Paul Molitor is the perfect hire for the Twins, not only because he's a Hall of Fame player with two major-league coaching stints under his belt but also because he is local. And he's not just somewhat local but as local as any Twin Citian could possibly be.
The Twins have a history of staying inside, and you can't be much more inside (or local) than Molitor, who is the Twins' choice for manager and is expected to be introduced as such early this week, as Patrick Reusse of ESPN 1500 in the Twins Cities and Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press first suggested.
Molitor's local cred could not be any higher. Not only did he play for the Twins and coach for them twice, he is a native of St. Paul, a product of Cretin-Derham High School (the same school that produced Joe Mauer) and an alum of the University of Minnesota, where he was a three-time All-American at shortstop.
Molitor was the favorite going into the Twins managerial derby, as was suggested here a month ago and at other times, and according to one Twins insider the "hand-picked guy" of GM Terry Ryan, and according to league sources also eventually the first choice of Twins owner Jim Pohlad, as well.
Molitor is a quiet guy with a strong intellect, but nobody should undersell the value of his roots in this derby. The Twins' past two managers, Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire, both came from the Twins' staff, and they were both successful, though to different degrees (Kelly won two World Series, and Gardenhire won the AL Central crown six times).
The one question about Molitor was his lack of major-league managing experience, but since the second-through-fourth place finishers in this derby (Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo and Twins minor-league coaches Gene Glynn and Doug Mientkiewicz) also had no major-league managing experience, it was hard to see any of them beating out Molitor for the job. Of course, since the other three do have minor-league managing experience, they do have some experience Molitor doesn't have.
Molitor reportedly had a chance to manage the Twins more than a decade ago when Gardenhire took the job, but allegedly had concerns about possible contraction of the Twins. And one club insider suggested Molitor could have had the bench coach job a couple of years ago, but declined that one out of deference to Gardenhire; had Molitor been named at the time, he would have appeared to be a manager-in-waiting.
Molitor, who joins the Phillies' Ryne Sandberg as Hall of Fame players who are current managers, did join the coaching staff for 2014. Molitor and Gardenhire are not seen as especially close, and when Gardenhire was let go following the team's fourth consecutive 90-loss season, Molitor seemed like the obvious choice.
Ryan, notoriously thorough, interviewed about 10 candidates even though others saw Molitor as the obvious call all along. While one former Twins person suggested the search seemed at times like a "dog and pony show" with Molitor the obvious call, and at least one other potential candidate suggested he believed Molitor was the strong favorite all along, the fact that there were multiple interview of multiple candidates suggest Ryan was just doing his homework, as usual.
In the end, Lovullo, the well-regarded Red Sox coach who would make sense for the open Tampa Bay job, like Molitor advanced to the point where he was interviewed by Pohlad, who flew out to California to meet with him. Mientkiewicz had two interviews, but was likely viewed more as a very promising future candidate who needs some seasoning.
Ryan was said to be traveling back form Arizona with an announcement expected within the next day or two to name the manager everyone figured would get the job in the first place.
