Article: Terry Ryan Discusses Ron Gardenhire's Future

[D. Hocking]

I don't necessarily blame Gardy for the losing seasons, but I do think it is time for some fresh blood. Last year when they made the changes it seems like they were shuffling the deck of the cards they already had; fire the trainer promote his assistant. Even Terry Ryan -- I kind of wish they would have explored looking for someone on the outside to get some fresh perspective and ideas. I think in general the hiring from within is not a bad thing, but after 20 years you do need to shake it up a little.

 

Semi-related, I wonder if Terry really has permission to spend more like he says, or if the Pohlads are singing a different tune behind the scenes.

[cmb0252]

I don't necessarily blame Gardy for the losing seasons, but I do think it is time for some fresh blood. Last year when they made the changes it seems like they were shuffling the deck of the cards they already had; fire the trainer promote his assistant. Even Terry Ryan -- I kind of wish they would have explored looking for someone on the outside to get some fresh perspective and ideas. I think in general the hiring from within is not a bad thing, but after 20 years you do need to shake it up a little.

 

Semi-related, I wonder if Terry really has permission to spend more like he says, or if the Pohlads are singing a different tune behind the scenes.

 

Great post. I like the idea of rewarding people from within the franchise but at some point you have to go outside of the organization. I like Gardy and thank him for all he has done for the franchise but I think we need a new leader.

[jorgenswest]

Terry states disappointment about the offense, but he should have known. The drop in offensive production was in the projections last November. That was even prior to the Span and Revere trades.

 

A portion of this blog entry detailed the concern about the offense.

 

Projecting the Twins: Early 2013 ZIPS - Blogs - Minnesota Twins News & Rumors Forum

 

The Twins did nothing in the offseason to address the offense. It's production should not be a surprise. With an OPS+ of 92 the offense has contributed at least as much to the poor record as the pitching.

[D. Hocking]

Terry states disappointment about the offense, but he should have known.

 

I don't necessarily think Terry should go, but he gave an interview last spring that really rubbed me the wrong way. It was when the Twins were still above 500 well past the time people thought they would be. When he asked if he was surprised -- he seemed irritated and said he expected more. Now I can see why he would say that, but from his tone he seemed really irritated that anyone would think they were not better than a 500 team. I wanted to shout through the radio, have you seen your roster? There was something about his tone that came off both a little arrogant and a little in denial about the true talent level of the team he had put together - like he really felt he had put together a team that could and should produce a winning record. I think things started to go south less than a week after that interview.

[Kwak]

I don't necessarily blame Gardy for the losing seasons, but I do think it is time for some fresh blood. Last year when they made the changes it seems like they were shuffling the deck of the cards they already had; fire the trainer promote his assistant. Even Terry Ryan -- I kind of wish they would have explored looking for someone on the outside to get some fresh perspective and ideas. I think in general the hiring from within is not a bad thing, but after 20 years you do need to shake it up a little.

 

Semi-related, I wonder if Terry really has permission to spend more like he says, or if the Pohlads are singing a different tune behind the scenes.

 

Remember the comment about Ryan not spending all that was authorized? Do you think other teams hang their GM out to dry for "underspending"? I don't. I think it was an empty statement that was intended to obscure the spending issue and place it squarely on Ryan. Before the season started St.Peter was interviewed and stated that "[they]" were comfortable with a budget of $80-$85MM. So if Ryan "underspent" it was by about 3-4% of the plan--and not some massive amount that would have netted another "top" player.

 

Yes, I believe that ownership is setting the spending parameters, but also that Ryan is in agreement with those parameters. I never truly accepted the "burnt-out" statement concerning his relinquishing the GM role either. Recall that when Hunter and Santana left there was a huge drop in payroll--and that it was no accident that there was no major free agent signing. Livan Hernandez (at $5MM) would not qualify!

[Mike Sixel]

Ryan did not sign Hunter or Santana, and quit before Mauer needed signing.....do people think that is a coincidence?

[howieramone1406390264]

Ryan did not sign Hunter or Santana, and quit before Mauer needed signing.....do people think that is a coincidence?

 

I know I do. When you have a job that millions want but only 30 have, there is never a good time to quit.

[Kwak]

Ryan did not sign Hunter or Santana, and quit before Mauer needed signing.....do people think that is a coincidence?

Most GMs go through baseball hell in order to even be considered for GM, so leaving is "unexpected"--unless it's a promotion like McPhail received.

