He's not given the yankees/Boston type payroll.  SO he has to do with what is given to him.  He is a patient guy and won't make a deal just to make a deal.  He also respects his players, if they want out he will do that for them, and tries to stay out of the press, if he can at all costs.

The AJ for Liriano, Nathan, Boof trade may go down as one of his finest.

He's not without fault, he's made some questionable moves, but every GM does.  He has some great scouts working for him led by Jim Rantz..twins scouts have some of the longest tenure of any organization in baseball, that's huge.  They depend a lot on their Minor league prospects, and he almost refuses to trade any top flight minor league guys ever.  

It will be interesting to see what he does with all their pitching in the minors, in the next 5 years, as they have so many projected quality starters, but only 5 spots in the rotation, 4 of which look ear marked for johan/silva/baker/liriano.

I'd say he's a top 5 GM, but then again I'm not sure how you properly rank them.  He keeps this small market team respectable on a yearly basis lately, and given the opprotunity I think he will push for a WS in the next 5 years, if the chips fall in place.

The one think TR and his scouts need to do is find that 30+ HR bat, in the middle of the order that they have been lacking since GULP 1987.

Terry Ryan is very good about getting draft picks and compensation for his players, ala Latroy Hawkins, and Eddie Guardado---  which we turned into guys like glen perkins, Jay Rainville, and Waldrop.  He gets compensation for players then usually can plug in another player in their spot, like Joe Nathan for Eddie G, or Crain for Latroy.
This year he will get compensation for Jaque JOnes and Kubel will take over RF.  All 3 players are or should be upgrades over their former guys and recieved 1st round compensation.

I'd give him a A- or B+ on his job given what he's  working with (pohlad) I think Terry Ryan is doing his job forsure.

But any praise for Ryan must also include praise for

a) his scouts, who have done some great work in recent years

and

b) the team owners, who let Ryan build up the farm system, even through a few losing seasons.  that said, he does work on a very tight budget, and the Twins currently have all kinds of stadium issues...

My opinion of Ryan's trades and acquisitions are generally positive - after all, that AJP trade was ridiculously one sided.

The organization runs a pretty tight ship - if you can complain about anything, it is that they try too hard to get players to fit a general philosophy, both in terms of playing style and in terms of personal demeanor.  A lot of people say this is why Ortiz never flourished with them and why they get rid of guys like Romero and AJP.  

My quick analysis is that Terry Ryan did a good job building a contender with the payroll that he was allowed, but I'm not happy with his inability (or unwillingness) to fill holes on the team.  If the team needs a DH, get one.  I understand the need to fill depth at 2B/SS, but the window of opportunity to contend is closing, if it's not already closed.

I'll expand more after work.

On of my favorite stories of Ryan is how he behaved during the contraction talks a couple of years ago.  Despite being offered jobs in different and bigger mearkets, he stayed loyal to the Twins and the other employees of the club.  The employees repaid the loyalty and the Twins, despite the very real threat of contraction, lost no employees and currently employ the longest tenured farm and scouting directors, as well as very talented assistant GMs.

One other thing I real respect about Ryan is how he handles the local media.  He is always very honest and humble, and he never dodges a question.  As the Twins were fading last year, he answered all of the questions put in front of him and took responsibility for the poor performance.

He will never have a book written about him and his manangement style, mostly because it is so boring.  He works hard, is deliberate in his decisons, deflects credit, is extremely loyal to his charges, and he flat out loves baseball.  At heart he is a scout, and this is a benefit when he makes trades for other teams minor leaguers.  He knows what he is doing, has a plan, and more often than not is able to execute it.  He will never panic, and the organization is better because of it.

All that being said, my only complaint about Ryan is that he might be too cautious.  He seems a little too hesistant to pull the trigger on a deal that might have put the Twins over the top in the previous three years as they pushed towards the playoffs.  Also, I think he is a little slow in signing long term extensions.  He could have locked up Santana a year earlier, though he did remedy that by signing Joe Nathan to a great deal before last year.

