Twins interim general manager Terry Ryan spoke to Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (in two separate pieces) about the Twins' season, offseason plans and his own future with the team. Here are some of the highlights…
- Ryan doesn't plan to fire Ron Gardenhire and says that he wouldn't make any changes to the coaching staff without Gardenhire's approval. "I don't think either one of us should independently make that call. I wouldn't want to force-feed a coach on a manager. That never works in a clubhouse," Ryan said. Souhan notes that Ryan didn't fire former Twins manager Tom Kelly even after Kelly had presided over eight consecutive losing seasons.
- The Twins' biggest offseason need is starting pitching, though Ryan described the free agent pitching market as "a little lean." The club isn't likely to get into a bidding war over big name free agent starters, though Ryan said the team would explore all avenues to improve their pitching, including possibly re-signing Carl Pavano and Scott Baker. The Twins have a $9.5MM team option on Baker for 2013 but I would think the team would decline that option and try to re-sign Baker on a new, smaller deal.
- Ryan is satisfied with the team's payroll (slightly over $100MM in 2012) and said finances weren't to blame for the last two seasons. "This one isn’t payroll-oriented at all. This is just making good baseball decisions," Ryan said.
- Justin Morneau has been the subject of trade rumors this year but Ryan sees the former MVP as part of next year's Twins. "I think his numbers are going to return. I think he's a core guy. He's a former MVP who's what, 31? He's one of the most important people in this organization, no doubt," Ryan said.
- In regards to his future as the Twins' GM, Ryan said he would make a decision after the season, though Souhan noted that Ryan "sounds as if he is determined to keep the job, even if he won't yet admit it." Twins owner Jim Pohlad said earlier this week that he would like Ryan to remain as GM and Ryan is free to remove the 'interim' tag from his job whenever he wishes.
Rick Anderson keeping his job after two seasons like this is unprecedented.
I can see the argument, but the injuries to Baker and Pavano aren’t his fault and it is not like Liriano has turned back into a 2006/2010 version of himself since he left. Anderson is not exactly working with the best talent in the league. He has gotten 10 wins out of Scott Diamond and 4 out of Samuel Deduno!
Anderson deserves the benefit of the doubt. Under his watch the Twins had one of the best bullpens and the rotation would perform above-average despite below average stuff for a better part of a decade. The performances of Diamond and Duduno are testaments that his ability as a pitching coach are still there. This year not one of the 5 starting pitchers in the rotation to begin the year are on the 40 man roster. He is foing the best he can with a patchwork AAA rotation.
I think the fact that he describes the upcoming free agent pitching market as lean, which is not true, says all you need to know as a Twins fan. Unfortunately TR thinks he’s still running the metrodome Twins where you can absolutely stink for an eight year stretch 93-2000 and no-one loses their job. The revenue has gone up but the thinking has stayed the same. Unfortunately nothing will change with the organization until they get ownership that will actually fire people and not just change their title.
Remember the days of Krueger, Deshais, and Tewksbury? They’re back.
Right in the beginning you proved your bias. This years free-agent crop is horrible outside of OFers. The Twins have no interest in Ofers and are likely to unload one or possibly two this off-season. They need pitching which is thin. The Twins have good baseball people in their organization and there is no reason to panic and start dumping them in a desperate hope that the grass is greener. Ryan is a smart GM and understands that he needs to practice patience to achieve long-term success. Stability and smart roster moves will help dig the Twins out of the hole they are in.
Grienke,Shields,Lohse,Mcarthy,A.Sanchez,Dempster,Jackson, and Blanton among others, doesn’t look lean to me. Especially compared to last year’s market when we heard the same thing. I know TR is good at running a small market team with low expectations and patience among fans because there was no other option, but the new stadium has bumped this team up to mid market status and so far the team has not shown the willingness or creativity to change their ways. They want to spend to 52% of revenues period, which means when the attendance falls because of the poor team on the field they still take it out on the fans by not spending as much the next year. As well as the team did by running the division for a good portion of the last decade they were never a world series contender. Maybe Liriano’s rookie year before he got hurt. He and Santana would have been great in the postseason but it never happened. The team refused to mortgage the future to make a serious run any of those seasons. Those players are now part of the core of the worst team in the A.L. the last two years. Of course I have bias because there are no consequenses for failure in the org., just new titles.