[RodneyKline]

It is not Gardenhire's fault because he was not given good players and he didn't decide to spend only $70m on payroll. Injuries were not that big of an issue this year like it was last year. The failure is 100% on the GM. The team that was sold to us as competitive was a 90 loss team all along and almost all of us knew that. Shame on the fans for buying so many tickets to see this fraud.

[Rosterman]

Scott Ullger will get his year!

[clutterheart]

Injuries? Ryan is playing the injury card?

How can he be so disingenuous? The starting pitching staff that he created is the worst in the league. Willingham has been unable to stay healthy for most of his career. Mauer was hurt when the season was already over. He rushed Hicks because he traded away all of his CF'ers. He had no plan B for a non-productive Plouffe. He constructed a line-up full of mostly high strike out guys.

 

The fault of this season is Ryan's and Ryan's alone.

Gardy has his issues, and probably it would be good to let him go but Ryan is the one who is tarnishing his legacy by insulting the fan base.

[howieramone1406390264]

Injuries? Ryan is playing the injury card?

How can he be so disingenuous? The starting pitching staff that he created is the worst in the league. Willingham has been unable to stay healthy for most of his career. Mauer was hurt when the season was already over. He rushed Hicks because he traded away all of his CF'ers. He had no plan B for a non-productive Plouffe. He constructed a line-up full of mostly high strike out guys.

 

The fault of this season is Ryan's and Ryan's alone.

Gardy has his issues, and probably it would be good to let him go but Ryan is the one who is tarnishing his legacy by insulting the fan base.

 

I don't believe millions of loyal and knowledgeable Twins fans were insulted. This was your average everyday interview and a confession was neither expected nor necessary. Most of us are quite familiar with coachspeak.

[jokin]

I don't believe millions of loyal and knowledgeable Twins fans were insulted. This was your average everyday interview and a confession was neither expected nor necessary. Most of us are quite familiar with coachspeak.

 

Except this was GM-speak. I don't think anyone needs a confession at this point, a rebooted resignation speech, 2.0, would work just fine for those millions of loyal and knowledgeable Twins fans who were insulted, yet again.

[biscuit]

Gardenhire's case reminds me of a quote from former minor league manager, Rocky Bridges, and the title of a Jim Bouton book: "I managed good, but boy did they play bad".

[clutterheart]

I don't believe millions of loyal and knowledgeable Twins fans were insulted. This was your average everyday interview and a confession was neither expected nor necessary. Most of us are quite familiar with coachspeak.

 

Not sure I agree with you here. I think he is scapegoating and creating the old “if only we were healthy” excuse and he is hoping the fanbase buys what he is selling. If the local media was more and aggressive they would start looking into it and seeing if its true. But since this is MN, I am starting to look for the LENIII post about how Willingham gutted it out most of the year and is a better teammate because of it.

[josecordoba]

You think it's just ERA that show they haven't been up to par? He said 'ERA AND those type of things'. Did you see my response to that quote?

 

If you wanna blame it all on defense, well, look at their FIPs. Not that great either.

 

...oh, and maybe if it's defense that is the big probelm, and it is a big problem, he should maybe take some blame for that too...maybe he should have also taken the defense into account when he decided to get a bunch of pitchers who need to rely very heavily on defense to be successful

 

What's up to par mean? Pelfrey and Correia have given about 3 WAR for the Cost of $10 Million Dollars. I doubt the signings were ever made with the assumption that either would compete for CY Young Awards. If you're mad that Ryan didn't acquire a Front-Line Starter. This is a totally different discussion.

[TheLeviathan]

I'm going to go out on a huge limb, but I don't think Willingham getting hurt tanked our playoff chances. Pretty sad that it's the best Terry has to explain this failed season. I can think of dozens of better "GM-speak" cliches that don't sound half as inane as that.

[ThePuck]

What's up to par mean? Pelfrey and Correia have given about 3 WAR for the Cost of $10 Million Dollars. I doubt the signings were ever made with the assumption that either would compete for CY Young Awards. If you're mad that Ryan didn't acquire a Front-Line Starter. This is a totally different discussion.

 

Not a totally different discussion at all. This article is about the state of this team. If what we've gotten from Correia and Pelfrey this year is what he expected, which is what he said, then that's a problem...then he shouldn't have signed them to begin with. As far as getting our money's worth...as a fan, why do I care? I should be happy we went out and got pitchers worth little on the FA market and they lived up to it when we needed a serious overhaul? Worst rotation in baseball.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Very positive: I read this interview and conclude that Gardy is gone. And a change is really needed. I also think that the Twins would be better off without their "interim" GM. Less optimistic about that though.

