If you want some hard hitting analysis on the Twins hiring Garvin Alston, well, then you came to the wrong place. There were a couple of candidates that were giving some press around here, like Mike Maddux and Carl Willis, but both took jobs elsewhere. Instead, the Twins hired Alston, who served for most of last year as the A’s bullpen coach.
Maybe there isn’t any analysis I can provide, but I can provide an optimistic reaction. There were several big names out on the market, like Willis and Maddux and the recently hired Chris Bosio in Detroit, but the Twins and their new front office, despite an emerging team that likely could have attracted one of those names, went with a guy they wanted and trusted. They actually interviewed candidates and hired Alston. There is something to that, right?
Last season, the Twins didn’t retain Tom Brunansky, instead opting to bring James Rowson aboard, hiring him after being the minor league hitting coordinator with the Yankees. Alston has had a similar role with several organizations before taking his role as bullpen coach in Oakland, serving as minor league pitching coordinator there and with the Padres for a time.
Does this actually mean anything? Maybe to Derek Falvey. And that’s what’s important, and that’s how anyone is going to feel optimistic about this hire, because they feel confident in the decision making ability of Falvey. Alston doesn’t have a long track record for the lay person to look at in which to base their opinion, and yet he was hired with other options available. There isn’t really a reason to think it was a bad hire, unless you are already wary of Falvey.
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