The Axe Falls in Minnesota...

Former First-Base Coach - Jerry White

Former Bullpen Coach - Rick Stelmeszak

Yesterday, Twin's general manager, Terry Ryan, made some surprising moves that seem to clearly send the message that 195 loses over two years is not going to be accepted.  Longtime Twin's coaches Rick Stelmeszak, Steve Liddle, and first-base coach Jerry White were all handed their papers yesterday and let go.  Hitting coach, Joe Verva, and bench coach, Scotty Ullger were reassigned to other duties and manager, Ron Gardenhre, and pitching coach, Rick Anderson were given one-year contracts.

Former Bench & Third-Base Coach - Steve Liddle

These moves surprise me because the Twin's have long been known for not making big shake-ups and hiring new people from within.  In my thirty years here, we have had four managers, and two of them have managed the team for the last 25 years.  That is not a lot of change.

The message to our manager, Ron Gardenhire and everyone else seems pretty clear - its time to get back to the play-offs.

Well, okay - game on.

In some senses, this had to be done at some time.  While we think of ourselves as a great defensive, smart baseball team - the reality is others have passed us by and we are average.  We led the league in double-plays, but that might be because we have let too many runners on base.  I think Gardenhire has done well with how we use pitchers, but our grasp of defense and base running has been less than model.

I am a bit surprised that Gardenhire would stick around after all his buddies were asked to leave.  I suppose he is too old to start over in a different organization and work himself back to the top, and he is too young to just walk off into the sunset.

Well, the message has been sent, we shall see how the boys roll with the news...

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