Ron Gardenhire – Detroit Tigers
After struggling over the past couple seasons, the Detroit Tigers have hit full rebuild mode. They shipped off a lot of talented players at the trade deadline last season and this offseason. Another move the team made to begin the rebuild was firing manager Brad Ausmus.
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The team decided to go with another manager that has a lot of prior managerial experience. The Tigers hired former Minnesota Twins’ manager Ron Gardenhire. The 60-year-old is the only new manager that has managed an MLB team club before.
Gardenhire managed the Twins from 2002 to 2014. During that span, he guided the team to 1,068 wins. He guided them to the postseason during six different seasons. However, 2002 was the only season that the club made it past the ALDS.
In 2010, Gardenhire took home AL Manager of the Year honors. But a few rough seasons in Minnesota resulted in the Twins firing Gardenhire following the 2014 season. After a couple of seasons away from coaching, Gardenhire joined the Arizona Diamondbacks coaching staff in 2017.
Now heading into 2018, Gardenhire takes control of a team that doesn’t look to compete for the next few seasons. Although with Gardenhire’s experience and success, he could fire up the troops and make them better than expected in 2018.
Next: Josh Harrison Trade Destinations
An ongoing storyline throughout the 2018 season will be how each of these new managers does during their first seasons with their respected MLB teams.