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When Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine took over the Twins front office last fall, owner Jim Pohlad gave them one stipulation: You have to keep manager Paul Molitor. Molitor’s contract, however, only went through the end of 2017, so there was some speculation as to whether Falvine would re-sign him or find their own guy. The speculation increased after the front office fired minor league manager Doug Mientkiewicz last month, despite the fact he was very successful and popular.
Well, according to a report today from the Star Tribune’s LEN3, Paul Molitor will indeed be back to manage the Twins next year.
There is no official contract or announcement yet, but apparently that will be coming out tomorrow. No other details about the deal are yet known. Retaining Molitor doesn’t come as a big surprise, though. The 61-year-old has led the Twins to winning season in two of his three years (though the other season was that 103-loss clunker), and is the favorite to win the AL Manager of the Year award for 2017. I would guess another three-year contract is in the works.
As for whether the rest of the coaching staff will stay, there are conflicting reports. According to LEN3, Molitor will keep the same staff. However, Darren Wolfson tweeted this just earlier today:
Molitor, plus his coaches were at Target Field today. Sense remains that full status quo with everyone back is unlikely. #mntwins
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) October 5, 2017
The Twins did surprisingly well this year, and if they are bringing back Molitor, I see no reason for the front office to make other changes, so I’m going to go with LEN3 on this one. The front office already replaced several of the coaches before the 2017 season began, including hiring new hitting coach James Rowson, who players have been exceedingly receptive to. I’d think the front office is happy with what they have already done.
UPDATE [7:27 pm CT]:
According to Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press, the front office has extended an offer for Molitor to stay, but it’s not clear if he will accept it or if the two-sides have agreed on terms. At 61-years-old, Molitor is also the oldest manager in Twins history. Perhaps he’d like to move on to other things?
UPDATE [6:41 pm CT 10/9/17]:
The Twins bagged themselves a Molitor.