MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins fired Paul Molitor on Tuesday, one season after he won the American League Manager of the Year award.
Molitor has been offered another position within the organization.
“I fully respect that decision,” Molitor said in a statement distributed by the Twins. “I will forever be grateful for the opportunity they gave me to serve in the role as manager for these past four years. I’m going to consider their genuine offer to serve in a different capacity to positively impact the Twins from a different role.”
Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine inherited Molitor when they were hired two years ago, when owner Jim Pohlad said keeping him would be a prerequisite for the job. After the Twins went 85-77 and reached the wild card game, Molitor was given a new three-year contract. Falvey and Pohlad each expressed confidence Molitor would remain with the Twins.
Executives often prefer to pick their own managers, and Falvey and Levine haven now undertaken that task.
They acquired relievers Fernando Rodney, Addison Reed and Zach Duke, starting pitchers Lance Lynn and Jake Odorizzi and designated hitter Logan Morrison over the winter, but Rodney and Duke were the only additions who couldn’t be considered disappointments on the field.
Shortstop Jorge Polanco was hit with an 80-game suspension to start the season for a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance, and starting pitcher Ervin Santana’s recovery from surgery on his middle finger was painfully slow. Catcher Jason Castro suffered a season-ending knee injury. Second baseman Brian Dozier labored through the summer with substandard production. Center fielder Byron Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano, long lauded as the future cornerstones of the franchise, continued to struggle and spent long stretches rehabbing injuries and in the minor leagues.
Molitor, who spent the final three seasons of his Hall of Fame playing career with his hometown team, held several roles within the organization before he was named the 13th manager of the Twins for 2015.
Molitor was a roving minor league instructor, focusing on baserunning and infielding, from 2003 through 2013 with a one-year stint as hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners in between. He was bench coach for the Twins under manager Tom Kelly in 2000 and 2001 and then an assistant coach under manager Ron Gardenhire in 2014 with emphases on baserunning, bunting, infielding and in-game strategy.
Photo credit – Carlos Osorio / Associated Press / Detroit, MI
