MLB Minnesota Twins

Minnesota Twins Should Do Whatever It Takes To Hire Joe Maddon

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By @bradberreman24

Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Rays now need a new manager, with Friday’s news that Joe Maddon has opted out of his contract and will leave the team immediately. Speculation about Maddon’s future in Tampa Bay surfaced when general manager Andrew Friedman left to become the President of Baseball Operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers 10 days ago, but Maddon quickly dismissed that and it was widely thought he would remain as manager in 2015.

Maddon now obviously becomes a hot commodity as the best managerial candidate available, and the Chicago Cubs have quickly been mentioned as a team that would hire him. But only one team, the Minnesota Twins, has a managerial opening right now and would not have the moving parts of having to fire someone under the assumption they have a chance to bring Maddon in.

Twins’ general manager Terry Ryan has led a fairly lengthy search for Ron Gardenhire’s replacement, with Paul Molitor widely considered the top candidate after multiple reported meetings about the job. But Ryan did recently tell the Minneapolis Star Tribune there are more people he wants to talk to and, apart from anyone on the coaching staff of the two World Series teams, Maddon may be on that list.

Ryan has also said the team is in the “home stretch” of the managerial search, and it’s possible he has spoken to every candidate he wants to. Whether that has included, or now will include, Maddon is unclear. But I do assume the Twins knew that Maddon could become available, after opting out of his deal with Tampa Bay of course, and if today’s news hasn’t prompted an immediate phone call from Ryan it should happen soon.

Maddon and Friedman spearheaded a nice run of success for the Rays, including four playoff appearances in Maddon’s nine seasons as manager, despite payroll restrictions and playing in one of the worst venues in any professional sport. Maddon consistently showed imagination with lineup construction and overall player usage by willingly using players in a variety of spots and roles, and that is just the type of progressive thinking the Twins need right now as they look to turn things around.

Even with numerous reports to the contrary already coming out, and Friedman’s public backing of Don Mattingly as Dodgers’ manager, the possibility of Maddon heading to Los Angeles will linger until he is hired elsewhere. Multiple teams with a manager currently in place will surely create an opening for Maddon, but without some assertion he only wants a certain job, there’s risk in taking that approach.

The Twins are the only team without strings attached to their managerial opening right now, and bringing in Maddon is unlikely to require a unreasonable financial investment after he made $2 million in 2014 as manager of the Rays. Competition for his services will surely boost Maddon’s market value, but the Twins need to be, and should be, first in line to talk to him with a solid offer ready to go. Money should not be a significant restriction, for the Twins or any other team, even if it would require paying Maddon a salary comparable to Mike Scioscia ($5 million this year) and Joe Girardi ($4 million).

The Twins job should appeal to Maddon, with some intriguing young players surfacing this past season and multiple others in the minor league pipeline that could become future stars. The Cubs have a similar group of young players coming to the forefront in their organization, so quite frankly the Twins job may not stand out as much in that regard if all other things are equal.

An atmosphere that appeared to coddle players has surfaced in Minnesota over the last few years, which can’t be considered a coincidence on the heels of four straight 90-plus loss seasons, and Maddon would surely change that dramatically upon being hired.

Gardenhire was too often afraid to push Joe Mauer to be in the lineup when he wasn’t feeling up to it, and Maddon would surely adopt a strategy of having the Twins’ highest-paid player in the lineup close to every day in an effort to change the overall clubhouse culture. A sore knee, or any other fairly minor ailment, would not stop Maddon from writing Mauer’s name on his lineup card 150-plus times each season and an example would then be set for everyone else.

Maddon would not struggle to find terrific coaches for his staff, and he may bring some coaches from his staff in Tampa Bay with him wherever he lands. That would further push the Twins’ organization out of their eternal comfort zone of internal candidates and insular, antiquated thinking, which is another piece of the puzzle that makes Maddon a perfect fit if he can be brought in as the new manager.

Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Connect with him on Twitter or Google +.

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