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

[Otto von Ballpark]

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?

I think the implication is that TR said he expected them to contend, but then acted differently once they actually were in contention.

[spinowner]

 

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.

Maybe those moves would have worked. But I think that Ryan and others in the organization have a much better handle on what our minor leaguers have to offer than we do. Do you really think they felt those players would be better than who we have in the bullpen but left them in the minors anyway? I think it's far more likely that they felt those players just aren't major league ready. I think it's far more likely that they decided that they are going to do what they feel is best to prepare their prospects and the organization as a whole for next year and beyond. And if that means going forward with the current bullpen and taking our lumps this season then that's the price we pay. Not fun now, but we can only hope it's the best plan moving forward.

[Squirrel]

 

Maybe those moves would have worked. But I think that Ryan and others in the organization have a much better handle on what our minor leaguers have to offer than we do. Do you really think they felt those players would be better than who we have in the bullpen but left them in the minors anyway? I think it's far more likely that they felt those players just aren't major league ready. I think it's far more likely that they decided that they are going to do what they feel is best to prepare their prospects and the organization as a whole for next year and beyond. And if that means going forward with the current bullpen and taking our lumps this season then that's the price we pay. Not fun now, but we can only hope it's the best plan moving forward.

I think there are moves that could have been made that wouldn't have cost us our future that would have put us in a better position to win this year. It's not that Terry Ryan did nothing at the deadline this year, it's that he has never done much at the deadlines any year. Oh, unless you go way back and count trading Luis Castillo. Yeah, that helped. (sarcasm) While I agree that those in charge have way more knowledge than we do, it's that they did nothing. And if we are going to tank, and they let us tank, then why not give more prospects a taste to prepare them for next year instead of taking our lumps with those who just don't have the talent and aren't prospects. And how many years of lumps do we just accept? However many they want to give us? While mindless complaining solves nothing, many on here have posted reasonable alternatives and possibilities (and some have posted unreasonable alternatives and impossibilities), I'd just like to see and feel I deserve a little more from Terry Ryan and our FO. I don't think anyone deserves unlimited opportunity and we've had enough years of, well, failure, imo. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Maybe those moves would have worked. But I think that Ryan and others in the organization have a much better handle on what our minor leaguers have to offer than we do. Do you really think they felt those players would be better than who we have in the bullpen but left them in the minors anyway? I think it's far more likely that they felt those players just aren't major league ready. I think it's far more likely that they decided that they are going to do what they feel is best to prepare their prospects and the organization as a whole for next year and beyond. And if that means going forward with the current bullpen and taking our lumps this season then that's the price we pay. Not fun now, but we can only hope it's the best plan moving forward.

Nothing is guaranteed but can you honestly take a look at this bullpen and say the front office has made legitimate attempts to fix it this season?

 

Jepsen was a decent move but the problem started long before Jepsen arrived and one guy wasn't going to fix the problem.

 

Again, I'm not going to criticize Ryan for failing to make a single move because I don't believe I should be that judgmental when I only have partial information.

 

But when the front office fails to make any one of 20+ possible moves, they deserve all the criticism they get. I don't have all the answers but I knew in late April the bullpen was going to be an issue. Why didn't Ryan realize the same thing? It's his job.

[Loosey]

 

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

But it isn't the start of the season.  It's mid-August.  In Mid August I'm pissed!

[TheLeviathan]

Leadership that is this conservative in approach shouldn't get a lifetime position. Change can be good and it doesn't have to mean Ryan is a bad GM. It's just time.

[bizaff]

I don't think the buck stops at Ryan.

[Ultima Ratio]

Bring back Andy Macphail!

[nicksaviking]

 

Maybe those moves would have worked. But I think that Ryan and others in the organization have a much better handle on what our minor leaguers have to offer than we do.

 

I'm sure they do.  However I also feel they may be too far into the forest to see the trees as well.  I think the front office views the gulf between the unproven players and the veterans as much larger than it actually is.  I mean the guys in the minors would have to pitch to historically bad levels to be much worse than what the current bullpen is doing.

 

[OldTimeTwinkie]

Coming out of spring training twins coaches were saying privately what a disaster the bullpen was. Fits right in with leaving spring training with Bartlett year before.

[bird]

 

I think the implication is that TR said he expected them to contend, but then acted differently once they actually were in contention.

 99% of us think Ryan's inaction had the effect of dousing any remote chance of staying in contention for the wild card. Ryan didn't deliberately think to himself, " now, how can I assure that we fall out of contention here?" which is the implication of saying he was lying to us. He's guilty of poor decision-making, not deception.

