Rumor has it that many expect the Twins to give Gardy an extension at some point during this season because of the fact that the Twins have been able to hover around the .500 mark this season when most expected much worse and I'm here to tell you why that would be stupid.
Gardenhire gets more credit than he really should for the play of his teams, let's look at Monday's loss against the Red Sox as a prime example of why Gardenhire is not an elite manager and never will be. In the 9th inning down 1 run, second basemen Brian Dozier hits a game tying homerun. 2 batters later Willingham comes up with 2 outs in the 9th and he draws a walk. Logical thinking now with 2 outs and a runner on first you would leave Willingham on the bases unless he gets into scoring position to keep his bat in the lineup come extra innings. Instead Gardenhire pinch runs Escobar for him and the next batter Morneau grounds out to end the inning. So now he put Escobar at short and moved Doumit to left field giving us a suspect outfield defensively.
So now in the top of the 10th after back to back 1 out walks, Hicks was due up and he pinch hit Ramirez for him. Hicks although he has struggled has actually been solid with runners in scoring position and has gotten much better as of late. He also can run well enough to break up a possible double play in this spot unlike Ramirez. He also is a million times better than Ramirez defensively. He also needs to actually bat in these situations if he is going to become what he can be in the future. Ramirez ends up popping out for the 2nd out and no runs are scored. Now we have an outfield of Doumit in left, Ramirez in center, and Parmelee in right leaving us with probably the worst outfield defensively we could have that doesn't involve Willingham.
Now let's go the bottom of the 11th, Burton gets 2 quick outs and then Saltalamacchia hits a knubber back to the pitcher and Burton rushes the throw pulling Morneau off the base. This was followed by a Middlebrooks single to left. Now with back to back lefties coming up in Drew and Ellsbury and 2 on with 2 outs this seems like a very logical spot to go to Perkins, but nooooooo Gardy wants to save him in case a save opportunity presents itself. Again why have your best pitcher constantly not be a factor on a consistent basis just boggles my mind. Of course Drew hit one to deep left center that neither Ramirez or Doumit ever had a chance to get. I believe it would have been caught by Hicks had he still been in the game.
So essentially Gardy cost us the game by going with a horrible outfield defensively and not going to Perkins when he should have. It's examples like this that show Gardenhire just doesn't have what it takes to make the right moves to help us win a championship. He is only 6-21 in the post season proving that he can't cut it in the playoffs and is just a mediocre manager at best.
The Twins need to not only to move on from Gardenhire from manager but need to actually fire people from the organization and create some change. Their moves show that they are okay with being a mediocre franchise. Who fires a GM, but reassigns him inside their organization? The Twins did that will Bill Smith after the 2011 season. Who fires their hitting coach only to reassign him to become their 3rd base coach? The Twins did that with Joe Vavra after the 2012 season. Who fires their 3rd base coach only to reassign him to become their 1st base coach? The Twins did that with Scott Ulger after the 2012 season as well. These moves show that this organization isn't serious about winning another championship right now.
This isn't the late 80s or early 90s anymore, when something doesn't work you gotta change it or else you will be left in the dust, and right now the whole Twins organization has got a mouthful of dust and continue to fall to the back of the pack and the other organizations are becoming harder and harder to see they are so far ahead of us.
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987
Gardenhire gets more credit than he really should for the play of his teams, let's look at Monday's loss against the Red Sox as a prime example of why Gardenhire is not an elite manager and never will be. In the 9th inning down 1 run, second basemen Brian Dozier hits a game tying homerun. 2 batters later Willingham comes up with 2 outs in the 9th and he draws a walk. Logical thinking now with 2 outs and a runner on first you would leave Willingham on the bases unless he gets into scoring position to keep his bat in the lineup come extra innings. Instead Gardenhire pinch runs Escobar for him and the next batter Morneau grounds out to end the inning. So now he put Escobar at short and moved Doumit to left field giving us a suspect outfield defensively.
So now in the top of the 10th after back to back 1 out walks, Hicks was due up and he pinch hit Ramirez for him. Hicks although he has struggled has actually been solid with runners in scoring position and has gotten much better as of late. He also can run well enough to break up a possible double play in this spot unlike Ramirez. He also is a million times better than Ramirez defensively. He also needs to actually bat in these situations if he is going to become what he can be in the future. Ramirez ends up popping out for the 2nd out and no runs are scored. Now we have an outfield of Doumit in left, Ramirez in center, and Parmelee in right leaving us with probably the worst outfield defensively we could have that doesn't involve Willingham.
Now let's go the bottom of the 11th, Burton gets 2 quick outs and then Saltalamacchia hits a knubber back to the pitcher and Burton rushes the throw pulling Morneau off the base. This was followed by a Middlebrooks single to left. Now with back to back lefties coming up in Drew and Ellsbury and 2 on with 2 outs this seems like a very logical spot to go to Perkins, but nooooooo Gardy wants to save him in case a save opportunity presents itself. Again why have your best pitcher constantly not be a factor on a consistent basis just boggles my mind. Of course Drew hit one to deep left center that neither Ramirez or Doumit ever had a chance to get. I believe it would have been caught by Hicks had he still been in the game.
So essentially Gardy cost us the game by going with a horrible outfield defensively and not going to Perkins when he should have. It's examples like this that show Gardenhire just doesn't have what it takes to make the right moves to help us win a championship. He is only 6-21 in the post season proving that he can't cut it in the playoffs and is just a mediocre manager at best.
The Twins need to not only to move on from Gardenhire from manager but need to actually fire people from the organization and create some change. Their moves show that they are okay with being a mediocre franchise. Who fires a GM, but reassigns him inside their organization? The Twins did that will Bill Smith after the 2011 season. Who fires their hitting coach only to reassign him to become their 3rd base coach? The Twins did that with Joe Vavra after the 2012 season. Who fires their 3rd base coach only to reassign him to become their 1st base coach? The Twins did that with Scott Ulger after the 2012 season as well. These moves show that this organization isn't serious about winning another championship right now.
This isn't the late 80s or early 90s anymore, when something doesn't work you gotta change it or else you will be left in the dust, and right now the whole Twins organization has got a mouthful of dust and continue to fall to the back of the pack and the other organizations are becoming harder and harder to see they are so far ahead of us.
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987