The Minnesota Twins 2013 season mercifully comes to a close today after a 3rd straight 90+ loss season.
Many fans and of course the media who like to run people out of town they can't control are calling for the head of Ron Gardenhire.
How is it Ron Gardenhires fault his roster has been decimated by poor decisions from upper management? This is a coach 2 wins shy, going into today, of 1000 wins for his career. Only Tom Kelly has surpassed that mark for the Twins and not many others have in MLB history.
You can't even call what has happened to the Twins roster a typical fire sale, it is attrition through upper management ineptitude.
After Terry Ryan retired as G.M. and handed the reigns to Bill Smith, he left a strong roster with an adequately stacked cupboard.
Bill Smith released minor league players with a strong upside rather than trade them and get some return. The trades he did make, brought little in return.
He allowed players like Jesse Crain & Matt Guerrier to walk, again with nothing in return. Jason Kubel could've been moved when he still had value but nothing. Michael Cuddyer showed some interest early in resigning here but was rebuked only to leave and again nothing in return.
Mercifully before the 2012 season the Pohlad's fired that ass clown. They brought back Terry Ryan who previously had success at the helm. The problem with Terry Ryan is his approach takes time to yield results. In addition he has a lot of damage to undo from the Smith debacle. After 3 consecutive pathetic seasons and a brand new taxpayer funded stadium that is top 5 in the country at least, fans are impatient and angry.
At the end of the 2013 season Ryan jettisoned Justin Morneu and shipped him to Pittsburgh for another one of no less than a dozen 4th or 5th OF candidates. Now in addition to our previous problems we have a hole at first base with no other hitter that can consistently drive in runs.
Meanwhile we keep the $164 million man that can hit singles with the best of them while the bases are empty but rarely comes through when it matters. A move that severely hamstrings the team financially.
Bottom line Ron Gardenhire has not been given the assets to do his job properly. In addition, his coaching staff was turned over prior to this season resulting in numerous adjustments, with a roster that is constantly in flux because there is nothing left. That is until the next generation of core players, which are 2-4 years away at best, are ready.
Ron Gardenhire and his staff deserve another year with a GM making an effort to give him at the very least a competitive roster if not a strong one. He deserves that chance and even more so the people of Minnesota deserve that.
