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Originally Posted by AlphaBean
He took a team that was on its way to being elite under TK, rode it into the ground, then because we have a handful of extremely talented players, won the division.
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Or he took a team of average nobodys that had won nothing, took them to the playoffs three years in a row, completely rehauled the team, and has perfectly developed Mauer, Morneau, Santana, Liriano, Bartlett and Nathan. The only players on this team that played under Tom Kelly were Torii Hunter and Brad Radke, FYI, and 2006 was Hunter's best season in the majors.
The Twins were supposed to be another year away from being a contender again, and were showing it. Then, by holding back on Liriano, Punto and Bartlett, Gardy put those guys in a position to be great, and the team had the best second half in baseball, a 23-year old batting champ, a 25-year old MVP that was apparently being considered in a trade straight up for Corey Koskie preseason (bullshit, but that is how high some people in the media regarded him).
Don't give me any bullshit about Mauer, Morneau and Liriano being talented. There are plenty of talented players in baseball that are called up too early, can't produce fully, and never fully develop. Look at Rocco Baldelli, AJ Burnett, Jeff Weaver, Zach Grienke, fuck, the whole Kansas City Royals team. The people who think Gardenhire was stupid for starting Bartlett in the minors and Liriano in the pen are absolute idiots.
This isn't an argument saying that Gardy had better credentials than Leyland this year, because he took a less talented team than the Twins to the World Series, but what Gardy did with all of these young players and his management of when they were ready was amazing. It is bullshit to claim that Tom Kelly had anything to do with the success of this team.