Gardenhire out as Twins manager after latest losing season

MINNEAPOLIS -- Following a fourth straight 90-loss season, Ron Gardenhire's long tenure as the manager of the Minnesota Twins is over.

The Twins let Gardenhire go after 13 seasons at the helm, the team announced Monday. Gardenhire finishes his time in Minnesota with an overall record of 1,068-1,039. He took over for Tom Kelly at the beginning of the 2002 season and guided the Twins to six American League Central championships from 2002-10.

After the Twins lost 96 games last year, there was plenty of speculation that Gardenhire might be on his way out after Minnesota's third consecutive season with 90 or more losses. His contract was up after 2013, but the Twins' front office brought him back on a two-year deal that was set to run through the 2015 season.

Ultimately, though, someone had to take the fall for yet another disappointing season, so Gardenhire was told by general manager Terry Ryan on Monday that the team was going in a different direction.

"The reason for this change, I think it's safe to say the last couple years we haven't won enough games. That's about what it comes down to," Ryan said. "It's nothing more, nothing less than that. We just haven't won enough games, so we decided to go this route."

While the losses may not have all been Gardenhire's fault, he understood that a change needed to be made.

"I told Terry today, I think this is the right thing," Gardenhire said at a press conference Monday following the announcement. "I've been doing this a long time. Sometimes, people need to hear a different voice. You know what, I have no problem with this. I love it here. I really have no desire to go anywhere else. But life changes, and you have to do things you don't want to do."

Ryan said Monday that Gardenhire has been offered a position within the Twins' organization, but he didn't specify what that was. Gardenhire made it clear Monday that he wants to manage again, but said he'll take some time to process everything before moving on with the next chapter of his career.

It was an emotional day for both Ryan and Gardenhire as the two parted ways after spending more than two decades together in the Twins organization. Ryan was also in the New York Mets' front office when Gardenhire was a player in the Mets system in the 1980s.

"I feel like he's my brother, not my manager," Ryan said. "I think even back in his earliest days with the Mets, I think a lot of us over there recognized this guy's got the potential to be a major league manager. How little did I know at that point that he'd ultimately managing for the Twins and go onto the heights that he's gone onto. He's just a good baseball man. He does a lot of things right."

There were plenty of rumblings in the final weeks of the season as to whether Gardenhire would return in 2015 or not. Yes, the Twins had lost 90 games once again, but some felt it had more to do with the lack of talent on the field than Gardenhire's managerial ability.

As the final days of the year played out, Gardenhire was left wondering about his future.

"I definitely had thought about it. I didn't know which was it was going to go," Gardenhire said. "We had talked a little bit about what was best for this organization, and we were going to talk when the season ended. That's what we did this morning. We came to the conclusion that maybe this is time. It's time for a change."

Before the year was over, several Twins players expressed their belief to FOXSportsNorth.com that Gardenhire would indeed be back next year. They cited their own performances as the reason for the team's struggles, adding that Gardenhire did what he could with the talent provided.

"For whatever reason, managers and coaches get blamed a lot for teams that lose, which I don't necessarily agree with," Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe told FOXSportsNorth.com on Monday. "We had four bad seasons. I don't think that was Gardy's fault entirely. I don't think that there was much he could do. We just didn't have the team."

Amid the losing, Minnesota's players said Gardenhire remained upbeat. He gained a reputation during his tenure as a player's manager. For many players on this year's Twins team -- such as Plouffe and second baseman Brian Dozier -- he was the only big league manager they've played for.

"Even to the last day, even the last meeting we all had right before we all went our separate ways in Detroit, he was so encouraging, so encouraging about 2015, getting our bodies ready to go into spring," Dozier said Monday. "He couldn't wait. It's just unfortunate that a guy that even go Game 162, the very last day, talks about how excited he is about the next season. We're definitely turning things around, and our leader, our manager, he has to go. That's the sucky part of it."

Gardenhire got his start in the Twins organization as a coach back in 1990 when he was signed as the team's third base coach. After holding a few positions within the organization, he was named manager on Jan. 4, 2002, becoming the 12th manager in the team's history. His 1,068 career wins rank 51st all-time among major league managers.

"He's a big part of the history of this franchise," Ryan said. "He's won a lot of games. … We've had good years and we've had difficult years, there's no doubt about that. More importantly, he's been about as important a figure for this franchise and the face of this franchise off the field."