Ryan steps down in Minnesota

One of baseball's longest-tenured general managers stepped down Thursday. Why should we care?

Because Terry Ryan was at the helm of the Minnesota Twins when the organization drafted the lone active Shreveport-Bossier City major leaguer and gave him his first taste of Major League Baseball.

Ryan grabbed former Captain Shreve standout Scott Baker in the second round of the 2003 draft.

Baker now is solidly in the Minnesota rotation as the 2007 season winds down.

I had a couple of conversations with Ryan while doing stories on both Baker and Todd Walker, who started his major league career with the Ryan-led Twins, and he came off as affable and, obviously, quite knowledgable.

While players win games, and managers put those players in those positions, Ryan was a major, major factor in the Twins' recent run of success. And, should the Twins decide to promote from within, taking a chance on Jim Rantz as the next Minnesota GM may not be such a bad idea.