Terry Ryan ... is it time for him to step down? Is he to blame?

[DaveW]

It's been a long time coming, but his refusal to address the bullpen in an even semi serious manner is the last straw. Please Terry, for the sake of the organization and the fan base at large, do the proper thing as a leader, a GM and a man. Take the cue from Doug Melvin and step down. Otherwise this team is looking at several more years of purgatory ahead.

[Otwins]

Must have been watching the two rookie relievers come in and give the game away tonight. Was anyone surprised when A-Rod hit the home run?

[Primetime82]

What about Mauer or Mauer batting 3rd and playing 1B? What about Nolasco's contract or Santanas? What about Kurt Z being resigned? What about not playing Buxton over 40 year old Hunter? Why is Shane Robinson on this team? Why do we have 5 BP arms that wouldn't make the St.Paul Saints roster? Why couldn't you  pitch Jepsen tonight? Beausce he pitched a few innings the last few days? Oh my, he's waaaaay to tired to throw tonight....get real.  And what is this line all about???

[arobertson22]

Before the trade deadline, I sat around and waited for something to happen. I sat around and watched as other teams went out and improved their areas of need. But Terry Ryan did next to nothing to improve this team and watched as the team crashed and burned. I am starting to wonder if he really wants whats right for this team. We needed to improve our bullpen drastically, add a shortstop or a catcher, and possible add a starter. But all he did was add ONE semi-decent reliever. He is so focused on keeping all of our prospects but is too blind to see that none of these players are ever gonna get chance to play because he is too busy signing terrible contracts. He could have improved this team and I blame him for this teams struggles. I think it is time for him to step down and hand his job over to someone who can do it right.  

[Mike Sixel]

Especially one that wasted May.......

[Rosterman]

Even the radio guys were questioning the non-use of May.

 

[howeda7]

I'd agree if I didn't fear a Tim Brewster-esque replacement. We know one thing, he'll never be fired. He'll retire when he's ready or he's embarrassed into it.

[Secondary User]

If at the start of this season, you were told the team was going to finish .500, how would you feel?

[jimmer]

 

If at the start of this season, you were told the team was going to finish .500, how would you feel?

For those who believed this would happen, who still believes that?

[jimmer]

 

Hard to put all of the blame at his feet as it is the players and manager and coaches that play and coach the games. I don't think he saw the bullpen as big a weakness as the rest of us have, and I simply don't think he realized the team would be as competive as it has been, and that constructing such a weak pen, and essentially carrying a 22 to 23 person roster all year would hurt the team.

Yes, the players and manager shoulder a chunk of the blame, but in the end, the GM is responsible for the talent on this team.   If the talent level isn't up to par, they are already playing with one armed tied behind their back.

 

If two chefs compete against each others, and one get fresh produce from a quality farmers market, and meats from fine butchers, and the other gets his produce and meats from Walmart, the latter chef better be an amazing chef over and over again.

 

The fact that this team has even discussed playoffs without laughing is a testament to this team's (players and manager/coaches) efforts in spite of the lack of proven talent on the team. Can only last so long though.

[Highabove]

What's sad is Terry Ryan is locked in the past.

The Kansas city model shows that you can go a long way with average starting pitching.The key is to have a shutdown bullpen that misses bats. More Teams are heading in this direction.

Ryan is content to bring in junk yard pitchers which are not going to miss bats. 

The Bullpen is so important in todays game. Ryan will probably continue to treat the Bullpen as an after thought.

[Secondary User]

 

What's sad is Terry Ryan is locked in the past.

The Kansas city model shows that you can go a long way with average starting pitching.The key is to have a shutdown bullpen that misses bats. More Teams are heading in this direction.

Ryan is content to bring in junk yard pitchers which are not going to miss bats. 

The Bullpen is so important in todays game. Ryan will probably continue to treat the Bullpen as an after thought.

 

They've actually drafted heavily in the bullpen, spending early picks on the bullpen

[Highabove]

Before the season, Ryan stated that he expected the Team to be a contender.

So was Ryan lying to the public??

