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The problem with removing the GM is that the Twins have lacked foresight to lay the groundwork for such an eventuality.
They never surrounded Ryan with new blood, so each of the internal replacement candidates is entrenched in the organizational culture, and to some extent a student of Ryan. The line of succession is stale.
They did not replace their team president with a baseball man, so the executive who has the final say on the matter (outside of the owners) remains Dave St. Peter, an individual who inspires little confidence as an evaluator.
By his own admission, St. Peter tries to stick to the business side – "we believe strongly that we should let the baseball people make baseball decisions" – but now the top baseball person is gone, and so the responsibility of finding a new general manager falls on decidedly non-baseball people: St. Peter and the ownership. Yes, the same ownership that stays connected from afar, and lacks much knowledge of how teams around the league operate.
To reinforce this reality, Jim Pohlad said at a press conference on Monday that he was brushing up on how other front offices are structured by reading their media guides. He also stated that his foremost requirement for a new candidate was that he be "lovable."
Given his success in the business world, and the amount of time he has been involved with running a sports franchise, it is almost inconceivable to me that Pohlad would be tone deaf enough not to foresee how these public comments would be perceived by fans, media and basically everyone... but here we are.
The rhetoric from St. Peter and the Pohlads makes it difficult to have faith in their aptitude to choose the right person for the job. So does their history. The last time Ryan departed as GM, the same group tabbed Bill Smith as his replacement, and the outcome was brutal.
The possibility of keeping on Rob Antony isn't popular, both because of of the Smith experience and because of Minnesota's history of insularity, but it shouldn't be written off quite so hastily. While he has delivered some troubling quotes in the past, that was a long time ago.
In my interactions with him, Antony has always come off as being sharp and knowledgeable. He has considerable experience negotiating contracts, and knows the system here inside and out. While this is speculative, I suspect Antony would be more open to the influence of stats guru Jack Goin than was Ryan, a grizzled scout. Perhaps Antony would even push for an expansion of the analytics department. Who knows. The point is: just because he learned under TR does not mean he's the same guy.
But hiring Antony without conducting an extensive outside search would be outrageous and unacceptable. Pohlad indicated that the Twins "might" bring in a search firm for assistance, and that's only another reason to hold extreme skepticism toward their approach. Enlisting outside help in this process should be an absolute no-brainer. When you're hedging on that and talking about how you're looking for a lovable guy, how can anyone really believe that this monumentally important task is being treated with the proper gravity?
If they want to parlay this pivotal decision into feelings of hope and enthusiasm amongst fans desperate for a positive change in direction, the people running the show at Target Field need to start saying and doing the right things. So far, they are failing.
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