10/12/16

Toby Gardenhire has been back with the Twins and nobody knew

After the dearly departed Twins' former General Manager, Terry Ryan, re-hired the Twins' former manager, Ron Gardenhire, who could not find work with any other MLB team, recent news article suggest that as soon as the father was hired, his son, Toby Gardenhire, who has a career .232/.292/.274  slash line in 7 seasons as a Twins' minor leaguer whose best skill was the fact that was Ron Garenhire's son, was also hired by the Twins in 2016.

A hot off the press report by the Dunn County News, says that after school was over for the University of Wisconsin baseball head coach, he was hired by the Twins for the summer as a minor league coach.  From that article:

This summer, Gardenhire had the opportunity to coach for the Minnesota Twins Baseball Club as a hitting and third base coach for the Golf Coast League (GCL) Twins in Fort Myers, Fla.“They called me and asked if I wanted another coaching opportunity,” Gardenhire said. “I said yes and it worked out.”

Not sure whether Terry Ryan, or his interim successor Rob Anthony were the final approvers of the hire, (it was likely Ryan, since college programs end before he was fired,) but the fact that it was never announced is very disappointing.   Not to mention the fact that the Twins looked at another insider (with very low credentials) without going outside the organization looking for excellence.  The hope is that the new Front Office stops running the Twins like a Country Club.