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The hammer came down on Monday when the team announced that Terry Ryan had been “relieved of his duties.” The press release then stated that Rob Antony, assistant GM, would inherit the General Manager title on an interim basis. Since then, we’ve spent two days speculating about how all the dust would eventually settle.Given that the Twins have had only three GMs over their last thirty or so years, the same number of managers over that period and numerous other front office staff and scouts who have served in the organization for dozens of years, the firing of Terry Ryan made national waves. It’s uncommon to turn on MLB Network or MLB Network Radio and hear the Twins getting more than just passing attention, but it was different Monday and Tuesday. Speculation about who could be considered as Terry Ryan’s replacement was a main talking point. The thing is… it doesn’t seem to add up. Earlier this season, Jim Pohlad talked about a “total system failure” but also gave both Terry Ryan and Paul Molitor a 100% vote of confidence. Two months later, one of them has been shown the door. Not that it’s extremely rare in sports to have a coach/manager/GM get a vote of confidence followed quickly by a pink slip. But we’re talking about the Twins and all of these waters are unchartered. Since Ryan’s dismissal, Molitor has been given another vote of confidence and the national radio shows continue to focus on the “next GM.” But what if there’s more to it? Since Monday it’s come out that Terry Ryan was told a month ago that he would not be returning as the team’s GM in 2017. He was given some time to consider his own exit and decided late last week that he should “get out of the way” before ultimately being fired. What if he’s not the only one? If Terry Ryan had the option to stay for the remainder of the season, who’s to say that other front office members weren’t given the same choice, but chose to stay? What if, specifically, Dave St. Peter, the team president, was told the same thing? It seems ridiculous, given that every indication is that he’ll be involved in the hiring process. This is an organization that - when you really look at it - only reassigns people. Bill Smith? You’re fired… but we’ll put you in a different position. Ron Gardenhire? You’re fired… but let us know when you want to work again. Terry Ryan? Who knows. So what could happen next? It’s all purely speculative, but what if Dave St. Peter is reassigned too? There’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t do well with a title of President of Business Operations. (edit: not Baseball Operations.) There are already a number of people under that umbrella that he’s currently in charge of. St. Peter claims to have very little to do with the on-field product. So why tie up a “baseball position” with a non-baseball mind? That would leave two voids at the very top of the baseball side of things - President of Baseball Operations and General Manager. Looking at only the AL Central, the White Sox (Kenny Williams, Executive VP and Rick Hahn, Sr. VP/GM) and Indians (Chris Antonetti, President, Baseball Ops and Mike Chernoff, GM) have two baseball minds in both of those position. The Tigers have Al Avila in both the president role and the GM chair, but have a separate position for business operations. Same for the Royals and Dayton Moore. Obviously a lot of that only has to do with “titles” and it’s likely that across baseball 30 teams have 30 different titles for the same job getting done. Is this something the Twins would do? A week ago I’d have said, “No way!” But times are changing now. Is Ben Cherington looking to get back into baseball? Would Alex Anthopoulos be interested in climbing back into a GM chair? Will Kim Ng get a fair shot? She’s more than deserving of running a baseball club, offering more background in analytics than the team has ever had, but not the scouting background. Could the Twins lure De Jon Watson from Arizona to serve as their President of Baseball Operations? The duo worked together for the Dodgers and Ng and Watson currently work under Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, respectively. Who better to have as mentors? It goes without saying that these would be only a two ways to make a splash. And the character of the Twins as a baseball franchise is the antonym of “splashy.” But - right or wrong - the Twins were willing to make a franchise-altering change and that’s a big step in a different - and hopefully right - direction. Click here to view the article

The winds of change are in the air around Target Field. The Twins removed Terry Ryan from his position as general manager. Minnesota will immediately begin their search for Ryan's replacement and the hope is to have someone new in the position by season's end. So here's where the rubber meets the road... what kind of candidates are available to get the Twins back to their winnings ways?Candidate: Jason McLeod Role: Cubs Senior VP of Player Development McLeod has worked with Epstein since the beginning. McLeod has been rumored to be a top GM candidate for years and Chicago's recent turnaround will only help push the envelope. Some of his player development successes include Dustin Pedroia, Kris Bryant, and Anthony Rizzo. He's also done a good job of finding undervalued pitchers like last year's NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta. If I were running the Twins, McLeod would be the candidate I would spend the most time pursuing. As recently as last season, he wondered what it would be like at the helm of his own organization. Minnesota might provide the right opportunity, with a budding farm system and talented young players already on the roster. Candidate: Ben Cherington Role: Former Red Sox GM Cherington, the man who took over for Epstein in Boston, left the Red Sox front office last August after the team hired Dave Dombrowski as the new president of baseball operations. This basically took away any decision-making power from Cherington. At the time, he indicated that he wanted a break from the baseball work and he turned down opportunities to interview for the GM openings in Seattle and Philadelphia. In his four years at the helm in Boston, he finished last three times and won the 2013 World Series. He is currently teaching at Columbia University in the sports management program. Candidate: Kim Ng Role: MLB Vice President for Baseball Operations Minnesota could really make a splash by hiring the first female GM out of the four major sports. While previously working as an assistant GM with the Yankees and Dodgers, she has interviewed for various GM jobs with the Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, and Angels. She has worked in her current position at MLB since 2011 where she works under Joe Torre. When taking the position, she made it clear that her career goal remains being a GM as other executives have made the jump from the Commissioner's Office to a GM position. Candidate: Thad Levine Role: Rangers Assistant GM Levine has worked well with Jon Daniels in Texas so it would take quite the offer to remove him from his current position. The duo was behind one of the best trades in Rangers history that sent Mark Teixeria to Atlanta for a bushel of prospects including Elvis Andrus. Before joining the Rangers eight seasons ago, Levine worked in Colorado as the Rockies' Senior Director of Baseball Operations. Levine was a candidate for the Diamondbacks job in 2014 but he withdrew his name before Arizona hired Dave Stewart. Candidate: Hal Morris Role: Director of Pro Scouting for the Los Angeles Angeles Ryan had a deep background in the scouting world so the Twins might want to go in a different direction than Morris. However, Morris does have an MBA from Stanford so he could be good at handling the business side of the GM position. Morris also served as a scout for the Red Sox and Pirates before taking his current position. He has been a candidate for the Diamondbacks and Angels GM positions in recent years and many people in baseball circles think highly of him. What names stand out to you? What kind of characteristics should the Twins be looking for? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. Click here to view the article