Twins

Warne Notebook: Minor League Staffs Firmed up, Dozier Update

The promotion of Fort Myers Miracle manager Jeff Smith to the big-league coaching staff set up a bit of a chain reaction as the Minnesota Twins got set to round out their minor-league staffs.

The Rochester Red Wings announced their finalized staff on Thursday. The staff is primarily made up of holdovers from last season, with one key addition.

Mike Quade returns for a third season at the helm as manager of the Red Wings. Quade managed the Chicago Cubs for part of 2010 and all of 2011 before spending some time with the New York Yankees organization as a roving instructor. Quade has a .549 winning percentage with the Red Wings (158-130) and will spend his 20th season as a minor league manager and sixth in the International League in 2017. He ranks 12th among active minor-league managers with 1,365 wins.

After some questioning whether he’d be considered for the MLB hitting coach job, former Twins outfielder Chad Allen returns for a second season as the Rochester hitting coach. Allen was a member of the Red Wings back in 2002 (in the Orioles organization) and has been with the organization as a coach since 2013 (New Britain-Chattanooga). Many Twins hitters who have worked with Allen credit his temperament and instruction as instrumental in their development as hitters, including Kennys Vargas, who is coming off a resurgent 2016 season.

Stu Cliburn returns for the second season of his second stint as pitching coach for the Red Wings. Cliburn was with the team from 2006-’08 and spent seven years in the meantime working with the Twins’ Double-A affiliates. According to the Red Wings team release, this will mark Cliburn’s 26th season as a coach in the organization. Cliburn pitched briefly in the major leagues with the California Angels in 1984-’85 and again in 1988, compiling a 3.11 ERA across 185 innings in 85 appearances (one start).

The final returning member of the Red Wings coaching staff is Larry Bennese, who is entering his fifth season as the team’s athletic trainer. He was the IL Trainer of the Year in 2014 and graduated from Penn State University.

A familiar face will be replacing Smith in Fort Myers, as Doug Mientkiewicz will head back to Florida after spending the last two seasons managing the Chattanooga Lookouts. Mientkiewicz managed the Miracle from 2013-’14, with Fort Myers losing to Charlotte in the semifinals the first year before winning the Florida State League championship in Mientkiewicz’s final season with the team. The 2014 team had Max Kepler, Nick Burdi, Adam Brett Walker and others and beat a Daytona Cubs team in the finals that had Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras.

Mientkiewicz’s 2013 team was also involved in this brawl against Bradenton, the team the Miracle beat to get to the FSL final the next season:

Mientkiewicz was a finalist for the Twins managerial job after the 2014 season, and ultimately lost out to current skipper Paul Molitor. The move will reportedly allow Mientkiewicz to be closer to home, as he resides in Estero, Fla — some 15-20 miles from Fort Myers depending on route taken. Mientkiewicz grew up in Palmetto Bay, Fla. and played three years with Florida State before the Twins drafted him.

Mientkiewicz also won a 2015 Southern League title with the Lookouts. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Jose Berrios, Tyler Duffey and J.T. Chargois all played prominent roles on that team, while Kepler beat out Orlando Arcia for the league’s MVP award.

Moving up to take Mientkiewicz’s spot in Chattanooga is Jake Mauer, the older brother of Joe who had managed the Cedar Rapids Kernels since the Twins moved affiliates following the 2012 season. Prior to that, Mauer had managed the Fort Myers Miracle after Smith had been promoted to the job at Double-A. Mauer has managed some of the biggest names in the Twins farm system in his Cedar Rapids days with Buxton, Kepler and Jorge Polanco. He also had Berrios and Duffey with the Kernels. He also had Kyle Gibson and Brian Dozier at Fort Myers along with Oswaldo Arcia, Dozier, Danny Santana and Michael Tonkin when he was with the GCL team.

Across eight seasons and three levels, Mauer has a 494-447 record (.525), including three straight finishes over .500 in three years with the Kernels.

The final confirmed chip to settle in the Twins organization is the managerial job vacated by Mauer in Cedar Rapids, which will go to the man affectionately dubbed the “Mayor of Fort Myers” — Tommy Watkins. Watkins played 12 seasons in the minor leagues — all in the Twins system — with one MLB cup of coffee coming in 2007, when he played nine games and hit .357/.438/.357.

This will be Watkins’ first managerial job. Watkins had been the hitting coach the previous three seasons for Cedar Rapids and will be beginning his seventh season as a professional coach — all in the Twins organization.

The latest news on the Brian Dozier front suggests that the Twins have asked teams for their best offers, and that the team wants to resolve the situation quickly out of respect for Dozier.

The smart money still resides on the deal getting done with the Dodgers if anyone, but the Twins have dug in here. Mike Berardino told the guys on Midwest Swing this week that there are myriad factors at play here, but ultimately the Twins are aware they may have put a prohibitive price on moving Dozier — and they’re OK with that.

LISTEN: Mike Berardino joins Brandon and Tom on Midwest Swing this week to talk Dozier and more.

A source confirmed to Cold Omaha this week that Jorge Polanco was only playing second base thus far in the Dominican Winter League this year, but the forward facing portion of the Twins front office seems to suggest they’d still be OK going into next season with a double-play tandem of him and Dozier if their asking price is not met.

That seems to be a wise move.

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