Paul Molitor interviews for Twins managerial opening
Hall of Famer Paul Molitor interviewed for the Minnesota Twins' managerial opening, according to a tweet from Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News of Minneapolis.
Wolfson added that Molitor is considered a "front-runner" at this point.
The news comes after the Twins fired manager Ron Gardenhire after his 13 seasons with the team. Minnesota finished the year 70-92, good for last in the AL Central. Gardenhire became the fourth manager in MLB history to serve at least four straight 90-loss years with the same club. Tom Kelly, who had been the manager in Minnesota prior to Gardenhire, was one of those four. He eventually retired after an 85-77 record in 2001.
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The 58-year-old Molitor, a former seven-time All-Star, played three seasons in Minnesota from 1996-98. He made his MLB debut as a player in April 1978 with the Brewers and spent 14 years in Milwaukee. He then spent two years with the Blue Jays before ending his career with the Twins.
In October 2013, he joined the Twins as a supervisor of baserunning, bunting, infield instruction and positioning and also helped with in-game strategy. In July, he became Minnesota's first-base coach.
According to an ESPN report, the Twins are also considering bench coach Torey Lovullo, Chicago White Sox third base coach Joe McEwing and former Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz for the job.
-Marc Weinreich
