What Ron Gardenhire really needs is a substance abuse problem

It seems to have

worked pretty well

for managers this season.

Of course, maybe Gardy is working on it already.

Ron Gardenhire needs to find better sources for advice

Hey, have you wondered what Ron Gardenhire thought of new acquisition Lester Olivares? From Rhett Bollinger:

"He's pretty good," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I talked to Jim Leyland, and he likes him. He has a good, live arm -- 'electric stuff' -- as he put it. He has a chance to be a good pitcher here. He's a young guy, but has a great arm. Jim said he's still making some mistakes in the strike zone and will misfire a little bit, but he's a good-looking pitcher."

And then Jim Leyland laughed and laughed. This is almost as bad as the time that Bill Smith asked Dayton Moore for the best reliever in their bullpen, and they passed along Dusty Hughes.

An exchange of ideas with Michael Rand

Earlier today, Kurt Rambis was fired by the Timberwolves, which obviously caught the attention of local sports writers. Michael Rand, writer of Randball at the Star Tribune was kind enough to exchange a few tweets with me, but it all started with this fun fact from the Strib's Judd Zulgad
(@JuddZulgad) Leslie Frazier now has 2nd-longest tenure of 4 pro men's coaches in Minnesota. Frazier has yet to coach a game without interim tag.
Rand replied to Zulgad: (@RandBall)  @JuddZulgad if Twins had played for past 35 games like they did their first 54, might Frazier be No. 1 on that list?
I then jumped in, and Rand and I fleshed out our ideas at 140 characters or less. Keep in mind, Tweets that start @whomever are actually from the other person.
 

@RandBall @JuddZulgad The Twins haven't fired a manager in 25 years, I don't know why they would this season

 

@Victoriawxtimes you're probably right, but what if they were still losing 2 of every 3 games?

@RandBall You and I could call for Gardy's head, but if Tom Kelly survived the mid/late 90s...

 

@Victoriawxtimes those teams TK had were brutal, bargain-basement bunches. This team is a high-payroll squad w/expectations

 

@RandBall Totally agree, but low rent teams have blamed managers in the past. The Twins were loyal to TK, will be loyal to Gardy.

 

@Victoriawxtimes Agreed. Just thinking back to other recent MN bosses who have been fired quickly after success (Chilly, Denny, Flip).

 

@RandBall The Twins have always been the exception, not just in MN but all sports, I think. W/ Gardy's track record, still employed in NYC?

 

@Victoriawxtimes no way.

@RandBall Exactly. Being the Twins manager might be the best job in sports, Timberwolves coach the worst

 

And there you have it, Michael Rand and Ryan Henning's symposium on coaching, specifically managing in the Twin Cities.