Terry Ryan

Terry W. Ryan (born October 26, 1953) is an American professional baseball executive and former general manager for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball.

Ryan was known for using a low payroll and building up the minor league system to put up contending teams.

Ryan attended George S. Parker High School in Janesville, and was drafted in the 35th round by the Minnesota Twins in 1972.

Ryan pitched briefly in the Twins organization in the mid-70s.

His playing career started with promise: Ryan posted a 10–0 record and 1.70 ERA in 43 games at Class A Wisconsin Rapids in 1973.

However, he subsequently battled injuries and was released by the Twins' AA team in June 1976.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1979, with a degree in physical education, Ryan quickly earned respect as an evaluator of talent in baseball.

In 1980, the New York Mets hired him as a scout.

He spent six seasons as a scout for the Mets before the Twins again showed interest in him.

The team hired him as scouting director, a position he held for six years.

He was then promoted to vice president and player personnel director under general manager Andy MacPhail.

Ryan had the unenviable task of succeeding MacPhail, architect of the Twins' 1987 and 1991 world champion teams.

That year, the team made the postseason for the first time since the 1991 World Champion team and defeated the heavily favored Oakland Athletics in the 2002 American League Division Series.

When MacPhail left for the Chicago Cubs in 1994, Ryan was chosen to replace him.

Ryan's organization relies heavily on constant scouting and analysis of every player in major and minor league baseball.

As a result, the team made some startling and at the time questioned acquisitions of players who turned out to be drastically underrated and who became star players in the Twins organization.

For example, during the 1995 season, he was forced to unload several high-priced veterans when the team was not contending.

The unloaded veterans included Rick Aguilera, Scott Erickson, Mark Guthrie, and Kevin Tapani.

To make matters worse, the prospects he received in these trades did not pan out.

In particular, Scott Klingenbeck and Frank Rodriguez were expected to be solid major league players.

Instead, they were busts who did not last in the majors.

In 1996, Ryan botched the signing of first baseman Travis Lee during the amateur draft.

Lee exploited a never-before used clause that allows a draft pick to become a free agent if a team does not make an offer within 15 days of the draft.

After the Twins failed to do this, Lee left for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who gave him a $10 million signing bonus.

Things started looking up for Ryan only a couple of months later, when he traded veteran Dave Hollins to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later.

On September 30, the Mariners sent David Ortiz to the Twins to complete the trade.

Unfortunately for the Twins, Ortiz would not show MVP-caliber numbers until he left the Twins a few years later.

Similarly, in August 1997, Ryan unloaded another aging veteran for a future All-Star.

This time it was Roberto Kelly for Joe Mays.

In 1998, he sent the disgruntled Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for four players, including two future All-Stars: shortstop Cristian Guzman and pitcher Eric Milton.

In 1999, he again unloaded Rick Aguilera and received future starter Kyle Lohse.

At the end of the year, he traded for future Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, who was picked up in the Rule 5 Draft by the Florida Marlins from the Houston Astros.

Ryan would endure losing seasons until 2001, but his trades turned out to have the future in mind.

In July 2001, the Twins traded outfielder Matt Lawton to the New York Mets for pitcher Rick Reed.

Ryan continued making strong trades that enable the team to remain competitive.

In 2002, the Twins began a sequence of winning their division.

His early years as GM had several lowlights.

For example, in July 2002, he traded little-used outfielder Brian Buchanan (also acquired in the Knoblauch trade) to the San Diego Padres for Jason Bartlett.

He resigned as general manager of the Twins on October 1, 2007, but returned to his former post on November 7, 2011, until being relieved of his duties on July 18, 2016.

Ryan was hired as a special assignment scout by the Philadelphia Phillies on November 30, 2016.