So the Twins did exactly the right thing when they hired Ron Gardenhire to replace Tom Kelly as their manager. This was a unique situation. With baseball threatening to contract the franchise. With the entire front office making a pact to stick together through the off-season. With a group of young players who grew up together in the organization. Players who lost together -- a lot -- and last year, finally won 85 games together.

All the managerial experience in the world, all the "track record," as they say, was not going to be as important as keeping things in the family. So Gardenhire, who came to the Twins organization 12 years ago and served the last six years on Kelly's coaching staff, was the right man for the job.

In the world of English football -- soccer -- there is a term for an interim manager. Caretaker. This is not to suggest that Gardenhire is only a short-term solution. But the term caretaker is appropriate for his position.

Gardenhire was there to witness the many trials of players like Jacque Jones and Torii Hunter. He was there when Doug Mientkiewicz went from Golden Boy to Flop back to Golden Boy. He was there when Eric Milton and Cristian Guzman came to camp, shell-shocked to have been traded from the Yankees to the Twins.

He has been there as this group has become a team. He has knowledge of this group of players that no outsider could possibly have. Someone with less intimate knowledge of the Twins might make a snap judgment on a player who gets off to a slow start, or for that matter, over-rate a player who gets out of the gate quickly.

Because the Twins roster is likely to remain static -- it's hard to imagine Carl Pohlad is going to let GM Terry Ryan trade for anyone who makes any significant salary this year -- it becomes even more essential that the manager knows everything about the Twins.

Again, he needs to be a caretaker.

"The key thing is he knows what he's got and what he doesn't," says former Twins great Kent Hrbek. "And he has a feel for everything that's gone on here the last few years."

Which is no small thing. As he's made the rounds this first week of exhibition games, Gardenhire's been asked over and over again about the still uncertain fate of the Twins. He's answered the questions diplomatically and patiently.

"That's going to be the theme all year," Gardenhire says. "It's a unique situation."

And a family matter.

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.