Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Tuesday, October 7, 2014
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Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Tuesday, October 7, 2014 ➢ No refunds in baseball for big-name busts. Star Tribune (Rand) pg. 1 ➢ Twins will talk to Chip Hale; manager search could go into November. Star Tribune (Neal) pg. 2 ➢ Ryan has strong internal pool, but will also look outside. MLB.com (Bollinger) pg. 2 ➢ Stars of tomorrow ready to shine as ’14 AFL season begins. MLB.com (Cahill) pg. 4 ➢ Would a reunion with Torii Hunter make sense for Twins? 1500 ESPN (Wetmore) pg. 7 ➢ Report: Twins manager search ‘won’t be finalized within the next week.’ 1500 ESPN (Wetmore) pg. 8 ➢ Twins receive permission to interview A’s bench coach Chip Hale. 1500 ESPN (Wetmore) pg. 9 ➢ Chip Hale to interview with D-Backs Tuesday, later with Minnesota. CBS Sports (Heyman) pg. 9 ➢ Twin GM Terry Ryan continues to interview candidates. News-Press (Dorsey) pg. 10 ➢ Twins get permission to interview A’s bench coach Chip Hale. NBC Sports (Gleeman) pg. 10 No refunds in baseball for big-name busts Michael Rand / Star Tribune – 10/7/14 It is said that fortune favors the bold. If you printed out that expression and mailed it to members of the Tigers and A’s front offices, however, they would almost certainly crumple it up, light it on fire, or worse. The A’s, who beefed up their starting pitching for an extended playoff run, saw their top acquisition, Jon Lester, give up six runs in a wild card defeat to the Royals. The Tigers, who seemingly have every Cy Young Award winner in history — including deadline acquisition David Price — were swept in the ALDS when none of their aces could trump the Orioles’ no-names. So the teams that many assumed would grind it out in a classic AL Championship Series for the chance to go to the World Series failed to win a playoff game. It was another reminder that big spending and bold trades guarantee nothing in baseball. That doesn’t mean being able to spend money and acquire good players has nothing to do with success. The Yankees and Red Sox spend money and (usually) win. They have increased margin for error, but they also have to make good choices. The A’s have decreased margin for error and must make better choices. That margin can show up in the playoffs; the Yankees and Red Sox have won eight of the past 18 World Series titles, while the A’s haven’t made it to the World Series in that span but have lost seven consecutive loser-goes-home playoff games. Regardless, the most important factor in success isn’t how much you spend, but how you spend it. Low payroll teams with cheap, young talent can thrive. High-payroll teams with bloated contracts often nose-dive. Those are all important sentiments to remember as we head into an offseason when the Twins will be confronted with renewed questions about payroll and spending money. Minnesota’s payroll was around $85 million last season — on the low end in MLB, though enough to compete if used to its full potential. The Twins’ biggest problem was that they didn’t have enough good young players working cheap to offset $35 million in payroll being tied up by two underachieving players (Joe Mauer and Ricky Nolasco). The question for ownership and GM Terry Ryan is whether they think the team has enough young talent in 2015 to warrant going out and spending more money to shore up holes. Anyone can throw money at a problem and hope it works, but if you do that enough times and fail you’ll wind up with less flexibility when it actually is time to contend. Twins will talk to Chip Hale; manager search could go into November La Velle E. Neal III / Star Tribune – 10/7/14 Chip Hale is set to interview for the Twins managerial position, according to a source with direct knowledge of their search. And he probably won’t be the last candidate from outside the organization the Twins will interview. The Twins on Monday asked the Oakland Athletics for to permission to speak with Hale, and that permission was granted. Hale, 49, is a hot commodity and has an interview scheduled for Tuesday with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team he coached for from 2007 to ’09. But indications are that he would love to lead the Twins, the team he was drafted by and played 319 games with from 1989 to 1996. Hale has been the bench coach for the A’s for the past three seasons. Before that, he was the third base coach for the New York Mets. He is the first candidate from outside the organization that the Twins are known to have contacted to interview. So far, Paul Molitor, Doug Mientkiewicz and Gene Glynn are