Minnesota Twins Coaching Shakeup: Brunansky, Cuellar and Steinbach to join Coach Gardenhire
After firing three of their coaches and head athletic trainer earlier this month, the Minnesota Twins have named the coaching replacements for the 2013 Major League Baseball season. The announcements were made by Terry Ryan, the Twins’ General Manager on
Monday. The shakeup took place after the Twins had a second consecutive bottom of the table finish in the American League Central.
Tom Brunansky will be their new hitting coach, replacing Joe Vavra who has been reassigned as the third base coach. Bobby Cuellar will be the new bullpen coach in Rick Stelmaszek’s place as he was fired by the Twins’ management.
Terry Steinbach will be taking charge of the bench and catching in place of Scott Ullger, who will be taking charge as the first base coach. Head athletic trainer Rick McWane’s replacement has yet to be named.
Brunansky, who played Major League for 14-years with five different teams including the Twins, has been with the organisation as a hitting coach for two years now. The 52-year-old has been the hitting coach of Double-A New Britain in 2011and Triple-A Rochester
in 2012.
For Steinbach, this will be the first coaching assignment. The former three times all-star catcher since retiring from baseball in 1999, he has been helping the Twins in their Spring Training for the last 13-years. The 50-year-old played in 14 Major League
seasons for the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics.
Cuellar, the new bullpen coach, had an 11-year pitching career in the Minor League. The 60-year-old has had stints with several Major League teams as a pitching coach including the Seattle Mariners from 1995-96, the Montreal Expos from 1997-2000 and the
Texas Rangers in 2001. He has also has previous Major League bullpen coaching experience with the Pittsburg Pirates from 2006-07. He has been with the Twins’ organisation for nine seasons, the last four as the pitching coach for Rochester.
The trio of Rick Stelmaszek, Steve Liddle and Jerry White, whose contracts were not re-newed had all been a part of Coach Ron Gardenhire staff since 2002. Stelmaszek joined the Twins organisation in 1978. Coach Gardenhire had earlier said that he will prefer
to have his coaching staff back for the next season.
General Manager Terry Ryan was confident that the shakeup will benefit the team. "I think this coaching staff, along with knowledge and experience, has some chemistry here, and I think it's going to be a good staff to work with. Gardy (Ron Gardenhire) is
very comfortable. Obviously, we'll see how it plays out," he said.
The Minnesota Twins’ fans will be hoping that the new coaching changes can help in arresting the team’s downward spiral and achieve the success reminiscent to that of the previous decade. The changes in the coaching staff may just do the trick in achieving
that goal.
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