Scott Ullger's managerial ambitions

Scott Ullger: Will his
managerial ambitions
be fulfilled?

This post from Hardball Talk on the Blue Jays' managerial job springboarded my thoughts into the managerial prospects in the Twins organization.

We know that Scott Ullger wants to be a manager someday. He applied for the Twins job when Tom Kelly retired, even though it was generally assumed that the choice would be between Ron Gardenhire and Paul Molitor. He's had one or two interviews since, but obviously didn't get hired.

This may be a big winter for managerial changes. The Cubs, the Jays, the Braves, the Marlins, the Diamondbacks -- all already have either interim managers or retiring ones. There's widespread expectations that the Mets and Brewers will be changing skippers. Dusty Baker is leaving the door open to leaving Cincinnati. 

I would think that, in an era when the Twins are widely viewed as a model organization, that people like Ullger would be hotter prospects than they are. But I don't see any speculation in that direction out there.

Ullger has been Gardy's fill-in for years, and I assume is the guy who'd take over if Gardenhire got hit by a bus tomorrow. Whether he's really the best long-term managerial candidate in the organization is beyond me.

I'm quite sure that there are plenty of Twins fans who would love to see Ullger land a managerial job elsewhere just to get him out of Minnesota's third-base coaches box. I don't know how much blame for the base running blunders he deserves, but he certainly had a role. 

Not that an erroneous decision to try to score Jason Kubel from first on a double has any bearing on what Ullger offers as a manager.