Subtract one candidate, assess

Chip Hale has 2,728 fewer managerial victories
than the man to his left in this photo, Tony LaRussa.

One candidate for the Twins managerial job was scratched Monday. Chip Hale took the job in Arizona.

Which leaves the Twins with six known candidates and perhaps more to come.

We know of inside candidates Gene Glynn, Doug Mienkiewicz and Paul Molitor, and of outside candidates Sandy Alomar Jr,, Torey Lovullo and Joe McEwing. There's a very real chance that the search is now on hold while one or more candidates now coaching teams in the playoffs -- specifically John Russell of Baltimore and perhaps Jose Oquendo of St. Louis -- finishes the season.

It would be unfair to pin a specific label on any of the six -- unfair but tempting. They are all, without doubt, unique blends of personality and experience. Yet we can slide each into an individual slot:

• Glynn is the proven instructor and minor league veteran.
• Mientkiewicz is the young gun, just five years removed from his own playing days.
• Molitor is the Hall of Famer, with all the respect that carries.
• Alomar Jr. is the Spanish speaker.
• Lovullo is the guy from the sabermetric organization.
• McEwing is Mientkiewicz from the outside.

If Russell -- who was the first outsider to be specifically tied to the search in media reports -- is indeed a candidate, his pigeonhole would be "the recycled manager."

Again, these guys all are more complex than those brief sentences.

My (emphatically outside) view on this group:

• I prefer Mientkiewicz over the field.
• Of the outside candidates, including Russell, I prefer Alomar Jr. because of the language component. The Twins have so many Latin players of importance coming up, but their track record with such talent under Ron Gardenhire was spotty.
• I still expect Molitor to get the job, in part because it's easier to imagine Mientkiewicz on Molitor's staff than vice versa.

Chip Hale's managerial influences

A Chip Hale card from his days as a
Triple A player in the Twins system.

The Twins today are to interview Oakland bench coach Chip Hale for the managerial post.

Hale spent 10 seasons as a player in the Twins organization, 1987-96, then had a year apiece with the Dodgers and the Cardinals. His major league employment record since is scattered; he's had stints as a minor league manager, including winning the Pacific Coast League title one year with the Diamondbacks' Triple A affiliate.

There is some disputation in the on-line world as to whether Hale counts as an "outside" candidate. I figure there's got to be some sort of statute of limitations. Yes, Hale spent most of his playing career with the Twins; he hasn't drawn a check from them since.

Managers Hale played for in the majors:

Minnesota, 1989-90, 1993-96: Tom Kelly
Los Angeles, 1997: Bill Russell

Managers Hale has coached under in the majors:

Arizona, 2006: Bob Melvin
New York Mets, 2009: Jerry Manuel
Oakland, 2011-present: Melvin again

Possibly notable names Hale had as minor league managers:

Phil Roof, Scott Ullger, Russ Nixon. (Roof was a long time Triple A manager for the Twins and still helps with the minor league catchers in spring training; Ullger, of course, has been on the Twins major league staff for years; and Nixon managed without success in the mjaors for two full seasons and parts of three others.)

Kelly probably has competition from Melvin for the "title" of most influential figure on Hale as a potential manager.