Firing Gardenhire Right Move, Finding Replacement More Important
I’ve always been amazed by the Minnesota Twins. The Twins had only two managers for 28 years. Their Target Plaza neighbors haven’t even been around 28 years and have flown past the two manager/coaches mark years ago.
Ron Gardenhire was relieved of his managerial duties on Monday. It wasn’t a shock to anyone. Sure, there has been rumblings that Gardenhire might return, but if you are shocked by the move you are also probably shocked that Christian Ponder didn’t get to attempt a pass on Sunday.
Gardenhire had a couple things going for him. Gardenhire was handed a team that was ready to win when he was initially hired. Gardenhire seems like a very nice human being. A past of winning and being a nice guy keeps you in a job sometimes that you shouldn’t be in.
There is an argument to be had that Gardenhire should have been fired multiple times during these seasons of 90-plus losses, but there’s no need to really rehash what could have been.
In sports if you are bad and consistently bad, someone gets fired. Is that fair? No. But it’s easier to ‘change the message’ than wash yourself of a 40-man roster completely.
Gardenhire was saddled with horrible, horrible teams during this latest stretch. He’s also been saddled with bad luck. If Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano don’t get hurt and don’t basically miss an entire year of development, they are both probably here at the end of the season and the outlook of the future is totally different.
Gardenhire came in with a good team, he leaves the managerial seat with a bad team. That’s how sports work.
The Twins will now be judged on who they bring in to the chair that is now vacant. They claim they’ll look inside and outside of the organization for a replacement. They have to find the right managerial hire while juggling the actual person and the reaction that will occur from a fan base that is already dwindling thin.
The move to replace Gardenhire is the right move, but getting his replacement right is even more important.