FORT MYERS, Fla. - Eddie Guardado was kicking back at his California home, just enjoying life, when his cellphone rang. Life immediately became a bit more complicated.
“I was sitting in my back yard having a cigar,” Guardado recalled. “Man, life was pretty good. Then Paul (Molitor) called me and said, ‘Hey, would you like to help me out?’ Terry (Ryan) called me, too. I sat on it for awhile.”
Eddie didn’t have a job, wasn’t looking for a job and didn’t particularly want a job. One of the more popular players in Twins history, he was enjoying a slower-paced life. He had been retired from the game for five years, save for a cameo appearance or two in spring training.
“I’ll be honest,” he said. “I was home. I was with the kids. I was a taxi driver, dropping them off and picking them up - all the father stuff. It was a great life. It’s still a good life. But it’s time to give back to the organization because they were good to me. There’s no question about that. And Paul was really good to me.”
Guardado accepted Molitor’s offer to become the team’s bullpen coach. And if ever there was a player that I didn’t expect to become a coach, it’s Eddie. There are a million Eddie Guardado stories from his days as Twins closer, most of which involve bullpen hijinks and none of which can be printed.
As I’ve told him, the Twins making him a coach is like putting Public Enemy No. 1 in charge of the inmates. He laughs long and hard at that. But you should have seen him in camp Tuesday, taking charge of a certain drills, barking instructions and moving guys around.
“I never thought I’d be in this spot, to be real honest with you,” he said. “I’m here and I’m learning now, too. But I know, mentality-wise, what it takes to pitch at this level. So that’s what I’m here for.”
Not bad for a guy who once called Ryan during contract negotiations and threatened to show up at his office and kick his behind.
“I did little things here and there that I shouldn’t have,” Guardado said sheepishly.
Well, the negotiations appeared stalled, so Eddie bypassed his own agent and called Ryan to try to work a deal. When the GM demurred, Guardado just sort of blew up.
“We butted heads, me and Terry,” he said. “But Terry is a good man. We squashed that. I think we’re grown men, and we know how to deal with that.
“Matter of fact, when Terry retired I called him and I left him a message: ‘Hey Terry, I know your job is hard to do. But you did a hell of a job man, congratulations.’ That was the first step. He called me back and he said, ‘Eddie, I got a hundred calls and probably that was the classiest call I got.’ We’re good.”
“Obviously, I’ve had a relationship with Eddie as a teammate, and I coached him in Minnesota and Seattle,” Molitor said. “So that was one that was somewhat built on relationship. And also knowing his ability to bring energy and, as far as preparing to come into the game from that bullpen, he’s got a lot of knowledge.
“I just thought that he was going to be a valuable voice and new voice and an energetic voice.”
And a loud voice. The players still gravitate to him, just as they did when he was a veteran player.
“It’s a little different, because when I walk through this clubhouse, I’m not walking to that far corner anymore,” he said. “Stage left! Way back in there with the coaches!”
Guardado’s competitiveness - being battle-ready, as they say in hockey - was his biggest asset on the way to 116 career saves as a Twin, including back-to-back seasons of 45 and 41 in 2002-03. Just give him the ball and get out of the way. Clearly, the Twins are hoping that attitude rubs off on some of their less-experienced pitchers.
“A guy like Paul, the person he is. … The guy was my teammate, he was my coach, he helped me out, too,” Guardado said. “Why not help him out?”
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