Article: The End Of The Terry Ryan Era

[PintoWF]

Terry Ryan was fired on Monday, July 18 as the Minnesota Twins General Manager. Ryan was the Twins GM from 1994-2007 and again from 2011 until now.

 

The end of his career will be marred by some of the worst seasons in Twins history. That, along with the current worst record in baseball, led to Ryan's demise.

 

It shouldn't be what defines him.Ryan took a small market team and made them into a consistent playoff contender through much of the 2000s.

 

Billy Beane constructed the Oakland Athletics into a playoff contender on a small budget. He receives more praise for it. Mainly because of a book.

 

During the same time Beane was constructing his roster, Ryan was doing it at Minnesota.

 

The Twins trades in the late 90s led to contributors like Joe Mays, Cristian Guzman and a left-hander with a Bugs Bunny change-up named Johan Santana.

 

These types of moves set up a roster that averaged nearly 89 wins a season from 2001-2010. An average better than Oakland's over that time period.

 

He also relied plenty on talent from within the organization. Torii Hunter. Justin Morneau. Joe Mauer.

 

During a time where teams with big budgets were trying their hardest to outspend the rest of the world, the Twins thrived on shrewd moves and home-grown players.

 

Of course, it was a team that only won one playoff series between 2001-2010 despite making the playoffs six times in that time span. That's not necessarily on him. Neither is the fact that his predecessor, Bill Smith, couldn't build off what Ryan had put together when he took over in 2007.

 

It got so bad that Ryan came back on an interim, eventually full-time, in late 2011. He couldn't bring back the magic over the next few years despite having a one of the deepest minor league systems in all of baseball.

 

Change can be good and in this case change was needed for the organization.

 

It had to be Ryan. A guy who has lost favor with much of the fan base but a guy that I will always remember as the one who put together all those fun seasons in the 2000s.

 

Click here to view the article

[magiklair]

I'll remember him for his consistent used car dealer pickups of reclamation projects. Yes some do pan out. But the vast majority of them do not..

[REPETE]

Integrity and honesty. A class act all the way! I didn't agree with everything he did, but some things I didn't agree with worked, so I'm not going to dwell on those that didn't.

[Brock Beauchamp]

How a person views Terry Ryan and Billy Beane seems to tell a lot about their personality (and blindspots).

 

Because, when you get right down to it, they're basically the same guy, although they get there very differently.

 

From 2000 until today, Beane's Athletics had nine postseason appearances, nearly all of them coming from a division with four teams (if you want your "the ALC is weak division" argument countered, there's a good place to start). That's great. Commendable from any GM.

 

Beane's teams won a single postseason series. Against the Twins, naturally.

 

Most of us think it was time for Ryan to go. As sad as it is to see, it became increasingly apparent by the day that he was well past his sell by date. The game had moved on in a way Ryan wasn't equipped to handle.

 

All we can do now is look forward and choose a worthy successor.*

 

*and if that successor is Rob Antony, I may shoot myself

[Han Joelo]

The Beane comp is a bit painful right now if you're Ryan.  Beane got promoted and a stake in the team.

 

Nice write up.  My sentiments exactly.  All in the eye of the beholder.  I hope I am not so petty--and there isn't a reason--that I spend the next five years getting back at the fire TR crowd with I-told-you-to-be-careful-what-you-wish-fors.  Judging from a lot of comments I've read, there is already some "firers remorse."

[Brandon]

I just think the Twins are still a season away. The Twins had a good year last year and have turned it around lately and we have such a deep farm system. I think we'll be a conte der soon and for a long time and Ryan played a big part of it.

[Brandon]

I just think the Twins are still a season away. The Twins had a good year last year and have turned it around lately and we have such a deep farm system. I think we'll be a conte der soon and for a long time and Ryan played a big part of it.

[jimmer]

I think we are quite a few seasons away from being a real contender.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I just think the Twins are still a season away. The Twins had a good year last year and have turned it around lately and we have such a deep farm system. I think we'll be a conte der soon and for a long time and Ryan played a big part of it.

 

Twins farm system not in KLAW's latest top 10.....

 

The team is going to lose 90-100 games, and you think next year will be different? What will be different, other than Berrios being here, do you think?

[Otto von Ballpark]

How a person views Terry Ryan and Billy Beane seems to tell a lot about their personality (and blindspots).

 

Because, when you get right down to it, they're basically the same guy, although they get there very differently.

 

From 2000 until today, Beane's Athletics had nine postseason appearances, nearly all of them coming from a division with four teams (if you want your "the ALC is weak division" argument countered, there's a good place to start). That's great. Commendable from any GM.

 

Beane's teams won a single postseason series. Against the Twins, naturally.

 

Most of us think it was time for Ryan to go. As sad as it is to see, it became increasingly apparent by the day that he was well past his sell by date. The game had moved on in a way Ryan wasn't equipped to handle.

 

All we can do now is look forward and choose a worthy successor.*

 

*and if that successor is Rob Antony, I may shoot myself

To be fair, Beane's teams went down to the wire in every playoff series they lost, except one (2006 ALCS). I guess the end result was similar to the Twins, but there wasn't quite the same embarrassment/domination involved.

[Willihammer]

Beane's record as GM, 1998-2015:

1552-1362 (.533)

 

TR's record as GM, 1994-2007 & 2011-2016:

1394-1544 (.474)

 

Almost 10 wins/season difference.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Beane's record as GM, 1998-2015:

1552-1362 (.533)

 

TR's record as GM, 1994-2007 & 2011-2016:

1394-1544 (.474)

 

Almost 10 wins/season difference.

Yes, Beane was a good GM. He also only inherited one rebuild while Ryan inherited two. Ryan also left under dubious circumstances (not of fan of how he dropped Smith into such an awkward situation) but he left a team with a solid core of players.

 

I'm not making excuses for Ryan but the situations were rather different. If Ryan was GM from 2008-2011, would things have turned out differently over the past five years? Hard to say for sure but it's impossible to deny he inherited a crap situation (again).

[Willihammer]

Yes, Beane was a good GM. He also only inherited one rebuild while Ryan inherited two. Ryan also left under dubious circumstances (not of fan of how he dropped Smith into such an awkward situation) but he left a team with a solid core of players.

 

I'm not making excuses for Ryan but the situations were rather different. If Ryan was GM from 2008-2011, would things have turned out differently over the past five years? Hard to say for sure but it's impossible to deny he inherited a crap situation (again).

That rabbit hole has been gone down before a million times on these boards, I won't go down there here. I will just say, even if TR inherited a rebuild in his 2nd stint, he did so with the benefit of a brand new ballpark, and annual payrolls 25-30m greater than the A's.

 

Isolating the years 1998-2007, Beane still outperformed TR by a .548 winning percentage to .507. He's the better GM any way you slice it, which says more about Beane than it does TR IMO. I think TR was fine in his first stint, his second stint has been a disaster, I don't care what situation he inherited. TR has only made it worse.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Willihammer

[Otto von Ballpark]

Also, arguably tougher division in the AL West. In finding historical comparables for the Twins horrible start this year, I ran across a number of AL Central teams, notably Detroit and KC. The West had a few bad teams, but rarely any that hopeless.