1. THE TWINS UNDER PAUL MOLITOR: AN EDITORIAL
BY: Rollie Dethloff
It came as an unexpectedsurprisetoseveral of myfriendslastyearwhenthe MinnesotaTwins
firedtheirgeneral managerRonGardenhire. Butreally,itneededtohappen. Like the Vikings under
Leslie Frazierinthe 2013 NFL Season,the Twinswere underperforming,comingoutonthe losingside of
manygamesand sittingat lastinthe league formostof the season as well asthe three seasonsbefore
that.
Now,whennewmanagerPaul Molitor washiredbackon November3rd
of lastyear to replace
Gardenhire,manywere excited. Molitorwasonthe Twinsteamfrom1996-1998, the last three yearsof
hiscareer as a MLB player. Duringthat time,he wasknownforflawlesscompactswingsthathelped the
teamwingames. It was a wonderful dayforTwinsfanswhoknew whoMolitorwasand were hopingto
see some changesinthe W-L Recordthisyear.
Molitorhas beendescribedasaplayer’smanagerbyTwinssecondbasemanBrianDozier,
apparentlyappearingasafun andlight-heartedmanduringpracticeswhile atthe same time seeming
soft-spokenandaroughertype of leadertowardsthe media. If youask me,thistype of managerseems
to have the most successincoaching. You know youhave to be serious attimesandat othertimesyou
can joke aroundas well. That’sa lotbetterthan the oneswhosimplylaughall the time andthenwatch
as the seasonfallsoutof reach or the oneswhoare so seriousthattheyare immediatelyhatedby
everyone onthe team exceptforperhapsaselectfew playersthathe bringsintoa personal circle.
The coaching staff isquite the mixture thisyearaswell,consistingof several holdoversfromthe
previousseasoninJoe Vavraaswell assome newcomerslike GeneGlynn,whowaspromotedfrom
withinafterspendingseveral seasonsasthe team’sTriple-A Manager. Thisisawesome too,aspeople
and placesandorganizationswhowill promotefromwithinare some of the besttoworkfor or be a part
of as theywill getyoufar.
Now,onto the Twin’srecordsofar thisseason. In the firstweekof games we foundoutthat
the team wasn’tgoingtodo so well againstthe DetroitTigers,especiallysince theyonlygarneredone
run inthe third andfinal game of the series,theirworststartinyears. Nexttheyfacedoff againstthe
ChicagoWhite Sox and got theirfirstwinbya score of 6-0. HoweverChicagocame readyto playthe
nextfewdaysandbeat the teamin the othertwogamesof the series.Theywontwooutof three games
againstthe KansasCity Royalsandthendidthe same withthe ClevelandIndiansbeforeonlyone game
againstthe Royalsinthe nextseries. Onarticle deadlineday,theycurrentlysitatone winandone loss
againstthe Seattle Mariners.
For those of you keepingtrack,thatputsthe team at 7 winsand10 losses,nottoobad for a
teamjustgettingoff the groundwitha new general manager. Ithinkthat if we give ittime,the Twins

2. may have a fewsurprisesinstore foruslateron in the year. Eitherway,it’sa veryinterestingtime to
be a MinnesotaTwinsfan.