Terry Ryan (baseball)

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Terry Ryan (born October 26, 1953 in Janesville, Wisconsin^[1] ) is the general manager for the Minnesota Twins. Ryan is well known for using a low payroll and building up the minor league system to put up contending teams.

1 Playing career
2 Team administration
3 Philosophy as General Manager
4 Early years as General Manager
5 Successful years as General Manager
6 Postseason success and the present
7 Notable trades
8 Notes and explanations

[edit] Playing career

Ryan pitched briefly in the Twins organization in the mid-70s. His playing career started with promise: Ryan posted a 10-0 record and 1.70 ERA in 43 games at Class A Wisconsin Rapids in 1973. However, he subsequently battled injuries and was released by the Twins' AA team in June 1976.

[edit] Team administration

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Ryan quickly earned respect as an evaluator of talent in baseball. In 1980, the New York Mets hired him as a scout. He spent six seasons as a scout for the Mets before the Twins again showed interest in him. The team hired him as scouting director, a position he held for six years. He was then promoted to vice president and player personnel director under General Manager Andy MacPhail. When MacPhail left for the Chicago Cubs in 1994, Ryan was chosen to replace him.

[edit] Philosophy as General Manager

Ryan's organization relies heavily on constant scouting and sabermetric analysis of every player in major and minor league baseball. As a result, the team has made some startling and at the time questioned acquisitions of players who turned out to be drastically underrated and who became star players in the Twins organization.

[edit] Early years as General Manager

Ryan had the unenviable task of succeeding MacPhail, architect of the Twins' 1987 and 1991 world champion teams. Ryan would endure losing seasons until 2001, but his trades turned out to have the future in mind. In 2002, the Twins began a sequence of winning their division.

His early years as GM had several lowlights. For example, during the 1995 season, he was forced to unload several high-priced veterans when the team was not contending. The unloaded veterans included Rick Aguilera, Scott Erickson, Mark Guthrie, and Kevin Tapani. To make matters worse, the prospects he received in these trades did not pan out. In particular, Scott Klingenbeck and Frank Rodriguez were expected to be solid major league players. Instead, they were busts who did not last in the majors.

In 1996, Ryan botched the signing of first baseman Travis Lee during the amateur draft. Lee exploited a never-before used clause that allows a draft pick to become a free agent if a team doesn't make an offer within 15 days of the draft. After the Twins failed to do this, Lee left for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who gave him a $10 million signing bonus. (Fortunately for the Twins, Lee has proven to be a below-average journeyman hitter.)

[edit] Successful years as General Manager

Things started looking up for Ryan only a couple months later, when he traded veteran Dave Hollins to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later. On September 31, the Mariners sent David Ortiz to the Twins to complete the trade. (Unfortunately for the Twins, Ortiz would not show MVP-caliber numbers until he left the Twins a few years later.) Similarly, in August 1997, Ryan unloaded another aging veteran for a future all-star. This time it was Roberto Kelly for Joe Mays. His greatest trade was in 1998, when he sent the disgruntled Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for four players, including two future all-stars: shortstop Cristian Guzman and pitcher Eric Milton. In 1999, he again unloaded Rick Aguilera (now even older) and received future starter Kyle Lohse. At the end of the year, he stole future Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana from the Houston Astros under the Rule 5 Draft. In July 2001, the Twins traded outfielder Matt Lawton to the New York Mets for pitcher Rick Reed.

[edit] Postseason success and the present

Ryan has continued making strong trades that enable the team to remain competitive. For example, in July 2002, he traded little-used outfielder Brian Buchanan (also acquired in the Knoblauch trade) to the San Diego Padres for Jason Bartlett, who is now the team's starting shortstop. That year, the team made the postseason for the first time since the 1991 World Champion team and defeated the heavily favored Oakland Athletics in the 2002 American League Division Series. After the 2002 season, the Twins organization was named Organization of the Year by Baseball America and SportsTicker, while Ryan was named Executive of the Year by The Sporting News.^[2]

In 2003, Ryan swapped mediocre outfielder Bobby Kielty for accomplished veteran leadoff hitter Shannon Stewart. This move is credited with jump-starting the team and enabling to repeat as division champions. Ryan's greatest recent trade was in November of 2003: He sent popular catcher A.J. Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants, gaining two future all-stars: closer Joe Nathan and starting pitcher Francisco Liriano, and a second consistent starter in the person of Boof Bonser. Another strong trade occurred a month later, when Ryan sent starter Eric Milton to the Philadelphia Phillies for starter Carlos Silva and infielder Nick Punto, now the team's starting third baseman. His most recent trades affecting the current team were in December 2005, when he received second baseman Luis Castillo from the Florida Marlins for two minor leaguers. He also traded unpredictable pitcher J.C. Romero to the Anaheim Angels for Alexi Casilla. Casilla was viewed as not ready for the major leagues, but was a surprising September call-up to the major league in 2006. He looks to have a role on the postseason team similar to the one Jarvis Brown played for the 1991 Minnesota Twins.

[edit] Notable trades

July 6, 1995: Traded closer Rick Aguilera to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Frank Rodriguez and a player to be named later. The Twins were able to re-sign Aguilera on December 11.
July 7, 1995: Traded pitcher Scott Erickson to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Scott Klingenbeck and a player to be named later.
July 31, 1995: Traded picthers Kevin Tapani and Mark Guthrie to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder Ron Coomer, pitchers Greg Hansell and Jose Parra, and a player to be named later. The Dodgers sent outfielder Chris Latham to the Twins on October 30 to complete the trade.
August 29, 1996: Traded Dave Hollins to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later. On September 31, the Mariners sent David Ortiz to the Twins to complete the trade.
August 20, 1997: Traded Roberto Kelly to the Seattle Mariners for players to be named later. On October 9, the Mariners sent the Twins future all-star Joe Mays and a minor leaguer to complete the deal.
February 16, 1998: Traded second baseman Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees in exchange for outfielder Brian Buchanan, shortstop Cristian Guzman, pitcher Eric Milton, pitcher Danny Mota, and cash.
May 21, 1999: Traded Rick Aguilera and Scott Downs to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Kyle Lohse and Jay Ryan.
December 13, 1999: Under the Rule 5 Draft, the Twins sent minor leaguer Jared Camp and cash to the Florida Marlins in exchange for future Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana.
September 9, 2000: Traded pitcher Hector Carrasco to the Boston Red Sox for outfielder Lew Ford.
July 30, 2001: Traded outfielder Matt Lawton to the New York Mets for pitcher Rick Reed.
July 12, 2002: Traded Brian Buchanan to the San Diego Padres for shortstop Jason Bartlett.
July 16, 2003: Traded Bobby Kielty to the Toronto Blue Jays for Shannon Stewart.
November 14, 2003: Traded catcher A.J. Pierzynski and cash to the San Francisco Giants. Received pitchers Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonser.
December 3, 2003: Traded pitcher Eric Milton to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Carlos Silva, infielder Nick Punto, and a player to be named later.
December 2, 2005: Traded Travis Bowyer and Scott Tyler to the Florida Marlins for second baseman Luis Castillo.
December 9, 2005: Traded J.C. Romero to the Anaheim Angels for infielder Alexi Casilla.