Here is how a boss would evaluate an employee. Accomplishments v. Failures. Accomplishments for Molitor in 2017: Everything improved on the bottom line. Better hitting, better pitching, more wins. Made the playoffs. Played well against the division and better than usual against the AL East, a longtime stick in the craw with the franchise. Failures: "Bunts a lot" and struggles with knowing the right time to pull a pitcher. Notice the accomplishments column contains strategies and the failures column includes tactics. Tactics can be changed, and if the strategies were met some tactics are forgiven. The only way Molitor is gone is if: 1) He doesn't get along with somebody important (unlikely - esp. considering the big boss loves him) 2) He doesn't want to stay (unlikely for several reasons) 3) The two sides don't agree on terms (also unlikely) 4) The new front office wants to toss the job to a friend (unlikely given the risk -- what if the replacement is worse? How would that look to the owner and to the fans?) Gardenhire was blessed with Rincon, Romero, Nathan, etc., in the pen. If Molitor gets some lights out relievers who he can toss in the game without much thought, Molitor suddenly looks much better. That fixes one tactic right there.