Twins promote Antony

[gunnarthor]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/12/central-notes-twins-viciedo.html

 

New title is vice president/assistant GM. Most likely Ryan's successor at this point.

[Brock Beauchamp]

It makes you wonder how much longer Ryan plans on staying in the GM's chair. I think his role is a pretty reluctant one right now.

[Mike Sixel]

Congrats to Mr. Antony!

[gunnarthor]

It makes you wonder how much longer Ryan plans on staying in the GM's chair. I think his role is a pretty reluctant one right now.

 

I don't think he'll retire until the Twins are winning again. He's done a pretty good job setting up a future (Buxton/Sano/Meyer foundation) in his time back but I think he'd want to see it blossom first.

[COtwin]

I'll give him credit for Meyer out of those 3. Even a blind squirrel would have picked Buxton.

 

 

Edit: He also made a few other good picks and signings to be fair. But He has missed about as much as the next guy.

[amjgt]

Buxton could very well have flourished in any system, but all organizations don't progress their prospects the same way. Maybe in another system, he would have been more fast-tracked, and he'd be struggling. Who knows.

 

Point being, once a prospect is in the organization, it's not just cruise control. Some level of credit needs to be given for helping a prospect blossom (and the opposite, when they flame out)

[Thrylos]

I don't think he'll retire until the Twins are winning again. He's done a pretty good job setting up a future (Buxton/Sano/Meyer foundation) in his time back but I think he'd want to see it blossom first.

 

Ryan was retired when that happened.

 

Reading Anthony's job description it seems that he is responsible now for everything a GM is responsible. Interesting to see how much different Ryan's job description is now.

 

BTW, as far as six months ago, there were strong indications that Anthony was prepared to be Ryan's successor and this is just another step towards that.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'll give him credit for Meyer out of those 3. Even a blind squirrel would have picked Buxton.

 

Edit: He also made a few other good picks and signings to be fair. But He has missed about as much as the next guy.

 

I won't give Ryan a ton of credit for picking Buxton because he was coveted by most organizations.

 

But let's not pretend that there were no questions surrounding him out of high school. He played in the sticks; there were questions about competition level and whether it was masking some inherent flaws in him as a player. Plus, playing out in the sticks meant that scouting on him was light compared to his relative talent level.

[Mike Sixel]

I thought the cheif scout ran the draft, not the GM......

 

Would be cool if this thread was about Rob Antony, and not another debate about TR....

[Twins Twerp]

Seems Rob would be one of the youngest GM's in the league correct?? The thing I like about Rob is that he seems to be pretty blunt in interviews. That is just my opinion.

 

As far as the TR argument goes, maybe some could start a thread about how they hate threads being hijacked...and quit bit chin' about it in every thread (which ironically is hijacking threads)

[drivlikejehu]

Age-wise I think he'd be around average. I'm not excited with him as future GM... seems like Bill Smith 2.0.

[JB_Iowa]

He's been with the team for more than 25 years .... not exactly a newcomer or youngster.

 

Congratulations to Mr. Antony and I do think that the Twins are setting up the line of succession. At least this gives them someone who has been active on the baseball side to move up. Although Mike Radcliffe may still be in that line of succession, too ... just not sure if he wants the GM job (didn't interview for an outside job last year although it was framed as the Twins not allowing him to interview).

 

Congrats, too, to the other 3 people the Twins made VP's yesterday.

 

 

Souhan had a pretty good story on Antony when he was made assistant GM in 2007: http://www.startribune.com/sports/11922191.html

 

Article says he was born in 1965 so that would make him 48.

 

And, yes, I'd still like to see the Twins bring in some "new blood" at the higher levels of the organization on occasion.

[notoriousgod71]

The thing I like most about this is that we are promoting from within, giving this team some much needed stability and proving you don't need recent on-field success to get promoted.

[gunnarthor]

I'll give him credit for Meyer out of those 3. Even a blind squirrel would have picked Buxton.

 

 

Edit: He also made a few other good picks and signings to be fair. But He has missed about as much as the next guy.

 

Wasn't trying to "give him credit," I was just saying that a foundation is in place and he'd want to see it out before he retires. I suppose I could have written more to make that more clear but ...

 

In any event, Antony seems to be setting up for a nice transition down the road. I personally think that stability is generally a positive for an organization.

[Thrylos]

Seems Rob would be one of the youngest GM's in the league correct??

 

No. He will be one of the oldest...

[howieramone1406390264]

The thing I like most about this is that we are promoting from within, giving this team some much needed stability and proving you don't need recent on-field success to get promoted.

 

How much more recent can there be than any day now? It's getting almost impossible to miss the irresistible force descending on Target Field.

