OT- Tigers Name Ron Gardenhire New Manager
Per WXYZ Channel 7
Gardenhire was the Minnesota Twins manager until 2013 and was a bench coach for the Diamondbacks last season.
October 19th, 2017 at 5:55 PM ^
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October 19th, 2017 at 5:55 PM ^
He did so much with so little in Minnesota. And we all know this team won’t be getting any top line free agents (or any, most likely)
October 19th, 2017 at 7:12 PM ^
Not this year, at least.
October 19th, 2017 at 9:11 PM ^
When Avila IS signing Free Agents. He's bad at his job.
October 19th, 2017 at 9:25 PM ^
Well I don't know about that...
October 19th, 2017 at 5:55 PM ^
but nobody else is reporting it (yet), and Gardenhire did interview w/Bosox today
October 19th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^
Seemed to do more with less most of the time with the Twins.
Hopefully the Tigers can get their payroll in order and acquire some more young talent soon.
I'm pretty excited about this.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:04 PM ^
Gardenhire is about as good as they could have done with a name the paying public would recognize. He was pretty good with the Twins, and won't embarrass Detroit while they struggle with an ongoing youth movement.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:06 PM ^
I like it, although part of me wishes this had been the hire made instead of Brad Ausmus in the first place, quite honestly. I feel like that point in Tigers' recent history would have been a perfect point to insert Gardenhire. It will be interesting to see what he can do with the youth though.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:41 PM ^
Ausmus never should have been hired here.
October 19th, 2017 at 7:55 PM ^
Gardenhire was still with the Twins when Ausmus was hired. Might be a case to be made that they should have fired Ausmus after losing to the Orioles and scooped up Gardenhire then.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:12 PM ^
Man should have made this hire when they were relevant.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:31 PM ^
Tigers should have hired Gardenhire prior to the 2015 season.
The next window of opportunity to win likely won't happen until at least the 2019 season (but likely later than that).
That said, the AL Central, other than Cleveland, is a cesspool of mediocrity. I wouldn't completely rule out a shot at a wild card (I know, wildest dreams, but I'll blame it on my cold meds). Gardenhire is just that big of a step in the right direction; he's capable of squeezing something out of nothing frequently enough to add a win per month over replacement to our record.
Needless to say, I like the hire....the GardenHIRE.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:14 PM ^
This is fantastic news. He did so much in Minnesota with so little. I didn't even know he was interested in coaching again.
Ausmus name came up initially for the Red Sox job - I almost couldn't believe it when I heard it. I hope he does get the gig in Boston as I can't see it going well for them.
October 19th, 2017 at 7:32 PM ^
Are building a juggernaut. Think they will be fully operational, before we start contending again.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:16 PM ^
The fans get what they want... we'll see if it works out. The Twins were never able to get over the hump with RG, but that is a worry we could only dream about right now.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:18 PM ^
Would have been a lot happier with this news 4 years ago. My dad honestly thinks they're headed to the playoffs next year. I have them losing 100+.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:43 PM ^
Your father is delusional. They're more likely to lose 110+ than sniff 80 wins.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:18 PM ^
He was the guy I initially thought of - but I have also heard thought that the Tigers should go with someone who is more into today's analytics, whereas Ron Gardenhire might be thought of as more 'old school'.
October 19th, 2017 at 7:57 PM ^
Ausmus was into today's analytics. That didn't go so well...
October 19th, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
Sabermetrics can be good but they can also be horrible. The straight analytics guys are the most annoying as they don't take "clutch" and character/leadership skills into consideration. All the numbers in the world don't mean shit if a guy is a cancer in the clubhouse.
I like the hire, especially now with experience and stability being so important for a rebuild.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:18 PM ^
He was the guy I initially thought of - but I have also heard thought that the Tigers should go with someone who is more into today's analytics, whereas Ron Gardenhire might be thought of as more 'old school'.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^
Better than I thought he'd come up with. At least they got a level headed manager with MLB experience.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:22 PM ^
I really like this hire. I just wish it happened 7 years ago. Oh well. He'll be a great leader for all the youth on our team.
I hope he missed those losing seasons with Minnesota, because he's in for four or more 100+ loss seasons.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:27 PM ^
Four or more 100+ loss seasons?!?!?! Uhhh..... what?!
October 19th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^
He won't be here in 4 years. There may be improvement by 2020 (at least there better be), but this team is going to average 90 losses the next three years. That's going to burn Gardenhire right out.
