I covered the Bills
for nearly five years and never had a one-on-one interview with General Manager
Tom Donahoe or former GM John Butler. I recall just one time when Donahoe
approached me. During training camp, he walked over to tell me to move so Rob
Johnson could see the play clock.

The other day I was
at Frontier Field covering the Red Wings, and I interviewed Minnesota Twins
general manager Terry Ryan for nearly 30 minutes. The chance of the Bills
allowing a local reporter an exclusive interview with their general manager is
like… well… you have a better chance of winning Mega Millions while being
struck by lightning.

What a difference
between the Bills and the Twins. In the world of PR, the Bills come off as
divas when compared to the small-town hominess of the Twins.

That’s probably
because of Ryan, The Sporting News’ 2002
executive of the year and Baseball
America‘s 2004 executive of the year. He certainly has reasons to be
divaesque — probably more than Donahoe, who has never been NFL executive of
the year. But Ryan is just a charming, modest, honest, comfortable, and likable
person.

The Twins aren’t loaded, yet they’ve won the AL Central the last three years. They’re fiscally
responsible, sensible, efficient, cooperative, and competitive. They should run
our state.

It’s invigorating
that the Twins actually call people up from Rochester and use them. Now players
develop here again and become everyday contributors for the Twins, including
last year’s occasional City player
columnist Jason Bartlett. Bartlett was batting .250 and he committed only one
error — much better than last year’s short stint in Minnesota.

It’s invigorating
that players enjoy playing in Rochester, such as infielder Brent Abernathy, a
27-year-old native of Atlanta, Georgia, who’s played in 208 major league games
through three seasons with the Devil Rays and Royals. Abernathy, the Wings’ top
hitter, aches to get back to the majors.

“There isn’t anything
that compares to playing in the big leagues,” he says, “but to be playing here
in a city that appreciates baseball and has a history with baseball definitely
helps.”

Ryan calls the Red Wings a great affiliate. He even makes an effort to ask Red Wings management for
their insights into players. The Orioles made no such effort, and practically
made no effort whatsoever during the last 10 years of the affiliation.

Ryan spends time
here. This month he was to be in Rochester twice. When the Twins are away, he’s
usually scouting his minor-league players. He says not all general managers
operate that way, pointing out that Atlanta’s Jon Schuerholz is one of
baseball’s most winning GMs, despite rarely visiting his farm clubs.

Ryan thinks the Wings
should be good because of their starting pitching, but he’s surprised that the
bullpen has struggled. Also, the Wings are without 64-year-old manager Phil
Roof, who’s home with his ailing wife in Paducah, Kentucky. Ryan gave Roof an
indefinite leave of absence and put hitting coach Rich Miller and pitching
coach Bobby Cuellar in charge until Roof returns. It’s not certain that Roof
will, but Minnesota is handling the situation respectfully.

It has been remarkable that the Twins organization stays competitive with a payroll that is usually
among the bottom-third; that Ryan somehow manages to MacGyver these successful
teams. I suggest to him that even if he had endless reserves to purchase
expensive free agents he might not enjoy it. It wouldn’t be as challenging.

But he disagrees.
He’d love the extra cash.

“That wouldn’t be
bad,” he says.

But that might lead
to problems in the clubhouse, right?

“What problems would
that bring?”

Chemistry problems.

“You don’t see
chemistry problems in the Yankees’ clubhouse. If you win, chemistry goes right
out the window. Chemistry, for me, [is overrated]. Hell, if you win games and
put wins up on the left side of the ledger, you’re probably going to have
chemistry.”

My premise is shot.
Ryan prefers not to be MacGyver. He wouldn’t mind being the humongous cash cow,
like the Yankees or the Bills and Tom Donahoe.

Well, Ryan’s still a
nice guy.

This article appears in Apr 27 – May 3, 2005.