Ah yes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Twins cleaned house (and by cleaned house, I mean wheeled the garbage cans to the curb, because the trash was already in them) and had to make some replacements at first and third base, and replace the bench, bullpen and hitting coaches.
Well, they took the obvious first step of making the bench and hitting coaches the… first and third base coaches. Hey, all right. “Reassigned” indeed. Of course, Scott Ullger used to be the third base coach, but was incredibly frustrating there, but now 1st base is open! Hey, move him there! Joe Vavra is now the third base coach because, hey, what the hell, why not? (I would have loved to have been there for the interview when they were looking to fill these roles)
Tom Brunansky, a former masher with the Twins in the 80s, and the guy who, at AAA helped develop young stud hitters like Brian Dinkelman, Rene Tosoni and Drew Butera, was named the Twins hitting coach, I kid about the hitters, because he hasn’t really been given much talent to mold in the minors, but the point is, they pulled him up from Rocherster. The did the same with new bullpen coach Bobby Cuellar, who was probably the best addition. The Twins wanted a coach that could speak Spanish. Of course, they opted for one that would be seated on the opposite side of the field from the dugout, but no matter. Cuellar, too, was recalled from Rochester.
They did go outside the organization for the bench coach, however! They went… to Wayzata. To pluck a former Twins catcher. Terry Steinbach! He was a coach at the high school in Wayzata, and hasn’t ever been a coach in the Majors. I don’t know where his eventual career aspirations will take him, but I hope he isn’t counting on an incredibly drawn out career, especially if the entire staff is cleaned out when Gardenhire goes.
But something tells me, that probably won’t happen. After all, even when the faces change, the Twins don’t go too far to replace them.
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