The Twins announced Monday that they have signed manager Paul Molitor to a three-year contract extension that will keep him with the team through the 2020 season. Molitor’s new deal is worth approximately $4MM, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (on Twitter). He and the Twins are still discussing whether there will be changes to his coaching staff, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag (Twitter link).
While a new deal for Molitor was expected by many, it wasn’t quite a given. Molitor was initially hired as the successor to longtime manager Ron Gardenhire, but that hire was made by former general manager Terry Ryan, who was fired from his post last year. Some speculated that Falvey and general manager Thad Levine may want to bring in their own candidate to take over the dugout, but Molitor will stay in the fold.
While the 2016 season was an unmitigated disaster, the Twins have surprised in two of Molitor’s three seasons at the helm. The 2015 club won 83 games — a 13-game improvement over the preceding season — and was in contention for an AL Wild Card spot until the very last weekend of the regular season. Last year’s 103-loss campaign now looks to be largely an aberration, as Molitor’s Twins posted 85 wins and secured the second AL Wild Card spot this year before falling 8-4 against the Yankees. That surprising performance has positioned Molitor as one of the speculative front-runners for American League Manager of the Year honors.
Molitor, of course, enjoyed a 21-year playing career and is among the most decorated offensive players in Major League history. The seven-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner finished his career with a .306/.369/.448 batting line, and his 3,319 career hits rank 10th all-time in MLB history. Molitor is widely praised by his former teammates and current players for his baseball intelligence, and while he may not be as sabermetrically inclined as some other skippers around the game, his arrival in Minnesota did prompt a much more aggressive implementation of defensive shifting.
Overall, he’s managed the Twins to a 227-259 record in his three-year tenure, though the future looks considerably brighter in Minnesota following explosive second halves from young talents such as Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario. Those three will join a hopefully healthier Miguel Sano, outfielder Max Kepler and right-hander Jose Berrios in forming a long-term core that the Twins hope can lead to additional postseason appearances in the very near future.
Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press first reported (via Twitter) that Molitor would return to manage the Twins under a new contract. Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press reported Sunday (Twitter link) that the two sides were closing in on a deal. La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune confirmed the agreement Monday. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
First 100L team to make the postseason the following year in MLB history! That should be an automatic extension right there regardless of outcome.
Not only that, but essentially every one of their young players took a step forward. Buxton, Polanco, Kepler, Rosario, Sano, Berrios all had promising, if not outright good, seasons, which is extremely rare. Never know when to give credit to a coaching staff, but this seems like as good a time as any.
Hitting coach James Rowson DEFINITELY deserves a ton of credit and has done a fantastic job (especially for byron), but yeah I think he’s done a great job with the team and the players really seem to think so from what I’ve read.
It was actually Molitor who helped Buxton. Buxton has the exact same swing that Molitor had.
Nope, there are multiple articles out there about how Rowson didn’t want Buxton sent down and that he’d fix him at the ML level. The fact that it looks similar to Molitor’s is a coincidence more than anything.
I believe Rowson said he broke Buxton down and had him start one thing at a time. Once he was used to that one thing, he’d add another piece on top of it etc. google it if you’d like. There are tons of articles about the great things that Rowson did for many of the Twins hitters.
Molitor is more of the base running specifically base stealing: Buxton and Dozier.
I love Bartolo Big Sex.
Last year they were in it until the last week of season …
You’re thinking 2015. 2016 the Twins lost over 100 games.
why would they not
Because Molitor is old school and doesn’t understand sabermetrics. Glad he’s back though, even though he’s a dying breed.
Exactly. The new FO is a couple of young, saber minded guys. And Paul Molitor tries to sac bunt playing for a tie on the road during the regular season.
WOW…wasn’t expecting that at all! Good for Molitor since he was born and raised in Minnesota. Falvey and Lavine come off as an emotionless, numbers-obsessed duo, so maybe Molitor came out with positive ratings in some new magical formula they conjured up from the dark art of sabermetrics. Remember, WAR did not exist just 20 years ago!
I think Moliter is a smart manager. he teaches the basics of baseball. I’m sure he is able to use even sabermetric too but at the same time goes with his gut at the right times. The bottom line is he has that it factor. Coach, teacher, boss, big brother, people skills and checks his ego at the door kinda person. Can be very competitive with people the right way. Just has common sense.
I think Moliter is a smart manager. he teaches the basics of baseball. I’m sure he is able to use even sabermetric too but at the same time goes with his gut at the right times. The bottom line is he has that it factor. Coach, teacher, boss, big brother, people skills and checks his ego at the door kinda person. Can be very competitive with people the right way. Just has common sense. Winner plain and simple
War has never changed
War this, he is the MGR, not one of your fantasy players
Seems like this dude is a troll. Get with the program, baseball has changed and accept it please
“Dark art of sabermetrics” is the kind of phrase used by someone who has no idea what sabermetrics is
MISTAKE Perhaps they are positioning the near term ascension of Jake Mauer as Manager once Joey retires with Dougy Baseball having been let go to clear the decks.
