Finally, the media is coming around

Even if it is just Souhan, a well known, and certified moron, we finally have a Twin Cities media professional claiming that it might be best that the Twins part ways with Ron Gardenhire. Let’s take a read:

[Terry Ryan is] going to need to shock this organization out of its lethargy.

I’ve defended manager Ron Gardenhire, because I don’t believe any manager could win with these players, but he and Ryan will have to be willing to make changes if either of them wants to contend again, or survive.

Both might have to adopt the Darwinian motto favored by the rest of the professional sports world: Fire or be fired.

So, the theory from Souhan is that Gardenhire needs to be fired by Terry Ryan won’t get fired. That or he needs to get fired to shock the team out of it’s lethargy. I guess I agree with the latter. I also feel that TR has been back at the helm for 6 months, and can be reasonably sure his job is secure. Of course, I disagree with the opinion that “nobody could win with these player”. There are two AL MVPs on the roster, a 30 home run hitter, Denard Span, Ryan Doumit and a solid bullpen. There are several managers who could win with those players if they were in a division as awful as the AL Central. As I mentioned on Snipper and Crowbar on Monday, the problem is with young players that have failed to develop at the major league level, like Danny Valencia and Trevor Plouffe. It’s because of a lack of confidence among the pitching staff. A lack of clubhouse cohesion. A lack of passion.

I will pin all of those things on the manager. I do think that the manager has little to do with the effectiveness of a team, and I assert that Gardenhire has been the victim of bad luck the last two years, with key cogs suffering injuries, but I think he has done enough to earn a pink slip. It starts with his lack of post season success, and his inability to stay out of his own way in big game situations, and it continues to the lack of development of young players, his inability to deal with players with more brash personalities, and now the fact that the team, despite the talent they DO have is completely lost on the field, and utterly without leadership.

So, Souhan and I agree to a point. It’s probably time for Gardy to go. It would be good to send some shockwaves through the team. But we don’t need to get as macabre as Souhan did to find a reason. It’s not Terry Ryan or Ron Gardenhire. Gardenhire has done more than enough on his own to warrant termination.

But at least we are moving in the right direction.