on just what an incredible year Hughes had, his WAR prior to his tremendous start today was just a tenth lower than Lester's and two tenths higher than Scherzer. And both those guys are probably going to get significantly north of a tenth of a billion dollars. Don't know much about Hughes' personality, but it seems to me it would be unusual for an athlete in general to take 25 or 30 million for two years when close to 100 (including an inflation adjustment) for five after two more very good (but not even necessarily as great as this year) seasons seems at least possible. Would love to see him remain a Twin and be a veteran anchor in a rotation something like Meyer, Stewart, Berrios and May or Gibson. But it will probably take at least what Dave suggested, if not more. After the disastrous season Nolasco and Mauer had, and the organization's general avoidance of high-dollar long term contracts for pitchers past age 30, it seems unlikely.

'bout time.

Fair enough,and thanks for the backing. Maybe we can either sit together behind home plate to show support for a team with a new, winning philosophy, or at least compare lost follicle totals regarding the continued mismanagement of what's going on now.

Yeah, left that one off just because of how much better the bullpen has looked than the rotation on a macro level, but the bullpen thing makes me crazy too, especially the purely tactical component of it. Seems like there have been many weeks-long stretches (maybe a little more in 2012 and 2013 than this year. yay!) where the Twins wouldn't play a three-game series without me reacting to a Gardy bullpen decision/non-decision with something ranging from "huh?" to "oh, you gotta be bleeping me" and of course the occasional "WTF, dude!" And that those were just the games I was able to watch. Who knows how many of those episodes it was my good fortune to miss?