Gardenhire in the hot seat?
I stumbled across this article today and found it to be pretty interesting.
Is it possible that Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is in the hot seat in Minnesota? He’s been the manager of the Twins for 10 years, and as an organization, the Twins usually aren’t quick to get rid of managers.
Apparently after 10 years as manager of the Minnesota Twins GM Bill Smith is willing, or at the very least looking into, firing manager Ron Gardenhire. Sources close to the situation,whom I have happened to be in contact with and wish to remain anonymous on the condition that they were not allowed to speak of the matter, have said that the Twins are strongly considering firing Ron Gardenhire at the end of the season. This news does come as somewhat of a surprise seeing that the Twins are not ones to fire managers very frequently. Also Gardenhire’s winning percentage, .550, is the third best in franchise history right behind Billy Martin (.599), and Walter Johnson (.570). Gardenhire was manager of the year in 2010, but has failed to reach the World Series in his 10 years of managing.
Although Gardenhire has managed to win 6 AL Divisional Titles in his 9 years as manager his playoff record is definitely not one to brag about. Gardenhire is 6-21 overall, and in divisional series over the last four years is 0-12, and it is no question that Gardenhire has the talent capable to make a deep run in the playoffs. Sources close to the situation also added that even if Gardenhire managed to somehow lead the Twins back this year and win the AL Central it still may not be enough. GM Bill Smith’s standing on the situation is that if the Twins do not make the ALCS this year, then the season will be a failure and a disappointment.
The original article is found here: Ron Gardenhire To Be Fired At The End Of The Season | Minnesota Twins
Gardy has traditionally managed the team successfully during the regular season. He has often led the team to a good record even though the Twins haven’t often been big spenders when it comes to acquiring players.
Obviously, though, the story has been different in the post season.
Gardy has gotten the Twins to the playoffs 6 times. That’s much better than the previous manager, Tom Kelly. Kelly only took the Twins to the playoffs twice even though he managed 5 more seasons than Gardenhire.
The big difference is, both times Kelly got the Twins to the post season, they won the World Series.
Gardenhire has only won one post-season series as a manager… that being the divisional series in 2002, which was his first year as a manager. In 2003 and 2004 the Twins lost in the first round of the playoffs, only getting one win in each of those years.
The Twins made it back to the playoffs in 2006, 2009, and 2010. All three times the Twins were swept in the opening round.
It’ll be interesting to see if there is any truth to this rumor.
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