There's no doubt Paul Molitor got a bad shake when the Twins fired the manager after the 2018 season.
That team dealt with a ton of injuries and still finished 78-84. That performance should have been good enough to deserve another season with the club, but it's also fair to say that chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine had the right to hire any manager they wanted, as long as owner Jim Pohlad was willing to pay for it.
In his four seasons as Twins manager, Molitor led the team to two seasons above .500, going 83-79 in 2015 and 85-77 in 2017. He also led the club to the worst record in team history in 2016, going 59-103, and did a commendable job in 2018.
Molitor was at Target Field last weekend to see Joe Mauer have his jersey retired. He said that while he is out of the game now, he is watching the Twins with great interest.
Has he been surprised to see the team get off to the best start in franchise history?
"You know, I wouldn't say I'm surprised," the Hall of Famer said. "When they make changes and they brought in some people that are performing extremely well, the maturation of some of these players that have been around here for a while, it has just kind of all come together. I give (manager) Rocco (Baldelli) a lot of credit, and the players certainly have performed. They have put themselves in an outstanding position here."
