Article: Trying to Calm the Crashing Storm

[Cody Christie]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1504-Trying-to-Calm-the-Crashing-Storm-Terry-Ryan

[Thrylos]

Blaming Bill Smith for this mess makes no sense and it is totally unfair. If anything, Smith is the one who made the organization a top player in the international market going after the major free agents that Ryan could not dream of.

 

Smith was a manager. He was not a "Baseball person". So all the baseball decisions were delegated to the scouts and the manager and the coaches. Blame them.

[Rock65]

You have to have pitching and your not going to find someone too do a better job than Gardy has done if he doesn't have pitching

[The Wise One]

Blaming Bill Smith for this mess makes no sense and it is totally unfair. If anything, Smith is the one who made the organization a top player in the international market going after the major free agents that Ryan could not dream of.

 

Smith was a manager. He was not a "Baseball person". So all the baseball decisions were delegated to the scouts and the manager and the coaches. Blame them.

 

I did not see anywhere that Smith was blamed

[ashbury]

Smith was a manager. He was not a "Baseball person". So all the baseball decisions were delegated to the scouts and the manager and the coaches. Blame them.

 

There is something to this point of view. OTOH no executive usually has all the skills necessary for success, and he makes up for the weaknesses by hiring the right people. Ultimately the buck still has to stop with the guy sitting in the big chair, and if his particular deficiencies are such that even the right deputies can't cover them then he has to take the blame, and eventually the fall.

[DaveW]

I have faith personally in Ryan, his trades this off season were very well and other than the Correia signing which was bad, all his other signings since taking back over were pretty good!

 

I am anxious to see if he can get some solid value for Willingham, morneau and possibly Perkins as 2014 should be exciting as the twins will have a ton of payroll and guys like Hicks, Arcia, Gibson, Meyer and maybe even May ready to contribute quite a bit!

[LaBombo]

Blaming Bill Smith for this mess makes no sense and it is totally unfair. If anything, Smith is the one who made the organization a top player in the international market going after the major free agents that Ryan could not dream of.

 

Smith was a manager. He was not a "Baseball person". So all the baseball decisions were delegated to the scouts and the manager and the coaches. Blame them.

 

If Smith isn't a "baseball person", he probably shouldn't have accepted a position as the general manager of a professional baseball franchise.

 

Either Smith gets credit for great moves like signing Sano AND blame for disasters like the Santana and Garza/Bartlett trades and the Nishi fiasco, or he gets neither. Personally, I have no idea how anyone can ignore the importance of a GM's role in determining the course of a franchise, so I'm going with the former.

 

Smith took over a perennial contender with strong, young core and a huge trading chip in his back pocket, and left the Twins with some fine low minors hitting prospects, zero pitching from top to bottom, two playoff sweeps by the Yankees, and the start of a string of 90+ loss seasons.

 

In other words, there's very little to distinguish what Smith did to the Twins from what a mole from a division rival would do to quietly go about sabotaging the Twins. And he did it while being aided by most of the same "baseball people" that Ryan utilized.

[LaBombo]

I have faith personally in Ryan, his trades this off season were very well and other than the Correia signing which was bad, all his other signings since taking back over were pretty good!

 

I am anxious to see if he can get some solid value for Willingham, morneau and possibly Perkins as 2014 should be exciting as the twins will have a ton of payroll and guys like Hicks, Arcia, Gibson, Meyer and maybe even May ready to contribute quite a bit!

 

I liked Ryan as a GM when he left. After 4 years of Smith and, like you said, the non-Correia moves he's made since coming back, I reeally like Ryan.

[The Wise One]

I have faith personally in Ryan, his trades this off season were very well and other than the Correia signing which was bad, all his other signings since taking back over were pretty good!

 

I am anxious to see if he can get some solid value for Willingham, morneau and possibly Perkins as 2014 should be exciting as the twins will have a ton of payroll and guys like Hicks, Arcia, Gibson, Meyer and maybe even May ready to contribute quite a bit!

 

The explanation of the Correa signing will be in Ryan's memories. It will be avaialable only after 100000 copies are sold. Every remainng Twins fan will buy one to find out what the heck Ryan was thinking signnig Correa for the second year. My personal bet is all the other third tier free agents wanted 10 million a year to pitch for the Twins, so Ryan thought he was getting a bargain.

 

Yes I am mostly joking. I don't want to get "up northed"

[Mchans24]

The Correa signing will turn out to be a good deal. He will win 24 games over two years. He will be Carl Pavano pre-2012. We paid Carl 7million per if I remember correctly? Nobody seemed to mind that deal? Tired of listening to people whine about a guy looonnnnggggg before we saw him pitch! Looked pretty good today against the Tigers!

[PseudoSABR]

It's interesting to think about: how might the Bill Smith years have been different if Terry Ryan was still in charge.

 

In some ways, Terry Ryan's second tour is a testament that there would have been different choices. I'm not sure how else the guy takes the job.

[ThePuck]

The Correa signing will turn out to be a good deal. He will win 24 games over two years. He will be Carl Pavano pre-2012. We paid Carl 7million per if I remember correctly? Nobody seemed to mind that deal? Tired of listening to people whine about a guy looonnnnggggg before we saw him pitch! Looked pretty good today against the Tigers!

 

 

Do you only watch Twins games? I've watched Correia pitch PLENTY. He has an average ERA+ over the last 3 years of 78. I'm sorry, what did you think people were gonna say when Ryan said he was going to seriously improve the rotation and he brings in Correia.

 

We all want to eat crow when it comes to him...but one game doesn't change anything...it's extremely unlikely he comes to the AL and IMPROVES.

[Mchans24]

Correia is 25% to my prediction of 12 wind this year.

[Ultima Ratio]

Correia is 25% to my prediction of 12 wind this year.

 

The thread for this is "Fun with Numbers"