Ryan gets criticized for his inability to add a big bat, but he hasn't really had a good opportunity to do so, aside from giving up Liriano, which I wouldn't do at this time.  He has kept pitching and defense as the team's strength, and I believe this will win more often than not.

As a Twins fan, I feel good knowing that Terry Ryan is my general manager.  I really couldn't think of anyone else I would want in that spot.  

Ryan has been a good GM for the Twins, understanding their budget and how they could compete with that restraint.  He protects  prospects and values pitching above all else, which certainly seems to be the best strategy for long term success.

He drafts well, especially pitching, and has a very good farm system in place.

He has made some excellent trades, such as adding Shannon Stewart mid-season, having Jason Bartlett as a throw in from San Diego, stealing Liriano and Bonser and Nathan from the Giants for AJ Pierzynski, and obviously taking Santana in the Rule 5 Draft and storing him in the bullpen for 2 years.

However, recently he seems to have been an exercise in frustration.  As good as the Twins pitching is, he has been unable to add the impact hitter to make the team a championship threat.

Until yesterday, the only real, and very large, blemish on his resume was allowing David Ortiz to walk and become an MVP (he should have won) in Boston.  Were Ortiz hitting cleanup for the Twins, they might have another World Series title instead of the Red Sox.

The Twins weakness for many years has been their offensive production and yesterday's signing of Tony Batista is a sign that Ryan simply does not understand how to put an offense together.  It is his worst move as GM, even worse than Ortiz (who had underperformed as a Twin) and I may have lost my belief in him as being able to create a potential champion in Minnesota.

Whatever the organizational problems are that prevent the Twins from having better offensive production, they start at the top and that is where responsibility lies.

If I were to give him advice, I would tell him that the sainted Tom Kelly's approach to offense is not the way to do it anymore and changes need to be made throughout the organization to improve the hitting approach of their prospects and major leaguers.  David Ortiz is Exhibit A of this.  Justin Morneau is looking like Exhibit B.

I would also advise him to fire Ron Gardenhire, who is a stubborn and small-minded manager.  He appears to play favorites with his players, giving the veterans he likes chance after chance, despite terrible performance, while giving the hook to young guys he doesn't like/trust for having one bad month and then criticizing them in the media.  That and Gardenhire's managing in the playoffs (run Nathan out there for another inning, sure, why not) make him inappropriate for a team that must rely on talented, unproven young players to compete.

He and his organization do very well at drafting and developing young players. He's also made some excellent trades (the Pierzynski one being the most obvious) and a brilliant Rule 5 draft (Santana). He's done an excellent job of building a contender with a limited payroll.

I don't blame him for Ortiz because I don't think a lot of people thought he'd be this good (he's not the MVP, but that's besides the point), not even the Red Sox. Remember, he wasn't even starting on a regular basis for Boston until a portion into his first season with them.

That being said, I think he's been a little slow on the trigger in getting a bat. He's got plenty of pitching prospects, yet he seems reluctant to do something with that depth. Maybe Luis Castillo was a good start, but if he had the chance to get a player like Blalock, he should have traded his depth for that bat.

Overall, I'd want him as a GM. I think he's one of the most underrated ones in baseball.

the only real knock is ryan's tendency to sit on his hands while obvious, gaping holes in the roster kill the twins' playoff chances. the middle infield has been a black hole for years, and he has only now done anything to address it, despite a ridiculous overabundance of corner outfielders and quality pitching prospects (and you could argue that with the marlins' fire sale, the trade opportunity just fell into his lap). maybe this approach enables him to be confident of getting the best value when he does make a deal, but he's been missing out on opportunities to improve his team.

