Should The Twins Fire Ron Gardenhire?

With the Twins falling faster then anyone could of imagined this year, some questions have risen that have the Twins doing some major changes. Some have the Twins completely gutting their roster, but one question took me by surprise, and that is to fire Gardy.

This question came up when I was talking to my Grandma who is the biggest Twins fan, she has seen the Twins play since their inaugural season of 1961. One of my good friends said we should(meaning the Twins) fire Gardenhire, and my grandma agreed. I was completely upheld by my friends statement, and even more surprised that my grandma agreed.

My friend did bring up some great points, that something needs to change with the Twins, but I do not think it

has to be Gardy that has to go, for one thing he has brought six Division titles to the Twins, Tom Kelly only brought two, but he(Kelly) also brought two World Series. Yet my friend said Gardy has been bounced out of the playoffs six times, and never has captured a American League Pennant.

I think that most fans do not remember the 90's Twins, which in nice terms sucked, and that might be saying it nicely. I do not want to bring down Tom Kelly, because he did bring us two Championships, but if you look at his managerial record besides 1987, and 1991 Kelly only managed his team to one second place finish, and never finished higher then fourth place 10 times. Take a look at Gardy and you see six first place finishes, one second place finish and two third place finishes.

Statistically Gardy is better then Kelly, but when it comes to playoffs, Gardy 6-21 when Kelly is 16-8, but Kelly managed when the playoffs were two best-of-seven series, and Gardy has to manage through three series. There is no doubt that Kelly is better in the playoffs, but I would more rather have Gardy managing the Twins, because take a look at the past four years for what Gardy had to deal with. Since Johan Santana was traded in 2007, Gardy has not had a so-called Ace on the team, Gardy has not had a healthy Joe Mauer, and Justin Morneau both for a full season since 2004, so Gardy has had to deal with what he was given.

So with that in mind, Gardy has done one heck of a job pieces together a team, and not to mention teams that have at least competed for the American league Central, he even had the Twins five games out of first place last month, and that's saying a lot for a team that has looked absolutely embarrassing this year. Going back to my grandma, I asked her if she remember the 1990 Twins, and she said yeah, so then I hit her with this question "in 1990 where you calling for the Twins to fire Kelly?" She said no, and for people who do not know about the 1990 Twins, they finished last, and this year Twins could finish last. The Twins did not fire Kelly in 1990, and Kelly repaid them by going last to first in 1991, I am not saying the Twins will do that next year, but I think we need to lay off of Gardy.

Instead of pointing the finger at Gardy, lets point the finger at Bill Smith the Twins General Manager, who did not give Gardy enough players to put a competitive bullpen together. Smith also traded away J.J Hardy, and brought in a Japanese shortstop who has looked completely lost this season. Paid Joe Mauer way to much, and not to mention lets point the finger at the players, because they have not looked professional this season. In defense of Gardy he did win the American League Manager of the Year last year, and no manager has won the award, and did great the next year. In the last 15 year no manager has won the award and the next season made it back to the playoffs besides Joe Torre who won the award in 1996, and took the Yankees back to the playoffs in 1997. So Twins fans lets put those pitch forks away, and if the Twins struggle next year, then we can bring up this question again, but for now lets give Gardy a break.