Seth Stohs

Sounds like a good description of one Ron Gardenhire. He's just 18 years younger. And, I mean that in the most positive of ways.

It's fun now to speculate where "former" Twins manager Ron Gardenhire will be in 2015 and beyond, but with a few managerial positions already open and a couple more potentially opening up in coming days, I thought it would be fun to guess what Gardy will do in 2015.

What are the attributes you would personally be looking for if you were interviewing candidates as the next manager. On tonight's TWins Hangouts podcast, I gave six of mine: 1.) Ideally speak spanish... not mandatory, but certainly ideal... I'd also want at least 2 members of the coaching staff to speak spanish fluently. 2.) Analytics - I don't want a manager to follow the book all of the time, but I want him (And the bench coach) fully aware of any statistical information that there is and be willing to discuss it. 3.) How does he handle young players? 4.) How does he handle veterans? 5.) How does he handle starting pitchers? 6.) How does he handle a bullpen? Aside from that, you want a guy who will back his players, is good with the media and fans and community, has a lot of integrity and other things that you would want in any employee you would hire.

Not at all... Jake is is classy and responsible and respected as it gets.

Chili Davis is interesting... seems to be doing well as a hitting coach. Dan Gladden is completely old school, though maybe managing would force him to consider new thinking. Gladden seems like a guy who would bunt any time there was a runner on 1B and less than two outs. Jim Thome is certainly interesting... terrific career, but people should never confuse Hall of Fame player with Good manager. It might, but there's no correlation.

Days after he was told he would not need surgery on his broken forearm, Trevor Plouffe was asked to seek a second opinion. This morning, he went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and we found out later that he had surgery. He is expected to be ready for spring training.

