Twins keep Gardy around as team's problems run deeper

Sunday was my birthday. It was also the end of another losing, and at times downright pathetic, season for the Minnesota Twins. The team finished the year with a four-game series loss at home to the Cleveland Indians. Within a week, the Twins watched the Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians celebrate their playoff spots.

And at 66-96, the Twins still didn't even manage a 100-loss season. I mean, come on. Might as well hit the century mark and do it up right.

The question of whether Twins manager Ron Gardenhire would be fired at season's end has been in play for a few months, since the ship sailed on any hopes for a successful year. So the speculation grew louder once the final out was recorded, and the Twins announced a Monday news conference.

I even joked that in Gardy's postgame presser Sunday, one of the reporters should ask him, "So, how does it feel to have managed your last Twins game?"

You're not fired
Many other teams would have announced they were firing their manager. Not Minnesota. That's not the Twins way. Gardy will be in the dugout, or in the clubhouse after he kicks some dirt at an umpire, for games the next two years with the Twins. The team gave him a two-year contract extension. They also didn't touch the rest of the coaching staff, unlike the shuffling around they tried before.

I'm really alright with that. I haven't had a "fire Gardy" mentality. I don't think the problem lies with him. I don't see that he's done anything too drastically different than he did when he was winning division titles not long ago (though it seems like ages ago, really). He's the same manager who gets fired up and can argue a call with the best of them.

We've got bigger problems
The problem is with the players and the front office. I'm looking at Terry Ryan. A general manager who probably wishes he wouldn't have come back to this ballclub. But it's not Gardy's fault that the Twins have collapsed the past three years. It's a combination of things, like lack of talent and some head-scratching decisions.

The biggest one that comes to mind for me is trading away outfielder Ben Revere... after they just traded outfielder Denard Span. That one didn't make sense to me. With the feisty Revere coming up and showing he could compete, the writing seemed to be on the wall that Span would be dealt to make room for this young guy to take over center field.

I guess I was wrong. Because the next thing I knew, Revere was gone, too. Now, this is just one example, and certainly not the sole reason for the Twins problems, but it's a move that makes me question the decision makers.

I won't start to dive into all the Twins issues right now, but again, I don't think it would solve anything to get rid of Gardy. Look at the Minnesota Wild. They fired Todd Richards and hired Mike Yeo. Now it looks like Yeo could be on the verge of a make-or-break year if he doesn't start producing some deep playoff runs.

Firing coaches or managers might be an easy decision to try and shake things up, but it isn't always the answer. Sometimes, the problems are deeper than that.