Bosio, Anderson and Gardenhire

It was impossible to imagine Ron Gardenhire managing the Twins without Rick Anderson as his pitching coach. The duo, old buddies during their playing days with the mid-80s Mets, supposedly made a pact back then -- if and when Gardy got a big league managing job, Andy would be his pitching coach.

And so it was, for 13 seasons, many good and some not.

Which made it noteworthy that, when Gardenhire landed the dugout job in Detroit, it was with a different pitching coach. The Tigers has already hired Chris Bosio, discharged by the Chicago Cubs when Jim Hickey became available. Gardenhire did get to bring Anderson on as his bullpen coach, but Bosio was imposed on him by the higher ups.

And on Wednesday, the higher ups removed Bosio, reportedly without any input from Gardenhire, over something Bosio said to an unspecified team employee. From the Detroit Free Press:

The nature of Bosio’s comments — and who they were directed toward — were not disclosed by (general manager Al) Avila. It is not clear whether those comments were racial, sexual or otherwise bigoted in nature.

Gardy, in the above linked piece, speaks highly of Bosio as a pitching coach but added: “This organization has to act and they did."

And so Gardenhire has Anderson as his pitching coach once again.

About the coaching staff

Terry Steinbach:
Manager, coach or
moving to Arizona?

When the Twins dismissed Ron Gardenhire as manager on Monday, they also put the seven coaches "in limbo." They have contracts through this calendar year, but no assurance that they will be on the new skipper's coaching staff.  Terry Ryan said Monday that he will not block any of them from moving on to another interested team in the meantime.

It should be said that managers no longer have the final say over their coaches, as they once did. That is one of many battles front offices have fought and won over the dugout bosses. Managers do have some say over coaches -- probably most strongly over pitching coaches -- but the general managers have the final say. It's no longer enough to be the manager's drinking buddy.

It wasn't Ron Gardenhire's idea to bounce Jerry White and Rick Stelmaszek for Tom Brunansky and Bobby Cuellar two years ago, after all.

I rather expect some of the seven coaches to remain on the Twins staff. Indeed, were I involved in the hiring process, I would need a really strong reason to go with a candidate who intended to replace Brunansky or Paul Molitor.

Let's go down the list and take a guess at their fates:

Rick Anderson, pitching coach: Can't see that he's returning. Ryan will almost certainly let his new manager have his pitching coach of choice. And it may well be that even if Anderson is the pitching coach of choice (if, say, Molitor or Steinbach gets the job), that Ryan will strongly suggest that a different coach be chosen.

Tom Brunansky, hitting coach: I want him to stay. The improvement of the Twins hitters from 2013 to 2014 was impressive. I can't prove that Bruno was responsible for that improvement, but the improvement was there.

Bobby Cuellar, bullpen coach: Might be considered for the pitching coach job. Might be kept as bullpen coach, Might be cut loose. My guess is he stays in the bullpen job. Sole Spanish speaker on the current staff, so naturally he was as far from the Latin contingent as possible.

Paul Molitor, baserunning/defensive positioning/first base: Conventional wisdom has him as the front runner for the managerial job. The interesting puzzle is: What if somebody else gets the top job? Would the Hall of Famer be willing to serve on a Doug Mientkiewicz staff? I hope so.

Terry Steinbach, bench coach: Also seen as a managerial candidate. The New Ulm native has also been connected to the Arizona Diamondbacks, where Tony LaRussa has installed Steiny's old Oakland battery mate, Dave Stewart, as a (relatively weak) general manager and is now looking for a new manager. Manager or coach, I expect Ryan to want to keep Steinbach; if the D'backs make a rapid offer, that might not be an option.

Scott Ullger: Jack of all
coaching trades,
master of none.

Scott Ullger, outfield/first base/third base: Can't see that he's returning. Ullger has been around since the Tom Kelly regime and has been given a variety of assignments over the years: Hitting coach, first base, third base, dugout, fill-in manager, outfield defense. He didn't do any of them so well that he kept the responsibility for long. Ullger has long struck me as the most dispensable member of the staff.

Joe Vavra, infield/third base: Longtime hitting coach, had hip replacement surgery during the season and spent most of the second half in the dugout. My guess is that he'll be offered the minor league hitting coordinator job he held before Brunansky was elevated to the major league job. (The Twins early in September dismissed Bill Stoneman, who had held the minor league coordinator post for eight years.)

Bottom line: Even if one of the current coaches is chosen Gardenhire's successor, I expect substantial turnover on the staff this winter. The relative stability that accompanied Gardenhire's assent 13 years ago is not going to be repeated.

Gardenhire without Anderson? Not likely

Rick Anderson (left) and Ron Gardenhire were
teammates in the Mets organization in the 1980s,
and Anderson has been Gardenhire's pitching coach
for 12 seasons in Minnesota.

Long-tenured managers tend to be linked to long-tenured pitching coaches. Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan. Bobby Cox and Leo Mazzone. Tommy Lasorda and Ron Perranoski. Tom Kelly and Dick Such.

And, yes, Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson. Anderson has been Gardenhire's pitching coach all 12 seasons that Gardenhire has managed the Twins

We can expect a decision soon, perhaps today, on whether Gardenhire will remain the Twins dugout boss. One bit of speculation has Terry Ryan telling Gardenhire he can stay — but Anderson cannot.

Gardenhire, who can reasonably expect to get other job offers if he is out in Minnesota, would probably reject that proposition. I doubt Ryan would make such an offer, partly because I don't think Ryan is Machiavellian enough to make the offer with the intent of making Gardenhire be the one to cut the ties with the Twins.

For better or worse, and quite probably for better, managers get more say on the pitching coach than on the other members of the staff. Friction between the manager and the pitching coach, be it on a personal level or professional, is too obviously counterproductive. 

When Kelly retired after the 2001 season, Ryan dismissed Such almost immediately, either to clear the position for the choice of the next manager or because Ryan wanted Such out. It's impossible to imagine that Ryan would have fired Such had Kelly remained.

Such was Kelly's pitching coach. Anderson is Gardenhire's. Period, end of sentence. If Gardy stays, Andy stays.