Gardenhire on deck; surgeries for Hanley, Rodriguez

From a distance, Ron Gardenhire would appear to be the outlier on the list of managerial candidates the Red Sox intend to interview for their vacant managerial position. While Alex Cora (who turns 42 Wednesday) and Brad Ausmus (48) are relatively young, Gardenhire will turn 60 later this month.

And while Cora and Ausmus are part of a generation for whom analytics are second-nature, Gardenhire is considered more “old school.’’

But Gardenhire has one important quality that blurs age and generation: the ability to communicate with – and relate to – players.

In 13 seasons as the manager of the Minnesota Twins, Gardenhire earned a reputation as a trusted players’ manager.

“He’s just a solid baseball guy,’’ said Wayne Krivsky, who was an assistant GM and special assistant to the GM with the Twins for much of Gardenhire’s tenure in Minnesota. “He’s got the experience, he’s dealt with some teams that were expected to win and ones that needed to rebuild.  He communicates so well with players. He’s honest and shoots straight.

“He’s just got a good way with people. He’s got a knack for keeping things light, but he can also crack the whip if that’s what’s needed. He’s not ever going to embarrass a player publicly, but he’s not afraid to be tough (behind closed doors).  He just deals honestly with people. Seriously, he checks all the boxes when it comes to what you’re looking for.’’

If there’s a knock on Gardenhire, it’s that he might be perceived as less open to the use of analytics in his decision-making. But Krivsky claims that’s inaccurate.

“There was this misconception with the Twins (that we didn’t utilize analytics),’’ said Krivsky. “We weren’t out there talking about what we were using, because we didn’t believe in telling everyone what we did for preparation. It’s true that we didn’t have a big staff (of data analysts), but we certainly (utilized advanced metrics).’’

Gardenhire’s Twins had difficulty in the post-season. Though the club qualified for the playoffs six times in his 13 years, only once did it advance beyond the first round.  In four of those seasons, they drew the New York Yankees as their first-round opponent in the ALDS and lost every time.

It didn’t help that the Twins were competing against a team that often had a payroll three times bigger than their own.

“It’s baseball,’’ offered Krivsky. “Sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounced. In a short series, anything can happen.  Most times, I think we just got beat by a better club. You need the horses, too (to win).’’

Gardenhire, who is also scheduled to interview with the Detroit Tigers for their vacancy, is expected to be interviewed in Boston sometime this week.

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The Red Sox announced that both Eduardo Rodriguez and Hanley Ramirez underwent successful surgeries Tuesday.

Ramirez, who said in the final month of the season that he didn’t believe he needed a procedure on his ailing left shoulder, underwent a left shoulder arthroscopy and debridement. The procedure was performed by Dr. James Andrews.

Ramirez, who has undergone at least two previous surgeries on the same shoulder, is expected to be ready “for the 2018 season,’’ according to a release by the Red Sox.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, underwent a right knee patellofemoral ligament reconstruction, also performed by Andrews. He’s had problems with his right kneecap numerous times in the recent past, forcing him to the DL in three of the last four seasons.

Interestingly, the release projected that Rodriguez could return to pitching “in approximately six months,’’ making his readiness for the start of the 2018 regular season uncertain.