Section 313
Seat No. 16
Well, the Tigers have their guy. Yesterday afternoon rumors started circulating that Ron Gardenhire was going to be the next manager of the Detroit Tigers. A rumor that was confirmed this afternoon when he was formally introduced to the fan base and local media. And, for all intents and purposes, it’s a good hire.
Gardenhire was the manager of the Minnesota Twins from 2002-2014, wherein that time he won over 1,000 games (1,062) and took the team to the playoffs six times in those thirteen years–all while doing this in a small market with a low budget team. This past season he was the bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team that surprised everyone winning 93 games and Wild Card before being swept by the juggernaut Dodgers.
Before heading to the desert to coach with the Diamondbacks, he spent time with the Twins as a special assistant in the Twins front office, and even was a candidate for the Padres job before it was offered to Andy Green. Gardenhire, aside from 13 managerial years, spent 11 other years as a Major League coach in some capacity.
Though Gardenhire is an experienced guy that has proven he’s a winner, something about this hire just seems weird. Why bring this guy in, now, to oversee a rebuild? Yes, managerial experience is important–four years ago! Now, we could with someone who needs to get their feet wet. It just seems as if the Tigers have done these last few years a little backward.
However, I still think “Gardy” can be the guy that brings us out a rebuild quicker. Many will balk at his “old school” ways and not embracing the analytics of the game that has seemed to take over. Yet, he was a part of a staff that had grandiose success this season by recommitting themselves to analytics. And all signs point to Gardenhire being a nice little marriage between the way the game was always played and the new information available. Because, at the end of the day, that’s truly how you will win ball games.
Gardenhire, this time with the hat and jersey. pic.twitter.com/Oj8LWuoqAP
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) October 20, 2017
