Two weeks after they made Ron Gardenhire their new big-league manager, the Tigers chose another skipper with Twins lineage, Doug Mientkiewicz, as their man at Triple A Toledo.
Mientkiewicz, 43, will oversee the Mud Hens in 2018 and become the Tigers’ most direct link to assessing and endorsing minor-league players bound for Detroit. The move has not been publicly announced by the Tigers but was confirmed to The Detroit News by a source close to the negotiations.
Mientkiewicz was primarily a first baseman during a 12-season career that included the Twins, Red Sox, Mets, Royals, Yankees, Pirates, and Dodgers.