Ron Gardenhire Fired

Yeah, I know, it's old news by now, but since I'm lifelong Twins fan I just wanted to give my two cents on the Ron Gardenshire firing.  Let me start by saying that I don't think that Ron Gardenhire is a bad manager, I don't think that he is solely responsible for the miserable product on the field the past 4 years (I'm looking at you Terry Ryan, Bill Smith & Deron Johnson) and I doubt that he will be unemployed long, but someone had to take the fall after 4 straight 90+ loss seasons.  It would just send a horrible message to the players and the fans if there wasn't some accountability.  He did have his faults as a manager too though, and a fresh approach was/is long overdue (personally, I would have done it last year).

As for a possible replacement?  I'm torn, there are a lot of really good internal candidates to choose from, but at the same time I wonder if it's not also time to just blow the whole thing up and bring in an outsider with a fresh approach and a new way of doing things.

Anyways, here are my Top 10 candidates to replace Gardenhire:

1. Paul Molitor - I'd be shocked if Molitor doesn't get the job, he's been interviewed twice already, he's a Hall of Fame player, he's local, he's well liked, he knows the current roster and he's familiar with the Twins minor league system, he seems like the logical pick. 
2. Doug Mientkiewicz - If Molitor doesn't get the job, I'm betting it goes to Mientkiewicz.  The Twins brass reportedly loves the guy, he impressed everybody with his work at Fort Myers.  Being younger he can probably relate better to the young roster the Twins will be fielding in the upcoming years, his fiery approach would also be a welcome addition. 
3. Gene Glynn - I'm a big Gene Glynn fan, he's done a fantastic job at AAA-Rochester.  He seems to have a knack of getting the most out of his talent.  He's a long time minor league manager and has experience as a coach at the big league level.  He also speaks Spanish so he would be able to relate to the Twins latino players.  
4. Terry Steinbach - Steinbach was Gardenhire's bench coach so he knows the personnel well, he's also a former catcher, and as we well know, former catchers seem to have a high success rate as big league managers.  Another selling point for Steinbach is all of the years he spent playing for Tony LaRussa, that can only be seen as a positive.  He doesn't have an interview scheduled yet though and I'm guessing he's number 4 among the Twins internal candidates. 
5. Ozzie Guillen - He doesn't appear to be on the Twins list of candidates but I think he should be, outside of that disaster in Miami he had a pretty nice run as manager of the White Sox.  He's reportedly made it known that he would be interested, he speaks Spanish, he'd shake things up, I'd be all for it.  
6. John Russell - Russell is currently the bench coach of the Baltimore Orioles, he was formerly a manager in the Twins minor league system, he has also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates.  I guess you could label him a quasi-outsider.  This name doesn't do much for me to be honest.  
7. Chip Hale - Hale is currently the bench coach for the Oakland Athletics, he has also coached and managed in the Mets system.  He is also a former utility player for the Twins.  His main advantages being that he is familiar with the way the Twins do things and he would probably bring with him some of the things the Athletics do well.   
8. Dave Martinez - Martinez is the bench coach of the Tampa Bay Rays, his experience working with Joe Madden has to be seen as a big positive as would his young age and his ability to speak Spanish.  
9. Torey Lovullo - He's set to interview.  He's currently the bench coach for the Red Sox, he previously coached for the Blue Jays and he also played for various teams over an 11 year playing career. He seems on the cusp of getting a managers job somewhere, it's just a matter of when and where.  I see him as along shot for the Twins, but someone to keep an eye on.   
10. Joe McEwing - McEwing is currently the 3rd base coach for the White Sox.  He's also apparently in the running for the Diamondbacks manager's position.  He's a very well thought of baseball man, he learned from Tony LaRussa and he would bring a fresh approach to the Twins.