Twins hire Paul Molitor as manager

The Minnesota Twins have hired Paul Molitor to become their next manager.

Molitor had been in the running with multiple other candidates, which included Red Sox bench coach Torey Luvullo and Doug Mientkiewicz as the two others in the running that had multiple interviews. Molitor reportedly accepted the job on Friday, but the Twins said that they were still in contract negotiations. Molitor will be the manager for three years -- from 2015 to 2017.

The 58-year-old Molitor will become the second active manager to be a former Hall of Fame player (Ryne  Sandberg is the other). He played with the Twins at the back end of his career, from 1996 to 1998, his age 39 to 41 seasons. However, he spent most of his career with the Brewers, who he played 15 seasons with.

Molitor is a seven-time All-Star. He has 3,319 hits, which ranks 10th all-time. Over his 21 year career, he hit .306/.369/.448. Molitor was selected to the Hall of Fame first ballot in 2004, with 85.2 percent of the vote. He has never managed over his entire career, but served as a bench coach for the Twins following his retirement. Also, this past season, he served on the Twins coaching staff as well. 

Molitor is a Minnesota native and was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he was drafted. He will be accepting the managerial position following the firing of former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire in September. 

-Devan F.

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