BIG NEWS ON THE TWINS FRONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eric Wettschreck]

This is a hit downward for the Twins. Terry Ryan was a great GM. He made very good deals with the tight purse strings he had to work with.

[Hester]

Thank you Codydawg, It makes a guy feel good to know some things before the big guys(and in this case I mean a really big guy) like La Velle E. Neal for the Star Tribune.

Terry was very good for this team, his hands were just tied to tight and with him knowing the fallout of what is to come when we do not sign Hunter or Santana. He is tired of taking the blame. It is wearing him out.

Hester

[Jorgie]

On Sports Center last night Buster Olney was saying that one reason Ryan stepped down was because he didn't want to break up the core group of guys that have had success the past few years. I assume that meant losing either Hunter, Santana, or both.

In any case, I'm glad he'll still be with the team. Who knows, maybe Smith will be a good change. I just hope that if this team wins it all in the next few years, people do not forget the contributions of people like TK and Ryan.

[deadminnowcatcher]

In my honest opinion this is a good thing and it had to happen. I think we are not being told the whole story. When Ryan was not able to make a deal for a hitter prior to the trade deadline, some players publicly were disapointed in Ryan. Ryan then publicly stated that he does not care what the guys in the clubhouse think. Wrong thing to say on Ryans part. As a leader you cannot say things like that. When this was said i thought to myself that either ryan is gone after this season or there is going to be a big shake up of the players on this team. Anyone that has any management training knows that you cannot say this about the people under you. I even heard the new guy comment tonight something about communicating better. I just feel this comment from ryan is what did him in. I think he was given a choice of quiting or stepping down

[Maximum12]

Yes, everything needs to be a conspiracy, right?

Lots of people who've slaved away at a demanding job for more than a decade decide to step back & enjoy the rest of their lives. CEOs, politicians, head coaches, the list goes on. I can understand that - too much time spent in any one pursuit, at the expense of anything else you might be doing with your spare time, will wear you down.

Ryan up front mentioned some mistakes & short-tempered remarks he'd made this season. I suspect his ill-advised comment about 'not caring what the players think' is one he was thinking of. What better way to gauge it's time to hit the door when the job that consumes your life stops being fun & starts being a burden?

[fishlips]

Cicada -

Understand the small/medium market excuse that we've been hearing for awhile now - I ain't drinking that koolaid anymore. A medium market team like the twins will go thru cycles and when the cycle is getting near the top, the GM has to act if needed to get that last player or two inplace. The question is, was 2006 and or 2007 the year that the pendulum was close enough to the top that an added power hitter or two would have made them a contender? We'll never know because Terry Ryan wasn't able to get pohlad to move and they were offering peanuts to other teams according to those that cover the game. Hopefully the twins make a move to pickup a solid DH...but if they go after a player like Piazza (awesome guy/best years well behind him), that won't get the job done.

By the way...the committment to build a new stadium added $40,000,000 to the teams franchise value. Should be some available funds.