MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad’s reverence for Terry Ryan has been evident for almost two decades, steadfastly supporting his general manager with a commitment uncommon in today’s game.
As the struggles on the field piled up over the last five years, even that enduring respect wasn’t enough to keep Ryan with the Twins.
Ryan was fired on Monday with the team holding the worst record in the American League and on pace to lose 100 games. The Twins entered the day 33-58, 21 games out of first place in the AL Central. Only Atlanta had a worse record in the majors.
“Sometimes you may have to do things that are hard,” Pohlad said. “I never try to shy away from hard decisions. I own this decision. We like to bring people from within up the organization. If we have to go outside we go outside. There’s new ways of thinking. They’re not tied into old organizational ways of thinking.”
Ryan said he is leaving with “immense pride in being part of the Twins organization for the better part of three decades.”
Rob Antony, in his 29th season with the organization and ninth as the team’s assistant general manager, will take over on an interim basis. Pohlad said he would be considered for the permanent job.
Antony became a bit emotional when talking about Ryan before Minnesota’s game Monday night at Detroit.
“It’ll be fine as long as nobody asks me what he means to me,” Antony said. “It’s been tough. Worked with the man for 20 years and have nothing but respect for him, and he’s been a mentor, he’s been like a second dad for me. So it’s been a tough day for a lot of people.”
Twins star Joe Mauer echoed that sentiment in the clubhouse.
“You always knew where you stood with him. Very honest, direct. He had a lot of qualities that I tried to pattern myself after,” Mauer said. “There’s a lot of emotions going through me right now. It’s a tough day.”
Pohlad said he informed Ryan about a month ago that he would not be coming back in 2017. After some contemplation, Ryan told Pohlad on Friday after the All-Star break that they should make the move now.
Whoever leads the baseball operations will have the team’s full support to make whatever changes are deemed necessary — except one. Pohlad said manager Paul Molitor will return in 2017.
“I want to keep doing this,” Molitor said. “I want to help try to be part of the solution of our team getting better and finding a way to do some things that we haven’t been able to do here for quite a while.”
Pohlad said the Twins might bring in a search firm to help identify GM candidates outside the organization as well, with the goal of hiring someone before the season ends. For now, Antony has full power to make trades and moves up through the trade deadline in two weeks.