Let’s blindly reach into the bag to find a replacement for Paul Molitor

4. Mark McGwire

Before you laugh at this one and still want to knock him for his finally admitting to PED use as a player, consider McGwire’s coaching resume.

He was St. Louis Cardinals’ hitting coach from 2010-2012, before moving to the same job with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2013-2015 and he just finished his third season as bench coach with the San Diego Padres. Manager Andy Green’s status does not appear to be in doubt, so McGwire can probably continue in that bench coach role next year.

McGwire left the Cardinals for the same job with the Dodgers in order to be closer to family. But his kids are older now, and an opportunity to manage in Minnesota might change that thinking from six years ago. His family may even encourage him to at least talk to Falvey and Levine. But outside of his resurgence as a player and start in coaching with the Cardinals, McGwire is clearly a California-rooted man.

But Falvey and Levine should have McGwire on their initial, presumably broad, list of candidates to replace Molitor. A polite rejection of an interview might come, but maybe it won’t and McGwire will prove to be everything they want in a new manager.