MLB Awards 2015: Three finalists for AL Manager of the Year
By John Buhler
Paul Molitor, Minnesota Twins
It’s not every day when a Hall of Famer agrees to become a team’s new skipper. Even rarer does a Hall of Fame player do as well of a job as a manager, especially in his first year. Before hiring the St. Paul native to manage his hometown team in 2015, the Minnesota Twins had only had two managers since 1986: Twins Hall of Famer Tom Kelly (1986 to 2001) and the popular Ron Gardenhire (2002 to 2014).
For as talented of a player as Paul Molitor was in his own right, having to fill the massive shoes of the two most successful managers in Twins franchise history was a tall order. Though Molitor spent his final three seasons as a Hall of Fame player in Minneapolis (1996 to 1998), he perhaps had his best season in Twins uniform in 2015 leading the ball club as its manager.
Molitor turned around what became an AL Central doormat in the latter years of Ron Gardenhire to a second place club missing out on a playoff spot by only a few games, finishing 83-79 in his first year as a big league manager. The Twins are starting to reap the benefits of their bountiful farm system and have a great man who all will want to play hard for. Who wouldn’t want to play hard for a man who is a seven-time All-Star, a World Series MVP (1993), a member of the 3,000 Hit Club, and is forever enshrined in Cooperstown?
This race for AL Manager of the Year will go down to the wire, and though all three are certainly deserving of the award, it should go to the man who orchestrated the most improbable playoff berth in recent years.
Predicted Winner: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros