Twins manager named AL Manager of the Year

Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was named the American League Manager of the Year yesterday. I join everyone else in Minnesota in congratulating him, but if I were a voter in the process he probably wouldn’t have gotten my vote. I’m a little bit harsh, and probably wrong, when I say this, but I think the Twins are, at best, a mediocre baseball team that benefits from playing against some weak teams.

I suppose it all boils down to how do you define success. If you define success as taking homegrown talent and winning your division six out of nine years while averaging a 55% win/loss percentage, then he’s a successful manager. If you define success as how far you advance in the playoffs (5-22; .185 winning percentage) and how many league championships you win (zero) and how many World Series titles you win (zero), then I don’t know that he’s been a successful manager.

The reality is this is an award for the manager of the year and not the manager of the last nine years, or the most successful manager, and if I can keep just that thought in mind then, considering the year the Twins had, I supposed Ron Gardenhire is well deserving of the award.