You say "The Twins are a product of an amazing farm system" and then write off Ryan like he had nothing to do with it.  To me, what the Twins and A's have been able to do is remarkable considering their bastard owner's unwillingness to spend money.  Somehow, someway, they continue to put winning teams on the field.  

I've met and spoken with Mr Ryan at length, and while we are on pretty opposite ends of the spectrum on a lot of issues, his results are undeniable, and to dismiss him like you did up top I think is foolhearty.  

In addition to the Nathan-Liriano-Bonser trade you mention (which I'm guessing you think is the sole reason the Twins are any good), Ryan has drafted Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, the rest of the Twins' amazing bullpen (except Joe Nathan), as well as one of the top pitching prospects in the league (Garza), and several other potential ML caliber starting pitchers (Slowey, Perkins, Baker, etc.).  I'll admit that he hasn't made the greatest free agent signings, but it is often difficult to make an impact FA move when you have only $2 - $5 million total to spend on free agents in a typical year.

I challenge any one of the GMs you listed above to get so much out of so little, particularly GMs of high payroll teams, like Cashman, Epstein, Williams, etc.  Of course, if you don't want to include Ryan on your list because he pilfered Johan Santana from your beloved Marlins for Jared Camp, I can respect that.  

terry ryan is right up there with billy beane with what he has done with the twins and he made perhaps the best trade of the last 25 years when he stole Nathan and Liriano from the giants for a guy they needed to get rid of.

Hey, I am a Braves fan, just not sure you got the criteria for rating right. There was a huge thread on primer a while back on this. look it up when Primer wakes up again

In 2005, the Mets biggest weakness was their bullpen. In 2006, it was their biggest strength. The casual observer might note that Minaya spent a lot of money to bring in Billy Wagner. They'd be ignoring the fact that he built an entire bullpen around him (Sanchez, Bradford, Feliciano, Oliver and later Mota) for virtually nothing. They combined for 275 IP and a 2.70 ERA.

He turned one starter (Benson) into two better ones (Maine, El Duque) who combine to make less money. He got Endy Chavez and Jose Valentin off the scrap heap, both of whom play great defense and had career years offensively.

Minaya excelled at making small moves last year. To say he can only spend money is ignorant.

Minaya has done a great job with the Mets trading spare parts for contributors

Cliff Lee is not a guy who would have made a lot of difference in Montreal/Washington

The only player who developed for Cleveland that Montreal/Washington probably wished they had was Sizemore and when the deal was made, he was probably the least highly regarded of the 3

Hell, look at the guys who Jason Bay has been traded for in his career.  The fact is some guys develop and some don't and if this were a science, everyone would be getting it right.  We cannot look back with hindsight how a deal panned out

He took a 119 loss team in 2003 to AL Champions in 2006.  He's definitely top 5.  It takes a special guy to come in to the Tigers in the situation they were in at the time and do what Dombrowski did.

 How you could possibly leave Ryan & Jocketty off is ridiculous.  Ryan has done a remarkable job considering his constraints & the Cardinals have been to the WS two of the last three years & are always in the running.

 Ricciardi should be on the list for worst GM. IMHO
 

Honestly, I'd also throw Pat Gillick in there with some of the names in that list, although his Phillies tenure has so far been a bit questionable.  But he's had a solid track record producing strong teams, and he has a strong philosophy with which he adheres by.  Of course, it's arguable that his strong adherence to his beliefs have limited some of his teams that had potential.

What a joke.

not top 3 though

On the plus side for Theo, he won the WS in his second year as GM, with a team featuring:

-- A HOF-caliber DH that he picked up for nothing a year before and was paying $4.5 mill

-- A guy who was actually the team's regular-season and WS MVP that he picked up for nothing and paid $490,000 (yes, I'm talking Mark Bellhorn, and WPA numbers once adjusted for position plus Fielding Bible numbers show that he indeed matches that description, as outrageous as it sounds)

-- A very good 3B that he picked up for nothing and was paying $2.1 mill

-- A very solid 1B that he picked up for nothing and was paying $3.3 mill

-- A SS that he obtained at the trade deadline in one of the ballsiest GM moves of all time

-- A rotation ace that he was able to afford because of deep pockets, but one he stole in  trade after it was universally assumed that he had no shot at getting him to waive his no-trade

-- A great 5th starter (178.2 IP, 4.03 ERA) that he not only grabbed off the waiver wire from the Pirates, but snuck through waivers the next spring in order to get him the AAA innings he needed.

The only pure big market-bully move was signing Foulke.

This was one of the gretest GM seasons in recent MLB history, done under almost inconceivable pressure from the fan base.

In terms of downside, he's struggled filling the middle of the bullpen (who hasn't?), the jury is out on Arroyo for Pena (although that's really getting Pena for nothing, as above), and he made one bad trade when he reacquired Mirabelli.  No one knows whether he endorsed the Beckett deal which was made during his sabbatical, and the jury is still out on that one, too.