Molitor takes the fall for Twins regressing after wild card in ’17
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins fired Paul Molitor on Tuesday, one season after he won Major League Baseball’s American League Manager of the Year award.
Molitor, who was the World Series MVP with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993 during a Hall of Fame playing career, has been offered another position within the organization.
“I fully respect that decision,” Molitor said in a statement distributed by the Twins. “I will forever be grateful for the opportunity they gave me to serve in the role as manager for these past four years. I’m going to consider their genuine offer to serve in a different capacity to positively impact the Twins from a different role.”
The Twins went 305-343 under the 62-year-old Molitor, with one appearance in the playoffs in 2017. They were 78-84 this year, long out of post-season contention after a series of early setbacks to several key players.
Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine inherited Molitor when they were hired two years ago, when owner Jim Pohlad said keeping him would be a prerequisite for the job. After the Twins went 85-77 and reached the wild card game, Molitor was given a new three-year contract. Falvey and Pohlad each expressed confidence Molitor would remain with the Twins.
Executives often prefer to pick their own managers, and Falvey and Levine haven now undertaken that task.
They acquired relievers Fernando Rodney, Addison Reed and Zach Duke, starting pitchers Lance Lynn and Jake Odorizzi and designated hitter Logan Morrison over the winter, but Rodney and Duke were the only additions who couldn’t be considered disappointments on the field.
Shortstop Jorge Polanco was hit with an 80-game suspension to start the season for a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance, and pitcher Ervin Santana’s recovery from surgery on his middle finger was slow. Catcher Jason Castro suffered a season-ending knee injury. Second baseman Brian Dozier laboured with substandard production. Centrefielder Byron Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano, long lauded as the future cornerstones of the franchise, continued to struggle and spent long stretches rehabbing injuries and in the minor leagues.
Molitor, who finished his playing days with his hometown team, held several roles within the organization before he was named the manager of the Twins for 2015. Molitor was a roving minor league instructor, focusing on baserunning and infielding, from ’03 through ’13 with a one-year stint as hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners in between. He was bench coach for the
Twins under manager Tom Kelly in 2000 and ’01 and then an assistant coach under manager Ron Gardenhire in ’14 with emphases on baserunning, bunting, infielding and in-game strategy.