[TheLeviathan]

He's always come across well in interviews, so good for him. Seems like he's put in his dues.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Surprised no one has mentioned Antony's April 2010 interview with ESPN, where he did not know what FIP or BABIP stood for. I think that's about the only reference I hear about Antony around these parts...

 

I don't hold that interview against him, but hopefully the baseball analytics department he now oversees has him up to speed a little more.

[Shane Wahl]

Aaron Gleeman passed up. Once again . . .

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'll give him credit for Meyer out of those 3. Even a blind squirrel would have picked Buxton.

 

 

Edit: He also made a few other good picks and signings to be fair. But He has missed about as much as the next guy.

 

Except for Houston

 

I should note that there were some questions about him. Not everyone said he should be picked 1 overall.

[old nurse]

I'll give him credit for Meyer out of those 3. Even a blind squirrel would have picked Buxton.

 

 

Edit: He also made a few other good picks and signings to be fair. But He has missed about as much as the next guy.

 

Was the Houston Astros being led by said creature?

[Riverbrian]

Except for Houston

 

I should note that there were some questions about him. Not everyone said he should be picked 1 overall.

 

I agree with you 100%

 

I fully admit to being very convinced that the Twins should have taken a College Pitcher instead... because of immediate need.

 

I would have been very happy with Gausman, Zimmer or Appel instead of Buxton.

 

At at this point I'm happy the Twins didn't listen to me and I don't think Buxton was the slam dunk choice at the time.

[howieramone1406390264]

I agree with you 100%

 

I fully admit to being very convinced that the Twins should have taken a College Pitcher instead... because of immediate need.

 

I would have been very happy with Gausman, Zimmer or Appel instead of Buxton.

 

At at this point I'm happy the Twins didn't listen to me and I don't think Buxton was the slam dunk choice at the time.

 

I agree. I wanted Zunino because I didn't think the Twins could afford to wait and I've always felt pitchers are too risky in the top five.

[jokin]

I agree with you 100%

 

I fully admit to being very convinced that the Twins should have taken a College Pitcher instead... because of immediate need.

 

I would have been very happy with Gausman, Zimmer or Appel instead of Buxton.

 

At at this point I'm happy the Twins didn't listen to me and I don't think Buxton was the slam dunk choice at the time.

 

Draft Axiom #1 and 1A: Never draft for need....and.....Always choose the BPA. Buxton clearly was.

[ashbury]

Draft Axiom #1 and 1A: Never draft for need....and.....Always choose the BPA. Buxton clearly was.

 

Someone should mail Rob Antony, the topic of this thread, a link to the helpful advice posted here so far.

 

Alternatively, I might re-title this thread "Terry Ryan - your thoughts?"

[jharaldson]

Whose position/responsibilities did Rob Antony take over? This looks like they the Twins just gave a bunch of guys raises.

[johnnydakota]

I don't think he'll retire until the Twins are winning again. He's done a pretty good job setting up a future (Buxton/Sano/Meyer foundation) in his time back but I think he'd want to see it blossom first.

 

 

Shouldnt Bill Smith get credit for Buxton? He got the blame for the horrible season , giving the Twins the 2nd overall pick...

[johnnydakota]

Whose position/responsibilities did Rob Antony take over? This looks like they the Twins just gave a bunch of guys raises.

 

Gotta spend team profits some how , right?

[Thrylos]

Whose position/responsibilities did Rob Antony take over? This looks like they the Twins just gave a bunch of guys raises.

 

Correct for a lot of those (same job, fatter title) but here is Antony's new role from the press release. What I have in bold are new responsibilities:

 

Rob Antony joined the Twins organization in 1988 and has served as the team's Assistant General Manager since 2007. In his role as Vice President, Assistant General Manager, Antony will be responsible for major league contracts, including arbitration; the evaluation of major and minor league players; and day-to-day oversight of the club's video, baseball analytics and baseball communications departments. Prior to being named Assistant General Manager, Antony worked as Director, Baseball Operations (1995-2007); Director, Media Relations (1991-1995); and Assistant Director, Media Relations (1988-1991). A Minneapolis native and graduate of the University of Minnesota, Antony and his wife Lynn have two children and reside in Plymouth, Minn.

 

He used to be responsible for contracts. This whole player evaluation and personnel decisions used to be under Radcliff as VP of player personnel; the rest (analytics, video, communications) used to be directly under TR. Not sure how that will play out...

[twinsnorth49]

Gotta spend team profits some how , right?

 

You don't give raises from profit, bonuses yes, raises no.

 

Antony seems like a sharp enough guy, probably deserves a raise, I'm happy for him.