[Secondary User]

 

 

For those who believed this would happen, who still believes that?

 

Everyone panicked after the Toronto/Cleveland road trip too.  Guess what?  This team doesn't play well on the road.  They ahve a middle of the road.  This team is going to be around .500

[Platoon]

The bullpen has been bad. But this has been a bigger implosion than could be fixed at the trade deadline. Currently one of the biggest BP issues is the one that would never have been touched. The closer. The offense has been horrible. Last nights box score again showed that the veterans on this team are not really carrying their weight. What little offense there is, has been propelled by Sano, Rosario, and Hicks. This was a team that had one fluky unreal month, and caused everyone to get a little too excited. I don't necessarily like TR's glacial pace, or his love of over the hill veterans. He is still guarding the Pohlads money like a depression era spinster. But I am glad he did not do the rental player thing, or give up prime young talent for someone like Tulo, who as talented as he is would not have put us over the hump alone. Likely as not, the long term veteran contracts we have signed, will be one of the biggest detriments to the team in the future. As for rental players, there wasn't enough underpinning structure here for a couple of them to put us into the playoffs. This coming off season will do far more to determine the Twins long term future, than a couple late July trades ever would have.

[Headfirst]

Although the season has taken a turn for the worst, we need to continue to focus on the positives.  I for one am very pleased with where the Twins are at.  Young players stepping up and showing that the years to come are going to be fun to watch, starting pitching being much deeper than anticipated, finally having a power bat in the lineup (Sano makes it look so effortless), amongst others.  I didn't see a season like this coming and it is nice to talk about being contenders.  

 

That being said there have been some blunders by the front office.  We have young arms in the minors that can hopefully fill voids in the bullpen next year to help fix that gaping leak.  Short stop also has options in Santana/Polanco that can work.  Catcher is where I see the biggest issue.  The pen has blown up this year but weren't we always looking to 2016 and on to be the glory years? I don't see anyone within the system at catcher that can be a integral piece to contending in the years to come.  IMO, that is the biggest issue with no trades at the deadline.  I continue to have hope that a piece will be brought in though this off season though.  

 

With the Twins, it is all about hope for the future.  At least I have to continue believing that to stomach losses like the last two to the friggin' Yankees...

[Ncgo4]

Terri Ryan did us a major, I say major, favor by not making any more trades at the deadline. Look at the one he made. He gave up arguably one of out 3 best pitching prospects for a marginal at best, crappy at worst middle reliever having a bad year. If he had been busy we might have lost Buxton and Kepler for the opportunity to talk A Rod out of retirement next year.

 

We have Hunter and Mauer starting and the best prospect in the world hitting .400 in Rochester and perhaps the minor league player of the year in Chatanooga. The worst part is that Kepler is already on the ML roster.

 

Terri, please go.

[D. Hocking]

I remember hearing an interview - I think in 2012 - whatever year Twins were  above 500 in May or June. Everyone had doubts about the roster going into the season, and Terry was asked if he was surprised.  He was irritated that the roster he put together was even questioned and said something that they had done what they needed and felt they should be even better.  

 

He truly felt they had done enough while everyone else was doubtful.  The Twins lost that day and by the middle of the week were below 500 and basically tanked the rest of the season.  I don't think Terry is to blame for everything and has done some good things, but that was around the time when I started to think maybe it was time for a change.  Instead I think as a reward they took the interim label off of his job title (although that might have been the year before).

[Shane Wahl]

Both Ryan and Antony have to go. Deron Johnson, too.

[sorney]

RE: Being happy they are around 500 - It's ok to adjust expectations...just because at the beginning of the year being around 500 seemed like a good thing, you don't have to be locked into that mindset simply because of their record.  They have sucked since June, with some pretty obvious flaws most regular followers knew would be trouble.  I think the inability to adjust on the fly is what drives most people nuts.  Most kinda knew that May (the month, not the player) was smoke and mirrors.  Standing pat, or doing nothing to change the course (be it adding for contending, or stripping down for rebuilding) is the most maddening thing

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

He gave up arguably one of out 3 best pitching prospects for a marginal at best, crappy at worst middle reliever having a bad year.

