Apart from the manager, Terry Ryan has to make decisions about the Twins coaching staff, too. And in describing the criteria he would use to evaluate Ron Gardenhire's six on-field coaches, the Twins general manager sounded disinclined to replace them.
Rick Anderson, for instance, has been the pitching coach for Gardenhire's entire tenure, and Ryan noted that "for every hit he takes about starting [pitching], you better give him [credit for] the bullpen's success. And health of a player — if Rick's abusing players, they're going to show up on the [disabled list] a lot. He hasn't done that."
All six coaches have one-year contracts that expire at the end of the season. Ryan said "work ethic, accessibility, preparation, video [work], knowing the opposition, knowing the situation" would all be part of his evaluation, and that his own observations, with input from Gardenhire, would carry the most weight.
Minor awards
Andrew Albers' offseason plans includes a lot of rest for his arm. The lefthander threw a career high 192⅓ innings —well more than his previous high of 103 in 2012. But every inning was worth it.
He threw 132⅓ of those innings at Class AAA Rochester, where he went 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA. He was dominant at times, and impressed the Twins enough that he has been named the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
''It's definitely a been a special year,'' Albers said, ''and to look back on it now you kind of start to realize how far you've come and have been able to accomplish this year.''
Albers, 27, finally made his major league debut, going 2-5 with a 4.05 ERA in 60 innings over 10 starts. His big league career began with 8⅓ scoreless innings against Kansas City followed by a complete-game shutout of the Indians.
''The one thing I take from this is that I've got to get better,'' Albers said. ''Right now, I've come a long ways but at the same time I've got a long ways to go. The first couple starts were great. After that there were some bumps.''
