Time will tell if Molitor can really be 'here to win'

In sports, everybody loves a winner. So it's a good thing Paul Molitor is here to win.

That was the overall message he threw out there during a Tuesday news conference where he was introduced as the 13th manager for the Minnesota Twins. Molitor, who's worked within the Twins organization over the past few years, replaces Ron Gardenhire.

With a few candidate names floating around for the job, hometown-boy Molitor always seemed to be in the center of it all. I would've liked to see Doug Mientkiewicz get a shot, especially since he's had managerial success in the Twins minor league system. But oh well.

All in the Twins family
While Molitor, 58, hasn't been a manager before (which could be a drawback), he's been around baseball and around the Twins club for a long time. This could be good and bad. He knows the players, the so-called "Twins Way" and what's gone well or terribly awry the past four, 90-plus loss seasons.

However, many out there were clamoring for General Manager Terry Ryan and the Pohlads to go in an entirely different direction and make a hire from outside rather than within. I really don't know if I have a great gut feeling either way on this. I think, as cliche as it sounds, time will tell.

The manager change was a necessary one, so I'm glad for that. I also don't think a skipper has sole control over how many wins a team gets during the year, but I'm hoping Molitor might be able to make some changes where he sees improvement could be made.

Finding the right changes
I'm not exactly sure what that would be. Maybe it's throwing baseball's book out the window for the ninth inning when your starter is cruising and you don't yank him in favor of the closer. Maybe it's laying out firmer expectations for players in the clubhouse and attaching consequences to those expectations. Maybe it's shuffling the batting order. Maybe it's working with players to improve the defense so we can get some Gold Glove Awards back to Minnesota.

Molitor said Tuesday that he could find a lot of things he liked about last year's team. That's fine, just make sure to build on those strengths and certainly not ignore the downfalls.

I'm also curious to see who the supporting coaches will be. The past few years, the Twins simply shuffled guys around to different positions rather than go out and find replacements. I am definitely interested to see who's hired as the pitching coach; I really think Rick Anderson needed to go more than Gardy but also recognized they were a package deal.

Molitor had a great career
Though he's a St. Paul lad and Cretin High graduate, just like Joe Mauer, Molitor didn't put on a Twins uniform until the end of his playing career. He spent most of his tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers where he racked up triples, hits and .300 batting averages.

He won a World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993 and took home MVP honors for his performance in the Series. He knocked in his 3,000th hit as a member of the Twins. He's also one of those players who has the honor of getting voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a first-timer.

I just hope he can be as successful with a manager's cap on as he was with a batting helmet.