Jim Rantz Retires

[Seth Stohs]

Wow. Not even 24 hours and the same old haters can't even give the guy a little respect.

 

Jim Rantz spent over two/thirds of his life working for the Twins. He was a major part in virtually everything that is and ever has been a part of this team. He was here from Killebrew to Mauer, from the Met to Target Field, from Sam Mele to Gardy, and everything in between. Regardless of what you think he brought to the table, or whether you think he did a good job, you have to respect what he personally gave to this franchise.

 

For those of you that can't understand this, I am very glad that I don't wake up in the morning with your pitiful outlook on life.

 

Thank you for writing this!! You are 100% correct!!

[Seth Stohs]

Honest question...how involved is the minor league director with drafting? He's not really a scout anymore right? So does he even have any input on drafts and international signings?

 

He's not involved in the drafting at all, or if so, VERY minimally. He also has no (or very minimal) say in the international signings.

[bird]

righty8383, thanks for pointing out that Rantz was only in charge of developing the players, and not drafting them. Rantz and about five dozen other employees that is.

[bird]

Oh, and Rantz and his staff did such a lousy job developing players that, despite being given so little to work with in the opinion of many of you, he was able to supply the big club with these players this year: Revere, Hendriks, Robertson, Waldrop, Diamond, DeVries, Parmelee, and Dozier.

[twinswon1991]

Oh, and Rantz and his staff did such a lousy job developing players that, despite being given so little to work with in the opinion of many of you, he was able to supply the big club with these players this year: Revere, Hendriks, Robertson, Waldrop, Diamond, DeVries, Parmelee, and Dozier.

 

Not to rain on your parade but Diamond may have made it as a #5 on a good team if he even got a chance due to his pedigre and Revere would've played as a nice #4 OF on a contender. The rest don't sniff the bigs in a good organization. Lipstick on a pig....

[TwinsFanInPhilly]

 

 

Good to see a young 30 something replacing Rantz. At least he grew up with computers

 

Ageism is alive and well in the heart of Pennsyl-tucky

[nokomismod]

Wishing Mr. Rantz the best. That's quite a run and I'm sure the guy has plenty of great stories to tell.

[old nurse]

Unfortunately, I got to confess that I have been personally so not clueless about people older than thirty for the best part of 2 decades now...

 

Then are you speaking from experience when you say a thirty something can do a better job than an elder?

 

The ability to use a computer is not tied to age. I am sure Warren Buffet learned to use one. They were pretty rudimentary in Gates and Wozniak's youth.

[gunnarthor]

Huh? Incredibly, twinswon1991, you were able to avoid facts once again. Congratulations.

 

It's his thing. He ignores facts, Thrylos makes them up. The Twins Daily version of Romney/Ryan!

[Badsmerf]

Farewell to Rantz, can't say I hate to see him go. I know he has put a lot of time in with the Twins, but at some point you have to call it a career. Rantz will be missed by many within the organization. I welcome new ideas in an organization that has few of them.

[jokin]

Huh? Incredibly, twinswon1991, you were able to avoid facts once again. Congratulations.

 

It's his thing. He ignores facts, Thrylos makes them up. The Twins Daily version of Romney/Ryan!

 

Politics-injector always is the loser of the point in question.

[jokin]

Farewell to Rantz, can't say I hate to see him go. I know he has put a lot of time in with the Twins, but at some point you have to call it a career. Rantz will be missed by many within the organization. I welcome new ideas in an organization that has few of them.

 

This comment seems to hit all the right notes. I am befuddled by all the people who come on here to advocate for, and blindly defend, maintainance of the status quo.

[bird]

jokin, no doubt you're befuddled. Is it possible that some of us just see things differently? How often do you get accused of "blindly attacking" the "status quo"? Not often. I don't observe commenters here advocating to maintain the status quo, but I do observe that some people believe the organization is operating fundamentally well. Of course, it's easy to point to a short-term record as evidence of the need for wholesale change. You could be right. However, some of us carefully regard a number of contributing factors to the current record. We see evidence of change, and believe the organization is directionally on track. Time will tell. No reason for befuddledment, because people are not advocting for and blindly defending maintenance of the statuis quo. People just differ with you about what changes are necessary, so cut them a little slack, OK?. They may actually have a point.

 

The thing is this: right now, the Twins are holding their annual organizational meetings, attended by roughly 85 employees. According to some of you, this group will be entirely bereft of "new ideas". This group will "blindly defend" the status quo. I for one believe differently. Changes get made all the time. I personally couldn't make a sensible judgment about the quality and performance of this group of people. That would be an act of arrogance. What I hope for and expect is incremental change and improvement.

 

I for one am really optimistic about 2014 and beyond, and I even expect the 2013 tea to be pretty fun to watch

[70charger]

Huh? Incredibly, twinswon1991, you were able to avoid facts once again. Congratulations.

 

It's his thing. He ignores facts, Thrylos makes them up. The Twins Daily version of Romney/Ryan!

 

Politics-injector always is the loser of the point in question.

 

Holy crap. I agree with jokin. Who knew? Seriously "gunnarthor." That comment was a massive fail.

[old nurse]

Huh? Incredibly, twinswon1991, you were able to avoid facts once again. Congratulations.

 

It's his thing. He ignores facts, Thrylos makes them up. The Twins Daily version of Romney/Ryan!

 

Politics-injector always is the loser of the point in question.

 

Holy crap. I agree with jokin. Who knew? Seriously "gunnarthor." That comment was a massive fail.

You all protest the politics but do not disprove the lack of reality by twinswon1991 and Thrylos

[Shane Wahl]

Interesting quote in that linked Strib article about what Rantz has done to this organization, by the former interim GM:

 

"You talk about a face of a franchise," General Manager Terry Ryan said. "Even though Jim’s not out there in the public view very much, inside this organization, the roots of the organization -- it is Jim. He hired Gardy. He was part of hiring Billy [smith]. He was part of hiring me and almost all of our major league coaches and managers and trainers."

 

 

So part of the root cause of the Twins' problems is thankfully gone. A few more remain...

 

Good to see a young 30 something replacing Rantz. At least he grew up with computers

 

Haha. Yeah, I am glad that he retired as well.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'm not sure I quite get the hate here. It isn't as if the Twins consistently get less out of the talent that they get. If so, he needed to go. I suspect the bigger problem has been talent evaluation, paritcularly with pitching. This team has liked its "nick blackburn" type pitchers for too long. This was in part because they were cheaper and less risky during an era where they had a 60M payroll, and that is defensible to an extent. But that is also why this team has little starting pitching in the upper minors, and that has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Rantz.

[jtrinaldi]

There is no reason to bring up politics in a thread like this regardless of political view. On a note of the members bickering with each other, everybody has their own opinions, some people like to make sure everybody knows their opinion. Yes, members on the board have the common sense to realize who is annoyingly aggressive with their opinion, and 95 % of those people who recognize that are mature enough to ignore them. This is a site about the Twins and baseball in general,lets keep it that way.