I agree completely with your last few statements, but I am not sure that Ryan was ever a good GM for a veteran-laden team. He was, at the start, terrific at evaluating young talent, particularly in other people's organizations (Johan, Liriano, etc.). And he did a good job getting our own young talent up to the majors where they could succeed (Hunter, Koskie, Jones, etc.). But for so many years, when we were on the cusp of greatness, and just needed one or two real impact players to put us over the top, we got Livan Hernandez or Sidney Ponson or Mike Lamb or Rondell White or some other zero-upside guy. We needed more of a risk-taker then, and we certainly need one now, when we have nothing more to lose. ETA: And for sure, someone more comfortable with advanced analytics.