Nov 13th 2008 4:39PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Whether the Twins are losing star players due to monetary concerns (Torii Hunter, Johan Santana) or getting mugged in ill-advised trades (giving up 2008 ALCS MVP Matt Garza for Delmon Young), they somehow always remain competitive in the division. This year was yet another example of stellar managerial work from Ron Gardenhire, and he would have garnered serious consideration for Manager of the Year in the AL had Joe Maddon not pulled off the miracle with his Tampa squad.

For these and many other reasons, I’m sure, Gardenhire was rewarded with a two year contract extension today. “Ron and his staff have done an outstanding job over the last seven years, and none was better than the 2008 season,” said Twins general manager Bill Smith said in a statement. “We had a lot of new players and a lot of young players, and our major league staff did a marvelous job with a changing cast of players. Continuity has been a great strength of the Twins organization for two decades. The current staff has played an important role in the design and development of the Target Field facilities, and these agreements will carry the staff into the new ballpark in 2010.” I guess my only question is: Why not longer? Only two more years, with all this young talent? Lock him in and give him the job security he needs to mold these kids into a title contender. He’s only 51.