Late Monday morning, the news came out that the Minnesota Twins had fired manager Ron Gardenhire. Gardenhire has been offered a job in the organization, but he says that he wants to manage again and believes that he will. So the next question naturally becomes; who will be the next manager of the Minnesota Twins?Here is a quick look at some of the potential candidates, though it is always important to note that a surprise candidate could come out of nowhere. There are several qualified internal candidates, though Terry Ryan insists that they will do their due diligence and look outside the organization as well. Internal Candidates Terry Steinbach – In my mind, he became the possible front-runner within the last week. I believe he may also be a top candidate for the Arizona Diamondbacks. His former Oakland A’s manager Tony Larussa is in charge of baseball operations and his former rotation-mate Dave Stewart was just named as the General Manager. However, there are a lot in the Twins organization that really like him as a managerial candidate. The 52-year-old from New Ulm played for the University of Minnesota before being drafted by the Oakland A’s. He spent parts of 14 seasons in the big leagues, the final three with the Twins. He has been Gardenhire’s bench coach the last two seasons. Paul Molitor – Of course, most have believed that Molitor would be the next Twins manager for a couple of years already. He was added to the Twins staff a year ago after being a roving minor league instructor for several seasons. He has been a hitting coach in the big leagues, though that didn’t go so well. The 58-year-old from St. Paul has worked with the minor leaguers that are likely to be part of the next Twins core. Molitor was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2004 following a 21-year big league career during which he had over 3,300 hits and played in seven All Star games. Gene Glynn – Glynn was named Minnesota’s first Mr. Basketball in 1975 when he was the top hoops player in the state while playing at Waseca high school. He never played in the big leagues after seven seasons of playing minor league ball, including three years at AAA. He has had a variety of roles in baseball. He was a long-time manager and coach in the minor leagues. He was a base coach for the Rockies, the Expos, the Cubs and the Giants over the course of a dozen years. Before becoming the Twins AAA manager, he spent six years as a scout in the Tampa Bay Rays. He has done a great job in Rochester taking a revolving door of players and making them playoff contenders. Doug Mientkiewicz – “Dougie Baseball” was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 1995 draft and stayed in the organization until he was traded to the Red Sox and won a World Series championship in 2004. He spent time with the Mets, Royals, Yankees, Pirates and Dodgers from 2005 through 2009. His best years were clearly with the Twins. Known for his fire and his glove, Mientkiewicz won a Gold Glove at first base in 2001 and was a big part of the group that came up in the late ‘90s and the early playoff teams last decade. He returned to the organization a year ago as the manager of the Ft. Myers Miracle. In his first year, he went to the playoffs, but he also got into a fight with the opposing manager in a game. He has worked with most of the Twins top prospects and led this year’s squad to the Florida State League title. If you believe being able to relate to today’s players is important, Mientkiewicz is just 40 years old and only been retired for five years. Jake Mauer – Some will laugh that this name is on the list, but Mauer should manage in the big leagues. If not now, someday. For those that choose to look only at that last name and not the qualifications, it’s just too bad. Mauer is a very good baseball person. He was a leader on that St. Thomas baseball teams that won Division III titles. He spent five seasons playing the minor leagues, peaking at Double-A, and playing a variety of positions. After spring training of 2006, he retired and immediately became a coach. He managed in the GCL for a couple of years before becoming the manager at Ft. Myers. In 2013, the organization made the decision to move him to Cedar Rapids to lead the group of young, very talented prospects. Known for having a very high baseball IQ and being three or four batters ahead of the game, Mauer protects his players while maintaining a calm about him. He is also known to be External Candidates Chip Hale – 49-year-old Hale was one of the better pinch hitters for the Twins in the ‘90s. The Twins drafted him in the 17th round in 1987 out of the University of Arizona. He spent time with the Twins in 1989 and 1990, and then he returned to the Twins in 1993 and stayed through 1996. He never played more than 85 games in a season or had more than 186 plate appearances. He was a second baseman who became a utility player but mainly was a pinch hitter. He got 12 at bats with the Dodgers in 1997. Since 2006, he has spent time in the big leagues as a coach with the Diamondbacks and Mets. He has been the third base coach for the A’s the last four seasons. He has been a managerial candidate for many positions over the last four or five offseasons. Dave Martinez – Martinez had a terrific 16 season big league career as an outfielder for the Cubs, Expos and seven other teams. He was a starter for several years and became a valued bench bat later in his career. The 50-year-old has been the bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays since the 2008 season. Martinez was always known as a smart ball player, but much of the interest in Martinez would appear to be his association with Rays manager Joe Maddon who is generally considered one of baseball’s best. Martinez has put in his time and deserves to see what he can do on his own. Torey Lovullo – Lovullo was a Tigers prospect in the late 80s. He hit .381 as a 22-year-old in a September call up in 1988, but he was never able to become the player many thought he would. He spent big league time with seven teams over eight seasons from 1988 through 1999. He became a minor league coach in 2001 and was a manager in the Clevelend system. He was John Farrell’s bench coach in Toronto in 2011 and 2012 and followed him to the Red Sox in 2013 in the same capacity. He is 49 years old and has no major league managerial experience, though he has interviewed for several managerial jobs, including the Cubs job a year ago. Joe McEwing – The 41-year-old McEwing spent nine seasons in the big leagues. In that time, he played over 45 games at seven different positions, all but pitcher and catcher. In 2008, he entered the world of coaching. He became a manager in 2009 in A-Ball and then moved up to AAA in 2011 (he coached Eduardo Escobar in 2010 and 2011) Following that season, he was the manager of the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League where he coached Brian Dozier, Aaron Hicks and Chris Herrmann. Dozier gave McEwing a lot of credit for helping him learn second base. After the AFL, he was added to Robin Ventura’s White Sox coaching staff as the third base coach after Ozzie Guillen was fired. Ozzie Guillen – His name keeps coming up, and we know that he wants to get back into managing. He has had managerial experience and won a World Series title with the White Sox in 2005. He was the Rookie of the Year in 1985 and a three-time All Star in his 13 seasons with the White Sox as a player. He has had a lot of controversy surrounding him since his departure from the White Sox. His run in Miami was just one, long year. All that said, he’s a smart baseball man who would have the energy and fire that maybe this team needs. He is from Venezuela and diversity is one piece of the equation. Manny Acta – He is seen now on ESPN’s baseball coverage, but the 45-year-old has already had two big league managerial positions. The Dominican-born Acta spent six years in the minor leagues before going to scouting school. He spent time coaching in the minor leagues before getting MLB coaching jobs with the Expos and Mets. In 2007, he became the Nationals manager as a 38-year-old. He lost his job in July of 2009, and in 2010, he was named Cleveland’s manager. He kept his surprise team in the AL Central race until late in the 2011 season before finishing two games under .500. He was fired after the 2012 season. His career MLB managerial record is 372-518. Mike Redmond – The 43 year old was the Twins backup catcher from 2005 through 2009. He was a popular player known for his leadership skills. So it was no surprise that he quickly became a manager following his retirement from playing. Just two years later, the Miami Marlins offered him their job and he has spent the last two years as their manager. Last weekend, he signed an extension through the 2017 season with the Marlins. Though not impossible, it is highly improbable that he would even be interviewed for the Twins job at this time. As I said earlier, this is just a starting point for potential managerial options to replace Ron Gardenhire? The question you need to ask yourself is this; what qualities are most important to you in a manager? Being bilingual? High-level baseball IQ? Experience? Big League Experience? Statistical Lean? Fundamentals and teaching? How will they use the bullpen? How do they feel about bunting or base stealing? As I sit here on Monday afternoon, six hours since the announcement first came out, here is how I would rank the likelihood of the managerial choice: 1.) Terry Steinbach, 2.) Doug Mientkiewicz, 3.) Paul Molitor, 4.) Chip Hale, 5.) Gene Glynn Who would I like to see as the next Twins manager is likely a different ranking. Mine would be (with admittedly limited knowledge on the candidates other than reading and research): 1.) Doug Mientkiewicz, 2.) Jake Mauer, 3.) Chip Hale, 4.) Joe McEwing, 5.) Dave Martinez As you can see, I tend to lean toward the younger manager, a guy who can relate to the younger players and hopefully be here for a decade or more. What do you think? What direction would your managerial look go? Click here to view the article

Best wishes to TK!!

