The Minnesota Twins have fallen on hard times over the last few years, and on Monday the club decided to make a major move towards correcting that situation.
It announced in a statement via Twitter that they were relieving long-time GM Terry Ryan of his duties effective immediately.
Minnesota Twins announce GM Terry Ryan has been relieved of his duties. Assistant GM Rob Antony as Interim GM. pic.twitter.com/LF2iYotKZ9
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 18, 2016
Minnesota is sitting on a record of just 33-58 this season, 21 games back in the tough AL Central. However, the team had just one winning record since 2011 and that came last season when they finished 83-79, but failed to make the playoffs.
Jumping from a winning season to the second-worst record in baseball necessitated this type of move. It was a painful move for the organization, as Ryan has been a part of this team for the better part of 40 years. That was evident in the statement the team released:
“Terry has been a gifted leader of the baseball department for over eighteen seasons. It is impossible to overstate his contribution to our game, our team and the Upper Midwest baseball community. The decision to part ways with Terry was difficult, painful and not obvious. We are extremely grateful and very thankful to Terry, his wife Karilyn and their family for being a part of the Minnesota Twins.”
This was the second stint for Ryan as the GM of the Twins, having served his first term from 1994 to 2007 and coming back in 2011 to try and turn things around.
After many years of mediocrity, Ryan found a formula that worked for the Twins and did so by scouting and stocking great prospects, bringing them up to the major league level and ultimately trading some of that big talent to help re-stock the minor league system with the talent lost.
Playing that type of game was a double-edged sword, but one he played well thanks to a small budget and his keen eye for talent early on. After early struggles, the Twins hit their stride in the mid-2000’s and were constant contenders until Ryan left in 2007.
He just simply couldn’t sustain that same level of success in his second stint at the helm of the baseball operations and a fresh start was needed. The Twins named Assistant GM Rob Antony as the interim GM until a permanent replacement can be found.