Jeff Pickler will be the next manager after Molitor
Sure he will, he was brought over to be the mole
What? English next time please.
que pasa chico, tu no habla espanol, pinchy cabron
That might be what TR would do. Falvey and Levine however have shown they’re not especially sentimental
they have shown to be Ryanites, and have done nothing to improve this team
It’s smart to not have a gut reaction and fire everyone when you start a new job. They required a year to evaluate what they had in players and other personnel. It was smart. You don’t want to fire someone who may have been underutilized or improperly utilized by someone else.
Now is the time to put their mark on it. From the sounds of it, they’ve nearly double most of the front office already. They also hired Rowson last year, the hitting coach who had a positive influence on multiple young hitters.
Hey Twins, I will give you Showalter!!!!
i would love to have Molitor to manage the O’s
Twins would me making a mistake if they let him go!
As others noted, first 100 loss team to make the postseason the next year. And it was for all practical purposes the same core players. 2/3 years the Twins have exceeded expectations.
I think Molitor makes lots of puzzling in game roster moves but, that’s what every fan base says about their manager.
True. That’s what every fanbase says about every manager. Being a manager is hard and it’s easy to second guess every manager decision (unless it works)
CLE is a prime example. IF Cle won today and Cle was in a 0-1 hole everyone would be like “arghh! Kluber shudda started game 1!!”
If Cle didn’t* win today and was in a 0-1 hole.
Yeah, it isn’t as if all managerial decisions are correct… but it helps when you can recognize that there’s a difference between something being a good idea and failing and something bring a bad idea and succeeding.
I’m not sure how to read the behavior of the Twins front office. Are they just playing it cool and close to the vest as is the case in many contract negotiations, or is there genuine ambivalence on their part? Seems like they see Molitor more as a bridge to the next manager rather than their field general going forward.
I’m hoping it’s the former rather than the latter…
If I am Paul Molitor, i make them put up or shut up…force them to raise the payroll to 135-145 million, or walk away and let the front office fall on there faces, the team won dispite the effortd of the Dynamic duo to force a losing record…if Paul retuns and they dont add a Front of the rotation starter, and a pair of quality hard throwing lefty relievers, chances are Molitor fails, and then gets fired, just like the front offices wanted
If they really wanted him fired, why wouldn’t they not re-sign him instead of tanking so they have an excuse to fire him?
Side note: why so much hate for Falvey and Levine from Twins fans? They seemed to have a fine year as executives, and the team was wildly more successful.
Because all they care about are statistics — firing long-time Twins employees, determining a player’s value solely on formulas that didn’t exist 20 years ago, etc. They’re borderline inhuman, slaves to the almighty algorithm.
Those long time employees contributed to the bad play. Time to clean house. It last no different than a new manager wants his own coaches. Loyalty to longevity does not equal success.
As much I don’t always like the way the game is turning in to a math class, you have to keep up with the times or you lose a lot of games……
The Twins were probably the most insular alumni-club anachronism in the entire major leagues under TR’s second stint. They had arguably the most “old school” philosophy in the league.
But yeah, they should fire Falvey and Levine and hire someone who makes decisions based on how nice a guy looks in a jersey
And they made the wildcard with Terry Ryan’s old school team… a club that has a lineup with 5 potential stars who are under 25 years old…and some young arms in the pipeline…old school is so stupid, all they needed were a couple young geniuses to make them competitive again.
So they are going to extend Molitor … but then intentionally NOT sign any front line starters if they could …. and intentionally keep the payroll down … to make sure Molitor fails … so they can fire the guy that they could just not extend right now?? Huh???
They’re currently inventing a replacement in their sabermetric lab deep beneath Target Field. Their prototype BLORG7 will be ready just in time for the 2019 season. BLORG7 can quantify everything about the game of baseball; “grit”, “clutch”, and “veteran presence”, “good in the community” need not apply when BLORG7 takes over. It’s all about statistics. Unfortunately, it will eventually consume Falvey and Levine as well.
I developed a metric called wAPQ. Weighted Asinine Post Quotient. Yours scored 127.
4 million per or 4 million total?
That’s what I was wondering, 4 million total seems like way too little compared to the rest of the league managers.
Not really. You have to win more then a wildcard to get $4 million per year
What do you guys do if you’re the manager? Would you have left sale in or no?
He is one hell of a coach, but there were a few head-scratching moments over the course of the last few years as well. Overall, he has been a big asset. If he can minimize the brain cramps that occurred occasionally, he is right there with the best of them.
if they dont resign him, and they dont step forward as a team, then it looks like Paul was the reason, as for the hate of the pair of dog DO DOs in the front office, what did they do to help the team? kept kids down to long, so they didnt get a real chance to aclimate, trade off the closer, with no hier apperent, ,and there draft, signing guys who throw 90-92mph od even worse 86-88 mph ..what a joke….as for Paul hope every thing works out, and I hope the skinflints push payroll to give you afighting chance