Ron Gardenhire's Contract Extension a Good Idea?

The Minnesota Twins’ front office has made a number of questionable decisions over the past several seasons. Yesterday they made another one. After being listed as on the hot seat during this past season and taking tons of grief from fans and media outlets, Ron Gardenhire accepted a 2 year contract extension and will return as the team’s manager in 2014. Minnesota is a notoriously loyal organization when it comes to its coaching staff, so this decision doesn’t come with too much shock. After all, only 1 manager in MLB history has returned to coach a team for 2 full seasons following 3 consecutive seasons of 90 or more loses, and it was Gardenhire’s predecessor, Tom Kelly!  Gardy is a loveable figure in the dugout and has earned his young popularity as the man behind the lineup card, winning 6 AL Central Division titles in his first 9 seasons with the Twins. But now Gardy finds himself as the lead character in a new chapter of Twins baseball, and the last three seasons have been the worst such stretch in the organization’s history. So, was the right decision made here? History, if it chooses to repeat itself, would say not. And history does have a nasty habit of doing just that.

I mentioned above that Gardenhire isn’t the first manager to go through a situation similar to the present one, and isn’t even the first Twins manager to do so. Since 1945, 8 MLB managers have been asked to return to their teams, even following 3 consecutive seasons of 90 or more losses. Below is a table listing these 8 managers, and how they fared in their season of mercy.

Name	Team	Years	Following Yr Record	Notes
Zack Taylor	Browns	1948-50	52-102	Let go following the 1951 season
Casey Stengel	Mets	1962-64	50-112	Fired 95 games into 1965 season
Preston Gomez	Padres	1969-71	58-95	Fired 11 games into 1972 season
Darrell Johnson	Mariners	1977-79	59-103	Fired 104 games into 1980 season
Joe Torre	Mets	1978-80	41-62*	Let go following  the 1981 season
Tom Kelly	Twins	1997-99	69-93	Retired following 2001 season**
Felipe Alou	Expos	1998-00	68-94	Fired 53 games into 2001 season
Larry Rothschild	Rays	1998-00	62-100	Fired 14 games into 2001 season

*The 1981 season was split into two halves and shortened due to the player’s strike.

**Tom Kelly also managed the Twins in 2001 going 85-77. He retired at the end of the season.

As you can see, of the 8 managers above, 5 were fired at some point during the following season. And all 8 of their teams failed miserably in their attempts at providing manager redemption, with the most successful season leading to a dismal 69 wins. Zack Taylor and Joe Torre were both shown the door at the end of their unsuccessful seasons, and again, Tom Kelly was the only manager of the 8 allowed to leave the team on his own accord after two seasons. History shows here that Gardy’s chances of being successful as a manager of the Minnesota Twins are slim to none, and his future with the organization could be ending very soon!

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Now wait a minute, this shouldn’t necessarily mean the final pounding of the gavel on Gardenhire’s career. He has, after all, proved time and time again to be an excellent manager with a great baseball mind. Gardy is the only manager in the game’s history to win 6 division titles in his first 9 seasons with a team. The man knows what he’s doing. Twins President David St. Peter was even quoted in the organization’s press conference yesterday saying, “Ron Gardenhire did not get stupid overnight. He was the (American League) Manager of the Year in 2010.” This is something that could be said about a number of the names in the table above as well. Tom Kelly won 2 World Series titles with the Twins before his plunge, and Casey Stengel is one of the best managers of all time, having won 7 World Series’ and 10 American League Championships with the Yankees before his dismal tenure with the Mets. And even still, Joe Torre was able to turn around the slow start to his managerial career with the Mets and eventually win 4 World Series trophies and 6 American League Pennants, also with the New York Yankees. Maybe we’ve got a true gem here in Gardenhire and a little bit of patience is in order, or perhaps a change of scenery could’ve done both the Twins and Gardy a big favor.

Another “Not So Fast!” claim presents itself clearly in the poor front office decisions made by both past and current management staff. Former General Manager Bill Smith made countless terrible decisions and Terry Ryan hasn’t exactly done the greatest job picking up the pieces, leaving Gardy with little talent to work with. Having arguably the best farm system in baseball doesn’t mean much to a struggling big-league manager, except that you may never see an opportunity to coach them in the future. The name of the game is longevity, and you’ve got to be able to make the most out of what you’ve got in front of you. But let’s be honest, some of the lineups that Gardenhire has been forced to put out lately resemble the “Mutants from Table 9!” Coaching is extremely important, but so is having talent on the field, and that’s the real issue here, not Gardenhire.

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No matter who managed the Twins the last 3 seasons, they would’ve seen roughly the same result. There is really just not much that can be done with the recent teams that have been forced out onto the field and told to perform. And, nothing is going to change if the same procedures keep taking place and the same players continue to represent the team. It starts in the GM’s office. However, that doesn’t mean that a managerial change couldn’t help add a hint of lime to the equation either. The world of baseball is a harsh reality where “If you lose the last game of the season, nobody gives a shit!” Personally, I would’ve made the move to bring in a new manager and offer Gardy some sort of managerial position within the front office. It may be well too early yet, but I would love to see former Twin and current manager of the Single A affiliate Fort Myers Miracle, Doug Mientkiewicz mentioned as a possible future candidate for Gardenhire’s position.

With all of that being said, I love Ron Gardenhire and truly believe in his knowledge of the game and his experience with success. I admire his fire and passion for the game and can’t really feel that the Twins are in too poor of hands as long as Gardy is at the helm. I wish him the absolute best, and hope to see the necessary off-season moves come through to give him a fighting chance at beating the odds against him. History often repeats itself, but our history hasn't quite been written yet.