The Minnesota Twins have been one of the most pleasant surprises in baseball over the first two months of the season. Although they’re not likely to contend for an American League Wild Card spot, they sit in third place in the Central Division (24-27).
To take a team that has virtually no offense or pitching and bring it around the .500 mark over the first two months is admirable. It’s almost enough to make the general Twins fan think all is OK at Target Field.
That’s not the case.
Sure, nobody expected the Twins to be around .500 at the end of May or thought they would be two games over that mark just one week ago. However, there seems to be a sense of complacency with the direction of the team. A lot of that falls on the shoulders of Ron Gardenhire.
Gardenhire has done a terrific job taking the team from the American League Central cellar and turning it into perennial division contenders in the 2000s. Even though the past couple of seasons have flirted with 100 losses, the Pohlad family seems OK with the idea of letting him and his best friend pitching coach RIck Anderson stick around.
That sense of complacency has trickled down to the players, who are happily entrenched in the “Twins Way.”
For years the clubhouse has seemed like a library, despite the fact the team has been throttled on a nightly basis. Players who have shown the desire to win, such as Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau, have taken their talents elsewhere and thrived with teams that believe .500 is a failure and the only worthy goal is a World Series championship.
In no place is this more obvious than in Joe Mauer’s performance. After winning three batting championships and the 2009 American League MVP award, the face of the franchise seems complacent to hit singles and take what seems to be vacation days for relatively minor injuries. To put mildly, he seems bored after accomplishing what he’s done in the early stages of his career.
What this team needs is a breath of fresh air. The problem is that the Pohlad family loves to be loyal to people that have helped build the organization. It’s the same reason Gardenhire was given a two-year contract extension even though the team went 195-291 since its last division championship in 2010.
It’s also why instead of pulling the trigger on firing Gardenhire, the Twins opted to make subtle changes to the coaching staff. But, maybe they made one move that could breathe life into the organization.
During their last shuffle, they added Paul Molitor as an “outside voice” that oversees baserunning, bunting, infield instruction and positioning while helping with in-game strategy.
They should have just called him “Official Hot Seat Warmer.”
Perhaps the Pohlads had seen enough but didn’t want to give Gardenhire the humiliation of being fired. By adding Molitor to the staff, they can get to know him and make sure he’s “their guy” to run the franchise for the next decade.
That would bring in a manager that isn’t complacent on winning six division championships in the 2000s and a breath of fresh air for a team that needs it. It could also bring out the best in everyone and challenge Mauer to be the player he was in 2009, before he signed his massive contract.
It’s a move that Twins fans can only dream of now as the Twins “battle their tails off” to finish the season at .500.
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Chris Schad contributes to 105 The Ticket and has had his work featured on the Bleacher Report and Yahoo Contributor Network. He serves as the Vikings Lead Writerfor Pro Football Spot. Find him on Twitter @crishad. |