MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins have added Paul Molitor to their coaching staff, assigning him supervision of the teams base running, bunting, infield instruction and positioning as well as assistance with in-game strategy. This is not some token job for a prominent, popular former player. All of those areas need a lot of work, so Molitor is going to be busy. "Hes certainly got a history and knowledge and a high baseball IQ," general manager Terry Ryan said. "Theres no doubt about that. It fits pretty good here." The hire was announced Tuesday by the Twins, who finished 66-96 for the second straight season after going 63-99 the year before that. "Theres really no part of the game that we cant do better at," Molitor said, adding: "Im going to be able to work on guys who need to have a small-ball game, with the things they can do, with ways to score runs. I think thats kind of a lost art. Guys worry so much about getting on base, but they forget how to score and how to pick up 90 feet. While it wasnt horrible, I think it certainly could be better." Since 2005, Molitor has served as a minor league base running and infield co-ordinator for the organization. The last three of his 21 major league seasons as a player came with the Twins until his retirement in 1998. The 57-year-old grew up in nearby St. Paul, attending the same high school where Joe Mauer later starred and then playing for the University of Minnesota before his professional career was launched with Milwaukee and extended with Toronto. The seven-time All-Star is one of six players in history with at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Molitor was a candidate to be Minnesotas manager in 2002 after Tom Kelly retired, but he withdrew during the unsettling process during which Major League Baseball tried to eliminate the franchise before being blocked in court. The job went to Ron Gardenhire, who has held it since then and received a new two-year contract last month. All of Gardenhires assistants were brought back, too, so the position for Molitor on staff is new. "I appreciate that hes respected my input in spring training when hes had me come down there as an extra coach those first few weeks the past several years," Molitor said. "Weve talked again often. Its going to be a chance for us to take that kind of to another level in how were going to work together, as me being as part of his staff." Gardenhire neednt look over his shoulder, Ryan said. The idea to hire Molitor was Gardenhires, actually. "Gardy has no reason to worry about his job," Ryan said, adding: "I didnt want to be perceived as hiring Molitor as a manager-in-waiting. Thats not true. Were adding him to our staff to make us better." Molitor didnt dismiss eventual interest in becoming a manager. But he didnt sound ready to think about it. "Im sure therell be some questions regarding that. Theres been a lot of speculation even over the last season about Gardys potential future, and I just dont think that I can really say anything other than this is going to be invaluable for me in terms of getting back into a major league situation and continuing to gain experience and maybe learning more about what I want my future to be," Molitor said. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe tweeted after the news was announced: "Wow, so stoked to see Molitor join our staff! Hes one of the most knowledgeable baseball men Ive ever met." Ryan was glad to hear that. "Thats kind of music to my ears because Im hoping we can get Trevor going. Hes got the capability to be a pretty good player. This year wasnt what we were hoping," Ryan said. NOTES: The Twins announced that closer Glen Perkins had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 1 on the medial meniscus cartilage in his right knee. Hell be ready for spring training. ... Molitor has served three seasons on a major league coaching staff: with the Twins as a bench coach under Kelly in 2000 and 2001 and as hitting coach for Seattle in 2004, the year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Michael Irvin Womens Jersey ... as usual. Even with the salary cap being set lower than many general managers expected and hoped for at $69 million and whats considered a shallow pool of top-end players available, this unrestricted-free-agent period figures to follow the familiar script of teams bidding up prices to keep up with each other. Bob Lilly Youth Jersey . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. http://www.cowboysfootballgearshop.com/amari-cooper-jersey/. 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For a moment at the HSBC Womens Champions on Thursday, she thought she had made a similar mistake. After shooting a 6-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead in the opening round, Webb feared she may have forgotten to sign her scorecard. She rushed back into the scoring tent only to find her scorecard was just fine. "Ive just had trouble getting out of the scorer tent since then," she said about her mistake in Australia. "I walked out (today) and couldnt remember if I signed my card, which it would have been too late anyway." Swedens Caroline Hedwall and American Paula Creamer were tied for second after shooting 5-under 67, a stroke ahead of 2012 champion Angela Stanford and Taiwans Teresa Lu in joint fourth. Disqualification aside, Webb is having a strong start to the season. A week after the ill-fated Australian Ladies Masters, she won her fifth Womens Australian Open title, and 40th overall. The 39-year-old Australian has won seven majors in her long career, but none since the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2006. Her results have been consistent, if not dominant, in recent years -- she had six top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour last year and one win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. "Ive had a good career and I feel like I want to finish in the fashion that I started," she said. "I just continue to work hard, and my working hard now is probably a little different to my working hard 20 years ago, but its still working hard." Webb birdied four of her first six holes on Thursday, then sank a difficult 15-foot putt to save par on the par-4 11th hole.dddddddddddd Her only mistake on the green was a close miss on the 12th hole when her birdie putt from 2 feet lipped out of the hole. Creamer has also had a fast start to the year, finishing tied for third at her first two tournaments -- the Bahamas LPGA Classic and the Womens Australian Open. Shes played well on this course in Singapore, too, finishing in third place here last year. The American hasnt had a win on the LPGA Tour, though, since her breakthrough victory at the Womens U.S. Open in 2010. "My main goal is just to be very consistent this year and a win happens by itself, you dont have to force any of that," she said. World No. 1 Inbee Park, who finished runner-up to Swedens Anna Nordqvist last week at the LPGA Thailand tournament, had a 2-under 70 and was in a tie for seventh with four others. Park, the winner of three majors last year, could lose her top ranking to Suzann Pettersen this week if the Norwegian wins the event and Park doesnt finish higher than a tie for third. Pettersen had a 1-under 71 on Thursday for equal 12th place. "It wasnt a bad putting day, but I hit the ball great today," Park said. "And I didnt get myself in big trouble so thats good." Sixteen-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand struggled with her putting, making just two birdies and finishing at 1-over 73, tied for 27th place with Nordqvist, American Michelle Wie, former No. 1 Yani Tseng and several others. Ko is not the youngest in the field this week. Fifteen-year-old Singaporean Amanda Tan won a qualifying tournament in January to become the youngest-ever player at the HSBC Champions. She was in last place after a 7-over 79. ' ' '