 

I don't particularly trust the thinking / player evaluation of either. I think if the Twins had a manager who was pushing hard for high K or upside pitchers, the GM would more likely be pursuing them. So the roster construction falls partially on the manager, I think, too.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I also think that the Twins would be better off without their "interim" GM.

 

Short-term Twins? Sure. Long-term Twins? Eh, you'll have a hard time convincing me of that unless the GM was Epstein-esque (ie. sabr-heavy and very intelligent).

 

I don't particularly trust the thinking / player evaluation of either. I think if the Twins had a manager who was pushing hard for high K or upside pitchers, the GM would more likely be pursuing them. So the roster construction falls partially on the manager, I think, too.

 

I don't think the manager has any real control over roster construction past saying stuff like "I really like Punto, please keep him". Which is aggravating in its own right but will hardly make or break a franchise. No manager is ever going to say "I really like that Blackburn fellow, keep Clayton Kershaw in the minors".

[Guest USAFChief]

 

 

I don't think the manager has any real control over roster construction past saying stuff like "I really like Punto, please keep him". Which is aggravating in its own right but will hardly make or break a franchise. No manager is ever going to say "I really like that Blackburn fellow, keep Clayton Kershaw in the minors".

I agree, and would go so far as to say if a manager IS overly influencing roster construction, I'd primarily blame the GM anyway. Part of any executive's job is to delegate, or not delegate, responsibilities.

[twinsnorth49]

Easily the most aggravating and disconcerting comment was that Correia and Pelfrey "did what you might expect". If this is what he expected, he clearly couldn't have been genuine when he said the team would compete this year, could he?

 

Quite obviously if these are your two main FA SP signings and this what you expected, then you expected to lose.

 

As far as Gardy goes, it's a tough read either way, I'm not sure anyone gets more than 70 wins out of this steaming pile but 3 years of 90+ in the L column and then deciding to stay the course is not the best way to excite your fan base. I'm usually not a fan of change for change sake but some fresh faces and a new direction would sure breed a little more interest for me.

[jay]

Maybe Gardenhire wants out?

 

I tend to think we'll see Gardy dust off the ol' TR retirement speech 1.0, which I'd be perfectly fine with. Gardy has never been known for being great at handling young players, which we'll have plenty of in short time. I'd like to see someone with a little more energy and advanced field approach.

[nicksaviking]

Why were injuries mentioned at all? The Twins were long out of any playoff race when Willingham and Mauer went down.

 

The Twins were among the healthiest teams in the league at the beginning of the year.

[Boom Boom]

Easily the most and disconcerting comment was that Correia and Pelfrey "did what you might expect". If this is what he expected, he clearly couldn't have been genuine when he said the team would compete this year, could he?

 

Quite obviously if these are your two main FA SP signings and this what you expected, then you expected to lose.

 

I get that Ryan has to say things like "pretty darn good pitcher" and "meaningful games in September" when the season is still fresh. But now that the season is over, these comments bother me as well. Honestly I'd rather he said that KC and Pelf have been disappointing, because it sounds here like he's hoping that fans don't remember the line he toed originally on these guys.

[ThePuck]

Why were injuries mentioned at all?

 

Because some fans will buy that excuse.

[nicksaviking]

Because some fans will buy that excuse.

 

Yup, but of course only if Ryan brings it up first for them to mull over.

[ThePuck]

Yup, but of course only if Ryan brings it up first for them to mull over.

 

exactly.

[Halsey Hall]

I get that Ryan has to say things like "pretty darn good pitcher" and "meaningful games in September" when the season is still fresh. But now that the season is over, these comments bother me as well. Honestly I'd rather he said that KC and Pelf have been disappointing, because it sounds here like he's hoping that fans don't remember the line he toed originally on these guys.

 

Correia and Pelfrey did just exactly what some expected. I think TR expected alot more. He has to be more aggressive this off season acquiring a couple decent arms than ever before.

[ThePuck]

Correia and Pelfrey did just exactly what some expected. I think TR expected alot more. He has to be more aggressive this off season acquiring a couple decent arms than ever before.

 

If Ryan expected a lot more from them, he doesn't say 'Regardless of ERA and those types of things, even Correia and Pelfrey, they’ve done what you might want to expect.” ' Well, unless you figure he often doesn't mean what he says...