I wouldn't say 'cowardly'... frankly, it just was the easy decision... It would have been brave to have kept him around...

Nolasco also lives like an hour from LA. So it is kind of home for him. Following his final start over the weekend, in which he pitched well, Jamie Hersch asked him if it was the kind of start that could help get him ready for next year (or something like that). He basically said (paraphrasing), "I don't even want to think about next year. I just want this year to be done." Which, of course, can't blame him, but sometimes the company line comes across much better.

Jamie is awesome! He's got such great stories... great person! Wonderful interview!

I kind of agree... I don't know that they're untouchable, but like Paul said, it would have to be for a young pitcher with a track record and a couple more years of cost control. I'd add that Alex Gordon, who should be a strong MVP candidate this year, took several years to become the player he has become the last two seasons. I believe that the core should be team-developed, but there needs to be some supplementing.

These stories are always so funny. Reporter asks player if he wants to 1.) stay with current organization and 2.) wants to sign an extension. Pretty much everyone is going to say yes. It means nothing. However, the discussion of whether the Twins should go to Hughes about an extension is interesting.

It's always interesting to see how things come together. For me, I always like to look at move by move and see how they make sense. For instance, the Twins needed pitching a couple of years ago, so they dealt Denard Span for Alex Meyer. Made a lot of sense at the time. Then they traded Ben Revere for Vance Worley (who was a terrific pick up) and Trevor May (who was the upside guy). Good move. Those individual moves both made sense. That Hicks wasn't ready was another part of it. The Ortiz thing... as much as everyone says it is obvious that they should have kept him, at that time, it wasn't. That's not to say there haven't been mistakes... there have been. They have not been successful in the draft. They did have a lot of injuries. For me, I thought 2010 was just a bunch of injuries and things just not going right... I thought 2011 would be a huge turn-around season. So, it was probably mid-June 2011 before I realized where they were. It's always weird to me that there are people that are upset that Bill Smith is still in the organization. He had been in the organization for like 25 years and done a great job with various roles. Why would they completely get rid of a guy who does those things. He's been in charge of the Twins work that's been done in Ft. Myers at Hammond Stadium, a multi-million dollar project. He's been instrumental in the development of their facilities in the Dominican. Seems like a good guy to have in the organization... just not as the GM!

I guess I don't believe in the part about "some will be undeserving of being let go." For me, and the question you asked... I've seen Lucas work with pitchers. I saw the Twins minor league have a LOT of terrific showings from starting pitchers and relievers. With his work in the lower levels, he has guys ready to go to AA and guys like Wheeler, Berrios and Duffey all did well this year after moving up. In talking to him, he always understood the bigger picture. He would encourage guys to work on the pitches that they needed as they move up. He would say that guys are doing X and Y well, but he liked to also say that they weren't in the big leagues yet, so there is more they can do and work on. I don't know everything. I just think it was surprising.

He did (or at least chose not to coach for a brief while). Let's just say it wasn't surprising when he was again the hitting coach when the E-Town season started.

He will look for (and hopefully find) another pitching coach job. This isn't a move that Lucas wanted. No, ETown had all three coaches... Ray Smith (Manager), Jeff Reed (hitting coach) and Henry Bonilla (pitching coach).

The Miami Marlins announced today that they have extended manager Mike Redmond through the 2017 season. This is former Twins news, but I know many on this site believe that Redmond would be an ideal person to be the next Twins manager. Good for Mr. Redmond. His team had a real solid season.

Jeremy and I discussed our thoughts on the list on Tuesday night's Twins Hangouts podcast. It was the first topic, so check it out if you have about 1/2 hour. I think it's fair to say that the list of 19 doesn't include any current or future stars, but there are some usable players on that list, a couple who could fill some roles. It all depends on how many absolutely need to be added and there are between 5-7 of those.

Brandon Warne penned (or typed) nearly 5000 words in an article he titled The Rise and Fall of the Twins. In it, he writes about the current issues surrounding the Twins, but he also puts them into context with the last time the Twins had four straight 90-loss seasons. To summarize 5000 words would be silly, but he points out that there is plenty of blame to go around... Check it out and let Brandon know what you think.

Usual culprit. It's OK to feel that there are positives even in another bad season.

Like Greg Maddux, Derek Jeter SHOULD BE unanimous, but he won't be. Some voters will be idiots and find some sort of weird reason not to.

Gopher Sports posted a Five Questions article with two Gophers baseball freshman, Alex Boxwell and Luke Pettersen. Luke is the brother of Twins Daily contributor and former Twins minor leaguer AJ Pettersen. Luke was an All State performer in high school and followed his brother to the University of Minnesota where he is a preferred walk-on. Good answers to the questions. I had the chance to meet Luke at spring training in Ft. Myers this year, along with his parents. The Pettersen family is tremendous and they all have a great passion for baseball.

Hopefully!! It's great to see the Royals make the playoffs... does this make the Wil Myers/Jake Odorizzi trade for James Shields/Wade Davis worthwhile? I will be cheering for the Royals, for sure.