October 19th, 2017 at 7:19 PM ^
My point was there has only been 1 100-loss team in the past 4ish years in all of MLB. Saying any single team would loss 100 games in four straight seasons is just stupid.
October 19th, 2017 at 10:37 PM ^
Even in the darkest years of the Tigers (2002-2003) they only lost 100 games in two straight years. After the 2003 debacle Ilitch was embarassed into spending money on the team.
I guess my point was that Gardenhire is going to be here 3 years max. Next season is going to be an absolute disaster (think 1996, Alan Trammell's last year, when Buddy Bell managed us to a 53-109 season). 2019 could be better, but the bulk of our starting pitching prospects don't figure to arrive in Detroit until 2020. 275 losses in the next three years is not unreasonable.
This will surely be the end of Ron Gardenhire's career. I'm not sure why he'd want to end it in this fashion.
October 20th, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^
He's not that old. He's a couple years younger than Leyland was when Leyland was hired. If you think the Tigers will lose 100-110 next year, and 275 in three years, then you have them approaching .500 by the end of Gardenhire's contract. No reason to assume he'll burn out.
October 19th, 2017 at 8:19 PM ^
Seven years ago could have had Showalter, not that there would have been an appreciable difference. Might have won a WS though.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:26 PM ^
Well they tried to go with the wunderkind approach by hiring Ausmus, like some other teams did. But it was a veteran team at the time, not conducive to learning on the fly. How'd that work out? Now they go with the proven veteran for rebuilding. Seems backwards.
October 19th, 2017 at 8:21 PM ^
We're thankful it was Ausmus instead of going for a rehabilitated Ozzie.
October 19th, 2017 at 10:38 PM ^
You gotta admit, the postgame pressers would have been a hell of a lot more entertaning, if nothing else.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:42 PM ^
It's rebuilding, so go with a guy who understands young guys, I guess.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:42 PM ^
He is great to work with, I have been in his office many times when the twins played the tigers to shoot interviews with him. When I would run one of the cameras in the Twins dugout gardy would bring water over on a hot day. Seems like a good dude. And should be good for this young team.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^
A kick out of the people that say he's old.
Dude's 60. You can be a baseball manager until you are 95.
October 19th, 2017 at 11:33 PM ^
While smoking two packs of Marlboros in the dugout tunnel.
October 19th, 2017 at 6:58 PM ^
He has managed his share of bad team's. He will be ready for what he might inherit. I like this.
October 19th, 2017 at 7:31 PM ^
I have no idea why he would want the job, but at least we won't sleepwalk to another 90-loss season. This guy makes Leyland look like a pussycat.
October 19th, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^
If you like a guy who likes old fashioned bunting, SAC flies and "playing the right way" (whatever that means), he's your guy. He'll be a good quote now and then. Which is nice. As a Red Sox fan, I'm happy to see him somewhere else.
October 19th, 2017 at 8:37 PM ^
God I hope not... bunting at the major league level is one of the stupidest things period. In the AL, there's almost no situation where you should be bunting; at least prior to the 7th inning.
October 19th, 2017 at 10:27 PM ^
I'm with you. I hate bunting. Giving up outs stunts innings that could turn into huge ones that can effectively put a game away.
October 20th, 2017 at 8:49 AM ^
squeeze play with men on first and third and one out, late in a tie game, is a good play. other than that I agree.
October 19th, 2017 at 9:47 PM ^
hey, i think he's a great manager but i'm not sure i get this hire. he won't come cheap. it doesn't make sense to me to try to cut payroll every way possible (remember maybin last year?) then go out and spend big bucks on RG.
even if you believe he is worth 5 wins, the tigers will be lucky to finish with less than 100 losses. why spend the bucks on him now instead of 3 years ago?
October 19th, 2017 at 9:59 PM ^
Thought is, best hire they could make. He has experience working with younger players and helping them develop into good teams eventually. This beats the hell out of Lloyd McClendon who I was sure they were going to hire.
October 19th, 2017 at 10:10 PM ^
Rick Pitino is available.
October 19th, 2017 at 10:48 PM ^
Well... now that all of our talent is either gone or old...
October 19th, 2017 at 11:36 PM ^
4 years late but glad to have him.
October 19th, 2017 at 11:53 PM ^
Hopefully he can get the most out of the team. The Tigers won't be winning anything for a few years, but while they rebuild someone as experienced as Gardenhire can still help them overperform while developing the young talent.