severson09

http://nimg.sulekha.com/sports/original700/ron-gardenhire-2009-8-7-23-41-44.jpg The last 10 years as a Twins fan have been, for the most part, highly enjoyable. Yes, the last two years have been awful and we all wish our nine would have played better baseball in October. That doesn't change the fact that in my opinion Gardenhire deserves more clarity then what he's been given. I'm not writing to petition for a three year contract extension for the guy. If the Twins want to make a change I wouldn't have a problem with it. My issue is the fact that it's been widely written through Twins media coverage that this is Gardenhire's last ride barring some magical turnaround in 2013. If Gardy was working with the Tigers or White Sox MLB rosters it would be fair to say win, or you're done. In Minnesota this year, Gardenhire has little to no shot at all. In my opinion I expect the Twins to finish with 70-75 wins, or if they over-perform they could flirt with .500. Is that enough to save Gardy's job? I doubt it, and that's not his fault. Look at this roster: Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, and some combination of Deduno, Walters, Hendriks, and Gibson will be counted on to make 30 starts a piece. Pedro Florimon, Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, Darin Mastrioni, and Aaron Hicks will play a lot of baseball up the middle for the Twins. Hicks has talent but I'm sure there will be growing pains. Florimon and Escobar are worse versions of Alexi Casilla and Mastrioni is Jason Repko 2.0. I could go on with the holes of this team but there's no reason. Look, I applaud Terry Ryan with his long-term moves this off-season and the Twins future looks great. But, Ron Gardenhire has done wonders for this franchise the last 10 years and let's not forget he stuck by during the contraction talk. If Terry wants to make a change, DO IT. I won't argue. Bring in Paul Molitar and start fresh. He'll have the honeymoon period to get him through 2013 and we'll all hear the cliches of "the ship is moving in the right direction" and "future, future, future." But don't string along Ron Gardenhire all year just to fire him at year-end. He deserves much better than that. Remember Ron Gardenhire has 6 division titles under his belt and was a Jim Thome moonshot from his 7th in the first version of Game 163. He's been everything one could hope for in a manager. If his time is up as manager of this organization, just tell him that. Don't parade him along for another year when at the end of September we all know he'll be exiting stage right. Show some respect to the man who gave Minnesota his all and let him exit gracefully.

http://nimg.sulekha.com/sports/original700/ron-gardenhire-2009-8-7-23-41-44.jpg The last 10 years as a Twins fan have been, for the most part, highly enjoyable. Yes, the last two years have been awful and we all wish our nine would have played better baseball in October. That doesn't change the fact that in my opinion Gardenhire deserves more clarity then what he's been given. I'm not writing to petition for a three year contract extension for the guy. If the Twins want to make a change I wouldn't have a problem with it. My issue is the fact that it's been widely written through Twins media coverage that this is Gardenhire's last ride barring some magical turnaround in 2013. If Gardy was working with the Tigers or White Sox MLB rosters it would be fair to say win, or you're done. In Minnesota this year, Gardenhire has little to no shot at all. In my opinion I expect the Twins to finish with 70-75 wins, or if they over-perform they could flirt with .500. Is that enough to save Gardy's job? I doubt it, and that's not his fault. Look at this roster: Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, and some combination of Deduno, Walters, Hendriks, and Gibson will be counted on to make 30 starts a piece. Pedro Florimon, Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, Darin Mastrioni, and Aaron Hicks will play a lot of baseball up the middle for the Twins. Hicks has talent but I'm sure there will be growing pains. Florimon and Escobar are worse versions of Alexi Casilla and Mastrioni is Jason Repko 2.0. I could go on with the holes of this team but there's no reason. Look, I applaud Terry Ryan with his long-term moves this off-season and the Twins future looks great. But, Ron Gardenhire has done wonders for this franchise the last 10 years and let's not forget he stuck by during the contraction talk. If Terry wants to make a change, DO IT. I won't argue. Bring in Paul Molitar and start fresh. He'll have the honeymoon period to get him through 2013 and we'll all hear the cliches of "the ship is moving in the right direction" and "future, future, future." But don't string along Ron Gardenhire all year just to fire him at year-end. He deserves much better than that. Remember Ron Gardenhire has 6 division titles under his belt and was a Jim Thome moonshot from his 7th in the first version of Game 163. He's been everything one could hope for in a manager. If his time is up as manager of this organization, just tell him that. Don't parade him along for another year when at the end of September we all know he'll be exiting stage right. Show some respect to the man who gave Minnesota his all and let him exit gracefully.