With that said, he has some obvious flaws. The outfielder logjam a few years ago - Mike Ryan, Mike Restovich, Todd Sears, Lew Ford - he didn't trade any of them and only Ford became a (sort of) productive player. As somebody said already, he is overly cautious. He needs to pull the trigger when he has the chance or we'll never get a decent power hitter. Castillo was a good start to plug a hole, and Batista could be a useful platoon guy - but I'm afraid that Batista was his big power acquisition this year, and that he's gonna let him start.

BTW John, nice feature idea. I'd like to see some more of them.

They possibly could trade lohse, to make way for baker/liriano at the #4/#5 slots, but either way their pitching is very adequate.

TR stole Luis Castillo.  Travis Bowyer, has a straight fastball, and he got torched last part of the AAA year, then with the twins and in the AFL.  He needs to add some pitches besides a heater if he will do anything.  Scott Tyler was about our 17th best SP prospect so no loss there.  

Batista is a weird move, but he only cost a little over 1 mill, if he can hit 20+ homers and drive in 85+ rbi's it will be a good move.

Losing Jone's will be a good thing, as Kubel will take much better at bats and provide more offense.  

Terry Ryan still needs to get a DH in here though, one who can knock in some runs, whether by free agency or trade.  

JUAN CASTRO.

You have a limited payroll and you feel the need to commit to two years to this league avg dope.

I understand the Batista deal is not guaranteed so I may cut him some slack for that one, but ...

If Batista can't hack it in Japan, what's he gonna do in the Majors three or four years after his peak?

He also overpaid for one great half season of Torii Hunter.

The pitching is great, but another no show offense isn't gonna sit well with the fans.

Weaknesses:
Developing top prospects, drafting, "win now" trades.

Any team with Terry Ryan at its head doesn't have to worry much about rebuilding if he has talent to work with.  He cycles through good players and finds decent replacements for overvalued players like no one else.  Looking at the turnover from 2002-2004, it's amazing that the Twins were primed to make deep runs into the playoffs all three years.

Ryan's the best in the business at getting impact talent when he is forced to dump players.  Joe Mays, Kyle Lohse, Carlos Silva, and Francisco Liriano are all good examples of players acquired during dump trades.  Most of the players he gets are either useful spare parts like Nick Punto or high potential low minors guys who have panned out at an insanely high rate (Lohse, Mays, Liriano, etc.).

On the negative side, Ryan shows a frustrating inability to trade some of his impact minor-league talent for the pieces he needs to make a run.  The Twins' first round picks haven't exactly been the most successful in the league either, mostly because they seem content to draft toolsy players that often don't develop (BJ Garbe, etc).

Ryan also sometimes makes moves based on "feel" (like moving Cuddyer off 3B) instead of looking at the numbers.  He's a believer in traditional scouting, which hurts the Twins the most in the draft, because they haven't had good success locating talent in the early rounds.

Despite his flaws, Ryan's a great GM, probably one of the best in the league.

Also, everyone is slurping Ryan for taking Santana in the rule V draft. why? he took a flier on a guy his scouts pointed out, and he turned out to be amazing. why does ryan get all the credit? the scouts should get the credit if anyone. and even they shouldnt be praised that much. santana is amazing, sure, but the fact of the matter is the twins GOT LUCKY. thats it.

the twins player stacked farm system is not necessarily a product of terry ryan. if anything, he is detrimental, because i imagine he has the most input on their first round picks, which have been busts (denard span, etc.). yes, he ripped the giants on the pierzynski deal. what have you done for me lately?

He didn't cost that much and he showed flashes of his potential while healthy but he was blocked by Doug Mientkiewicz.

In fact, in one post Ryan is credited for the Hollins for Ortiz (what was his name at that time-it wasn't Ortiz) trade.

Also, some say he isn't in charge of the draft. He's the GM. He's in charge of EVERYTHING the team does. Whether he's personally doing it or not, he's in charge.

If Beane really thought Ortiz would be the MVP-contender he ended up being, why didn't he pick him up from FAcy????

