The Minnesota Twins have added some coaches to its staff, after the shake-up at the end of the regular season. They are sticking with familiar faces from within the organization, which isn't that big of a surprise.
Former Twins catcher Terry Steinbach will take over in the dugout as the new bench coach, Tom Brunansky will have the task of being the team's hitting coach and Bobby Cuellar is the new bullpen coach.
Steinbach will also be the catching instructor, which of course makes sense because he was a catcher in the big leagues for more than a decade. A Minnesota native, he finished up his career with the Twins. I'm sure he's thrilled with the opportunity. It's also nice to not only keep things within the organization but also within the state.
Brunansky played with the Twins in the 1980s and was part of the 1987 World Championship team. More recently, he's been a hitting coach within the Twins organization before now being promoted to the big leagues. I hope the hitting coach experience carries over from the minors. The Twins really need a spark to get those bats going.
Cuellar is also getting a promotion from his job in the organization as the pitching coach for the Rochester Red Wings. I'll be honest that I don't know much about him, but apparently he was an expected choice for the vacancy. Let's hope the change delivers.
Can coaching changes fix everything?
As far as Twins coaches who didn't get booted, Joe Vavra will take over as third base coach, with Scott Ullger coaching at first base. Vavra has also already been reassigned to infield instruction, Ullger to the outfield.
Again, I hope these changes work out for the Twins. It's a team that is in need of something to happen after two terrible losing seasons. They quickly went from the top to the bottom in the standings and need to improve, even slightly, next year.
The coaches can't perform miracles either. I realize that it's the players out on the field. No matter what the coaches tell them, they're still the ones who are out there making decisions. Just because a base coach tells you to hold up, you still have to look his way and decide to stop. Just because the Twins have a new hitting coach, a new bullpen coach, doesn't mean homers will start flying out of the park and relief pitchers will start getting an abundance of strikeouts.
We'll just have to wait and see what happens when next season rolls around.
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