Let’s blindly reach into the bag to find a replacement for Paul Molitor
2. Derek Shelton
Shelton just completed his first season as Twins’ bench coach, and he served as acting manager when Molitor attended Jack Morris’ Hall of Fame induction in July. Shelton was hitting coach for the Cleveland Indians (2005-2009), where he overlapped with Falvey, and the Tampa Bay Rays (2010-2016).
Here are Falvey’s comments about Shelton when he was hired as Molitor’s bench coach.
"It’s an exciting day for us to find somebody who can impact our culture, our coaching staff and, most importantly, our players,” Falvey said. “We searched throughout baseball and talked to a number of people around the game about this position. Derek’s name came up very early on, and as we got deeper and deeper, it became clear he was the best fit for our organization."
This struck me as a significant moment that day at Fenway. Paul Molitor was all but pushed out the door to Copperstown for Jack Morris’ induction that weekend.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) October 2, 2018
Molitor wanted to stay with his team. Instead, his office was commandeered to make even more selloff deals. #mntwins https://t.co/S4XpzMB1SQ
With the perception his hiring as bench coach was a precursor to a managerial change if things went south, Shelton is the easy internal candidate to replace Molitor. A broader search is being promised, but time will tell if it brings more than token interviews before Shelton is promoted.