the in-house candidates to be known to have interviewed for the position. Baltimore Orioles bench coach John Russell is expected to interview, but the Twins have not officially requested permission to approach him, and his team still is playing in the postseason. Hale has been credited for his tremendous attitude and ability to energize players. That could click in the Twins clubhouse, where outgoing manager Ron Gardenhire admitted last week at his exit news conference that a new message might be needed. Twins General Manager Terry Ryan would not confirm that he will interview Hale. But Ryan indicated that his search will include outside candidates — and it might last for a while. While the Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers have issued statements about the candidates they are interviewing for their managerial openings, the Twins prefer to keep that information private. However, Ryan said, “There are some people I might have interest in who are still in the playoffs.” How long will the Twins’ search take? Possibly through the end the World Series. The Twins have presented a list to Major League Baseball, compliant with the league’s directive on minority hiring, and that list includes minority candidates. “We did this the last time we looked for a manager,” Ryan said. “It’s not anything out of the ordinary. This is the right thing to do.” That could mean that potential managers such as Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo and Rays bench coach Dave Martinez could be on their list. Before the Twins named Gardenhire manager in 2002, one of the candidates they interviewed was Fredi Gonzalez, who is now manager of the Atlanta Braves. If the Twins are waiting for candidates who are coaching in the World Series, their search could last until November. Ryan has strong internal pool, but will also look outside Rhett Bollinger / MLB.com – 10/6/14 2 MINNEAPOLIS -- When Twins general manager Terry Ryan described his ideal candidate to replace Ron Gardenhire as manager, he left the door open on bringing in a fresh voice from outside of the organization. But he also hinted that finding a manager from within the organization would be a preference, and one week after parting ways with Gardenhire, the Twins have yet to interview any potential skippers from outside the organization. Ryan has reportedly only interviewed Twins coach Paul Molitor and Class A Fort Myers manager Doug Mientkiewicz, but will interview more candidates from both inside and outside the organization in the coming weeks. More "I don't think we ought to just stay within, although that would be a nice preference, if you could," Ryan said. "My preference is to get the best guy. It'd be nice to get a guy that's inside, because he'd know the inner workings of this organization, and the market, and the ballpark and the personnel. That would be great, but sometimes, it's not meant to be." Molitor, 58, is considered the favorite after spending last season as a coach with the Twins. The Hall of Famer is familiar with the players on the big league roster and also has worked with many of the club's top prospects such as Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano during his time as the organization's Minor League baserunning and infield coordinator. Molitor, a St. Paul native who finished his playing career with the Twins from 1996-98, was also an on-field coach with the Twins in 2000 and '01 under former manager Tom Kelly. He's also thought of as forward-thinking and isn't afraid of advanced statistics or implementing infield shifts. Molitor, though, has no managerial experience at any level, but Ryan has indicated that won't be an overriding factor for candidates. Several big league managers such as Mike Matheny, Brad Ausmus, Matt Williams and Robin Ventura were hired in recent years without any managerial experience. "There are managers who are in the postseason right now who didn't have one game of experience as manager," Ryan said. Mientkiewicz, 40, is also familiar with the Twins, playing the first seven years of his career in Minnesota from 1998-2004 before rejoining the organization as manager of Fort Myers in 2013. The Miracle went 79-56 in '13 and 82-57 in '14. Mientkiewicz has also managed several top prospects, including Buxton and Sano, as well as Kennys Vargas, who was solid as a rookie for the Twins in '14. He's also known as more of a fiery type, which is in contrast to Molitor's more laid-back persona. So while Molitor and Mientkiewicz are the top two internal candidates, the Twins are also expected to look at bench coach Terry Steinbach and Triple-A Rochester manager Gene Glynn.