Firing Ron Gardenhire is only the start for the Twins

Frankly, I am in shock, and I might be in shock for a long time. It just never really occurred to me that Terry Ryan would pull the trigger and end Ron Gardenhire’s managerial career in Minnesota: The two had just been linked together for too long. While any other manager would have been fair game, the Twins have proven so reluctant to make big changes over the last 25 years that it seemed unfathomable for Gardy to not get one last chance to turn the team around.

Ultimately, though, I understand the decision. Heck, on more than one occasion, I speculated that Gardenhire and members of his coaching staff were not equipped to effectively lead this team going forward. For all his successes, including six division titles in the 2000s, Gardenhire’s weaknesses were just too apparent, and losing in excess of 90 games for four straight years didn’t help either. He was too old school for this game, and his ability to thrive when he eventually finds another job will depend on his ability to learn and adapt.

The reality of Ron Gardenhire never really lived up to the hype of the two-time Manager of the Year. Anointed as the successor of the venerable Tom Kelly, Gardy was originally considered an endorsement for the status quo. He was to continue the tradition established by his mentor and perpetuate “The Twins Way” of promoting strong fundamentals. Over time, however, this emphasis slipped dramatically, and the Twins became one of the worst fielding clubs in baseball, finishing second from the bottom in 2014 in defensive runs saved. While the Twins did have a run of success under him, it was often in a weak division against lesser competition, and the club simply wasn’t good enough to survive in the postseason.

His refusal to platoon batters also stands out as a major weakness, as Gardnhire never sought to gain those advantages in his lineups. Despite seeing ample evidence of the weakness of players like Jacque Jones, Jason Kubel, Delmon Young, and Oswaldo Arcia against same-side pitching, Gardy refused to stop writing their names into the lineup. When left-handed hitting Joe Mauer was paired with right-handed Mike Redmond behind the plate from 2005-2009, he never worked to maximize Redmond’s abilities against lefties, and even would write Redmond’s name into Mauer’s third spot in the lineup almost out of habit.

Indeed, so much of Gardenhire’s managing, from a fan’s perspective, seemed defined by routine. Redmond will hit third because that’s where the catcher hits. Luis Rivas will hit second because that’s where a middle infielder goes. J.J. Hardy should be traded because he’s not what we want a shortstop to be like. Gardenhire’s stubborn refusal to adapt to the reality around him made him a little endearing, sure, but mostly a frustrating manager to watch. You could see similar tendencies in Rick Anderson, the pitching coach to whom he was perhaps fatally loyal, and his affinity for strike-throwing, soft-tossing pitchers who “pitched to contact” long after that strategy stopped working. And only the Tigers and Angels employed an extreme shift less often than the Twins in the American League, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moyer.

Worse was how he and his team seemed to shut down when they weren’t contending. The Twins surged to relatively fast starts in each of the last two years. As the season dragged, however, so did the club, playing lackluster, uninspired ball. You could see them quitting, especially at the end of 2013. Over the last four years, the Twins have been just 78-148 after August 1, a .345 winning percentage and a 56-win pace over 162 games. Ultimately, every year, Gardenhire and the Twins seemed to just quit once games stopped mattering. This year’s 22-33 finish was, by far, their best in that time.

Perhaps the hardest thing to swallow, however, is how frustratingly, consistently bad the Twins medical staff seemed and how the club and its players never seemed to learn from their experiences. Of course, it’s not fair to blame Gardenhire for the concussions suffered by Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Denard Span. It’s not his fault, necessarily, that Carl Pavano hurt his shoulder, Francisco Liriano’s elbow snapped, or that Scott Baker broke down. But when these injuries occurred, players consistently tried to play through them and/or come back too soon. The results were consistently disastrous, and did long-term damage to these players’ careers as well as the Twins.

The problems festered all the way through to this year. Resurgent in Pittsburgh for the Pirates, Vance Worley revealed that the Twins used him on Opening Day in 2013 while he had elbow soreness. Mike Pelfrey, Ricky Nolasco, Jared Burton, and Glen Perkins all tried to keep pitching through injuries, and were ineffective. Joe Mauer tried to play through back pain for most of the first half. The fact that Gardenhire and his staff didn’t work to get out in front of these problems, and address them with their players, based on their experience, was inexcusable.

The most frustrating part of Gardenhire’s dismissal is that it’s not clear that it will make much difference. The brain trust that put these Twins on the field and who tend to defer to internal candidates, guys like general manager Terry Ryan, is still in place. Can Twins fans trust the culture in the organization to change if a former coach, such as Paul Molitor or Terry Steinbach, or a minor-league skipper, such as Jake Mauer or Doug Mientkiewicz, moves into Gardy’s spot? Yes, the Twins were missing the right manager in Minnesota. But more than that, what fans are missing most is faith that anyone in this organization in a position of responsibility knows what they are doing. In that regard, I hope that Ryan shocks me again.