 

 

[Otto von Ballpark]

99% of us think Ryan's inaction had the effect of dousing any remote chance of staying in contention for the wild card. Ryan didn't deliberately think to himself, " now, how can I assure that we fall out of contention here?" which is the implication of saying he was lying to us. He's guilty of poor decision-making, not deception.

No, the implication was that he said he expected to contend, but then when faced with actual contention, he opted for an extremely conservative approach, apparently looking ahead to 2016 because he didn't particularly feel the 2015 contention was worth investing in. It's not lying but it suggests his earlier proclamations didn't mean a whole lot.

 

Personally, since his career long track record features similar conservativism/inaction, I don't think it was really bailing on the 2015 team or delaying more aggressive moves for 2016+. Which is perhaps more frustrating.

[Mike Sixel]

What has Ryan done to fix this team? Alex Meyer, Trevor May, Suzuki, Hunter, not fixing the bullpen at the beginning of the year, Nolasco, Hughes, Santana, Pelfrey, keep the other Santana here too long, Milone.......so, is that good? Punting on this season at the break, was that good?

 

I am not a Ryan believer. You can be if you want.

[Highabove]

 

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

So was Ryan lying to the public??

Here is my point. If Ryan truly believed that he had a contender, how could he put together such an awful Bullpen in the off season? 

 

[Thrylos]

 

Bring back Andy Macphail!

 

That birdie flew

[Thrylos]

Ryan is part of the problem.

The root cause of the problem is the country club mentality of the ownership that even allowed him to be part of the problem.

 

Ryan retired right before the off-season he had to deal with Johan Santana and Torii Hunter and after his team that had the MVP, and Cy Young winners went belly up in the post-season saying that "the game has passed him by".

 

 

 

If Pohlad does not care about a winning team, he should sell to someone who does.

 

Otherwise the next new big addition next season will be the cheesesteak margarita at Hrbeks for $39.99 plus tax.

 

Enjoy

[Mike Sixel]

Ryan has always said the owners never turned him down on spending, ever. It is Ryan.

[Mike Sixel]

Either I take Ryan at his word, or call him a liar. Either way people rip me.

[jimmer]

 

Either I take Ryan at his word, or call him a liar. Either way people rip me.

There are some who argue that there are times to take Ryan at his word (when he says stuff we like to hear) and others times when they say we shouldn't have taken him at his word because he's saying things he has to as a GM.  Sometimes it's the same exact comment, but different points in time.  Like after when the good thing he said turns out to be total bunk (like how he said he'd do everything he could to seriously improve the rotation and then went and signed Correa, Harden, Pelfrey and traded for Worley.

[TKGuy]

Remember the meltdown when he got Jepsen and gave up Hu? What would have it take. To get Kimbrel or someone like that? You cannot just blame the bullpen, the hitting and starters haven't been that great either. It's been a team effort at futility lately

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

The Jepsen trade was frustrating because it was too small of a move - I would have been happier if Ryan had truly stood pat and done nothing at all. Jepsen makes the bullpen better because anything at all would have improved that bullpen. The issue is that one arm was not nearly enough, and the move came too late in the season to be followed up with more moves to actually raise the sinking ship.

 

I don't think Hu and Tapia were going to be pitching Games 1 and 2 of the 2017 World Series or anything like that, but either make moves (plural) to address the problems (plural) or don't bother.  

 

I don't see the point of getting Jepsen if that's the only move being made. Just Kimbrel, or just Chapman, sure, that would be a major upgrade. Just Jepsen was not worth it.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I think the time is coming, though I could see one more year of Ryan, as he's going to be able to play into his strengths a bit this offseason with a couple of trade chips...  My concern is that we need a plan for the pen, catcher, and possibly SS (though at least with SS there's help in the high minors) that contains a few sure things at the back and room for some of those Rochester arms a realistic chance to take their lumps. 

[SwainZag]

 

The Jepsen trade was frustrating because it was too small of a move - I would have been happier if Ryan had truly stood pat and done nothing at all. Jepsen makes the bullpen better because anything at all would have improved that bullpen. The issue is that one arm was not nearly enough, and the move came too late in the season to be followed up with more moves to actually raise the sinking ship.

 

I don't think Hu and Tapia were going to be pitching Games 1 and 2 of the 2017 World Series or anything like that, but either make moves (plural) to address the problems (plural) or don't bother.  

 

I don't see the point of getting Jepsen if that's the only move being made. Just Kimbrel, or just Chapman, sure, that would be a major upgrade. Just Jepsen was not worth it.

 

Remember that they will have Jepsen for next year as well even if it wasn't enough to put them over a hump this year.