Category: Twins

Mention names of the Twins best prospects in the lower minor leagues and Miguel Sano could be the first player discussed. Sano hit 20 home runs last season for Elizabethon, the second best total in the Appalachian League.  This spring, playing for Beloit, he leads the Midwest League with five home runs and is tied for the lead in runs batted at 14.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan told Sports Headliners that the right-handed teenage slugger is so strong he can hit balls to the opposite field over the fence, but more interesting was Ryan’s praise for Sano’s defensive potential.  “Defensively he should be a Gold Glove type third baseman,” Ryan said.  “It’s gonna be awhile before he develops into that type of a polished fielder.  He makes careless errors.

“But he’s a big, strong kid.  He’s 6-3, 235, 240, and he can put a (hitting) display on a particular night but there’s not enough consistency quite yet.  There’s no doubt in our minds that he’s going to be a major league player.”

How soon?

“He’s 19.  You’d probably say three years—hope that would be the case—but he’s only in low (Class) A,” Ryan said.  “So he’s still gotta struggle through a little bit of those things at Beloit, Wisconsin.  Getting used to playing in the cold weather is going to be a good thing for him because he’s never really played above Elizabethon, Tennessee and that was in the summer. …”

Ryan said the Dominican Republic native also needs to learn how to be a leader and improve his English.  “There are a lot of things he needs to grasp before we can start counting him as a major league all-star guy.”

Ryan said Sano’s athleticism is impressive including in the field.  “He’s got enough agility to play short.  He’s got a rifle for an arm but the size that he carries is a little bit much for shortstop.”

It didn’t take long for speculation about Ron Gardenhire’s job security to start.  By Wednesday of last week, six days after the 0-4 Twins had opened the 2012 season, speculation about whether Gardenhire would last the season as Twins manager had started including including a column from Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan.

For Gardenhire loyalists—and there are many—such talk must be further evidence of how dysfunctional our sports society really is.  “The win today or you’re gone” mantra in athletics seems to gain momentum every few years.

A look at the Gardenhire file shows a lot of winning.  Now in his 11^th season managing the Twins, Gardenhire’s teams have won six division titles.  He was American League Manager of the Year in 2008 and 2010.  Off the field he’s made himself available for local causes and his good-natured personality has long resonated with fans who approached him as strangers and left as friends.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan told Sports Headliners his franchise has someone special in Gardenhire.  “He’s everything you’re looking for in a manager,” Ryan said.  “”If he wasn’t here, he’d be snapped up in a day.  He’s that good.  He’s got the on field (skills).  He’s got the off field.  He’s got the knowledge.  He’s got the respect.

“For me, this (job) was made for him.  He’s a member of this community as much as he is a manager of the baseball team.  This is where he belongs.”

Ryan said Gardenhire, 54, meets all the criteria needed in a manager—from leadership to dealing effectively with the media.  “You put 10 things down that you want a manager to do, he does them all well,” Ryan said.  “So what more can you ask?”

The Twins are off to a 2-7 start but Ryan believes the talent is available to be a competitive team, better than last year’s 99 loss club, the worst record for a Gardenhire club and only the second to play under .500 baseball.  Ryan said the 2011 season was an “aberration” and wasn’t the manager’s fault.

“You can’t pin that on (former general manager) Bill Smith,” Ryan said.  “You can’t pin that on Ron Gardenhire.  We’re gonna pin it on the organization.  So if you take that out of the equation—which I do and have—we’re talking about the manager of the year in 2010.  That’s about all I need to say.”