The truth is no one thought Oritz would become the player he is.

I think Ryan's only weakness is scouting bats. He is fantastic at getting premium arms at every level. Arguing who is better between Beane and Ryan is akin to determining if Longoria is hotter than Alba.

1. Terry Ryan is a good GM who has built a deep minor league system even while being successful at the major league level.
2. Ryan did not let Ortiz go because he thought he had better players, he let him go because he was arbitration eligible and he had younger prospects ready to play (LeCroy, Kielty, Buchanan ...) No other team would give him even a minor league prospect probably for the same reason. It was not clear Ortiz would be worth what he could claim in arbitration. If Ryan could have kept Ortiz at the price the Red Sox paid I suspect he would still be a Twin.
3. I think one tendency that has hurt Ryan which has not been mentioned. That is is his deferral to his managers opinions of players. Walker and Redman were both traded away for virtually nothing because the manager was down on them. I think we may see the same thing with Romero and Rivas and probably others.
4. Until last year, I think Ryan did a pretty good job of putting together an offense given the team's strategy of emphasizing pitching and defense and its budget. If you are looking for cheap players who can play defense you end up with guys who hit like Castro.

Before last year, weren't the Twins in the top half of the league in runs scored? If so, that is pretty remarkable given the budget and the emphasis on pitching and defense.

His pluses:

1. Loyalty - he is extremely loyal to the owner and those under him.  This helps foster great stability in the org.
2. Ability to unearth talent in other organizations.  The list of names is impressive: Santana, Ortiz, Silva, Nathan, Lohse - for giving up little in return
3. Patience - he seems to have a very well-thought out philosophy and sticks to it.
4. Ability to field a competitive team with one of the lower budgets in ML Baseball.

1. Loyalty - He simply does not hold some of his people accountable for their failures.  His sticking with Scott Ullger is a prime example.  His deference to his managers is open to criticism.  He obviously felt that TK with 2 world championships earned the right to rule the roost on the field; however, Gardenhire has shown some glaring weaknesses as a manager and while his 3 divisional championships have given him some latitude, another season like last and his tenure should end.  The real test then will be whether Ryan has the fortitude to pull that off.
2. Inability to convert draft picks to major league caliber players.  One starter(Radke) and two relievers(Crain and Rincon) were developed internally.  On offense, no all star-caliber players have been developed in his 13 years as GM/VP, despite having some very high draft picks during the horrible nineties.  Hunter, a .250 hitter is probably the best of the lot during this period, though Mauer should surpass him quickly.  But the number of busts is disturbing to say the least, McCarty, Banks, Garbe, Johnson, Mills - to name a few.
3. As mentioned by many others, inability to fill glaring holes on offense. Except for the Stewart trade nothing was done over the past 4 years to improve a below average offense.  Only by sinking to the bottom in '05 has Ryan turned his attention to building up the offense, after years of neglect.  This omission is obvious in the total absence of any offensive help from the minors, now and possibly in the future, because Ryan and company were so intent on stockpiling pitchers they forgot about offense.
4. An overall timidity on trades.  He has basically been reactive in trading.  Knoblach was traded after he demanded out; AJ was traded because he was blocking Mauer; Milton was traded because of salary.  Contrasted with Beane who traded Mulder and Hudson a year before their contracts were up, Ryan has done nothing while letting Koskie, Guardado, and now Jones walk withoput any compensation other than draft choices.  He has long been criticized for not wanting to give up prospects until their value has diminished, even when he has a surplus as he does now in pitching.
5. A very poor record of converting top minor league prospects into major league caliber hitters.  This inability has long been ascribed to Kelly's trying to transform all his prospects into slap hitters who go with the pitch.  This tendency has driven away the few good hiotters who were developed, like Todd Walker, Ortiz, and maybe now, Morneau.  Of course, as pointed out, it could be that the Twins just never knew how to draft good players in the first place.