While I don't like the Jepsen trade, Hu was not a top three pitching prospect.

 

1. Berrios

2. Gonsalves

3. Jay

 

Are clearly superior. There are a few who are arguably superior:

 

4. Thorpe

5. Stewart

6. Burdi

7. Duffey

[HitInAPinch]

 

Before the season, Ryan stated that he expected the Team to be a contender.

So was Ryan lying to the public??

With all the people here posting that the Twins are in playoff contention, I'd say all of YOU are in lock step with Terry Ryan  

[nicksaviking]

 

 

Hell, give me Antony at this point, can't be any more ****ty than Ryan at this point. I almost feel bad for Sano, poor bastard, at this rate he is going to squander a HOF type career on teams like this.

 

I don't think you really want Anthony, he's still young enough that he could hold onto the job for a long time. 

 

I've always thought Ryan was too indecisive, and the last time that he was put under this much pressure he balked when it came to making decisions regarding the extensions of Hunter and Santana, and soon after stepped down which intentionally or not allowed him to avoid similar extension decisions of Mauer and Morneau.  I'd bet he will strongly consider walking away again, or taking a different job within the organization this off season.  I find it pretty hard to imagine that he's been enjoying his job much lately.

[lukeduke1980]

TR doesn't get it.  He did not address the bullpen this offseason save for Blaine Boyer and JR Graham, two examples of TR despondency.  We all knew it was an issue.  We all saw Casey Fien get exposed last year, and Duensing continue his mediocrity.  This was all after watching KC's bullpen in October.  Every team we play brings in pitcher after pitcher throwing 95+ trying to miss bats.  That's not the TR way though.

[spinowner]

 

Both Ryan and Antony have to go. Deron Johnson, too.

The much bigger question is this: Who replaces them? It does no good to simply get rid of the most important front office people unless someone better takes over. If you bring in just any random baseball guy there's a very good chance that things will be worse, not better.

[spinowner]

So what should Ryan have done? We need at least 3 good arms to fix the bullpen problem, probably more. We'd have to give up a lot of good prospects for the sake of being one of ten postseason teams. It's not that he's indecisive, he made the decision not to gamble on this season but rather to gamble on the future. I think that's OK.

[Platoon]

The much bigger question is this: Who replaces them? It does no good to simply get rid of the most important front office people unless someone better takes over. If you bring in just any random baseball guy there's a very good chance that things will be worse, not better.

Boston didnt waste anytime picking up Dumbrowski. (sp) But such a move would require going outside the orginisation in ???? how many years? Someone smarter than me would have to tell us how long it's been since a GM or Manager has not been chosen who was NOT a Twins orginisation all guy?

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

So what should Ryan have done? We need at least 3 good arms to fix the bullpen problem, probably more. We'd have to give up a lot of good prospects for the sake of being one of ten postseason teams. It's not that he's indecisive, he made the decision not to gamble on this season but rather to gamble on the future. I think that's OK.

Ryan had several options ranging from "obvious" to "whoa, risky".

 

It started roughly three months ago. The Twins refused to recall Oliveros and instead turned him into a starter for Rochester. That move lasted all of about five minutes, BTW. Then Oliveros got suspended, hurt, yadda yadda yadda...

 

Duffey could have been converted into a reliever.

 

Alex Meyer is a wild card with a live arm.

 

Nick Burdi is a bigger wild card with an even livelier arm.

 

Or you could have just kept May in the bullpen and called up Berrios.

 

There were and are options. I haven't even listed half the options Ryan had over the past ~90 days.

[Platoon]

BTW, I don't think he is indecisive or wishy washy necessarily. But he is extremely slow to react, and extremely hesitant to be proactive. He takes Bud Grants approach of "never make a decision until you have to, as they will generally make them for you" beliefs to a new level.

[bird]

 

Before the season, Ryan stated that he expected the Team to be a contender.

So was Ryan lying to the public??

 

 

Why do we have to go there? Most of the people commenting on this thread said the Twins would be out of contention by the All-Star break.  Were they all lying?